When you refer to an existing tradition, you simply copy mind sets that others designed for you.
You try to fit it into your mind.
Sometimes what these traditions designed would take you centuries to recover and reinvent if you had to.
Other times, what you read is what you know already.
Very often, all you have to do is create a mind set and action system that matches your unique life experience.
You are free!
Does reading a specific book free you? Or does it limit you?
Will you discover more about yourself by reading what is already written or by taking a white page and letting your own mind reveal itself through your own words?
Both approaches are valid of course.
Sometimes you want to relax within an existing structure.
Other times, you want to tap into deeper layers of your mind and bring to the surface the key insights which are in you.
You don't have to fit in.
You don't have to limit yourself within what already exists.
If every human being was repeating what has already been discovered, there would never be anything new.
Dare to explore and find in you the mind sets, ideas, actions which reflect what you already are.
In your mind you have "mind objects" like thoughts, emotions and feelings.
Your mind is your territory and the art of Raja is the art of mastering all of that.
An emotion is simply a wave on the surface of your mind.
It is not your deep nature.
It does not belong to you.
It comes and goes.
When you focus your mind via a meditation technique, you create a harmonized stream which naturally generates a positive flow of thoughts and emotions.
It is like jumping into a river where any wave is a "positive wave".
You don't target the wave itself, you target first the river you swim in.
With some practice, this flow of yogic energy transforms your mind, clears negative thoughts and feelings and strengthens your mind channels.
This is the renewal of your mind.
It is a transformation process through which your mind becomes clear and powerful.
When you see an emotion like sadness or worry in your mind, you can either embrace it and nurture it of you can kick it out of your mind with power.
In other terms, you fight!
You defend your territory and make sure that whatever happens in your mind matches what you want.
Yes! What you want!
Your will is not an orphan disconnected will.
Your will is linked with a vast stream of manifestation.
It is a flame within a vaster fire.
Your fighting power and determination are tools you can use positively.
Your mind is your territory and it is your task to educate it so that it functions at its best.
You are in charge!
You are the designer and the architect of what happens in it.
You make choices, and select the ingredients you want to manifest.
Now, you can do all that by analyzing and choosing thought by thought and emotion by emotion or you can simply connect with a stream of energy which does all that naturally for you.
The goal is to master your instincts not to be enslaved by them.
This is why your spiritual power grows step by step: because you need to master the forces you wake up.
If these forces were unleashed all at once, you would not have the power to master them.
Kundalini is a reflection of your animal nature, the fire of the dragon, snake or lion.
All these are representations of the same force.
When this energy wakes up, the goal is to tame that force and direct it in a constructive way.
How do you tame your kundalini?
You give her directions like postures, moves, mantras, mind sets, etc.
The goal of any yogic practice is to structure your personal vehicle so that your being is harmonized and vibrating to its full potential.
When you practice an asana (yogic posture) that's an instruction you give to your life force.
When you sing a mantra, embrace a value or take conscious synchronized action, you are always instructing your life force and giving it form and purpose.
That's how you tame your Kundalini.
By giving her direction and positioning yourself as its master.
By the way, taming is very different than controlling...
Taming is creating this synergized partnership with a force of nature.
Imagine riding a horse.
You can tame it while stimulating its power and wilderness and without actually limiting it.
You simply give it a channel of expression.
Sometimes, you'll allow the horse to lead you as well. You might sit and trust its instinct and its power.
Partner with these forces in an effective way so that what you create is a synergized play of energies.
You can as well see yourself as surfing the waves of this energy. Waves are energy. You use that force and play with it.
With kundalini, it is the same: you partner with its power and give it direction.
With simple meditation techniques, it can take as little as 5 min/day for a week.
That's it!
If you want this technique to stay with you and be able to recall it any time you need it, it often takes 1 to 3 months of practice.
If you practice a technique for that time, you will feel like you own it.
That's good news and means that integrating a new spiritual tool is relatively easy.
A technique shifts patterns on an energy level
It reprograms your mind.
This is why sometimes, even a 1 minute practice can have such a powerful impact: because you connect with a source of energy and this automatically stimulates change in your mind.
A new technique is more than a practice. It is the integration of a new energy.
Think short directive techniques rather than long hours practice.
Give rhythm for your mind to stay alert and fresh!
When you wake up your universal identity, it is essential that your channels of energy stay clear.
Waking up your energy expands your being, but to stay clear you as well need to increase your inner power and the clarity of your inner channels.
Breathing techniques, singing, dancing, postures all clear up your inner channels and make sure that your life force flows harmoniously.
You want to stay in a state of inner freedom rather than having your mind and body cluttered with undigested emotions and energies.
Most of this happens naturally through conscious positive life style choices.
Every action you take has an impact.
If you sing a power word, you invoke the energy behind that word and it naturally flows through your being and impacts right where it is needed the most.
