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Learning to Break Free from Unwanted Psychic Cords of Attachment

Sonali Bansal
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Learning to Break Free from Unwanted Psychic Cords of Attachment

“Negative energy from your past is whooshing in and out of your aura right now, moving through psychic cords of attachment. Expect this patterning to continue until the day you die… unless you can re- lease the cords.” ~ Cut the cords of Attachments, Rose Rosetree

Everything is energy; it forms the basis of the entire universe. Our energy defines our connection to everyone we come in contact with and it forms a cord between every individual, this is known as the psychic cords of attachments. They hold memories, feelings, energy patterns and so on.

energy cordsRose Rosetree, writer, spiritual healer, energy worker, & author of the book, Cut the cords of Attachments, said, “A cord of attachment is an energy structure between two people that causes patterns from the past to continue into the present. Cords distort thinking and feeling, moving people around like marionettes.”

Psychic cords of attachment exist all the time, until they are consciously cut. They define our relationships with different people and how we feel about others. Every individual in your life will have a different cord attached at different energy center.

We often find ourselves stuck in the loop of energy, old patterns, emotions, distress and negativity, in any relationship. This leaves a lasting impression on our mind and aura, which we carry for multiple lifetimes with us. The cords hold all the attachments we have with a person, and it is possible to have multiple cords with the same person at different places in our body.

How psychic cords of attachment are formed?

When we come in contact with a person, two types of energy is transmuted – one being the spiritual ties and the other is cord of attachment.

Rose Rosetree said, “Spiritual ties shine with caring, compassion, wisdom and other heart-melting qualities. These are beautiful energy exchanges between yourself and those you love. To picture spiritual ties, think ribbons of beautiful light, not puppet strings.”

So basically, we would not want to cut the spiritual ties with our loved ones, they are the reservoirs of beautiful bonds, experiences and memories we cherish.

Psychic cords of attachment lie completely on the other end of the spectrum. They contain all the negative energy patterns, distorted thoughts, bad experiences we have had with a person. Functioning all the time, as they are plugged deep into our subconscious mind, playing over and over again.
energy psychic cords
Cords aren’t necessarily bad. However, if you find yourself constantly thinking of someone in particular you may form a cord that will drain you. A typical example of a psychic cord of attachment is being stuck in a bad relationship. In spite of the relationship being over, you tend to think of that person. Or a fight you’ve had with a colleague or boss few days ago and you are still thinking about it.

Psychic cords of attachment could be minor and major. Major cords of attachment would be with lovers, spouses, sexual partners, siblings, best friends, gurus etc. Whereas minor cords of attachments lies with people we meet for limited duration, have less attachment or relation with, like colleagues, acquaintances etc.

What are the benefits of psychic cord cutting?

The recurring negative patterns of relationship can be mentally, physically and emotionally damaging. These cords might be draining your energy, making you unstable, negative and reclusive.

Cutting the cord will help break unwanted negative emotions and people on both ends of the cord can experience a major energy shift in their lives.

  • When you cut cords of attachment you make room for more fulfillment, peace and clarity. You will be able to understand your thoughts and view life from a better perspective. As earlier your perspective was obscured by your relationship.
  • Physical health improves in multiple ways. Some aches or pains you were experiencing in the past would disappear with cord cutting, as they might not be your aches or pains.
  • When we cut the cord, we are freeing ourselves from any addiction to substances or bad habits. For example, giving up smoking can be easier with cord cutting technique. The emotions, feelings and pleasure felt from smoking can be released completely and no further urge will be felt.
  • Relationships that have gone sour due to past experiences can be improved. Some of the energy patterns might be repeating themselves, making it impossible for two people to be happy together. Lovers, married couples, mother/daughter and father/son relationships, friends, partners, etc. When negative patterns are removed only the positive remains.

How to cut a psychic cord?

Psychic cord cutting does not always mean ending a relationship, unless you want to end it. A person or relationship does not disappear from your life on cutting the cord. It simply means cutting the negative aspects of a relationship to experience positivity without the negative overcast. There are multiple ways to cut psychic cords.

Here’s a simpler method that can be done by yourself, a therapist or an energy worker can provide assistance as well.

