AntiSniveler

Why not?

The questionnaire consists of 56 questions, to which you can answer “not at all” through “definitely.” Try to be as honest as possible about yourself, as this will get you the most accurate results.

Next to a list indicating whether each chakra is under-active, open or over-active, the test results consist of a graph displaying the activity of each chakra.

I’ll add an update when I get the chance to do the test. If you take it, please let us know in comments how it turned out….

UPDATE: Here’s how my test came out:

And here’s a link that describes each chakra.

Check it out for yourself….

Here’s a good resource for downloading uplifting and informative dharma talks from many of your favorite Buddhist teachers….

…at his free downloads page….

A little background on this modern Indian sage:

Throughout the history of mankind spiritual giants have appeared on very rare ocassions to exemplify the Highest Truth, guiding followers by their conduct in every moment of their lives; Sri Ramana Maharshi was such a giant. Unique in our time, He perfectly embodied the ultimate truth of Self-realisation, or complete immersion in God.

Known as the Sage of Arunachala, He spoke and wrote very little. He preferred to communicate through the power of overwhelming Silence, a silence so deep and powerful that it stilled the minds of ardent seekers who were attracted to Him from all over the world.

His highest teaching of ‘Self-enquiry’ was understood in the infinite silence of his presence. Through this silence, countless numbers of devotees and visitors experienced the pure bliss of True Being. That same experience of perfect peace is still available to sincere souls who turn to him and practice his teachings with devotion.

This act of perfect grace can be experienced anywhere, but it is especially palpable at the foot of the holy Arunachala Hill, a hill that has attracted saints and sages for thousands of years. The Maharshi’s teaching of ‘Self-enquiry’ (Pure Advaita) is simplicity itself, requiring no outward formalities, no outer change of life, only a simple change in ‘point of view’ and a sustained effort on the part of the seeker. The goal is no heaven after death or a faraway ideal, but rather the removal of the ignorance that prevents us from knowing that we are eternally One with our Source, the Supreme Self, or God. It is an experience than can be had NOW! All that is required is a sincere effort, which earns us the necessary grace.

On his deathbed the Maharshi told his grieving devotees, “You say I am going away, but where can I go? I am always here. You give too much importance to the body.” His promise of a ‘continued presence’ is daily being experienced by numerous devotees from around the world, and it is that experience of ‘continued presence’ that has inspired many to devote themselves to the path of peace and love.

Devotees are not required to give up their current faith in God (however perceived) and practices of devotion or worship, in fact they are encouraged to continue in them as long as benefit is perceived. Self-enquiry does not require the seeker to leave home, job, family or anything else. Progress depends only upon effort and nothing else and help in Sadhana (Spiritual effort) is always available.

While I’ve managed to extract myself from a strict Advaita (non-dual) philosophical straightjacket (now preferring the Buddha’s teachings as preserved in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon), I still have a soft spot for Ramana, who was the epitome of simplicity in a life filled with silence. Spending time with him would have to be a spiritual boon, well worth seeking.

Here’s an interesting personage who gets little publicity these days, but whose life strangely mirrors the Jesus story told in the Bible — from the Editorial Notation:

What you are about to read in the following selections are extracts from the complete work, which should be available in any major library. The work concerns the life of the philosopher-sage Apollonius of Tyana, as recorded by his “disciple” Damis, who followed him in his journeys across the ancient world. One truly wonders why this work has not received the attention that it deserves, and the reasons for this are partly covered by the introduction which was prepared by the translator FC Conybeare in about 1912. This article by Conybeare also provides the historical context concerning the matter of the resource materials available to Philostratus, who put together the original work over one hundred years after Apllonius lived.

To my mind, the reasons that this work has been so obviously “suppressed” by the learned Christian classicists of yester-years is simply that works and actions of Apollonius are clearly more than just “another” philosopher of the Ancient Greek world. He is constantly referred to as a “philosopher-sage” and the distinction is one of great note.

