Muzings by Muz

Q: I seem to be going through a dark night of the soul, forgotten by God. I find no solace in relationships. My last one is down the drain. And if I look at the way things are all over the planet it seems the world is going down the same way.  Have you any advice to stave off depression?

There comes a time to each of us when we feel that we have been forgotten by God. But if we think about it, the situation is actually the reverse. It is at those times that we have forgotten God. If you are feeling weary and wiped out, listless and unable to cope, that is a sure sign that you have forgotten the Divine within. Debilitating prostration is the thief of time. And our lifetimes are very short. Don’t waste yours depressively.

 Depression is life expensive—not expansive. You cannot afford to wallow in depressive thoughts. If you are not ill, crippled or diseased, then what IS—at present—is fine. The external world is only mirroring your thoughts—not what actually IS. As you think downer thoughts, all your life energies will run in those channels, like water seeking its lowest level. And what is happening on the planet is only reflecting a similar way of thinking by the majority of people. Consensus misery is a mental choice. Especially when we buy into what the controlling media wants us to believe.

    What you experience may feel like a Dark Night of the Soul. But in this state your soul is simply resting as a fallow field, before the new sowing season starts. It is a necessary period of repose. Don’t sow negativity while the ground is preparing to become fertile once again. The doldrums will pass. And spring will come—so long as you don’t fixate on the past. Avoid hanging on to what has gone and ruminating over it.

    If you have lost someone dear, remember there can only ever be but passing pleasure in people and in outer things. Enjoy them when they are around, but don’t hang on to them. They too will pass away: and so will you.  Hold on to the only thing that always is. Seek the Source. Permanent joy is only found within. In the Self, that is—not in the sense-of-ego. It is only the ego-sense that whines about the condition it has created for itself. 

   If we buy into its whisperings, we are lost. Stop squandering this time of your life on a ‘poor-me’ attitude of wistfulness, sadness and despair. We cannot afford to allow one second of regret or depression to emerge in consciousness. Transform it instantly, before it gets a hold. If you hug a misery to your heart, it builds in strength and then takes far too long to winkle-out. As the sage Patanjali says, “Whatever troubles you, ponder on the opposite.” Create a new groove in Consciousness.

    In REALITY all is well. Don’t get caught in the unreal film-show of the world. In our deep selves we are one with silent joy. Visualise a sun shining in the centre of your being. Practice breathing in the Inner Sun!* Stay in it all day long. Chant Om Namah Shivaya as you work and walk. Become rock-like in your resolve to refuse all mental wallowing. Scotch it as soon as you feel it rising. Such thoughts are only passing emotional weather in the Clear Blue Sky of Consciousness. Identify with your permanent state—the Sky (your true state of Being) not the weather (your thoughts and emotions). You are not your thoughts: so don’t identify with them.

    Get up with God in your Inner Sun. Go to forests. Hug trees. Listen to the birds singing in praise of Creation. Absorb the strength and silence of the woods and know the same still joy lies deep in you. That is the Omnipresence. Be aware that the Omnipresence is working through you all day long. Don’t do anything yourself. Let everything be done through you. If you constantly remain aware of that, the joy will come again. Only then your life will change.

    ‘The Truth’ may or may not be ‘out there.’ But remember — Love is not out there. Realise that the only way you can have real everlasting love, is by BEING love. Sink into the Self—feel it— then rise and radiate it to the world.

   Start loving now. And don’t believe everything you think.

   Smile.

Q: Let me tell you my story. I had a really bad dyslexia problem which was so bad that I couldn’t even write my name. My mind was so garbled. I had a friend who was the absent- minded professor type. He started going to a Siddha Yoga group. Anyway, I could see the change in him. His word usage, memory and intellect just seem to get better. So I too started to chant. I chanted Govinda Jia Jia Go Pala Jia Jia. This chant burned the part of my brain that I had all of the problems in. I saw the blue light. Now my mind is super clear—-my memory, recall and retention is great. But the other part of the brain, like where you function in the present, like walking down a street, is still in the clouds. Its like the thinking part of the brain is clear but the real time part of the brain is still in the clouds. Can you help me?

    Is there a chant that I can do to open that part of the brain? Thanks.

A: Well, your condition is not too bad. I always tell people I have my feet firmly planted on the ground and my head firmly planted in the clouds!

    So, it seems that your left brain is fully operative, while the right brain hemisphere is dulled. To a degree this is normal, as the right hemisphere operates fully in the dream state at night and is only partially functioning in the daytime.

    However, having said that I suggest utilising the Mantric Alphabet to revitalise all areas of the brain and body. That is, intoning the Sanskrit phonemes of the Alphabet in a nasalised fashion.

   (If you are not familiar with this practice, you can find it on my Sound of Silence CD).

