Meditation Handbook

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Meditation Handbook

Technology Induced Meditation | Sitting Meditation | Breathing Meditation | Mirror Gazing Meditation | Eye Gazing Meditation | Active Meditation | Soul Awareness Meditation | Sweeping House Meditation

Technology Induced Meditation

The altered states of mind achieved through conventional meditation can now be easily achieved within minutes using brainwave entrainment technology. While many other benefits of conventional meditation may be lacking using technology-induced meditation the results are dramatic and quick. Some warn that taking such a short cut may introduce individuals to experiences that they have not been prepared for.

Sitting Meditation

Classic sitting meditation is a vital part of all meditation traditions and has taken many forms, some more effective than others. Traditional approaches to meditation demand that the student sit motionless for hours as if becoming a human statue is the key to enlightenment. A more scientific approach does not make the human body our enemy but rather works with our natural physiology to allow more intense meditation with less effort and discomfort. Masochism is not an effective path to self-realization and the macho slogan "no pain, no gain" has no relevance to meditation.

Begin by finding a relatively quite place to meditate where you will not be disturbed. You can sit cross-legged on a meditation pillow on the floor or in a comfortable chair. Eyes can be fully open, half open, or just slightly open letting in two small slits of light.Sitting meditation with the eyes fully closed, especially in a darkened room, presents fundamental physiological problems.

When you sit quietly with your eyes closed in darkness your brain interprets this situation as a signal to start shutting itself down for sleep. Sleep inducing hormones such as melatonin are released that make you drowsy at the same time your circulation and heart rate are reduced due to lack of movement. You feel as if swept away on a sea of quite relaxation. This pleasant feeling may just be light sleep state hypnosis, not meditation. Meditation means that you are relaxed as if sleeping but your consciousness is fully awake.

To achieve a positive combination of deep relaxation and heightened awareness keep your eyes open at least slightly. If your eyes are fully closed then the room must remain brightly lit so that some light passes through the eyelids. The second defense against sleepiness is to break up your meditation into three fifteen-minute sessions that are easy for your body to tolerate. Sit quietly for fifteen minutes, then stand for two minutes, then sit for another fifteen minutes, then stand for two minutes, then sit for a final fifteen-minute session. This 49-minute technique can be done once a day, twice a day, or even three times a day for intense practice. You can time yourself by making a tape recording with the sound of a bell or a gong to let you known when to stand up, sit down, and begin and end the meditation.

This technique largely eliminates the problem of cramps, soreness, and numbness in legs often experienced by meditation students attempting to sit for longer periods of time than the body was naturally made to sit. The standing breaks increase blood circulation, which helps wakefulness. Comfort is maintained and we avoid the light, sleep state hypnosisproblem mentioned earlier.

The transitions between sitting and standing in this method are an opportunity to practice meditation in action. Normally unless we are physically ill our waking lives are spent in motion and activity. Meditation must not be thought of as something that is done only in a physically rigid state far removed from the world of work and play. The goal is to become meditative continuously so that your very being becomes cosmically conscious permanently and irrevocably. So when you stand up and sit down during these meditation sessions, feel the inner flow of meditation continue. Observe that your body is moving but your existential identity remains the same.

What do you do while sitting?

The most basic approach to meditation is to relax, let go, and do nothing. Surrender to the moment and watch yourself as a silent witness. If thoughts come to mind then observe the thoughts without adding to them by your active participation. Be a detached and passive observer and simply feel your most basic and fundamental being. This inherently immense being has been respectfully called the ground of being.

Breathing Meditation

Another method is to lend special awareness to the breathing process felt in the belly. Just behind and below your navel (belly button) lies the hara.The hara is a natural balancing point of your consciousnessthat can be thought of as the center of your subtle body. What the hara actually is no one really knows but we can use it to our advantage. When your consciousness is centered at the hara instead of in the head your thinking process slows down and can even stop. When the thinking process slows down you can relax in the expanded world of pure being. Trying to stop distracting thoughts by will power alone can often lead to even more thoughts and a self-defeating inner struggle. By transferring your center of consciousness to the hara thoughts gradually disappear on their own without any inner conflict. This is why you see Buddha statues with a big belly. This is an esoteric message that the hara is a key to meditation.