The energy you invoke is intelligent.
It naturally does what it is supposed to.
Every now and then, you give nature a little help by consciously participating in your energizing process.
You will breathe a little deeper or a little faster to stimulate the flow of life force in your body.
In my mind, life force, kundalini and energy are all synonyms.
I don't really separate these concepts.
This simplifies things.
You are in a state of freedom when life force flows freely through your being.
If you feel undigested emotions in you, these tend to stay stacked in your system until you invoke or use a power strong enough to clear them.
When your level of power is high, this means that your energy channels are strong.
In that case, negative emotions and thoughts simply stay naturally out of your system.
They are cleared before they even touch you.
The higher your level of inner power, the freer you feel.
If writing concepts does not work for you, you can try a more poetic approach which leans your writing towards artistic expression.
When you do, you practice bhakti.
Bhakti Yoga is a path of devotion.
Usually it is expressed in the form of singing and music but there is no limit, really.
You can dance, write devotional poems or prose or even express your devotion in theatrical forms.
When you write devotionally, you usually express beauty and love through your words.
In the West, it would be called romantic devotional poetry.
How does it sound?
If you want to try, simply write down the first poetic line or word that comes to your mind.
Here is what happens when I try:
"When I close my eyes..."
And then you follow up with whatever comes next...
When I follow up, here is what comes:
"When I close my eyes, I feel the nectar of your essence permeating my being.
The sensations are first like a light tingling in my mind and turn quickly into an ecstatic feeling of joy!
The love I feel is all encompassing and embraces every single living form on this planet.
I am at peace and delighted to know you!"
Yes! It is that easy to start:
"The light in the sky..."
"The sensations in my heart..."
"Wake up to the vibrant joy..."
Etc.
This would be Bhakti writing.
You can express the same via dancing or singing for instance, right?
What does it mean to express Bhakti?
Express what you feel by creating beauty! Now, simply dare to take a step.
You don't need to be a professional singer to be devotional.
Wrong notes and imperfections are okay, really!
Even if what you write does not really "sound" poetic or harmonious, Babaji understands your intention.
Even if you feel you don't get it totally right in the begininng, don't worry.
It is a skill you can practice and develop within a few days or weeks of practice.
It goes very fast once you try.
You don't need to publish it (even though you can if you want to :)).
This is for you and him. It is like a set of intimate letters you keep for yourself.
Remember that this is a dialogue you establish with Babaji's being.
Right now, you are not doing that for your friends or neighbours.
This is your way of expressing your profound universal identity and feeling of connection you have with him.
If you feel that you want to connect with another source of inspiration rather than Babaji's being, then simply direct your devotional aspiration to the reality you choose.
It can be Shiva, Shakti or even another Guru field if you want to.
It does not even need to be out there. You can talk to yourself, your own spirit.
It can be God, Nature, elemental forces, whatever you decide to connect with through your unique devotional expression.
This is not about kriya or yoga or even Babaji.
It is about you!
It is about you owning your spiritual power, your spiritual tools, your spiritual development.
As you can see, there is a vast variety of ways to connect with spiritual realities.
If it is Babaji you have in mind, bhakti writing is one possible way! It is very effective.
The traditional kriya way that a few systems use is only one of them.
They often function around a few core techniques like a certain breathing technique or a specific set of yoga postures.
All these are of great value and do work.
However, they are not unique.
If you were focusing on developing new techniques to connect with Babaji, if you are skilled at it within a few months or years you would have designed your own unique system.
It could involve anything like rituals, devotional singing, yogic postures, mudras, specific mantric formulas and so much more.
There is no limit!
It is like climbing to the top of the Everest.
The fact that a team successfully used a certain route does not mean that this is the only way to the top.
Remember that you function from a state of freedom!
Babaji will never reject your call because you did not use a specific system or sang a wrong note.
Remember that Babaji is an intelligent energy field.
It is there to free you!
Not to limit you within a fixed set of rules and behaviors.
This is probably one of the key ideas to remember.
Oups... We were talking about Jnana, right?
Jnana stands for knowledge.
This is what I am doing now.
When you sit down and write down ideas which express a certain experience, that's what you do.
It is an art to create a conceptual architecture which matches your experience of reality.
You can design your own architecture of beliefs and play with ideas and concepts.
It is fun to do and the way to start is simply to dare.
There are two sides to your spiritual development:
The practices themselves
The actions that follow
The sources of inspiration you connect with are very powerful in changing and reorienting your mind patterns for instance.
Your mind and body are two essential aspects of your personal vehicle.
Use the inspiration you receive to shift what no longer works for you.
You can do that on the physical level by for instance training your body or shifting your diet.
You can do that as well on the mind level by shifting thoughts, ideas or emotions that no longer match what you feel.
