Tantra and Supernatural Power

Tantra and Supernatural Power

By Mahasambhuti 

The science of spirituality developed out of human beings’ innate desire to unravel the mystery of creation.  Humans began to search for the secret causes underlying both the dreadful and the beautiful aspects of Nature.  They looked around them at the rivers and streams, the far-flung mountain ranges, the flashes of lightning; they heard the thunder; they listened to the roaring of ferocious animals – and they began to plumb the depths of these mysteries.  These endeavours to get at the hidden truth of everything are what is known as Tantra.  Since these endeavours were carried on at different times, in different places, and by different groups of individuals, we find some differences in methodology among the various schools of Tantra.

Tantra originated in [South] Asia, and its propounders were the Austrics, the Dravidians, and the Mongolians.⁽¹⁾ Among these peoples, the Dravidians and the Mongolians were more developed, the Austrics less.  The practitioners of the more-developed Tantra would look upon things from a broad point of view, renouncing all narrow thinking.  They would always strive hard to advance the welfare of the masses.  Through such selfless service, they would overcome the fetters of the mind, such as hatred and shame.  The practitioners of the less-developed Tantra would behave in just the opposite way.  They would indulge in casteism; in expressions of untouchability; and in expressions of hatred and envy in relation to other groups.

The overcoming of material bondages signifies the greatest human progress.  The word tantra signifies that one “frees oneself from the bondages of crudity", therefore Tantra is considered the most progressively practical of spiritual practice.  Lord Sadáshiva was the first propounder of this Tantra.  He developed certain fixed rules, and thereby ensured all-round progress in the different aspects of human life.  He brought about a perfect system, reviewing and coordinating all branches of Tantra.  He researched and proved the efficacy of both the [external] and the [internal] aspects of Tantra.⁽²⁾ The [external] aspect of Tantra consisted of sádhaná with skulls, in cemeteries.  The [internal] aspect of Tantra consisted of the practice of yoga.  [It is ultimately] through [internal] Tantra that human beings can reach the heights of spiritual success.

Human beings can never win liberation by flattering Prakrti.  An entity which is flattered becomes proud.  Human beings must not become the slaves of matter.  If sádhakas will worship Puruśa and ignore Prakrti, they will find that Prakrti will automatically begin to flatter them.

There is no such thing as “supernatural” in this world.  All sorts of powers lie dormant in human beings. Sometimes we get glimpses of these latent powers.  In a more-developed terminology, these glimpses will be called “intellect” or “intuition”.  Human beings can develop that which they have glimpsed, eventually attaining extraordinary powers.  In the eyes of ordinary people, these powers appear to be supernatural, but actually they are natural.  But it is a fact that ordinary persons cannot do these extraordinary things, and that is why they look upon these powers as supernatural.

Tantra is a source of such extraordinary powers.  Within a short period, all the páshas and ripus [fetters and enemies] which bind the mind become broken.  As long as the mind is in bondage, it tends to move towards crude material objects; that is, the mind remains inextricably associated with matter.  But once the bondages become snapped through the practice of Tantra, the mind becomes detached from those crude objects.  This implies the elevation of human beings, because [it is through detachment that] physical, psychic, and spiritual progress becomes possible.  Humans are predominantly mental beings, and sometimes [certain of them] develop extraordinary intellect; because of their greater concentration of mind, their societies consider them to be a superior type of person.

When we talk about the ripus [enemies] of the mind, we mean only the [internal, or, innate] enemies.⁽³⁾ For a human being to bring the ripus under perfect control signifies an important victory.  Those persons who can do so attain greater control over the forces of matter, and can perform feats that in the eyes of the common masses betoken some kind of supernatural power.

