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Showing posts with the label Sufism

Ancient Spiritual Symbols, Their True Meaning and Mistaken Occult Practices

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Abstract: Throughout human history, we have encountered various spiritual practices and associated secret symbols that were intended to convey a deeper and purer spiritual message than their literal meanings suggest. Unfortunately, after the disappearance of true mystics, these messages were deliberately misinterpreted and co-opted for various occult practices and dark magic, often associated with secret societies and religious orders. For several centuries, these misinterpretations or fabricated concepts have instilled fear in the human psyche due to a lack of genuine insights into human consciousness. Even today, we often draw conclusions about these secret societies and link conspiracy theories to their symbols. This post aims to explore these ancient secret symbols more deeply and uncover their true meaning in relation to the supreme enlightenment of all bodhisattvas, from all religious traditions, going beyond their religious backgrounds and creeds. Fig. 1: Various religious symbo...

Meditators: Beware of Trickster Spirits (Everything Glitters is not Gold) !

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If you are coming from a pure Vipassana (Mindfulness) background, this is highly unlikely the case. If you have a strong Shamatha/Chakra activation background (Maha-Tantra-Yana), then this post is for you. Usually the meditators, energy healers are exposed to the, higher dimensional region called the spirit realm. Upon activating certain chakras in our body, the subtle energy channels and winds can bring you to subtle meditative absorptions starting from the Sambhogakaya (spirit-level) samadhis to clear-lights. They are referred to as sun-like, moon-like nature of our mind respectively. Theravada Buddhism also briefly talks about these meditative absorptions. Usually this spirit realm starts from the 6th Chakra energy level. From this level to the Dharmakaya level, there are several levels to the spirit realm, which is diverse. Beings from lower realms usually mislead the "genuine" spiritual practitioners, especially when their soul is getting closer to its purity. This post ...

Vipassana: For All Purposes, for All People and for All Seasons

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Abstract: Vipassana practice is unique to Buddhism. It is said that Gautham Buddha had found this practice 2500 years ago, which lead him to his final liberation under the Bodhi tree. However we find different forms of Vipassana practices in other religions too. This could be true as Vipassana essentially means, "Insight Meditation" which can be practiced by anybody despite their religious or ethnic background. There are many programs nowadays offering seasonal Vipassana retreats (during Monsoons). We believe that Vipassana practice is the sure remedy to end our suffering and to be free from mind projections. But how so? And what is the true from of Vipassana? This article covers only the practicality of Vipassana and relate them to Buddha's enlightenment.    Fig. 1: Vipassana : From meditation to a quality of mind. When it comes to the practice of meditation, there are thousand different forms to it. Similarly in Vipassana meditation. The aim of this article is to bring ...

Sexual Slavery vs Sexual Mastery : Karma Mudra - Do they practice it right ?

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Abstract: When we talk about "Tantra", most likely the first thing crosses our mind is "Sex". Terms Tantra and Sex have become so interrelated in our mind, despite its true meaning: To go beyond mind. Tantra means the interwoven nature of existential phenomena. In other words, the existential phenomena and the buddha nature are inseparable, intertwined with each other and therefore, our very (mundane) life is the perfect playground to exploit, practice spirituality, according to Tantra. As the saying goes, "passion" was the source of universal creation and therefore can be exploited to end it. This principle gave the rise to the practice of sexual yoga or "Karma Mudra". For an ordinary being, this is certainly a drive force to practice Tantra. Would it be same for a bodhisattva ? Let's dig into this deeper and explore the science behind it.  Note: Please do not try anything in this content at home !  Reports on sexual scandals and misconduct ...

Past Lives: Do They Matter ? How the Spirituality Affects Your Next Life ?

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Abstract: In any authentic spiritual practice, we do not delve into our past lives. Any meditation we do, we do it for our peace, liberation and to find ourselves. Any meditation we do for getting to know our past lives, to gain psychic abilities mostly end up screwing ourselves. Instead these qualities and abilities should naturally stem from our genuine effort to know ourselves. As byproducts! Certain spiritual traditions highly emphasize about the reincarnation of human beings, ever running samsaric cycles. But if we forget what we become in next life, why bother ? Why practicing spirituality ?   This goes like a conversation between a Master (not a teacher) and a Disciple..... Disciple : Master, I do like to know my past lives. I want to recollect these memories. How to do that ? Master : Why did you come here in the first place ? Why being distracted to know something else ? Why don't you meditate diligently and let everything reveal by itself ? Disciple : ...

Self vs No-Self: Are They Really Opposing Ideas ?

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Abstract: Most Abrahamic and Indian traditions emphasize realizing the "Self" nature of the individual. On the contrary, Buddhism thrives to realize "No-Self" nature. They seem to be contradictory in their definitions and names. But we learnt that we share the same human body, mind and energy system despite the religious background we come from. Then there should not be two types of liberations, and this article brings some light and wisdom by demystifying these concepts, that clears up the confusion.     Gautham Buddha's teaching has flourished throughout the Asia, reaching out to the lands of far east. Some people even fight over the birthplace of Buddha, proclaiming he was originally from their home countries (i.e. Sri Lanka and Iran) even by presenting historical accounts and archeological evidences. However Buddha's main teaching is to let him born within ourselves, turning our hearts to be the ground where a lotus can bloom. Turning our gross minds to...