Consequently, the parallel between the life of Apollonius of Tyana and the life of Jesus Christ cannot be mistaken. Both lived in the same era, and both performed “works” and “miracles”. For those with a truly open mind, there is much to find enlightening in the parallel themes expressed in the record of the life of these two men.

It is quite likely that the reason that this work has been so conveniently “buried” by the Christian classicists is that the contemporary “doctrine” of Christianity is often exclusive of alternate aspects, and will rarely permit any corroborative substantiations of the nature of the Christian God from a source external to the bible.

This attitude to my mind is not wholesome, or one of openness, and as such is classified by myself as restrictive, and not conducive to any proper form of lateral thinking concerning the Being whom the standard Christian doctrine clearly espouse as being Infinite and Wise.

On the one hand the life of Apollonius of Tyana provides the student of life with an account of how a man may be seen to be “more” than just a philosopher, and on the other hand it provides an account as to how such a man deals with, and approaches the understanding of, the nature of nature.

The full volume may be worth tracking down… as if I don’t have enough reading in front of me. A few years ago I read a small biography of Apollonius, and was struck by the parallels with his contemporary, Jesus Christ. Both, in a way, have had their teachings and histories suppressed ever since.

Best Bill Evans Trio tune, in my opinion. It simply rolls….

It’s called “Gloria’s Step,” and the bass solo is worth the price of admission.

This set from 1972.

I’m excited to have received an Amazon.com gift certificate (thanks, Hawk!), which I put toward the beautiful new Paramhansa Yogananda box set called The Second Coming of Christ.

To whet my appetite, I’m extracting some quotes from the book’s introduction, written by the Paramhansa himself:

There is a distinguishing difference of meaning between Jesus and Christ. His given name was Jesus; his honorific title was “Christ.” In his little human body called Jesus was born the vast Christ Consciousness, the omniscient Intelligence of God omnipresent in every part and particle of creation. This Consciousness is the “only begotten Son of God,” so designated because it is the sole perfect reflection in creation of the Transcendental Absolute, Spirit or God the Father.

It was of that Infinite Consciousness, replete with the love and bliss of God, that Saint John spoke when he said: “As many as received him [the Christ Consciousness], to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Thus according to Jesus’ own teaching as recorded by his most highly advanced apostle, John, all souls who become united with Christ Consciousness by intuitive Self-realization are rightly called sons of God….

In these pages I offer to the world an intuitionally perceived spiritual interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus, truths received through actual communion with Christ Consciousness. They will be found to be universally true if they are studied conscientiously and meditated upon with soul-awakened intuitive perception. They reveal the perfect unity that exists among the revelations of the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita of India, and all other time-tested true scriptures.

The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the “Christian” Bible, for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all….

It is an erroneous assumption of limited minds that great ones such as Jesus, Krishna, and other divine incarnations are gone from the earth when they are no longer visible to human sight. This is not so. When a liberated master has dissolved his body in Spirit, and yet manifests in form to receptive devotees (as Jesus has appeared throughout the centuries since his passing, such as to Saint Francis, Saint Teresa, and many others of East and West), it means he has an ongoing role to play in the destiny of the world. Even when masters have completed the specific role for which they took on a physical incarnation, it is the divinely ordained task of some to look after the welfare of humanity and assist in guiding its progress. Jesus Christ is very much alive and active today. In Spirit and occasionally taking on a flesh-and-blood form, he is working unseen by the masses for the regeneration of the world. With his all-embracing love, Jesus is not content merely to enjoy his blissful consciousness in Heaven. He is deeply concerned for mankind and wishes to give his followers the means to attain the divine freedom of entry into God’s Infinite Kingdom….

In all my years of reading spiritual literature, I can honestly say that I’ve never come across a sweeter, more inspiring presence than Yogananda’s. And the fact that he reaches back into my own spiritual heritage to show that Jesus Christ was onto something — well, this is a boon, and a reason to keep digging.

