Brahmacharya - Part 2

Prayer For Purity “O Loving Lord of Compassion! Hey Prabhu! the Soul of my soul, the Life of my life, the Mind of my mind, the Ear of my ear, Light of lights, Sun of suns! Give me light and purity. Let me get established in physical and mental Brahmacharya. Let me be pure in thought, word and deed. Give me strength to control my Indriyas and observe the Brahmacharya Vrata. Protect me from all sorts of temptations of this world.

Let all my Indriyas be ever engaged in Thy sweet service. Wipe out the sexual Samskaras and Vasanas. Annihilate lust from my mind. Make me a true Brahmachari, Sadachari and an Urdhvareta Yogi. Let me be chaste in my look. Let me always walk in the path of righteousness. Make me as pure as Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda, Bhishma Pitamaha, Hanuman or Lakshmana. Forgive. Forgive all my Aparadham. I amThine. I am Thine. Trahi Trahi (protect protect). Prachodayat Prachodayat (guide me). OM OM OM.
Enlighten my Buddhi.”
Recipes For Brahmacharya
Prescriptions for Celibacy
1. Sirshasana 5 minutes
Sarvangasana 10 minutes
Fasts On Ekadasi days or on alternative Sundays. Japa one hour
Study of the Gita one hour
Meditation -half an hour
2. Siddhasana -45 minutes
Pranayama -half an hour
Milk and fruits -at night
Uddiyana Bandha -morning and evening
Keep the mind fully occupied by: Reading, gardening and Kirtan.
3. Kirtan -half an hour
Prayer -half an hour
Satsanga one hour
Triphala water -in the morning
Atma Vichara, Meditation -15 minutes

4. Trataka (gazing) on OM or Lord Krishna 10 minutes
Maha Mantra Bhajan -half an hour
Krishna Mantra Japa -half an hour
Badam and Misre -(in the early morning).
Huxley’s Nervigor Syrup with formates one tea-spoonful with four tea-spoonful of water
twice daily after food.
(You can combine all the above items to your best advantage)

From - yoga in daily life

Brahmacharya - Part 1

Without perfect Brahmacharya you cannot have substantial spiritual progress. There is no half-measure in the spiritual path. Control the body first. Then purify your thoughts through prayer, Japa, Kirtan, Vichara and meditation. Make a firm resolve “I will be a perfect Brahmachari from today.” May the Lord give you spiritual strength to resist temptation and kill lust!

Importance

Brahmacharya—that is the Divine world. It is the sum and substance of Yoga. Through Avidya that is forgotten. It is the supreme Yoga that Lord Krishna emphasises repeatedly in His Immortal Song—the Gita. In Chapter VI, Sloka 14, it is very clearly stated that the vow of Brahmacharya is necessary for meditation (Brahmachari vrate sthitah).

Again in Chapter XVII Sloka 14, He says that Brahmacharya is one of the austerities of the body (sarira tapas). Now we have one of the most important statements made in the Gita, that Yatis practise Brahmacharya in order to attain the goal, spoken of by the knowers of Veda (Chapter VIII Sloka 11). This is taken from Katha Upanishad (Chapter II Mantra 15). There Yama says to Nachiketas that the life of Brahmacharya is necessary to reach the goal: “That whose form and essential nature all the Vedas declare; in order to attain which they prescribe austerities; desiring to know which the great ones observe Brahmacharya; that symbol will briefly tell thee, it is OM.”

Change The Angle Of Vision

For a scientist a woman is a mass of electrons. For a Vaiseshic philosopher of Rishi Kanada’s school of thought, she is a conglomeration of atoms, Paramanu. Dvianu, Trianu (two atoms, three atoms). For a tiger she is a prey. For the passionate husband she is an object of enjoyment. For a crying child she is an affectionate mother, who will give it milk, sweets, and other comforts. For a jealous sister or sister-in-law she is an enemy. For a Viveki or Vairagi (a man of discrimination and dispassionate nature) she is a combination of flesh, bone, urine, faecal matter, wool, pus, perspiration, blood, phlegm, etc. For a full-blown Jnani she is Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman. “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma”—All is Brahman only. Name and forms are only mental creations like snake in the rope or man in the post.

Change the mental attitude (Bhava). You will have heaven on earth. You will be established in Brahmacharya. This is an important method for becoming a true Brahmachari. See Atman in all women. Reject all names and forms and take only the underlying essence—Asti-Bhati-Priya or Sat-Chit-Ananda. All names and forms are unreal, like the shadow, water in the mirage, blueness in the sky.