Sit quietly and focus on your belly as it moves in and out as you breathe. Over time the hara point will become noticeable, as your meditation grows stronger. We all feel the hara when suddenly startled or in intense danger. Sudden emergencies, such as near collisions on the highway, tend to push consciousness to the belly center. You get a "gut reaction" from sudden danger. You can nourish the feeling of the hara by simply paying passive attention to it. This relaxed concentration is very close to doing nothing yet is still a subtle effort. Drinking warm liquids such as herb tea or a cup of hot water before meditation sessions relaxes the gut and facilitates awareness of the hara. Overeating and consuming cold drinks tends to make hara awareness more difficult.

WARNING: Avoid the use of mantras and repetitive chanting. Repeating the same words over and over is a method of forgetfulness, which will bore the mind, and leads to the light sleep state hypnosis problem mentioned earlier. Mantra use has proven to be medically helpful for some people because it unleashes hormones that can temporarily calm the mind. Mantras are healthier than taking tranquilizers but they are fundamentally different from meditation, which relies on the purifying fire of self-observation. Self-observation is a difficult task that requires courage and an endurance of character and spirit. Real meditation has the real payoff of leading to a naturally calm expanded state of consciousness, not just an artificially silenced mind that remains fundamentally shallow.

There are powerful words that can help you to expand your consciousness but they form a strategic question, not a mantra. Before formal meditation sessions slowly and deliberately repeat the question "Who am I?" three times. Invoke this question with intensity and ask it from the hara center, not from the head. Do not think of intellectual explanations regarding who you are but rather resonate the question deep inside you without expectation of an answer. Over time you will find these words become a trigger mechanism that allows your mind to instantly drop all peripheral involvement and come home to the true center of your being. You can then use this existential questioning any time of day or night you wish to refocus your consciousness on the essential fact of your cosmic identity.

Mirror Gazing Meditation

Sit in front of a mirror and gaze into your own eyes for twenty minutes. Allow your eyes to deeply relax focus and become a silent witness to the moment to moment act of seeing and observing. Your reflection in the mirror will start to change shape and take different forms. You will appear to be changing from one person to another, the same soul in different bodies. Are the new faces you see from past lives, fantasies of the mind, or just the fluid nature of your own visual field consciousness? Do not expect to answer this question with certainty because it is inherently unanswerable. I personally suspect the visual changes are caused by a combination of all three factors mentioned.

Enjoy the mirror gazing for twenty minutes and then stand up for two minutes, maintaining your heightenedawareness as you change position. Then resume sitting in quite meditation for ten minutes with eyes almost totally closed, allowing in just two slits of light. Be aware of your being existing in it's most basic form without activity. This method is to be used occasionally but not on a daily basis. Ancient meditators even before the invention of manufactured mirrors used such self-observation techniques. The ancient ones used reflective pools of water for their experiments in cosmic consciousness.

Eye Gazing Meditation

To do this technique you must have a partner of the opposite sex, preferably someone you love. It is identical to the mirror gazing technique described above except you look into the eyes of your loved one. Sit together staring softly into your partners eyes for twenty minutes, then stand for two minutes, then sit in quiet meditation with eyes almost totally closed for ten minutes. This technique can readily lead to romantic intimacy so pick your partner carefully. Like the mirror gazing technique it is meant to be practiced once in a while but not every day.

Active Meditation

This active meditation technique is a cosmic powerhouse that can be used by students in good health with a normal cardiovascular system. As it is a physically strenuous exercise one should get a complete physical examination by a competent doctor before trying it. Explain the technique to your doctor and ask if it would be physically dangerous for you to do. He won't understand your motives for wanting to do it but he can tell you if he thinks your body and heart can take it. As with jogging or mountain climbing you must practice this method at your own risk.