  • Sit comfortably on a chair, take deep breaths, gather yourself and bring all your awareness within. Fill yourself with the light and energy and delve deeper into the subconscious terrain. After you feel you are ready, invite the person in your subconscious space like a power room where you feel safe and secure; you are your real self and no memory or experiences can affect you.
  • ethereal-2Request your archangels, spirit guides, spiritual gurus to assist you in finding these psychic cords in your body to the person you wish to cut the cord with. Few of the major spots where most people experience an energy pull is the heart, throat or the stomach. These psychic cords are attached to energy vortexes. If you are unable to visualize, try to feel the areas where you might feel the maximum pull of energy.
  • Now, follow these cords back to the source, to the person standing in front of you in your power room. See all the cords of attachments with the other person. There could be one, a few or many.
  • Ensure that you are working only on the cords of attachments. Examine the cord by taking a moment. Does it look like a loving attachment or a negative link? In case you find a loving link, send love and light to the person and thank them for being there, supporting you & move further to find the cord of attachment.
  • Now, seek divine assistance and pick a tool to cut the cord of attachments only. You can imagine a golden knife, a silver ray emitting from your index finger, a divine scissor, and start to cut the cord from one end to the other end. Then pick up the broken pieces and burn it by throwing it in the divine fire.
  • Once done, request the person to go wherever they belong to right now. And slowly come out from the deep meditative state.
  • To completely destroy the cords of attachments you want to break free from, repeat the same process for 21 days.

Cutting Psychic Cords with Meditation

Psychic cord cutting takes place only when we are in a deeper state of awareness. It is an advantage if the practitioner meditates, but even if you don’t, the process will unfold gradually. Time and the duration is not important. This process is guided by personal intuition, for as long as one desires.

This is a basic process, you can take the help of a therapist to go deeper into this. Over here we are not severing the cords of relationships, we are just clearing out the negative ones, which is easier.

This simple yet effective technique can transform your life – just by parting from the unwanted energy we are creating space for more positive energy to come into our lives and relationships.

References:
Cords of attachment

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Disaster Shamanism, Addendum: Bringing Water to the Wasteland

Gary Z McGee
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Disaster Shamanism, Addendum: Bringing Water to the Wasteland

 “To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.” ~ William Shakespeare

In Six Signs You May Be a Disaster Shaman, I wrote about the various characteristics and what may be considered the lighter, greener side of disaster shamanism. In this article I mean to dive into the more ruthless side of disaster shamanism. After all, I chose the word “disaster” for a reason.

Disaster shamanism is not for the faint of heart. It requires a particular flavor of ruthlessness akin to Castaneda’s Yaqui Indian sorcerer, Don Juan Matus. It requires a peaceful warriorship of the heart and a non-violent disregard for authority; all while making it absolutely clear that peace does not imply pacifism and non-violence does not imply peace.

When a disaster shaman comes to town, a rude awakening is at hand. Whether the town (village, society, state, or country) has become too big, or too obese, or too greedy, or some other unhealthy excess, the disaster shaman has arrived to set the record straight, to plant a seed of overt moderation within the covert immoderation.

When a disaster shaman comes to town, he/she is a New Oracle who has come to inform the old oracles that they have failed. The “town” has been declared a wasteland, and the unhealthy surroundings is dubbed unworthy for healthy humans attempting to evolve into a more robust species.

But the disaster shaman has water (wisdom) in tow, knowing that the majority of people will not like the taste, since it’s the “pill” everyone wants but can’t seem to swallow, but presenting it anyway as a healthy alternative to unnecessary thirst.

Here are three ways in particular that disaster shamans can bring water to the wasteland.

Chaotic Reordering

“An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There’s a punishment for it, and it’s usually crucifixion.” ~ John Steinbeck

If, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” then it stands to reason that our lives begin the day we gain a voice and speak the truth about things that matter. This means slapping people with the truth. This means not sugarcoating atrocity. This means sentimentality be damned. This means tough love, especially in the face of comfort and security.

But first it means discerning what matters and what doesn’t. Disaster shamans learn this by listening to nature in order to learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy. Then they return to the people to teach the truth of the healthy.