Mantras or Formulae

1. I am all Purity (Suddhoham) OM OM OM
2. Sexless Atman I am OM OM OM
3. There is neither lust nor sexual Vasana in Atman or Brahman OM OM OM
4. Lust is a mental Vikara; I am Sakshi of this modification OM OM OM
5. I am Asanga OM OM OM
6. My will is pure, strong and irresistible OM OM OM
7. I am fully established in physical and mental Brahmacharya now OM OM OM
8. I am feeling the purity now OM OM OM
Sit alone in your meditation room in Padma, Siddha, Svastika or Sukha Asana. Close your eyes. Slowly repeat again and again the above formulae mentally. Also let the mind dwell on the significance of the formulae. Saturate the mind with the above ideas. Your heart, mind, intellect and soul should feel the purity. Have the word image OM Purity clearly before the mind. Visualise the mental image. Your whole system, flesh, blood, bone, nerves, cells, molecules, atoms and electrons should powerfully vibrate with the above ideas.

You can have a sitting at night also. This is general meditation for Self-realisation. Sit for ten minutes. Increase the period to half an hour. Keep up the Bhava during work also. Write down on a piece of paper in bold types OM PURITY six times. Keep the paper in your pocket. Read it several times during the course of the day. Fix it in a prominent place in your house. Remember daily the Brahmachari-Saints like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda and their powerful actions.

Think about the multifarious advantages of Brahmacharya and disadvantages of impure life. Never leave the practice. Be regular and systematic. Gradually you will become purer and purer and ultimately you will become an Urdhvareta Yogi. Be patient.

From - Yoga in Daily Life

Create a Sacred Space

Choose A Spot That Draws You Inward
This is a time of focus. You acknowledge the space around you on which you are about to work. It should be quiet, with no interruptions. You pick a place for the feet and plant them, one by
one, deliberately connecting with the earth beneath. Participation at this level is important, if the link between your body and the ground is formed there is a centered calmness. Making a time and place for your yoga is essential for maintaining a regular practice. Choose a place which is warm and where there is enough room for you to move freely. It is helpful to practice
at the same time each day, the optimal times being sunrise and sunset. Choose a spot that draws you inward. Regular practice is the key to yoga. It is through practice that these seemingly impossible postures are mastered with comfort and ease within a reasonable time period. It is through practice that yoga becomes integrated in your life.
Practice
Decide how much time you have to practice each day (be realistic) and how many times a week. Begin all sessions with naulis, sun salutations, standing postures, sitting postures, meditation and finish with corpse.
From Ashtanga Yoga Manual

Rainbow Meditation

(Buddhist value: The children learn to discover their innate virtues and potentials) Feel your body becoming lighter and lighter. See all the colours of the rainbow. Feel your body becoming all of the colours of the rainbow. Slowly, you are now giving out red colour. Your whole body becomes red colour. Feel yourself giving out energy and strength. You are now full of energy and strength. Slowly, you are now giving out orange colour. Your whole body becomes orange colour. Feel yourself giving out happiness and joy. You are now full of happiness and joy. Slowly, you are now giving out yellow colour. Your whole body becomes yellow colour.Feel yourself giving out intelligence. You are now full of intelligence. 15 Slowly, you are now giving out green colour. Your whole body becomes green colour.Feel yourself giving out harmony and friendship. You are now full of harmony and friendship. Slowly, you are now giving out blue colour. Your whole body becomes blue colour. Feel yourself giving out peace. You are now full of peace.
From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Progress in meditation comes from skilfulness - Part 1

Progress in meditation comes from skilfulness.e mind without effort in meditation becomes dull.Don’t drop the attention. Keep the mind going, being aware of something (preferably citta), don’t stop.Keep seeing how things affect the mind.When things go wrong in meditation or with the retreat in general As Long I. It’s all part of it,this is the cool practice. No tension, check attitude, expectations, lobha. Do not react in practice, or outside it.Keep your mindfulness no matter what the problem. Keep that beauty of the heart.If you want to get a good result in meditation don’t be in a hurry. is ‘being in a hurry’ makes the mind agitated.Sometimes when you enjoy something you are not attached to it. at’s a kind of freedom. Enjoying something without being attached, without being greedy.As long as you are not lost in thought you are meditating, being here and now.Progress in meditation comes from skilfulness.e mind without effort in meditation becomes dull.Don’t drop the attention. Keep the mind going, being aware of something (preferably citta), don’t stop.Keep seeing how things affect the mind.When things go wrong in meditation or with the retreat in general Relax . It’s all part of it, Relax is the cool practice. No tension, check attitude, expectations, lobha. Do not react in practice, or outside it.Keep your mindfulness no matter what the problem. Keep that beauty of the heart.If you want to get a good result in meditation don’t be in a hurry. is ‘being in a hurry’ makes the mind agitated.Sometimes when you enjoy something you are not attached to it. at’s a kind of freedom. Enjoying something without being attached, without being greedy.As long as you are not lost in thought you are meditating, being here and now.Don’t think and run around too much. Save your energy.How is your meditation these days? When you stop thinking, when you even stop labelling, when your mind comes to a complete silence, alert, aware, then you see that fleeting nature, the dream like nature of things.If you cannot be mindful in your daily life you cannot develop understanding of life.Understanding of life and understanding of Dhamma go together.First of all learn to live your daily life mindfully, sanely.Do you understand wholesome and unwholesome states of mind?
From - Contemplation of the Mind