This method is similar to Rajneesh "Dynamic Meditation" but is simpler, easier to do, and more likely to keep you interested month after month, year after year. I have found that most people will benefit from doing this method daily for a period of from one to five years. After five years most people simply do not need to do it any more. It changes you from head to toe and benefits all the other meditation techniques you practice. It also helps you develop a powerful hara center. I am reluctant to bring up the subject of kundalini (see definition near the bottom of the page) because of the common misrepresentations of that subject. I feel compelled, however, to honestly inform you that this technique is the most powerful kundalini method I know about. This active meditation has three stages and lasts for forty minutes.

Stage #1 (ten minutes)Start by standing with your eyes closed (blindfold optional) and breath deep and fast through your nose continuously. If you are only physically capable of doing deep breathing for five minutes then reduce the length of the first stage without feeling guilty. Remember that you are doing this method to help your meditation, not to physically injure yourself. Allow your body to move freely as you breathe. You can jump up and down, sway back and forth, or use any physical motion that helps you pump more oxygen into your lungs.

Stage #2 (twenty minutes) The second stage is a celebration of catharsis and wild and spontaneous dancing. Let go totally and act as an ancient human being dancing in tribal celebration. Energetic, nonverbal background music is highly recommended. African tribal drum music works especially well. You may roll on the ground and do strange spontaneous body movements. Allow the body to move within the limits of not hurting yourself or others. For once in your life screaming is encouraged. You must act out any anger you have in a safe way such as beating the earth with your hands. All the suppressed emotions from your subconscious mind are to be released. "The ghosts in the machine must come out".If anytime during the second stage you feel that your energy level is starting to decline you can resume deep and fast breathing to give yourself a boost.

Stage #3 (ten minutes) This stage is complete relaxation and quite. Flop down on your back, get comfortable and just let go. Be as if a dead man, totally surrendered to the cosmos. Enjoy the tremendous energy you have unleashed in the first two stages and be a silent witness to it. Observe the feeling of the ocean flowing into the drop. Become the ocean.

This dramatic active meditation technique is intended to grow with the student and change as the student changes. After a few years of vigorously practicing this method the first two stages of the meditation will drop away spontaneously. You may then begin the meditation by taking a few deep breaths and immediately go deep into the ecstasy of the third stage. If practiced correctly this method is health giving and fun.

WARNING: One must practice this vigorous technique in a safe location. Not near the edge of a cliff or on a hard surface where one might fall and break one's skull. A large room or hall with thick carpeting is good. Outdoors in the early morning on a soft and well-tended lawn with group participation is best. Do it on an empty stomach and avoid falling into dangerous objects such as windows. It is allowable to briefly open one's eyes occasionally to maintain your location. Create a safety zone around your dancing and spontaneous body movements. Be courteous to neighbors and delete the screaming if it will be heard by others.

Soul Awareness Meditation

This method is recommended for those students who have practiced the other described techniques long enough to gain a feeling of floating body less. If you cannot feel your subtle body you cannot practice this method effectively. In the beginning it should only be used during formal sitting meditation sessions. Latter on, after you have gained some progress with the method, you can use an evolved version of the meditation while engaged in any activity that does not require thinking or your full attention. For example you can practice it while walking in a safe location away from highway traffic.

Begin experimenting with this method while sitting with eyes fully open. Softly gaze at a wall or out a window. With the mind's eye (the eye of consciousness behind your body's purely physical eyes) define your field of visual consciousness as a circle. Imagine the top of your field of consciousness as the 12 o'clock position on a clock and the bottom of your field of consciousness as the 6 o'clock position. With your mind's eye, not your physical eyes, slowly sweep your attention clockwise from the top 12 o'clock position down to the 6 o'clock position, then on to the 9 o'clock position and then back up to the 12 o'clock position. Repeat this process in the counterclockwise direction. Mentally strain to observe the very outer edges of your visual field of consciousness where the light of consciousness turns into the darkness of empty space. Go on repeating this process until you feel you have had enough.

