​Tantra is one of the path towards liberation.  It is believed that the real spirituality started off with Tantra.  The path is not advised for all the levels of people in the society like the other path – karma yoga, bhakti yoga, etc.  

The basic objective of Tantra is to liberate the soul by expanding the consciousness.  Unlike other practices, tantric path can be followed only under the guidance of a spiritual master who has attained self-realization. Guru initiates the disciple to this path through “diksha”. 

​This is for highly evolved spiritual aspirants who are competent enough who can fight with the nether forces of ignorance in the self.  But that doesn’t mean that one who has passion towards tantric path cannot follow this route for the self-realization.

​For any type of aspirant, tantra finds the right starting place for him.  It naturally means, the aspirant has to perform the practices based on his level of understanding about himself.  Controlling the mind through the control of senses are the ways of tantra. 

The way of tantra is to understand the functioning of the mind in various situations, without the help of senses. From the scientific perspective, it is detaching the matter from consciousness.

One has to come out of the body consciousness in order to experience the self.  It is based on the principle of Shiva and Shakti – the consciousness and the energy manifested through the body. Existence is the combination of both the energy and consciousness. To reveal the real nature of the mind, it is necessary to free the mind from the past impressions, the unimportant knowledge, samskaras, etc. 

The entire human existence is based on two forces – prana and mind. These two forces are responsible for action, life and knowledge. Whenever there is a problem with the balancing of these two forces, there arises problems throughout the life. These two forces symbolize the ida and pingala nadis (energy channels). 

All these concepts are described in tantra by the ancient sages. Tantra is basically expansion of the mind and then liberation of the soul. When the mind is expanded towards several other planes of existence, mind starts experiencing the internal consciousness. This process increases the internal awareness by liberating the mind from its unlimited functionality.  

As a result of the intense spiritual practices performed by the spiritual aspirant performed under a guru, he evolves to the higher planes or existence there by expanding the consciousness. 

The serpent power symbolizing the human consciousness called as Kundalini shakti is awakened gradually as the aspirant goes forward in this spiritual practice. Starting with hatha yoga, the practices involves kriyas (physical purification), yoga, meditation practice, japa, etc. Yoga is part of tantra. 

Categories:
Ancient Wisdom,   Ascension,  Buddhism,     Spiritual Awareness , and    Tantra Traditions
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​Here is a Zen Buddhist prayer made by ringing prayer bells, lighting candle and with an incense offering...

Categories: 
Ancient Wisdom    and   Buddhism

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Smudging or burning dried plant material to release smoke which is intended to bring about cleansing  or healing has been an important and integral part of the Native American tradition.
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Smudge sticks are usually long bundles of fragrant dried plant material which is wound tight at one end. They are then lit at the other end until the material catches fire and then blown out so that it now continues to smolder to release the fragrant smoke. 

Such smoking is thought to clear negative influences, restore balance, induce spiritual purification, increase spiritual awareness or prepare a person’s mind, body and spirit for any special ceremony.

Such fragrant smoke is also used to cleanse environments, whether at home, work or for special purposes. The aromatic materials that are typically used by the Shamans include sage, wormwood, cedar or sweet-grass.

While burning the smudge sticks, the bundles are held in one hand, carrying the smoke to where it is required by working around the space and directing the smoke where required by wafting it by hand or with a feather.

​Categories: 
Ancient Wisdom    and   Shaman Wisdom

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Right now, as we look around us- there seems to be ‘craziness’ all around us!! This past year has been challenging to every single person on this planet in their own way. I recently wrote about the way in which we can best addresses any challenges or issues that we come across in our life. If you have not read that article, then you can check it here…
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We know that our attitude determines our altitude. So, the question is, how should we maintain ourselves as we are facing various situations in our life. Ofcourse, not every single moment of everyday is fraught with challenges. There will be good times and bad times, maybe certain days have a significant number of bad times or challenging issues, but in life, we are always going to experience a combination of these good and bad experiences. 

The ancients depicted our life as a wheel. They called it the “Wheel of Time” (Kaal Chakra) or the “Circle of Life”. Because we find that the activities in our life follow a circular repetitive pattern. At any given time, there are parts of us feeling up and at that same time, there are also parts of us feeling down. Like the individual spokes of a wheel, we experience different emotional and mental states at any given time. 

But if one is to note the center of the wheel- it is calm and stationary. Even though the wheel as a whole is moving forward on its journey, and the individual spokes move up and down, the center of the wheel stays calm. 