In Tantra the endeavour to establish control over matter or over external forces is called avidyá sádhaná.  And the practice which leads to self-realization is called vidyá sádhaná.  And that branch of Tantra which is neither vidyá sádhaná nor avidyá sádhaná is called upavidyá sádhaná.  Only vidyá sádhaná contributes to the welfare of humanity; the other two practices are merely a waste of time.  Márańa, uccát́ana, sammohan, váshiikárańa, etc., come within the definition of avidyá sádhaná.  The practice of avidyá leads to degradation.  Sadáshiva, the original propounder of Tantra, collected and systematized all the branches of Tantra, but He did not encourage the practice of avidyá, because it is an inferior order of sádhaná.  When people practise sádhaná in order to attain “supernatural” powers, their mental objects ultimately become crude, for after attaining such powers, they utilize them for self-aggrandizement or for revenge.

Vidyá sádhaná was almost extinct for the last 1200 years.  And there are now only a handful of real Avidyá Tantrics left – the rest are charlatans and hypocrites.  After death, these people will be reborn as worms and insects.

Human beings practise sádhaná in order to become one with Brahma, not to become ghosts or ghouls.  To become one with Brahma, they must practise Vidyá Tantra, not Avidyá Tantra.  Of course through either kind of sádhaná, sádhakas gain freedom from the páshas and ripus.  But the difference between the two sádhanás is that the practitioners of Vidyá Tantra channelize their spiritual powers towards the attainment of Paramátmá, whereas the practitioners of Avidyá Tantra utilize their acquired powers for mundane benefits.  Through Vidyá Tantra one “binds” [wins] Paramátmá, while through Avidyá Tantra one binds [dominates] living beings.  Vidyá Tantrics accept Paramátmá as their object of supreme adoration, and in order to become one with Him, they channelize all the powers they have acquired towards Him.

From a medical point of view also, Tantra sádhaná has its usefulness.  In ancient times there were Vedic experts in áyurveda.⁽⁴⁾ But as they were not Tantrics, they were handicapped in fully utilizing their medical knowledge to cure patients.  Because of their prejudices – their hatred of certain groups, their belief in untouchability, their casteism, etc. – they would hesitate to touch the bodies of their patients; whereas the Tantric doctors, because of their control over [such enemies and fetters as] hatred, fear and shame, could render medical service in a proper way.  The practices of dissection and surgery rested mainly in the hands of Tantric doctors.

---

Footnotes

(1) Since anciently Mongolia was an empire, and symbolized all of East Asia, “Mongolian” here means “Oriental”. –Eds.

(2) The distinction between external and internal is not the same as the distinction between “less-developed” and “more-developed” made previously in this discourse. –Eds.

(3) The ripus, or “enemies”, of the mind – káma [longing for physical objects], krodha [anger], lobha [avarice], mada [vanity], moha [blind attachment], mátsarya [jealousy] – are innate; the páshas, or “fetters”, are externally imposed. –Eds.

(4) School of medicine that brings about longevity, through herbal and other natural treatments. –Eds.

Do the mysteries of and about shamanism, meditation, tantra, yoga, mindfulness, intuition, and consciousness seem, at times, to be more confusing than you can grasp?  http://bit.ly/MysticalPresentations3

Sparkling Minds Expanding with the Universe

Instructor in Tantra Psychology, presenting rational articulation of intuitional science with cogent practical exercises bringing greater personal awareness and cultivation of subtler realms, imbuing new and meaningful talents into participants' lives.  Explore further bringing such capabilities into your realm, both personal and at work.  Contact HERE. 

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Harvard Researchers in the Himalayas -- Buddhist Monks Demonstrate Human Potentials in Subtler Realms

Cognitive capabilities can perceive
what the mind is prepared to comprehend.  
Prepare yours through Tantra Psychology.

Human potential is a broad spectrum of evolutionary excellence, of which are imperceptible to dogmatic minds, petrified by the inanimacy produced by regressive dogmas such as that Newtonian physics as the final determinant of all reality.  

Human history is full of grander scales than contemporary beliefs of prevailing cultures presume exist, capabilities extant today and demonstrated among Buddhist monks, Taoist practitioners, shamans around the world, and others alive today.  The excellence is not in cultivating such capabilities, the excellence is in transpersonal, psycho-spiritual evolutionary development of which such extraordinary capabilities are symptoms, not goals.  