This is a soul awareness exercise, not an eye exam, and that is why it is recommended only for students with a number of years of experience in meditation. After practicing this method for some time one can begin to transform the method into one of sudden expansion of awareness. You can gain the ability to perceive the complete 360 degrees of the outer edges of your consciousness in one jump. This feels like stepping back, literally out of your own mind, and looking back into your mind from a close and friendly distance. You become identified with the void and space around the flame of consciousness and this makes the flame grow even brighter. This truly esoteric method is difficult to fully explain and there are aspects of it that you will have to learn on your own through practice.

One discovers from this technique that our visual field of consciousnessis roughly football shaped with greater width than height. This is because our brains evolved out of a need to look for food and danger more on the horizontal axis than on the vertically axis. To survive you need to be aware of what is on your right and left more than what is directly below your feet or above your head. This soul awareness method has a deprogramming effect that allows one to appreciate the play of existence as an ever-changing drama. You feel as if you are in it but also out of it and beyond it.

Sweeping House Meditation

This is an easy technique designed to quickly sweep the clutter of thoughts from your mind. It can be used before starting formal sitting meditation sessions or anytime during the day you feel you have lost your existential focus. Begin by placing both hands behind your head with fingers interlocked. Rest your hands at the point where the neck and the head meet. Then slowly sweep your hands over the top of your head. Imagine that your hands are gathering up all your thoughts as they move. When your hands reach your forehead use a flicking motion as you simultaneously unlock your fingers and throw your hands away from your face. Feel as if all your thoughts are being swept out of your head and discarded. Do this between three and seven times as needed and then relax and enjoy the inner silence. This method takes less than one minute to do and can be used at bedtime to help free the mind from the problems of the day.

Definition: kundalini (k¢n´de-lê´nê) noun of Hindu origin. Physical and sexual energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine is activated through esoteric kundalini practice. This energy is directed through the kundalini channel in the etheric body upward to the top of the head.

Sweeping House with a Kicker

A variation of the sweeping house technique is to add a breathing stage after the sweeping stage is complete. Place your right palm (reverse hands if you are lefthanded) on your upper forehead and place your left palm on the back of the right hand. Now take four to seven deep breaths through the nose and feel as if you are drawing the air all the way down to your belly. Fully exhale in a normal and relaxed fashion after each breath. This breathing technique is not the bastrika method used in traditional yoga. It is ordinary deep breathing done with intensity and fullness. After exhaling the last breath, sit motionless for a few moments with your hands still on your upper forehead. Cooperate with any upward flow of energy you may feel. This energetic method can be done every ten minutes during an hour long sitting meditation session to create a safe and effective kundalini technique.

You can be creative

After you have become comfortable with the meditation techniques individually you can learn to incorporate them simultaneously to multiply their effectiveness. For example, combining hara awareness and the use of the self-inquiry incantation can be an extremely powerful method. There are no rigid one-size-fits-all meditation techniques. Follow your intuition and let the methods evolve to fit your own individuality. Don't take the time suggestions for methods as rigid limits. If you desire to extend your meditation sessions then go with the flow.

The wanting mechanism

What is one of the most important factors in keeping us diverted from meditation in the here and now? Look inside your mind and find the wanting mechanism. The wanting mechanism continuously constructs images of new experiences the mind desires, derived from memories of the past. The mind becomes enamored with these new fantasy images and is diverted from what actually is, here and now. The eternal cosmic consciousness exists here and now, never in the future and never in the past. Future and past are illusory and do not exist in any real physical form outside of the projections of our own minds. What exists now is everything, and you already have it. You only need to become conscious of your own wealth.

Wanting is part of life, creativity, family building, wealth creation, and the survival instinct. In the sense of preserving the human race on planet earth, wanting is a very good thing. In the sense of an individual becoming an awakened Buddha, wanting is a hindrance. Wanting creates duality, the wanter and that which is desired. The essay, Call For a New Buddhism, touches on this issue. Siddhartha Gautama taught that desire is a root cause of suffering. The questions is, how many of us can and should take the last steps to enlightenment by dropping the wanting mechanism totally?