What they learn out there in the wild places, seeing with over-eyes, between worlds, is a method of adaptability, a threshing of thresholds, so to speak: The ability to take a bird’s-eye view over the human condition. The ability to transform boundaries into horizons.

What prevailing boundaries need to be transformed into horizons? All of them. From stateliness to borders, from codependence to independence, between the fringes of civilization and the peripheries of the biosphere, between psyche and cosmos, between nature and the human soul.

These are not boundaries, these are thresholds to the realization that it’s all one giant interconnected, interdependent horizon. The job of the disaster shaman is to blur all borders and to point toward that horizon, to divert the typical codependent dead-mackerel stare of the people into an interdependent enchanted gaze toward an exciting new horizon.

Disaster shamans realize that domesticated humans are nothing more than soft animals in a hard desert –The Desert of the Real. But these shamans are bringing the necessary tools, the soulcraft, and the rewilding techniques, which the people can use to break the spell of codependent hyper-realism and break through the self-imposed boundaries toward self-actualized horizons. This is the essence of chaotic reordering.

The ability to use eternal wisdom to breach the comfort zone, to crush the all-too-orderly egg of security with chaotic insecurity so as to smooth out the rigidness, balance out the strictness, question the all-too-precious answers, transform the dogmatic into the enigmatic, and to help others realize that remaining enchanted, maintaining our awe in regards to the Great Mystery, is always the truer providence.

The Shaman in the Metalwork

“The Tree of Life is dying. Prune the top 1% and feed the roots.” ~ Unknown

When a disaster shaman comes to town, the powers that be are put on high alert. The words of Maximus in the movie Gladiator are thick in their ears, “The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end… Highness!” Indeed. The lines dividing the haves and the have-nots become blurred. Smoke and mirrors are revealed.

The mask of democracy is pulled away to uncover a mask of plutocracy which is in turn pulled away to disclose the blindfolded face of a scared-shitless naked ape. Who is this naked ape? He is us, and we are him, trembling in an abyss of existential angst and spiritual despair.

We are him, shuddering beneath pathetic stopgap religions and makeshift laws that mock cosmic law. We are him, terrified of questioning ourselves, each other, our country, and especially our worldviews.

But when fear is fed wisdom, it becomes enlightenment.

When a disaster shaman comes to town, revolution is sown. It is scattered, disseminated and planted into fertile minds so that evolution can eventually be reaped. When a disaster shaman comes to town, fear-filled blue pills are swapped with wisdom-filled red pills. Fear is fed wisdom and the courage to seek out enlightenment emerges.

Where fertile minds cannot be found, where fear is paramount and closed off to wisdom, disaster shamans are adept at planting seeds of dissent; especially against the most fearful of them all: the greedy, monopolizing, money-hoarding 1%.

But more as a promise than as a threat. More as a warning, as a declaration: the time for honoring yourself, worshiping yourself, and glorifying yourself will soon be at an end. The time of interdependent-independence is fast approaching, and Disaster shamans are the tip of the spear.

disaster3 The way a disaster shaman disseminates the seeds of revolution is twofold: through wise art and through intelligent civil disobedience, and sometimes even a blend of each. Through hacking big banks, planting strategic memes in cyberspace, writing articles that arouse dissent, political graffiti, guerrilla gardening, and even replacing unsustainable infrastructure with sustainable art.

A disaster shaman is neither scientist nor priest, neither philosopher nor medicine man, but an artist subsuming all titles. This is the sacred dance of a shaman in the metalwork. Metalwork is a metaphor for the unthinking man-machine.

A shaman is its counterpoint: a thinking human. A shaman in the metalwork is an artist toppling unsustainable infrastructures and replacing it with paradoxical wisdom.

This is the epitome of disaster shamanism. Where unhealthy people are certain about themselves, disaster shamans plant seeds of doubt through intelligent art, poetic words, and high humor. But most of all their art is a beacon for those of a similar ilk.

It’s a bullhorn amidst the bullshit. It’s a call to action, a call to non-violent arms in a hyper-violent world. As Charles Simic said, “He who cannot howl, will not find his pack.” Disaster shamans howl loudest of all.