The ancients asked us to maintain this attitude of the “Center of the Wheel” in our life. When we live our life from our center- i.e., we take the time to reflect upon the various activities and situations of our life and focus within and center within the deeper recesses of our being (meditation helps with this), then it allows us to stay centered and focused within our core existence. 

Then we can carry on with the various activities of our life- some which will make us feel jubilant and happy and others that may upset or challenge us; but as we operate from our center, we will always feel calm and at peace. This will be the case, even if the happy or challenging situations are in our vicinity or are aspects of our life, i.e., our external situation or our life situations, neither will be able to ruffle or agitate us, because we are centered and operating from our core. 

This is the first step of Yoga. Yoga is the way to be in-sync with the Divine. By centering within our ourselves and operating from a calm, centered core- we complete the first step of Yoga- we get in unison with our own inner being. 
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We bring all the fragmented aspect of ourselves into our center- we bring ourselves together. We become united; this then allows us to continue with our ascension journey to further become united with the Cosmic Self.  

​Categories: 
Ancient Wisdom, Ascension,   Conscious Living,    Emotional Wellbeing,  Our Path Our Journey ,    Self Development   and   Yoga

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We all know that in order to succeed at anything- it is not just about knowing the right skills or being in a suitable situation, but it is the timing of an event. As they say- it is very important to be at the right place, at the right time!! 

But then again, most of us are not very familiar and do not have easy access to esoteric sciences like astrology and so on. So, how can we still benefit from this?
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I have written about this in length with all the Vedic information details in couple of articles in the Vedic Wisdom blog but given the importance of this information- I wanted it to reach a wider audience, so I am posting the key Abhijeet Hora timing information here, on this general blog. I will spare you all the Vedic Astrology details- as the casual non-familiar reader.   :-)

​If you would like more information on Abhijeet Nakshatra, then check out What is the Abhijeet Nakshatra? Understanding the power of the Abhijeet Nakshatra- to become the Final and Supremely Victorious One!!

This is what you need to do: check online for a Panchang- it is a Vedic calendar. It may seem very daunting, but don’t worry- I will tell you what exactly it is that you need to look for… then it gets easy.

For ease of use, I tend to use Drik Panchang, but frankly you can use any application that provides correct hora (time-segment) calculations.

• Next- make sure that it reflects the location that we are physically present. Most of these applications have some Indian city as their default location. Be sure to change it to your location.
• Then next look for the Daily Panchang section. By default, many of these applications show monthly Panchang.
• Finally- look for the section that says Muhurta (loosely translated to ‘timing’). Here, look out for Abhijeet Muhurta. Viola- as simple as that. The time span it provides is the Abhijeet hora segment of the day. Now, if you are someone who needs to do some work during the night, particularly in our globally connected economy, then look out for Nishita Kaal. This is the Abhijeet hora segment for the nighttime.
• You will find that the Abhijeet hora usually lasts for around 48 minutes or so- but depending on if it is summer or winter (i.e., longer, or shorter days) it will expand or contract this hora time.

Now try to initiate important activity during this time. For e.g., you want to register a new domain name for your online shop, or you are going over to meet a potential client for the first time then- you can do it during these times.
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This way, irrespective of many other cosmic-energetic challenges that could be present on that day, you will be able to carry out your activity at the “best possible time”. 

Now keep in mind that Abhijeet muhurta is not good for all activities and also on Wednesday, it forms a ‘not-so-nice’ sticky aspect.

​So, if what you are planning is a very important life activity like marriage or moving homes etc. then it is advisable to obtain a more professional opinion from someone who is familiar with finding favorable muhurta- but for simple, practical help with timing events and for most part (minus Wednesday), you should be able to utilize the power of the Abhijeet nakshatra (lunar constellation) to attain victory and success in your endeavors.

Categories: 
Ancient Wisdom,     Comfortable Living,   How To...   ,     Life Management,   and  Our Path Our Journey

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​There is a very old folklore. Once upon a time, there was this guy who had been living in an ashram (spiritual school) from a very young age. As he became a young adult, his teacher asked him to go to another nearby town, to spread spiritual knowledge. The teacher told him that he will check in on him in a year to note his progress.

The young man packed his few meagre belongings and started on his journey to the nearby village. It took him a few days of walking thru thick forest, but finally he reached his destination. 

​He gathered some dried grass and sticks and built a small hut for himself. He started with his prayers, but soon he realized that there were many mice in that village and they ran havoc in his little hut. Then at the behest of the villagers, he got a small cat. 