Not wanting means not wanting anything; not just dropping the desire for sex, money, and power, but also dropping the desire for truth, justice, family, and nation. It is not what you want that matters, it is the wanting mechanism itself that is the barrier. Deep meditation is a giant leap beyond logic and the norms of society. It is dissolving into infinity and oblivion and not coming back. Very few humans have been able to manage that radical transformation totally and that is why enlightenment will always be an extremely rare phenomena.

If everyone in the world suddenly became enlightened, in my opinion, the human race would come to an end. There would be a lack of sufficient desire to keep people motivated enough to have families, raise children, grow crops, and protect society from all the natural threats, from disease to ecological disaster. That said, I certainly believe that enlightenment is a desirable goal for those who really want it. But you can see the impossibility of the situation. When you "want" enlightenment your wanting mechanism is still active and enlightenment will not happen to you. So we can breathe easy that everyone in the world will not become enlightened, all at the same time, anytime soon.

The need for meditation many people feel is beyond normal logic and beyond the scope of words to fully express. I can tell you that a key to experiencing superconsciousness, from the moment you wake up in the morning until the moment you fall asleep at night, is to step back from the wanting mechanism. This stepping back is only possible for those who have reached at least the fourth stage (see The Seven Stages of Consciousness). Otherwise you will not have the energy and clarity to see the wanting mechanism and realize what is involved in turning it off. You will suppress desires and live a false life because you have not yet found the inner key, which is an intense form of self-observation, not suppression. Therefore, in a way, I am stating publicly that which should remain unspoken. If you try to artificially stop wanting when you are in the first stage of consciousness you will never reach the second stage. Even in the third stage this method of not wanting will only slow your progress, because it will be a false effort.

I do not know how long it takes for this process of stepping back from the wanting mechanism to become 100% effective. As an ordinary student, I am only now, after decades of effort, beginning to make any real progress with it. I felt obligated to mention this esoteric topic because this Web page was constructed to convey all of the best methods and the most usable of the secret teachings. Ending the wanting mechanism had to be mentioned and those who are ready for that step will find that it brings time to a halt, annihilates the future and the past, and expands consciousness to the far reaches of the universe. It is a silent, inner explosion.

Ask yourself these questions.

1) If you want something, how can you stop thinking about it?

2) If you don't want anything, what is there to think about?

3) If you don't want anything, is there anything to be angry about?

4) If you don't want anything, is there anything to make you unhappy?

5) Rocks and other inanimate objects do not want and they do not suffer, but they are unconscious and dead. How does a living human being enter a no-wanting statewhile fully conscious and filled to the brim with life energy? That is the incredible contradiction and difficulty in becoming enlightened.

At some point on your own noble path you will see very clearly that wanting is a barrier. That realization may hit you suddenly like a freight train (my blood is still on the tracks) or gradually creep into your consciousness over time. Only when you see it clearly on your own should you try to step back from the wanting mechanism. Until that right time occurs you will be needed to save this beautiful planet earth, to raise families, and to be good citizens. Take meditation one step at a time. Do not try to imitate the final steps into the abyss while you are still at the foot of the mountain.

How long should I meditate?

The time a person needs to spend in formal meditation sessions to gain maximum benefit depends on ever-changing individual circumstances. If you are meditating with a group you will gain from the group energy and go further with less effort. If you are fortunate enough to be living close to an enlightened teacher you may be able to absorb some of his high energy without any effort at all. If you are meditating alone, without support from others, you will have to do all the heavy lifting yourself.

My general recommendation is that a single forty minute meditation session practiced every day is a minimum effort, and scientists have proven that amount of meditation is enough to physically enlarge portions of the brain involved in inner awareness. Meditation only works for those who are hungry for it, and if you cannot spare forty minutes a day you will probably not gain substantial results. If you wish to go faster, with clearly recognizable progress, then I suggest two or three formal meditation sessions every day. A specific recommendation for young, physically fit beginners would be to practice Cathartic Dancing Meditation in the morning and one of the quiet sitting meditations at night.

