Thursday, April 19, 2007
The OM in My hOMe
Well, we made it. We're moved and in our beautiful new space. I love it here. There is so much space and the energy is amazing. As I write this I am sitting in my new office space on the 2nd floor of the condo, behind me are two glass doors and outside the door is a gorgeous, huge, old tree canopying its luscious green leaves over the back patio and roof of my new home. The light in here is incredible and I can truly hear the vibration of OM in the quiet of the night as I lay in bed with the spacious, vaulted celings above me. Of course OM is present everywhere. It's not just in this new place, but in the old space I lived in, as well. What I realize though, is our living environments are much like concert halls. You've heard it described that certain places have amazing acoustics. The space we're in, depending upon its design and the energy of that which fills it (meaning our stuff), creates the quality of resonance or vibration within it. This is what feng-shui is all about. If there is too much stuff in a place, the energy can not flow as easily through it. In my old place, there was not enough space for two people and too much stuff was in it. Ahhhhh...it feels good to be here. Although, we eventually outgrew our old place, it was also an incredible home for the time we were there. After we cleaned it on Monday to prepare it for the next owner, I walked through it one last time, burning incense and reflecting on all the positive moments and memories we had there. I actually began to cry because I realized what an amazing place it had been, how many gifts opened up in our life during the time we lived there.
Speaking of OM, I've been intrigued lately by the meaning of OM. A friend of mine who designs jewelry puts a little tag on her pieces and on the tag is the OM symbol. On the inside of the tag is written this:
The symbol of OM represents the 4 states of being: Dream, Deep Sleep, Awake and Absolute Consciousness.
As, I am writing this, I found this awesome website which better describes the symbol of OM and what each part of it represents:
"Just as the sound of Om represents the four states of Brahman (absolute reality), the symbol Om written in Sanskrit also represents everything. The material world of the waking state is symbolized by the large lower curve. The deep sleep state is represented by the upper left curve. The dream state, lying between the waking state below and the deep sleep state above, emanates from the confluence of the two. The point and semicircle are separate from the rest and rule the whole. The point represents the turiya state of absolute consciousness. The open semicircle is symbolic of the infinite and the fact that the meaning of the point can not be grasped if one limits oneself to finite thinking." - http://www.omsakthi.org/worship/mantra.html
Absolute consciousness is the intention of Yoga.
"The three sounds in Om (AUM) represent the waking, dream and deep sleep states and the silence which surrounds Om represents the "Turiya" state.
Because the first of the three states of consciousness is the waking state, it is represented by the sound "A" pronounced like "A" in accounting. Because the dream state of consciousness lies between the waking and the deep sleep states, it is represented by the letter "U" which lies between the "A" and "M". This "U" is pronounced like the "U" in would. The last state of consciousness is the deep sleep state and is represented by "M" pronounced as in "sum." This closes the pronunciation of Om just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind at rest. Whenever Om is recited in succession there is an inevitable period of silence between two successive Oms. This silence represents the "fourth state" known as "Turiya" which is the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognizes his identity with the supreme."- http://www.omsakthi.org/worship/mantra.html
I'm glad to be back and to be 'inter'connected through the True Yoga Blog again.
Have an amazing weekend!
OM...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Going with the Flow
It's been over a week that my partner's family, who are from France, have been visiting us in Dallas. As a result, I have pretty much surrendered my daily routines to go with the flow of the group. And, it hasn't been easy. I've had a lot of fun over the past week and a half, but also many moments of tension and stress as I've struggled to stick to my daily regimen of health-promoting activities, i.e. exercise, Yoga, eating healthy, and even blogging. Writing is so therapeutic and I miss it when I get off track with posting on my blog. A couple of times, as in the case of last night, I let go and went with the flow, which meant I went to a restaurant and bar with the family, instead of going to the gym. I think it's healthy when we type A's are presented with opportunities to surrender our strict routines and regimens. Though, I look forward to a nice Yoga practice this afternoon, in the quiet of my home, before I head out to teach again this evening.
As I mentioned before, we are moving into a new home and it looks as though the move will happen this weekend. My blogging schedule may be a bit erratic over the next couple of weeks as I get settled into the new space and get hooked up to the Internet, as well. So please bear with me...I will be back on schedule shortly with many new awarenesses to share with you in this journey of Yoga and life...
I'll leave you to meditate on a brief summary of the Yogic theory of evolution. Enjoy!
"Yoga follows the teachings of Samkhya, which divides the universe into two categories: purusa and prakrti. Purusa is that part of us capable of real seeing and perception. It is not subject to change. Conversely, prakrti is subject to constant change and embraces all matter, even our mind, thoughts, feelings, and memories. All prakrti can be seen and perceived by purusa.
Everything that fall into the realm of prakrti has a common source called pradhana, a word that refers to the original mater from which all things are formed, the spring from which all life flows. In the beginning there was no connection between pradhana and purusa. But then they came together and germinated, like a seed. This seed is prakrti. The whole material world grew from this seed. First came mahat, the great principle. Out of mahat came the ahamkara, the sense of I. Out of ahamkara came manas, the power behind the senses, and from there the so-called tanmatras and the indriyas. Tanmatra refers to the sound, touch, form, taste, and smell of material objects. The indriyas, the eleven senses, include all our mental activities; our passive perceptive senses such as hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting, and smelling; our active faculties of speech; manual dexterity; locomotion; evacuation; and procreation. From the tanmatras came the bhutas, the five elements: space, air, light, water, and earth.
We can most easily understand what the purusa is if we think of what is absent from a corpse. In death the purusa vanishes. (Where it goes is not revealed in the Yoga Sutras.) The body, the brain, and the sense organs are still present, but they are lifeless because the purusa is gone. Yet for the purusa there is no death. For the purusa change does not exist-and what is death but change? Our mind cannot see the purusa. Only because we sometimes experience moments of clarity do we know that there is a purusa. It is the constant witness to all our actions. The witness is active, but it is not influenced by what it sees. 'Because the purusa works through the mind, it can only see when the mind is clear.' (Yoga Sutra 2.20)
There are various opinions about how the relationship between purusa and prakrti came about. Some say it is lila, a divine game. Others believe there was in the beginning one entity that said to itself, "I should like to become many." A third body of opinion calls it chance. Each standpoint we take on this must remain speculative.
There are also many theories about what happens to our purusa when we die. People who believe in an energy higher than human beings, in God, say that the various purusa are like rivers that all flow toward the sea. Each has its own bed, its own direction, its own quality, but they all flow together into the sea." - The Heart of Yoga, Desikachar
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