As such symptoms of human evolution result from greater portions of humanity taking up progressive transpersonal and spiritual practices as part of their daily life, many of the burdensome problems plaguing humanity today will also find remediation as subtle realms of mind more readily understand the scope of such dilemmas and fathom the wisdom to solve such disparities in human life, including those deemed unsolvable today.  

Such thresholds of excellence in human evolution, reflected in society at large will rent asunder the constipatory petrificities of prevailing dogmas intellectually, morally, and socially retarding humanity today.  

Guest article  

March, 2016 by Arjun Walia.

It’s fascinating to consider just how many ancient teachings tell us that humans have the capacity to gain extraordinary powers through various techniques.  Some of these techniques, known as siddhis in the yoga tradition (from the Sanskrit, meaning “perfection”), include meditation, static dancing, drumming, praying, fasting, psychedelics, and more.

In Buddhism, for example, the existence of advanced powers is readily acknowledged; in fact, Buddha expected his disciples to be able to attain these abilities, but also to not become distracted by them.

A Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, Donald Lopez Jr., describes the many abilities ascribed to Buddha:  

With this enlightenment, he was believed to possess all manner of supernormal powers, including full knowledge of each of his own past lives and those of other beings, the ability to know others’ thoughts, the ability to create doubles of himself, the ability to rise into the air and simultaneously shoot fire and water from his body. . . . Although he passed into nirvana at the age of eighty-one, he could have lived “for an aeon or until the end of the aeon” if only he had been asked to do so. (source)

Levitating yogi Yogananda referred to
in his book "AutoBiography of a Yogi"

Again, there are numerous historical anecdotes of people with, as the Institute of Noetic  Sciences calls them, ‘extended human capacities.”  Since this article is focused on Buddhist monks, here is another example from the lore as written by Swami Rama in Living with the Himalayan Masters:  

I had never before seen a man who could sit still without blinking his eyelids for eight to ten hours, but this adept was very unusual.  He levitated two and a half feet during his meditations.  We measured this with a string, which was later measured by a foot rule.  I would like to make it clear, though, as I have already told you, that I don’t consider levitation to be a spiritual practice.  It is an advanced practice of pranayama with application of bandeaus (locks).  One who knows about the relationship between mass and weight understands that it is possible to levitate, but only after long practice. . .

He (also) had the power to transform matter into different forms, like changing a rock into a sugar cube.  One after another the next morning he did many such things.  He told me to touch the sand – and the grains of sand turned into almonds and cashews.  I had heard of this science before and knew its basic principles, but I had hardly believed such stories.  I did not explore this field, but I am fully acquainted with the governing laws of science. (source)

A lot of these stories exist within the literature and lore, but they are just stories, up to the readers to decide if they hold any actually credibility.  Of course, one who subscribes to various ancient teachings would be more inclined to believe that these are more than just stories and tales.  With science shedding light on the possible truths of ancient mysticism, it’s not implausible to think that, at one time, these abilities were more common knowledge.

Today, there have been a number of studies within the realms of parapsychology that have yielded statistically significant results, especially when examining the findings that’ve come from quantum physics.  This is why Max Planck, the theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, stated that he “regards consciousness as fundamental” and that he regarded “matter as derivative from consciousness.”  He also wrote that “we cannot get behind consciousness” and that “everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing postulates consciousness.”  And the Dalai Lama has supported this viewpoint:  

Broadly speaking, although there are some differences, I think Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Mechanics can shake hands on their view of the world.  We can see in these great examples the fruits of human thinking.  Regardless of the admiration we feel for these great thinkers, we should not lose sight of the fact that they were human beings just as we are. (source)

R.C. Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at John Hopkins University, explains things further:  

A fundamental conclusion of the new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality.  As observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality.  Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a “mental” construction.  Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote:  “The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine.  Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter, we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter.  Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion.  The universe is immaterial-mental and spiritual. (source)

For a selected list of downloadable peer-reviewed journal articles reporting studies of psychic phenomena, mostly published in the 21st century, you can click HERE.  