I can’t recommend him highly enough, and his Autobiography of a Yogi is the place to start….

Siva….

In keeping with my recent interest in the Trika Philosophy of Kashmir Saivism, I thought I’d provide a link to a discussion of the 36 Tattvas, which:

…(D)escribe step-by-step how Supreme Consciousness makes itself appear to itself as limited consciousness stuck in a unconscious world and universe, and thus gets to experience the limited, conditional joys and sorrows of earthly existence, and then describes in a reverse step-by-step process, how that Supreme Consciousness then reveals its own true nature to itself, and thus experiences the outrageous joys of spiritual liberation.

Interesting stuff… and I maintain that reading about it beats getting saturated by the daily news.

A former Presbyterian minister (40 years at the pulpit) gets hip to meditation, among other things:

The Need to Meditate

“Be still and know that I am God!”

These are the instructions given to the Psalmist in 46:10. The Bible is filled with references to meditation, to contemplating the deeper things of life, to getting away from the racket of the world so that we can center down and hear the voice of God.

Quite apart from the ancient biblical commands, modern medicine tells us that meditation can have a beneficial effect on our minds and bodies. It has been proven to slow pulse and respiration, lower blood pressure and reduce stress. Following surgery it can lessen pain, minimize blood loss and accelerate healing.

So why don’t we all meditate regularly? Because it takes time and discipline, and we tell ourselves we are too busy to spare the few moments it requires. But that very argument is the best reason to do it: the moments we spend in the presence of God make us more efficient for everything else that we do.

Meditation is the other side of prayer. In prayer we talk to God; in meditation we listen for God’s answers. It’s that simple.

If we had an earthly friendship in which we did all the talking and the other person was forced to do nothing but listen, it is doubtful that the relationship would involve any real intimacy. God wants to talk to us even more than we want to talk to God. Our decision about whether or not to meditate regularly depends on the depth of our desire to have an intimate relationship with God.

While he does not go into the subject of meditative absorption (which, according to the Buddha, is necessary for “skillful” meditation), the points he does raise are valid for anyone who remains on the fence regarding a meditation practice.

It’s one of those things where you have to actually do it — and not just once or twice, but within a committed and sustained time period — before the full benefits are rendered unto you.

And I do maintain that it beats anything you may run across on television….

Siva, feelin’ the Spanda….

Though my meditation practice is based on the instructions and concepts put forward by the Buddha in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon, I’ve been craving a more devotional connection with the Divine during the past couple months. It’s been my luck to be drawn into two distinct spiritual philosophies — Advaita Vedanta and the Buddhadhamma — during the past ten years or so, both of which tend to negate the “I and Thou” in favor of an ultimate nonduality, which de-emphasizes our connectedness with (or our attachment to) material reality.

So it’s been a pleasure to return once again to a study of Kashmir Saivism (or Shaivism), which seems to me a philosophy designed for those who accept the ultimate nonduality of existence, but who do not deny our seeming separateness as individual beings. On the one hand, Kashmir Saivism is monistic — it sees everything as Siva, the One Truth — while on the other hand, it recognizes the value of devotion, which works through the divine pulsating energy of Siva to transform our consciousness in the direction of an ultimate, sustained identification with Siva.

In other words, if I understand it correctly, Kashmir Saivism works with what the Buddha called “jhana” or meditative absorption (i.e., Spanda), coupling it with powerful devotion toward the guru (who is the manifest embodiment of Siva), so that the Spanda ends up consuming the practitioner, such that the practitioner’s individual separateness is reunited with Siva — a reality that was never absent, despite the practitioner’s delusion of separateness.

Here’s an explanation that makes more clear what I’m struggling to express:

Kashmir Saivism is intensely monistic. It does not deny the existence of a personal God or of the Gods. But much more emphasis is put upon the personal meditation and reflection of the devotee and his guidance by a guru. Creation of the soul and world is explained as God Siva’s abhasa, “shining forth” of Himself in His dynamic aspect of Shakti, the first impulse, called spanda. As the Self of all, Siva is immanent and transcendent, and performs through his Shakti the five actions of creation, preservation, destruction, revealing and concealing. The Kashmir Saivite is not so much concerned with worshiping a personal God as he is with attaining the transcendental state of Siva consciousness.