It is of paramount important to practice mindfulness throughout the day. To be of any real value, meditation must become a full-time way of living rather than a strictly segregated activity. Choose methods that make you feel more positive. Meditation should be a form of cosmic hedonism, not a penance one must perform as an obligation.

Things to do, things to avoid, and things to consider

Work in groups when possible as group energy can multiply the energy of an individual many times over.

Remember that meditation is an escape to reality, not an escape from reality. Avoid any guru or group that asks you to deny truth.

Don't limit yourself to just one teacher. The single guru approach can lead to cult thinking with its small mindedness and us vs. them syndrome.

Hatha yoga can make you more energetic and fit for long meditation sessions, but do not take it too seriously or become obsessed with extreme gymnastics. The easy and basic hatha yoga exercises work best. Extreme kundalini yoga exercises that involve fast breathing in bizarre positions may be dangerous and are not recommended. Men should never sit with their heels pressed behind the testicles, as some yogis and Buddhist monks instruct, as this practice is unhealthful and can cause sterility.

Having a separate room used exclusively for meditation can be very helpful. It is possible to build up a vibration in a room so that the moment you enter it your mind becomes silent and ready to go deep into meditation.

Avoid fads (newage therapists kill girl)and complicated philosophies that give your mind more to think about. Meditation is a step beyond the thought process. No philosophy can adequately describe man's place in the universe. Concentrate on meditation in this moment and not on ancient scriptures. Many old scriptures were written by madmen and fools and have gained respect from society simply because they are so old and dusty.

It is essential to maintain a nutritionally adequate diet without becoming a food fanatic. Most people find that a semi-vegetarian diet supplemented with dairy products and eggs is generally best for meditation, but not essential. If you have a medical problem like hypoglycemia, you may have to eat meat just to survive. Even the Atkins high fat, high protein diet is perfectly compatible with meditation.

Food should not be made the fundamental basis of your spiritual practice. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, yet his diet did not make him virtuous or even nonviolent. Most Tibetan lamas and Asian Zen monks eat meat, so obviously meat consumption is not a serious obstacle to cosmic consciousness. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that a vegetarian diet extends lifespan or improves health. Nations with the highest longevity rates, such as Japan, Sweden, and Australia are all populated by avid meat eaters.

Fasting is a waste of time and will weaken you physically. Like taking LSD,fasting creates strangely entertaining short term experiences but produces no long term benefits and can cause permanent neurological damage. When you fast your body literally feeds upon itself. If your brain needs protein for repair work, your body will be directed to eat away its own own muscles, or worse, your own peripheral nerve cells. People fast because their heads feel cluttered with thoughts and they hope planned starvation will purify their minds. The human body is made of mud, water and dirt, so the idea of a perfect, spiritually purified physical body is misguided. The way to end the cluttered feeling is to change the way your brain and energy body function, and this can only be accomplished through meditation techniques.

I do not recommend solitary meditation retreats of longer than seven days duration. To maintain health one must eat a balanced diet and get rigorous physical exercise every day. To maintain full brain function one must also get mental exercise through interaction with other human beings and through problem solving. If you meditate in isolation for months or years your body and brain will become deconditioned and atrophy. You may develop strange hallucinations and delusions and come back physically weaker with a measurably lower IQ.

Avoid drugs and alcohol. Carlos Castanedawas a talented fiction writer who misled many people. Drugs are not an effective path to enlightenment, but they are a quick path to misery and insanity.

Have sex when you wish and do not force celibacy upon yourself in the hopes that it will lead to enlightenment. To meditate one must be in a very natural and relaxed state of mind without repression or tension. Celibacy can only be of value if it occurs spontaneously without effort or thought. The majority of famous Eastern gurus who have claimed celibacy publicly have practiced intercourse privately. Why make sex a big secret and why have two faces? Many fully enlightened humans have had sexual relations even after enlightenment.