Having the cat in the hut was a big relief. No mice and our fella could sit for hours doing his meditation without any disturbance. But then, he needed to feed his cat. For couple of days, he could borrow some milk from the villagers, but that could not be a long-term solution. So, he decided to get a cow- so that the milk from the cow would feed him and the cat. 
Once the cow came, life seemed to be going really great! He had not eaten a full meal in a long time. Drinking fresh milk in plentiful seemed absolutely heaven sent. But then maintaining a cow was not a simple task! He had to wash her and collect all the dung!

So, he decided to marry- so that his bride could help him with these mundane material duties. But then no girl was willing to marry a person who did not have a job!

So, he decided to start working at a near by farm. Now, his days were spent doing the farm work and his evenings were spent with his new bride.

Soon- he was so caught up in his household chores that he hardly found any time to pray- leave alone do meditation or a long sadhana. Soon, he was so caught up in all his chores and duties that he forgot why he had come to that village in the first place- which was to spread spiritual wisdom!

The year passed by in a jiffy. One day his teacher came to the village looking for him. His teacher was shocked to find him completely ensnared by the ropes of materialism.

Though his teacher was unhappy to see his disciple side-tracked, he wished him well and went back to his own ashram.  Our fella continued with his married life. At first everything seemed to be picture perfect. A nice paying job, a loving wife and a clean hut to live in- what more could he ask! But soon, he had kids and his hut was not big enough for all of them. He needed to get a bigger house which also meant he needed lots of money. So, he decided to borrow money and buy a good house. 

After a few years, his village had a bad spat of drought and hardly any farming activities were possible. He lost his job and soon his lenders started troubling and threatening him to pay back his loan. He did not have the money and finally one day, he felt so low and dejected that he decided to hang himself!! 

A nice young man who had started out on his journey of life with bright dreams in his eyes of starting a great spiritual-preaching practice was there hanging from the tree- ensnared by the ropes of material life!
This story has many versions and is part of ancient folklore in many areas of the world. Though details may change- the crux doesn’t- once the young man gets involved in a material pursuit, in this case- building of the hut; pretty soon, he gets pulled into more and more material obligations finally leading to pain, suffering and dejection! 

So, what are we to do?? Obviously, all of us cannot live the life of a monk and stay in a spiritual facility. In fact, most of us- are real people with real lives- with family, children, business, job and so on. What are we to do?

The key is to be consciously aware of our desires, wants and wishes. Are you living within your means? Are your material goods helping to enrich your life and truly contribute towards allowing you to do and be who you really would like to be, or are your ambitions making you constantly strive for ‘more and more’- more wealth, more fame, more money and so on to the point, where your material objects and objectives ‘own’ you.

Reflect on this- what are you doing in your own life? How can you ensure that your ropes of materialism will help you to build a true and deeply satisfying life and not become your death noose?

Categories: 
Ancient Wisdom,     How To...   ,   Our Path Our Journey ,  Think On This   and   Spiritual Lessons

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​Shamans typically travel between these above mentioned three worlds, to find healing remedies or to find a person, thing, information or sometimes to counter bad/evil spirits.

​Sometime they use certain props to help them in this travel/adventure, such as Drums-, which are supposed to open up the gates of the spirit world for the Shaman to travel through… or Peyote Cactus, which is supposed to help the Shaman in their spiritual journey or a Shield which can act as a barrier to block out reality during journeys to the other worlds.

​Shamans think of illness as a spiritual occurrence. They believe that when the physical body is not in tune with it’s soul or spirit self, then illness will manifest. They believe that soul is made up of many parts and when certain parts of one’s soul are lost, one manifests many emotional and psychological illness symptoms such as depression. 

The healing which Shamans cause is not just by utilizing the naturally occurring chemicals (or naturally occurring active ingredients) within herbs, but also by utilizing the spirit inherent in these living natural herbs. Shamanic healing is not only medicinal but also ceremonial and ritualistic in nature. 

Smudge smoke or burning fragrant herbs is one of the very well known Shamanic Healing remedy.  Cleansing herbs are burned to clear the atmosphere or place of unwanted energies and Sweet herbs are burned to invite helpful healing spirits. 

Cleansing herbs are Sage, Rosemary, Cedar, Juniper, Wormwood and Lavender and Sweet herbs are Tobacco, Woodruff, Frankincense, Copal, Sweetgrass and Mugwort.

Smudging one’s living space helps one to clear the energies and lead a more natural Shamanic path of life, which is not only one that is close to nature but also alive with healing energies of this world. 

Particularly considering that fact that in today’s day and age of electronic gadgets and fast paced life and high rises, people are going further and further away from nature and thus bringing about the many known psychosomatic disorders…

Smudging is a very easy and cost effective way to clear the energies and pave way for a path closer to nature and thus closer to health and vitality.