yoga progress (29)

avoiding external obstacles
reach out internally

By kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Saturday,March 8,2008: I have already given
the significance of the sound =aum= according to the
classic ancient Indian prayer traditions,which relates
us to the radiating energy of the solar system.Thus
when Patanjali speaks of =aum= as name of Ishvara,
god, he means the universal energy manifesting and
invisible or appearing and disappearing like
switched on and switched off light. Poet Kalidasa
connects it more clearly saying =maranam prakritih
sharirinam vikritih jivitam uchyate budhaih=, death
is nature for those who have bodies, it is life which
is distortion according to the wise.This at once
takes us closer to Tibetan death meditation.Nature
remains submerged.Manifesting of the nature is only
temporary.Sound is caused in space by the gushing
energy.It also travels but get drowned in energy bursts
of proximate regions when our sensory perception
remains externalized. The power is what should be
in the yoga students mind when he repeats the sound.

In classic tradition, a householder is not permitted
to recite the =aum= sound alone, because he is bound
by the external senses of desire. =Aum= sound is
meant for internalization to promote the individual
consciousness to link up with the universal consciousness
one has to prevent external noise from interfering with
it and drowning it.Patanjali therefore indicates early
stages of evolution of nature guides us to connect
to the current keeping in mind the meaning of the sound.

In Vedanta and earlier Vedic literature, it is said =aum=
is reality by declaring =aum tat sat=. Aum is that is
real. By that neuter is meant not male female but
nature.Naming it =pranava= humans make it sovereign
man because our imagination do not stretch beyond
our own nose! Thus when worshiping we believe
=I am He= respectively =I am She=.If yoga student
stretches his imagination to the radiating universal
consciousness called =paramatma=,the soul of the
entire universe consisting of the solar system of
all ten levels his ability to submerge with nature gets
closer.As mentioned before, birds and animals
are luckier.How else can the Siberian or other
birds get guidance for migration to distant lands.
For example birds coming to India or Austria´s
Burgenland for nesting, tortoise traveling thousands
of miles for breeding is unimaginable.As humans
as we developed our external capabilities we loose
our contact to nature.Yoga helps to regain it by
internalizing our mind.

Then we come to a new level of internal consciousness
and disappearance of obstacles including the external
noises that deafen our sensitivities,to our progress
in reaching out to nature.That is said by =tatah pratyak
chetanadhigamah antarayabhah cha=. From that
repition of the sound =aum= and thinking of the
universal nature´s all levels a new internal
consciousness develops by the disappearances
of obstacles.(end)