Practice choiceless awareness (one object vision, mindfulness etc.) throughout the day. Meditation must become as continuous and spontaneous as breathing.

Don't make meditation a competition and drop any hidden agenda you may have to use it to control others. Legitimate motives for meditation are the desire for tranquility and ecstasy, freedom from suffering, and the pure adventure of self-exploration.

Don't turn your meditation into a business. People who make a profit from intercourse have turned something beautiful into something ugly. Those who make money from meditation have transformed a noble path into a sordid back alley. Whether you are a sexual prostitute or a spiritual prostitute, the fundamental quality of your mind is the same.

Be completely honest and have just one face, not two.

One of the most dangerous thoughts you can have is to think that you have lost your ego!

For every action there is a reaction, not just in theoretical physics, but in ordinary human life as well. When you create positive actions you will eventually reap positive reactions for yourself and for others. In this way what we call ethics and morality are woven into the very fabric of the universe, right down to the subatomic level.

Enlightenment

The fastest meditation method is to live in the company of an enlightened human being. Enlightened teachers can expand your consciousness without the slightest effort on your part. All you need to do is to be open to the spontaneous transfer of energy. Fully enlightened human are very rare. There may have been as few as seven fully enlightened teachers in the now past 20th century. I do not know of any fully enlightened teachers still living today, but that does not mean they do not exist. More enlightened teachers will be coming in the future and it is your challenge to find them while avoiding the many fakes.

When it comes to gurus, even fully enlightened gurus, take the best and leave the rest. No human being has ever been perfect and without major flaws and limitations (see The Ridiculous Teachings of Wrong Way Rajneesh). Only myths can give you the illusion of perfection. That is why most of society continues to worship invented myths rather than accepting reality as it is, warts and all. Enlightened humans are vastly expanded human beings, not perfect human beings.

It is my educated opinion that the traditional guru-disciple relationship is now passéand inappropriate for Western students of meditation. The East has always had an imperial and authoritarian model for the teacher-student relationship. The West must develop its own more democratic traditions based on science and fact, not on myth and tradition. Be a devoted disciple, but make your ultimate guru the total life experience itself, not just a single fallible human being. Use human teachers as temporary tools on your path to self-realization, but do not allow yourself to become the captive servant of one fallible human mind.

* Definition: kundalini (k¢n´de-lê´nê) nounof Hindu origin. The ancient Hindus defined kundalini as a process whereby sexual energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine is activated and directed upward to the top of the head. A scientific, neurology based explanation for the kundalini experience has not yet been found.

Links

Call For a New Buddhism
The TES Hypothesis
The Seven Stages of Consciousness
Osho, Bhagwan Rajneesh, and the Lost Truth
The Ridiculous Teachings of Wrong Way Rajneesh
Common Lies of the Phony World of Mystics
Do you have a soul?
The Brain Jockey Club
Guest author Adithya K. on "The Brain and Meditation"
U.G. Krishnamurti speaks more truth than any teacher I know of. I have never met him and do not know if he is "enlightened." -
Jiddu Krishnamurti A dry, publicly humorless teacher who was uniquely lovable. His powerful vibrations can still be felt at Arya Vihara, Krishnamurti's former home in Ojai, California.
Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti
Ramana Maharshi Every major religious group in India agreed that Ramana Maharshi was enlightened.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a liar and drunk who many consider enlightened despite it all.
The 17th Karmapa is an interesting Buddhist new teacher. -

Suggested Readings

Meetings With Remarkable Men, by G.I. Gurdjieff, Viking Penguin Books. No tedious philosophy here, just the pure adventure of the search for truth.

The "God" Part of the Brain, by Matthew Alper, available at http://godpart.com/ or http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Alper details the logical scientific argument that spirituality is the product of genetics and bio-chemistry, and that God, soul, and reincarnation are inventions of the human brain, used as a device to relieve the tremendous stress of death awareness.

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