Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00526)

On Sun, 21 Jul 1996, Martin_Euser wrote:

> Max>Martin,
> 
> Max>I belong to the school of thought in theosophy that believes that first 
> things should come first.
> 
> 
> 	A very fine principle indeed. BTW, is there a name for that school
> of thought?

I do not attach any name to it.

> 
> Max> First contact with one's Higher Self, and 
> then--as a natural outcome of the contact--a lot of wonderful things like 
> intuition, siddhis, and so forth.
> 
> 
> 	Sure. And how to make this contact? 
> Meditation techniques, exercises, etc. are just a *means* to
> channel the energies from the spiritual. I'm *not* talking about siddhis,
> I'm talking about directing the mind to the noetic plane or sphere
> and channel some energy into the system.
> Why do you think Blavatsky (& others) gave meditation techniques
> to her students? Because they were perfect channels for the Self?
> No, of course not. Blavatsky herself has stated that she needed help
> from the Masters to find the 'I Am', the Christ energy, the Buddhic
> level. So, I disagree that it is as easy to contact the Higher Self on a
> self-conscious basis as you seem to suggest.

Whether it is easy to contact the Self or not, of course depends on one's 
previous work. I did not suggest it's easy; for some it's not. 

I intended to emphasize that the TS yoga, if it does exist, should 
be more than just techniques of concentration and meditation: it has to 
be the techniques PLUS a specific sense of direction. Otherwise one does 
not need to go to HPB for advice: go to any hard-working businessman or 
financial analyst, and s/he will teach you a thing or two about *real*, 
no-nonsense concentration and meditation.

I do not quite understand what do you mean by directing the mind to the
noetic plane. If you mean directing the lower mind to Manas as a
constituent of the Higher Self (Atma-Buddhi-Manas), it's fine with me, and
I think both of us mean the same. 

As to how to make the contact, I would refer you back to the sources that 
you of course know very well, like Bhagavadgita and Patanjali's Yoga 
Sutras. It's perennial stuff. Of course I did not intend to teach you 
about or remind you of BG, YS, and the like.

> Max>So for me and for some others in the theosophical movement the main
> criterion to judge wheter or not a TS yoga exists, is to see if 
> theosophy offers any means of making the contact.  
>
> Well, does it offer any means in your experience? 
> And what are those means? 

It's not an issue for me at all. It was not me who first asked about TS yoga.
And I am not going to offer my own version of the TS yoga.
However, if it is about the Higher Self, than certain things may be 
stated about it, as well as any other Higher Self-oriented path, like 
Bhagavadgita, Upanishads, Christianity, Mahayana Buddhism, etc. (this is 
a comprehensive list).

> > Max
>This perspective on TS yoga elevates the whole issue to the level where 
> it properly belongs. 
> 
> Max: it belongs on the noetic plane, for sure. 

The Higher Self is distributed over several planes--do you call all of 
them in their totality 'the noetic plane'? If so it's unquestionable.

> But people are not pure channels through which the flow of Life streams 
> undefiled. People can purify themselves through their way of life 
> (motive is all important) and meditation techniques can be helpful 
> to some. People have all kinds of blockages and meditation exercises 
> can help them to become aware of them and do something on that, release 
> some blockages. Working in groups will have all kinds of effects too.. 

Did I say that meditation techniques are useless? I do not think so 
(first of all since I myself practice meditation on a regular basis, not 
so as a technique but rather as a more or less permanent communion with 
my Higher Self), but if I did it was a mistake and I take it back. 

To make it clearer, let me quote a technique from R.S.Mishra's 
"Fundamentals of Yoga" (1987 edition, p.56). It's called a 'technique to 
magnetize the body'--a hot thing among healers, but look how it is shaped 
in the context of raja yoga:

1. Place your body in comfortable posture,

2. Relax your body completely.

3. Repeat firmly samyama (fixation, suggestion, and sensation).

4. By pratyahara (withdrawal of energy), take charge of consciousness and 
energy at your disposal.

5. When the body is relaxed, feel pulsation and electromagnetic 
attraction in the entire body.

6. Feel identity with supreme consciousness and nadam [i.e. OM].

7. Forget completely the relation and union of the body at time of ptactice.

8. Your mind should register different sensations of nerve currents going 
on at the time of practice.

9. Remember the nature of the Self, which has eternal consciousness, 
existence, knowledge, peace, and bliss.

10. If lower desires come to your mind, check them immediately. [In this 
context 'lower desires' should mean all desires other that that of 
liberation.]

Now, it is likely that someone eager for personal development will grab 
the technique and start practicing it, eliminating all 'unnecessary' 
elements--likely victims include steps ## 6, 9, and 10. Don't you think 
it's going to chanhe the or pervert the entire thing? I observed it so 
often that I do not want to waste time proving it. 

Max