An esoteric and contemplative path, Kashmir Saivism embraces both knowledge and devotion. Sadhana leads to the assimilation of the object (world) in the subject (I) until the Self (Siva) stands revealed as one with the universe. The goal-liberation is sustained recognition (pratyabhijna) of one’s true Self as nothing but Siva. There is no merger of soul in God, as they are eternally nondifferent.

The idea of submitting to a guru presents another problem for me, as it does for many seekers in the West. In fact, in order to even open up to Eastern teachings, Westerners must pass through an intense questioning of spiritual authority. We must get past our Judeo-Christian dogmatic conditioning, which for most of us gives no outlet for the contemplative, ecstatic, experiential urge toward union with the Divine. To finally access Eastern teachings, which are all about meditation and mystical union, only to be confronted with the need to submit to yet another spiritual authority (in the form of a guru) — well, I can tell you that I’m not to that point, and I don’t see myself reaching that point any time soon, if ever.

I see, however, that my attitude is based on woundedness, as well as a bias toward the “spiritual teacher” that expects him or her to adhere to a level of perfection that may not exist in this world. I must admit that I can find some short-falling or other in every teacher I’ve ever had, as well as in most every teacher I’ve ever read about. For me to expect a “guru” (a loaded word that means “spiritual teacher,” albeit in the context of a teacher-student relationship far more intimate than anything we can conceive of in the West) to be totally unblemished according to some set of expectations through which I’ve been conditioned — well, I’m setting myself up for a fall. I admit that I could use some help in getting over this profound reluctance to devoting myself to a teacher. Perhaps if I pray hard enough, this help will come into my life.

In the depths of meditative absorption (usually kicking in at the 45 or 50 minute mark of each hour-long session), I’ve been getting strong intuitive guidance to beseech the Divine in some form — to thank the Divine for blessing me with such peace, bliss and joy — and to fully surrender to the Living Spirit that is Spanda, jhana, meditative absorption. I’m getting that this is not some inert energy, like an electrical current from a two-pronged outlet, but rather an expression of the Divine that knows me better than I know myself… and I need to fully let go from whatever resistance to it that I still have. I don’t see this as abandoning the Buddhadhamma, which exists as a crystalline basis for living in the peace, bliss and joy of constant saturation in meditative absorption. I see this as an acknowledgment that my practice, which has cultivated meditative absorption and transformed me through it, may be strengthened by the presence of devotion to That which makes it all possible in the first place.

Therefore, I crave a spiritual context that more fully recognizes this need for devotion.

Like, maybe, Kashmir Saivism.

Lots of interesting reading at this site:

It began some 13.7 billion years ago, more or less, on a day without yesterday, when all of creation emerged from nothing except the will of God. The dark and immensely hot plasma of rapidly expanding primordial creation was eventually pierced by light and populated by the evolution of galaxies and stars interspersed by enormous quantities of gas, dust and energy. Some four and one half billion years ago, more or less, in a distant arm of an average spiral galaxy there formed an average star surrounded by an accreting disc of dust, debris and gases which in time took the form of the planets which we know today. On the third planet from that star, our sun, early life appeared which over the eons evolved into higher forms of animal and plant life dwelling in the seas and covering the land of the planet. Very late in this evolutionary process emerged a species of primate called man which was unlike all other primates and other forms of animate creation in that it possessed consciousness, intelligence, and reason - attributes of the divine spark which we call the human soul. Man, unlike the rest of animate creation, was a moral creature, for having “eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, he possessed the ability to chose between good and evil in his relationships with his Creator and others of his species.

Kind of refreshing, especially when compared with certain other scriptural interpretations of the Creation….