Yoga is a state of unity. When you establish it in your existence, it naturally reflects on your mind and personality and starts shifting key aspects in it.
"I called him through meditation for a month now - How come he does not speak to me?" - Question
If you already meditated on some techniques and feel like there is no answer coming, it is simply because the answer you receive is usually very subtle and can hardly be felt.
Babaji can communicate to you in many ways and physical speech will probably not be one of them.
Why?
Because this is not how telepathic touch usually works.
This is not how a connection with a guru field usually works.
I know that you might have read books where a master appears to his disciples physically but for most people, this will never happen.
The results that you get from any spiritual practice are usually much more subtle and much less spectacular.
They are feelings of bliss, sudden inspiration to take some form of action, an inner feeling of love and so much more.
These are only examples.
Keep your mind free and be open to any experience even a no-experience.
Even if you don't feel or perceive a change it is still actually happening.
The spiritual training you are engaged into empowers your mind, body and spirit.
The impact of a technique is very subtle and it is often only after a few months that you notice a real difference in the way you perceive your life, thoughts, emotions and connections with what surrounds you.
When you are in a state of unity you manifest your universal identity.
You function from a place where there is no separation between you and the cosmos, the planet, nature and humankind.
You know that we do live in a field of unified consciousness, right?
You experienced it in many ways.
Now, the goal of yoga is to experience that field all the time.
It is to be in a state of mystical union every single minute.
Now, the effects of this state of unity are so powerful that they transform your mind and body forever.
How to manifest a state of yoga?
The first step is to really understand what you want to do.
Once you have understanding, you need to connect with a stream of power and inspiration that will take you there.
It is like swimming in a river that takes you to the sea
Yoga is an invisible system.
No one fully owns it.
It is anywhere you are, not just in an Himalayan cave.
How does Babaji help you with this?
Well it is like getting the help and sponsorship from someone who travelled that path before.
Now, imagine connecting with a being who lives in a state of unity.
The first challenge you might face is to be able to relate to Babaji in a way which matches what he has to offer.
Imagine that you are standing in front of a semi god or avatar right where you are now.
Are you sure that trying to get his email address or physical address is the way to go?
You might try to relate to that being as if he was a person:
What does he eat?
What is his real name?
How can I meet him physically?
How old is he?
Where was he born?
Etc.
Now, these questions usually stay unanswered.
The questions that do get answered have nothing to do with Babaji's personality.
They have to do with your own spiritual development.
If you feel limited in the way you perceive Babaji's being, expand your imagination and realize that you are relating to an omnipresent energy reality.
This is as well called a guru field.
Guru means light.
Now, this energy field does respond to your emotions and intentions.
This energy field sees through you.
You might believe that because you relate to that energy field, you need to give up your power and destroy your personality?
Not at all!
You need your personality as a worldly vehicle.
You need to keep on functioning on this planet.
All these are key ideas to help you along the path.
The next step is to ask for help.
It is very simple:
This energy field can't connect with you unless you want to.
Simply express your call in one way or another:
"I am ready"
"Can you guide me?"
"I need your help"
Or any other expression of your desire to connect with that energy reality.
That's it :)
It's not so much the words, it is the intention.
Realize that you are communicating with a field of intelligence which is much vaster than yourself and much vaster than a person.
Now, you probably won't see the sky opening up or a voice talking to you (even though this could happen as well... Maybe :))
The guidance and inspiration you might receive is usually much more subtle.
Here are some examples of what can happen:
There is no clear answer but the following day you feel inspired to do something.
This action might look insignificant but it is one small step in the right direction.
Or you might have a sudden realization two days later.
Or you suddenly feel a strong stream of bliss.
Or you feel nothing at all.
Etc.
These are only some examples of course.
The range of experiences you can have are so diverse.
It is impossible to even attempt to describe them all.
The next step is to respond to this inspiration and actually take action.
Now, taking action can often feel like a small risk.
You don't really know what you are responding to.
It simply feels right.
To take action you need to trust yourself, trust your instinct and trust your source of inspiration.
As you can see, the whole process of manifesting a state of Yoga has its own inner dynamic.
While none of this is fixed and crystallized, you will still recognize some form of coherence behind the inspiration that touches you.
It all makes total sense once you start taking action in that direction.
Now, this "trust" dimension is essential.
Nothing happens unless you fully trust this field of energy and respond to it.
This field of energy can't inspire you unless you ask for help and guidance.
It might be just a one time question or call.
Or it might be a call you renew every day through meditation for instance.
This energy reality simply responds accordingly.
You are free!
Now, this is not exclusive.
The fact that you relate to this specific line of evolution does not mean that you have to cut contact with everything else.
PS: What is the main challenge you face right now with your spiritual development? Feel free to email me your questions at francisco@vitalcoaching.com or post them by clicking on the "comments" link below. I'll see what I can do.