Harvard And The Himalayan Monks

During a visit to remote monasteries in the 1980s, Harvard Professor of Medicine Herbert Benson and his team of researchers studied monks living in the Himalayan Mountains who could, by g Tum-mo (a yoga technique), raise the temperatures of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 degrees.  It is still unknown how the monks are able to generate such heat. (source)

And it doesn’t stop there — the researchers also studied advanced meditators in Sikkim, India, where they were astonished to find that these monks could lower their metabolism by 64 percent.(source)

In 1985, the Harvard research team made a video of monks drying cold, wet sheets with body heat alone.  Monks spending winter nights 15,000 feet high in the Himalayas is also not uncommon.

These are truly remarkable feats, and not the first time science has examined humans who can do extraordinary things.  We published an article a couple of months ago showing that factors associated with consciousness can influence our autonomic nervous system.  You can read more about that in the article linked below, as it is heavily sourced and provides links to several papers that clearly indicate how factors associated with consciousness can influence our biology.

Study:  Factors Associated With Consciousness Can Influence Our Autonomic Nervous System

If you’re further interested in this subject, I recommend reading Supernormal:  Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities by Dr. Dean Radin, Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

Another related CE Article that might be of interest:  6 Humans With Real “Superpowers” That Science Can’t Explain

This article was originally published here March 2016.  

Do the mysteries of and about shamanism, meditation, tantra, yoga, mindfulness, intuition, and consciousness seem, at times, to be more confusing than you can grasp?  http://bit.ly/MysticalPresentations3

Sparkling Minds Expanding with the Universe

Instructor in Tantra Psychology, presenting rational articulation of intuitional science with cogent practical exercises bringing greater personal awareness and cultivation of subtler realms, imbuing new and meaningful talents into participants' lives.  Explore further bringing such capabilities into your realm, both personal and at work.  Contact HERE. 

Intuitional Training for Professionals and Community Leaders

http://gplus.to/TantraPsychology    Longevity:  Is It In Your Future?

Criteria of a Guru

You've heard the term "guru", and perhaps read or heard of some rendering of what a guru is, what gurus are about.  As one trims away the humorous, the ridiculous, the bimbonic, and the bigoted, truth and fact remain for describing the experiential paradigm of true gurus.  

Here we describe the essence and fortitude of what a worthy guru is about.  


The Criteria of a Guru

Redacted from Dharshan by Mahasambhuti

Perhaps you know that the word guru is a very old Vedic word. It means "one who dispels darkness".  This expression "one who dispels darkness" is often used without deeper understanding.  This darkness actually belongs not only to the psychic stratum or the spiritual stratum, but to all strata of human existence.  That is, darkness prevails in all the three strata – in the crude physical sphere, in the psychic sphere, and in the spiritual sphere.  So a guru will necessarily have to be able to remove darkness from all three strata.  If a guru teaches the alphabet or some academic matter to students, they would be called a teacher – teacher in the academic sense.  That will not do.  If, again, the guru removes darkness from the psychic world, they impart intellectual knowledge to their followers, that will not be enough either.  And if, finally, they dispel darkness only from the spiritual stratum of their disciples, that will not do either.  The fact is that a guru – if one is to be accepted as a real guru – shall have to remove darkness from all the strata of the physical world, all the strata of the psychic world, and also all the strata of the spiritual world.  

Now let us look at the spiritual world.  In the spiritual world, they alone can be a guru who can lift downtrodden humanity to a high spiritual level, who can illumine humanity with spiritual effulgence.  That is, only a Mahákaola has the requisite qualification to be a guru, others cannot be gurus.  