   When my Guru, Dr. Ramamurti Mishra (who was also a brain surgeon) was involved in a car crash, suffering a blood-clot in the brain, he lost the power of speech as well as becoming paralysed down one side of the body. Knowing best what to do, he mentally chanted the Mantric Alphabet constantly, so that the neural connections were able to re-establish themselves between both hemispheres of the brain. And finally he was able to walk and speak again (to a degree) which shows the power of these sound-units.

Q: What can you tell me about Kumbhaka? I would like to learn this in regard to deepening my sadhana, but I am warned to have a competent teacher for this practise as it carries danger to try it without experienced guidance. Can you guide me in this area?

A: Kumbhaka - is retention of breath in the ‘kumbh’ (the ‘jar’, which in this case, is the stomach and abdomen). This is an advanced stage of pranayama, during which, after the inbreath, it is necessary to put the locks on, muladhara bandha (anal lock) and Jalandhara bandha (neck lock). However, stressful retention of respiration of this nature does not culminate in realisation. At best it stops mental movement for a while. But as soon as practice is over, all the old mental garbage flows back.

This is fine for a hatha yogi who wishes to enhance personal power and develop physical energy.

But Kumbhaka is just a temporary dam on the thought-stream.

As you are following a more introspective path (that of jnana), seeking the wisdom of the Self, then far better is the tantric breathing method known as Dvadashanta, in which one loses oneself in the observation of the outer pause and the inner pause of the breath.

Instruction in this practice is available in my workshops.

Q: I am following a Yogic path, but find myself plagued by my Christian upbringing. I am constantly troubled between what are supposed to be ‘good thoughts’ and what are deemed ‘bad thoughts’ and struggle to find some balance between them.

A: All struggle stems from ego involvement. Stop struggling and look at what is. You will get nowhere with the game of juggling “good” thoughts and “bad” thoughts.  Concentrate on the nature of thought itself.

   From whence does it arise? Seek its origin, not its pathetic ramblings. Has the endless thought-stream (mental diarrhoea) any actual validity, except what you decide to give it? Thoughts are the flotsam of our conditioning on the mind-stream. Do you really need to scoop up any particular bit of detritus and chew on it? Whenever you latch on to a thought, that gives it strength and magnification through the lens of past ideas and conditioned concepts.

  Mind is Maya (the nature of illusion). Thoughts are a mirage mist covering over the Reality.

  You have become fixated on ideas. And ideas are the stumbling block to living spontaneously. As long as you are trying to act according to some fanciful idea you have in your head, about how you ‘should’ be, or how you ‘ought’ to behave, then you will always be in turmoil. Your idea conditions the way you imagine you ‘ought’ to act or react. 

   Because the imagined idea is NOT what is, right here and now.

   It is the carrot on the end of the stick in hanging front of the donkey.

   The donkey will never reach the carrot no matter how it strains. Nor will you reach your projection of a way you ought to behave. You will remain a donkey struggling to reach your idea: always struggling to reconcile it with your situation in the world. There will be no end to it.

  Then what to do? The whole point is not to try and reconcile your action to your ingrained belief or idea, but to find out why you decided to fixate on this particular idea or conditioning in the first place. Why have you bought into it? Why have you taken it on board?

   What is your real reason behind accepting it?  Look at that. And you might discover the reason for letting go of it.

   Consider: if there was no such idea, there would be no conflict. It is, after all, only an idea.

  Practice looking at life from your heart and not from pre-conditioned judgements.

  Finally the long-awaited Sanskrit Glossary is now online and available as a downloadable PDF book. This contains my understanding from many years research into the esoteric meanings of many Sanksrit words that you are likely to encounter in your reading of Indian texts.

  My intention was to create something of a magic book for you, having it always growing larger each time you consulted it, by updating it every few months, when time allowed. However, I only learned at the last minute that the mysterious capacities of my website programme were not capable of granting this possibility.  Therefore it has to be presented a one-off downloadable book.

   But over the years, I shall continue to upgrade it with lots more information and first time buyers will be able to purchase it at a reduced cost in future and fatter edtions.

   Dear Friends in Yoga,

   Unaccustomed as I am to public blogging, here is my test effort for a kick-off:

   As at least two thirds of my week for the last twenty years have been employed in answering the spiritual questions of troubled souls, I am hoping that this blog will reduce those queries, by publishing some of my answers here. Apparently you will be able to look up subjects which may relate to your query. Then perhaps, I may devote some time to getting on with writing more books and articles, which has been denied me for so many years.

  For the present, I have just returned from my annual UK Summer Workshop Tour, to find my house struck by lightning, the water boiler burst, the carpets soaked, the telephone line down and the garden hidden under a million weeds about to seed.  So I won’t have time to blog for a while.

  Are there any Karma yogis out there, who would like to come down to the sun in Southern France (it’s roasting hot down here!) and help out in the kitchen, garden or on computer for a week or two?  If so, drop me a line at: swaha108@gmail.com

 Warmly yours,

 Muz