ASANA - part 2

1. Sit in a chair; head up, back straight, knees together, hands on knees, eyes closed. ("The God.") 2. Kneel; buttocks resting on the heels, toes turned back, back and head straight, hands on thighs. ("The Dragon.") 3. Stand; hold left ankle with right hand (and alternately practise right ankle in left hand, etc.), free forefinger on lips. ("The Ibis.") 4. Sit; left heel pressing up anus, right foot poised on its toes, the heel covering the phallus; arms stretched out over the knees: head and back straight. ("The Thunderbolt.")>> The extreme of Asana is practised by those Yogis who remain in one position without moving, except in the case of absolute necessity, {16} during their whole lives. One should not criticise such persons without a thorough knowledge of the subject. Such knowledge has not yet been published. However, one may safely assert that since the great men previously mentioned did not do this, it will not be necessary for their followers. Let us then choose a suitable position, and consider what happens. There is a sort of happy medium between rigidity and limpness; the muscles are not to be strained; and yet they are not allowed to be altogether slack. It is difficult to find a good descriptive word. "Braced" is perhaps the best. A sense of physical alertness is desirable. Think of the tiger about to spring, or of the oarsman waiting for the gun. After a little there will be cramp and fatigue. The student must now set his teeth, and go through with it. The minor sensations of itching, etc., will be found to pass away, if they are resolutely neglected, but the cramp and fatigue may be expected to increase until the end of the practice. One may begin with half an hour or an hour. The student must not mind if the process of quitting the Asana involves several minutes of the acutest agony. It will require a good deal of determination to persist day after day, for in most cases it will be found that the discomfort and pain, instead of diminishing, tend to increase. On the other hand, if the student pay no attention, fail to watch the body, an opposite phenomenon may occur. He shifts to ease himself without knowing that he has done so. To avoid this, choose a position which naturally is rather cramped and awkward, and in which slight changes are not sufficient to bring ease. Otherwise, for the first few days, the student may even imagine that he has conquered the position. In fact, in all these practices their apparent simplicity is such that the beginner is likely to wonder what all the fuss is about, perhaps to think that he is specially gifted. Similarly a man who has never touched a golf club will take his umbrella and carelessly hole a putt which would frighten the best putter alive. In a few days, however, in all cases, the discomforts will begin. As you go on, they will begin earlier in the course of the hour's exercise. The
disinclination to practise at all may become almost unconquerable. One must warn the student against imagining that some other position would be easier to master than the one he has selected. Once you begin to change about you are lost. Perhaps the reward is not so far distant: it will happen one day that the pain is suddenly forgotten, the fact of the presence of the body is forgotten, and one will realize that during the whole of one's previous life the body was always on the borderland of consciousness, {17} and that consciousness a consciousness of pain; and at this moment one will further realize with an indescribable feeling of relief that not only is this position, which has been so painful, the very ideal of physical comfort, but that all other conceivable positions of the body are uncomfortable. This feeling represents success. There will be no further difficulty in the practice. One will get into one's Asana with almost the same feeling as that with which a tired man gets into a hot bath; and while he is in that position, the body may be trusted to send him no message that might disturb his mind. Other results of this practice are described by Hindu authors, but they do not concern us at present. Our first obstacle has been removed, and we can continue with the others.
From : THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS

Walking Meditation

Walkinge Buddha said that the samadhi you develop from walking meditation is much stronger than the samadhi that you develop from sitting meditation.Very important to know because in the moving process if you can stay with that, the awareness is stronger.When you walk it is the sensation that should be the object of meditation. Not the seeing of the ‘lifting’ of the foot in the mind.How do you feel in the muscles? And also the mind, how do you feel in the mind?As you do the walking meditation what is in your mind? Let the mind choose the object, and just be aware of it. What is it doing now? What does it know?It is important to know and note what is the mind doing. You can take any object in walking meditation as long as the mind is known.Don’t go to objects let them come to you.Do you have greed, anger, expectations, or aversion in that mind that is meditating?If you don’t see your own mind (seeing your own mind is meditating) as you are meditating, and your own attitudes, your own mindsets, opinions views and ideas in that mind, you can’t say that you are practising.Attention of  to body and  to mind. Gradually go to  mind. Use the step as an anchor, begin by putting your attention at the heel of the foot, when mental activity appears turn your attention to the mind for as long as it takes.Deal with it until it clears, then return to your paying attention to your walking, until something appears in the mind again. en turn your attention to the mind, observe the mind.If some powerful, overwhelming mental state appears, stop and deal with it. Sit down on a chair if you have to, giving it  of your attention for as long as it takes to deal with it.Daily ActivitiesWhere is awareness?What is it doing?What is it aware of?Aware of something?What does that feel like?What are the sensations involved?Use body movements and sensations as reference point-anchor, and observe the mind. (Mental impressions, states, reactions).Again, when a powerful mental state appears turn your attention to it just like we said in walking.
From - Contemplation of the Mind