In order to be an ideal guru in the spiritual sphere, one must be thoroughly conversant with the minutest details of sádhaná, every aspect of sádhaná, important or unimportant.  The guru must not only learn those things, but must also possess the capacity to teach those practices to others.  Otherwise he should not be treated as a guru.  The Mahákaola alone has this capacity, no one else.  Kaolas are those who by dint of sádhaná have successfully elevated their microcosmic stance and established it in the Macrocosmic one; but a Mahákaola is one who is a kaola, certainly, but at the same time possesses the capacity to help others as well to get to that exalted kaola position. In the past Lord Shiva was one such Mahákaola.  Lord Krśńa was another.  To be a guru one must be a Mahákaola.  [note: A kaola can raise their own kundalini to, and perhaps beyond, the seventh cakra, sahasrara; a Mahákaola can raise, not only their own kundalini to such heights, they can also raise the kundalinis of others to such heights as well.  Raising one's kundalini is demonstrative of progressively escalating intimacy with the Universe.]  

One must possess knowledge regarding sádhaná, not only thorough knowledge of the shástras [scriptures].  And in order to gain thorough scriptural knowledge, one must know as many important languages as are necessary for the purpose.  That is to say, it is not enough that a guru acquire the necessary qualifications to be able to teach sádhaná (that is, impart lessons on the practical cult); they must possess adequate knowledge of theory also.  That is, in order to know the inner secret of sádhaná, they must possess thorough and authentic scriptural knowledge; then only should they be accepted as a perfect guru in the spiritual sphere.  One who has a fairly good knowledge of sádhaná and can also help others in that realm, but is completely devoid of intellect, or knowledge of languages and scriptures, cannot be a perfectly competent guru in the spiritual sphere; for, being a guru, they will have to explain the theoretical side also.  If, suppose, I say to someone, "Do this," I should also explain why he or she should do that, and at the same time I should be able to support it in the light of the shástras.  

You may raise the question, "What is a shástra?"  You might point to a voluminous book and call it a shástra, but that would be misleading.  Shástra in the true sense means, Shásanát tárayet yastu sah shástrah parikiirtitah – that is, "Shástra is that which disciplines and liberates humans."  So a guru must be well versed in shástra, otherwise they cannot show the right path to humanity.  The term guru would be a misleading misnomer – which is never desirable.  Shástra does not necessarily mean the Vedas; it means the way to emancipation through inculcation of rigorous discipline; it is something that prevents one from taking license in the name of liberty.  It means clear instructions that guide everyone along the path, that lead to attainment of prosperity and welfare -- that degree of rectificatory punishment which will be conducive to one’s well-being."

A spiritual guru must be well-acquainted with all the processes of sádhaná, must have the capacity to convince others, must possess complete knowledge of the scriptures, must know many languages, and must have comprehensive knowledge and intellect, plus some extra qualifications.  What are those qualifications?  Nigrahánugrahe shakto gururityabhidhiiyate – "the guru must possess the capacity both to punish, and to love, or bless, their disciples."  Punishment alone, without love, is not good.  Love and punishment should go together, and the degree of punishment should never exceed the degree of love. Then only can one be called a real spiritual guru.  

A guru must be an authority on all subjects in all the three strata:  

As a spiritual guru, they must be thoroughly versed in spiritual science – both the theory and the practice.  They must know how Parama Puruśa associates Itself with jiivas [unit beings]; and they must know how jiivas associate themselves with Parama Puruśa (they associate themselves just as the Ganges merges into the Bay of Bengal).  Otherwise, how can they teach this science to others?  

And who knows this science?  Only Parama Puruśa knows it, because It Itself has created everything.  It has created our sense organs, and It has created the tanmátras(1) that our sense organs detect.  It can create anything It likes.  But remember, It does not do anything.  Its "doing" means Its thinking.  Things will take shape as It thinks.  No one but Parama Puruśa knows how It does it. So how can people know Parama Puruśa if It does not teach to others the science of knowing It? Only Parama Puruśa knows the science and the method to realize It, to know It; because It has created both human beings and the path that they must move along.  So people can know the method by Its grace only.  Hence it has been said in Ánanda Sútram,(2) Brahmaeva Gururekah náparah – that is, "Brahma alone is the Guru."  Through Its physical structure, It teaches the actual science to the spiritual aspirants.  People should clearly understand this.