The Sacred Reach of Myth-making

“Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance.” ~ Henri Bergson

What illusory worldview has been grafted upon you through social conditioning? Tough question to answer. What seems to be amiss? That question is a little easier to feel our way through, but still difficult to answer. And that’s precisely where our journey should begin.

What is amiss? Where did things go wrong? How do we evolve as a healthier more robust species? And what happens when we attempt to answer such questions by following our hearts instead of the crowd, as Bergson suggests?

disaster2It leads us between worlds, away from the outdated opinions of men. It leads us to a sacred space where we can create healthier more sustainable stories. It leads us to the source, to the cradle of cosmos, to the womb of earth, where we are able to transcend society and culture. Where we can question the roots. Where we are free to tap the cornerstone and choose knowledge over the veils of ignorance.

Where we are able to shred those veils of ignorance, to reveal the primordial sacred wisdom hiding behind it. With this sacred wisdom, we can create realms unlimited in scope and imagination. We are liberated from all suffocating social boundaries, all threats, slavery, and intimidation. We are free to create beyond good and evil. And creating beyond good and evil is the essence of myth-making.

Disaster shamans understand that we need a new story, one that leads to human flourishing, one that bridges gaps, one that reconnects and transforms apathetic indifference into empathic compassion.

Myth-making is a way of retelling our human story, of realigning our story with the global story with the cosmic story. It’s a seeking for the Mecca of creative flourishing: the all-too-elusive philosopher’s stone.

But in order to gain the wisdom of the philosopher’s stone one must first tap the cornerstone. Which is why shamans since time immemorial have sought out the “bones of the universe” (cornerstone) before climbing the “ropes to god” (the way to the philosopher’s stone). Disaster shamans teach the importance of tapping the cornerstone.

They are walking, talking cornerstones, carrying the bones of the universe like a ladder and encouraging others to climb, to seek out the ropes to god, and to discover their own unique creative voice.

As Anthony de Mello said, “You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story.”

We are as much social creatures as we are mythological creatures. Stories give us something our inner wonder-junkie can hang its hat on.

Disaster shamans are cornerstones first, philosopher’s stones second. Just as they are a force of nature first and humans second. They carry the boons of their myth-making into the ghettos of our outdated myths. They are catalysts for a particular flavor of storytelling that has shriveled and dried up: eco-conscious interdependence.

Myth-making is the sacred reach of disaster shamans because they are alchemical storytellers who have not only learned how to transform darkness into gold, but, conversely, how to transform too-much-gold into melted down darkness. They have not only learned how to transform the worst-in-us into the best-in-us, but also how to transform paranoid morality into amoral courage.

Their myth-making is as much world-destroying (outdated myths torn down into building blocks) as it is world-building (updated myths built out of the building blocks of deconstructed myths). They have learned how to transform the ashes of their destruction into the Phoenix of their art.disaster1

With a cornerstone in one hand, a philosopher’s stone in the other, disaster shamans are the personification of a hurricane. Their powerful winds destroy outdated machinery. Their sustainable debris clogs up unsustainable clockwork.

They blow into town to physically, mentally, and spiritually dismantle the false world hanging over us all, the hyper-real canopy built by myopic past generations, erected without our consideration.

They have come to raise us to the consciousness of our slavery by tearing down the illusion of our prison bars. They’ve come to kill the infantile codependence within us by planting the seed of interdependent rebirth. They bring the power of myth-making to a world drowning in outdated myths. They bring much needed wisdom to an ignorant world. And of course, they are bringing water to the wasteland.

Disaster shamans are the ones willing to, as Shane Koyczan poetically said, “Rise. As if the sun has taken the day off and hired you as its substitute, leaving behind its lesson plan in a world full of students who can see no practical value in what you are teaching. Teach them anyway. Today’s lesson is the same as every day before it. Because the class has been struggling with this assignment, shine. You must teach this by example. So hand out sunglasses. And do not dim yourself for the sake of their comfort… Remember, some people require more light than others. So make extra.”