There are many people who are prone to think that in the spiritual realm there is no need to acquire intellectual knowledge for God-realization; and in support of their thesis they mention the names of some great men.  Now it is true that for God-realization, academic qualification may not be necessary at all: there is no differentiation between a learned person and a foolish one.  But in order to be a guru, one must be a learned person.  God-realization is not enough for a guru, they must possess other qualifications as well.  So a person who is devoid of learning and scriptural knowledge and the capacity to teach others, and the twin capacities to punish and reward Its disciples, should never be accepted as a spiritual guru.  A guru does not mean only a spiritual guru, he must be a guru for the intellectual and physical worlds also.

After the spiritual sphere comes the psychic sphere, which is cruder than the former.  That is, the guru must be aware of the nature of the human mind – what it is made of, how it should be elevated step by step from crude to subtle, how all the unit minds can march together in unison towards the goal – in a word, he must know both the theoretical and the applied sides of psychology.  He must know a thousand times more than is written in books. He must assimilate everything through Its own refined intellect.  And then only can he teach others perfectly.  That shows that he must be not only a spiritual guru, but also a guru in the psychic world.  There is a sense of want in the human mind.  One who can remove the sense of want is a guru.  In order to qualify as a guru, one must have the power to remove psychic wants.

As in the spiritual sphere, so also in the psychic sphere, a guru must be learned.  He should be well-versed in the humanities; in fact, in all branches of human knowledge.  In order to be a spiritual guru, it will be sufficient that he have mastery over scriptural treatises; but to be a guru in the psychic sphere, he must be well-versed in all branches of human knowledge.  A limited knowledge of a few scriptures will not do.  And simultaneously, he must be conversant with the style in which the human mind functions, as also in the method to control and guide it properly.

Next comes the physical world.  The followers, the disciples, of the guru, are men and women of flesh and blood having physical structures.  They have their sorrows and miseries, their tears and smiles.  This is their life.  They have their problem of food and clothing; they have their pleasures and pains, their tears of pain and tears of joy; they become elated in happy circumstances and depressed when things go wrong.  It is the duty of a guru to provide Its followers with the wherewithal for their progress.  This is what an ideal guru is to do in the physical sphere.  As a guru in the physical world, he will have to teach mankind such techniques as will solve their wordly problems – problems of food, clothing, education and medical treatment.  A guru must see to it that their mundane problems are solved.

So in order to be a guru, one must come onto this earth with the highest qualifications in the spiritual field, and with the greatest capacity to face the mountainous obstacles in the physical world.  To shoulder the responsibility of a guru is not child’s play.



Footnotes

(^{1) Literally, "minutest fraction of that", i.e., of a given rudimental factor of matter. The various types of tanmátras convey the senses of hearing, touch, form (vision), taste, and smell. –Eds.}

(^{2) Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram, 1962. –Eds.}

15 March 1981 DMS, Ramrajatala

~~~~~

Do the mysteries of and about shamanism, meditation, tantra, yoga, mindfulness, intuition, and consciousness seem, at times, to be more confusing than you can grasp?  http://bit.ly/MysticalPresentations3

Sparkling Minds Expanding with the Universe

Instructor in Tantra Psychology, presenting rational articulation of intuitional science with cogent practical exercises bringing greater personal awareness and cultivation of subtler realms, imbuing new and meaningful talents into participants' lives.  Explore further bringing such capabilities into your realm, both personal and at work.  Contact HERE. 

Making a difference for the psychic, moral and physical development of youth, make a difference through and for our Youth Intuitional Development Program

Intuitional Training for Professionals and Community Leaders

http://gplus.to/TantraPsychology   Longevity:  Is It In Your Future?

Brains of Buddhist monks scanned in meditation study

Mind, Brain, Neurology

Guest Article

By Matt Danzico BBC News, New York

Study peers into brains of monks

In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy New York City street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist has been placing Tibetan Buddhist monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of meditation.

But could this unusual research not only unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious life but also shed light on some of the world's more mysterious diseases?

Zoran Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at New York University, says he has been peering into the brains of monks while they meditate in an attempt to understand how their brains reorganise themselves during the exercise.

Since 2008, the researcher has been placing the minds and bodies of prominent Buddhist figures into a five-tonne (5,000kg) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. 
The scanner tracks blood flow within the monks' heads as they meditate inside its clunky walls, which echoes a musical rhythm when the machine is operating.

Dr Josipovic, who also moonlights as a Buddhist monk, says he is hoping to find how some meditators achieve a state of "nonduality" or "oneness" with the world, a unifying consciousness between a person and their environment. 

The study specifically looks at the default network in the brain, which controls self-reflective thoughts

"One thing that meditation does for those who practise it a lot is that it cultivates attentional skills," Dr Josipovic says, adding that those harnessed skills can help lead to a more tranquil and happier way of being.

Meditation Can 'Turn Off' Regions of the Brain

Mind, Brain, Neurology

Brain imaging shows experienced meditators can prevent their minds from wandering

By Robert Preidt

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that people skilled at meditation seem able to turn off areas of the brain associated with daydreaming and psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

Learning more about how meditation works could help advance research into a number of diseases, according to lead author Dr. Judson Brewer, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University.

He and his colleagues used functional MRI to assess brain activity in experienced and novice meditators as they performed three different meditation techniques. 
Regardless of the type of meditation, skilled meditators had decreased activity in the brain's default mode network, which has been linked to attention lapses and disorders such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the buildup of beta amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers also found that when the default mode network (which consists of the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex) was active, brain regions associated with self-monitoring and cognitive control were also activated in experienced meditators, but not novices.

This suggests that skilled meditators constantly monitor and suppress the emergence of "me" thoughts and mind wandering.  If they become too strong, these two states of mind are associated with diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.

What Are The Occult Powers?

Tantra Psychology Series

If you had a Super-Power, what Super-Power would you want to have?  What propels you, what propels us all to consider greater limitlessness, whether for ourselves or humanity, and beyond, at large? 

Longing for infinity is at the core of every living being, constant from their, from our inception into life, into the Universe, to our greatest fulfillment, constant right along with our pursuit of happiness.  Going beyond what we have become, reaching from where we are towards greater subtleties is innate with all beings, and having attained human form, we have extraordinarily greater potentiality, and capabilities to actualize, magnificent thresholds of being, both physically and especially internally, psychically. 

Super powers or occult powers are imaginable because, for the most part, they are achievable.  We imagine them because the capability for achieving them, the architecture of their potentiality is awake within our being, our pursuit of infinity awakening us to such capabilities.  Living in an extremely materialistic era, more often than not we invent machines to do what we can also do psychically, such as TV and radio for telepathy and remote viewing.  When we are deeply and constantly in love with someone, we also remote view their wellbeing when we are physically away or perceive foreshadowings of possible events regarding ourselves or our loved ones. 

Why would you want it?

What would you do with it?

How would your life improve?

How would community or society benefit from your having it?

The key factor for these skills is that love, for love is not one of several emotions, it is the optimization of our homeostasis.  When the object of our attention is the Universe itself, and our disposition is of love, then most everything the Universe is capable of doing is within our capabilities for we -- as manifestations of that same Universe -- are also its instruments, its fulfillment of being, with humans, perhaps, at the zenith of that evolutionary excellence. 

In that spirit of love, anchored in the steadiness of moral excellence we all are bounding for, I present to you the core Super Powers, the eight Occult Powers which are characteristics of the Universe, characteristic of skills innate to those anchored in love, and instrumental in performing greater service to the wellbeing of living beings throughout the Universe. 


What are the Occult Powers?
 

1)       An'ima' -- ability to become very little, to reduce the vibration of the mind to penetrate an atom and know the secrets of subatomic struc ture.


An'ima' means reducing one's psychic existence into a small point and then transforming it into a minimum entity.  One may understand anything and everything by entering into each and every physical particle and becoming one with the different waves of expressions and emanations, by dancing with the waves of objects and ideas.  This occult power acquired through positive microvita is called an'ima'.  The only way to understand these subtle entities is to increase one's powers of perception through spiritual practices.  

2)       Mahima' -- ability to become very great, more immense than anything in this expressed uni verse, including the universe itself.

Mahima' means vastness.  With the help of positive microvita, the mind can expand to become vast, superlatively vast.  Its radius may encompass the entire universe and so we acquire ideas about many different subjects without reading books.  In this way, too, we may feel our oneness with the varied entities of this universe -- unity in variety, unity in diversity.  By associating our benevolent thoughts with each and every entity, we will contribute to universal progress and prosperity.

 

3)       Laghima' -- ability to become very light, to walk on water, to think oneself anywhere in the universe.  Achieved by controlling the psychic centre between the man'ipu'ra and ana'hata cakras, controlling the combination of fire and air.

Laghima' makes the mind light, free from the bondage of so many liabilities.  This carefree mind, freed from so many fetters and bondages, can understand and think clearly.  So by dint of this occult power, one may understand any idea, subtle or crude, abstract or concrete.  Unless you understand how much pain and sorrow is accumulated in other's minds, how many tears well up in their eyes, and anguish in their hearts, you cannot completely alleviate their sorrows and sufferings.  Through laghima, your own mind becomes unburdened so you can clearly appreciate and respect others' lives.

 

4)       Pra'pti -- ability to get or create whatever is desired; whatever is thought is immedi ately materialized.

Pra'pti means helping oneself and helping the souls of so many people to acquire and be benefited by the grace of the Supreme Consciousness.

 

5)      Iishitva -- ruling capacity, ability to understand all the entities of the universe, to direct and witness their actions.  Achieved by controlling the upper portion of vishuddha cakra.

Iishitva – Iish means to guide and administer.  Iishitva enables the spiritual aspirant to guide other people who suffer from different causes. So many people in this world are crying in pain and agony.  So many miseries and afflictions paralyse both physically and mentally.  lishitva enables one to correctly lead afflicted humanity to their physical progress and psychic well-being.

 

6)       Vashitva -- ability to bring under control, to unify forces, to create new life, to make the dead rise.  Achieved by controlling the upper portion of a'jina' cakra.

Vashitva means to keep everything under control and properly regulated for the welfare of all beings.  In order to bring people goaded by defective ideas to the path of optimal greatness, vashitva is necessary.  If people work haphazardly and  do not follow conscientious path, they cannot be expected to establish a state of welfare for all.  So if you really want to help people, you will have to inspire and influence them in a positive way, and then direct them along the right path to their goal.

 

7)       Praka'myam -- ability to take the form of anything.  Achieved by controlling the psychic center just below a'jina' cakra.

Praka'mya means the ability to accomplish whatever one desires, to translate wish into reality disposed to promote universal welfare, to bring light to the entire universe.  Through this occult power, spiritual aspirants acquire the capacity to serve the entire world.
 

8)       Antaraya'mitva -- ability to see into the inner nature of any entity; penetrating vision.

Antarya'mitva is to enter the ectoplasmic or endoplasmic structure of others and thereby to know their pain and pleasures, their hopes, aspirations and longings and to guide them properly.  It is somewhat like transmigration of the soul.  Regarding this occult power, spiritual cult alone will not suffice -- it requires the special grace of Parama Purusa.  He usually does not give this power to sadhakas because if they do not possess universal love, it can be abused for personal gains.  Baba explained that this power makes the mind so subtle that it can enter the intra- and inter-ectoplasmic mind stuff of every individual as well as the collective human society.

You will notice that all of these occult powers, all of these siddhis are anchored in, originate from empathy.  

Some subordinate siddhis, many of which are within one or more of the above characteristics, include: 

Anooram, the power to be immune from hunger and thirst

Door Sharavan, remote audience, to hear from afar

Door Darshan, remote viewing, to see from afar   

Manoveg, travel fast as thought

Kaamroop, assume any desired form

Parkaayi Parvesh, to enter into another's body 

Sai Maritayaa, to live at one's own will 

Surkareeraa, to enjoy meeting with gods (devayonis) 

Sankalap Siddhi, the fulfillment of desires 

Apratihat Gat, to go anywhere unobstructed 

~~~~~

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