Image source:

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Ajapa Japa – Breath & Mantra Meditation

Sonali Bansal
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Ajapa Japa – Breath & Mantra Meditation

“If we can repeat this mantra constantly until it becomes integrated within our consciousness and is always present in the mind, we will realize our oneness with god.” ~ The Yoga Book, Kriyananda Swami

Meditation is like ploughing the mind field to make it compatible for sowing seeds of wisdom that will reproduce flowers of cosmic awareness, oneness and tranquility. Practice of meditation comes in various forms, types and duration.

P1drslgE4GoTo name a few, we have Yoga Nidra, Chakra Shuddhi, Antar Mouna, Ajapa japa, trataka etc. This article will throw light on Ajapa Japa or Mantra meditation, an ancient Tantric practice of pratyahara (withdrawal of senses).

What is Ajapa Japa Meditation?

Swami Satyananda Saraswati said, “When the name is uttered from the mouth, it is called japa; when it is uttered from the heart, it is called ajapa.”

Japa also refers to conscious chanting of a mantra, and when the mantra is in sync with the breath and meditation, the mantra flows without exertion. This practice is called ajapa japa, or effortless repetition. It is a combination of pranayama and meditation that brings about harmony in the mind, body and soul of the practitioner and has powerful effects both on the conscious and subconscious mind.

Swami Satyananda played a simple game for us to realize what Ajapa Japa does. He asked, “where is your consciousness right now? Think carefully. Where is it? Is it with you, or is it somewhere else?”

Most of us would answer I don’t know. According to Satyananda our consciousness is extroverted and dissipated, so we cannot locate it. With the help of Ajapa Japa meditation, our consciousness can be located and brought inwards, where it belongs.

This meditation requires the practitioner to chant the mantra and merge it with the breath. As the breath moves from the base of the spine to the top of the head, the inner space of the mind is filled with its sound. The mantra becomes rooted in the root chakra and moves till the third eye chakra, getting embedded in the consciousness. But this occurs only after considerable practice with a mantra.

Kriyananda Swami said, “In practice of Ajapa Japa the awareness of the natural flow of the breath, is integrated with the mantra So-ham, (I am he). Soham is a Vedantic mantra found in Isa-Upanishad…. The letters s and h in the mantra soham are the consonants, which represents the names and forms of the universe. If we remove s and h, we are left with oam or om, the only true reality, the soul of your breath.”

Practising Ajapa Japa Meditation

74c38c93f216e3fcbbbcfa6ce783f498“In Ajapa Japa the three important points are: deep breathing, relaxation and total awareness. During the practice you must maintain complete and unceasing awareness of what you are doing. Not a single breath should go unnoticed. There should be no automatic breathing. You must have unceasing awareness of every ingoing and outgoing breath,” said Swami Satyananda.

  • Be seated with eyes closed in a meditative pose. You can choose any comfortable posture, like easy pose, thunderbolt pose, lotus pose etc. If needed you can take the support of the wall as well. Keep your head, neck and back straight, while the hands are placed on the knees, palms facing downwards. Feel completely relaxed, physically and mentally for a few minutes, before starting the practice.
  • Inhale deeply and start by chanting ‘OM’ once with a deep, slow exhalation. Now, bring all your awareness to your breath. Feel the breath moving up and down, in and out, touching various parts of the body. Moving from the nose to the navel and back from the navel to the nose. The breath should be taken softly, that the sound of the breath is inaudible to the practitioner himself.
  • Notice how breathing is an effortless process. Give up all the effort and just experience the complete liberation gained in the process. Softer, longer, gentler and freer, that should be the way to breathe every day.
  • Keep the neck and shoulder in a line, the back straight and consciously prepare for the practice of Ajapa Japa.
  • Now, start breathing with Ujjayi breath. It requires the practitioner to contract the throat muscles as they breath in and release with breathing out. An oceanic wave like sound will come from the throat, signifying the contraction of the throat muscles. This breathing intensifies the calming effect by stimulating & soothing the nervous system. The flow of the breath is experienced from the nostril to the navel and back.
  • As you go deeper into the awareness of breath with Ujjayi breathing technique, chant the mantra ‘So-Ham’ or any mantra that resonates with you. In case of doubt. So-Ham is the best choice but if you have a guru mantra, nothing like it.
  • Now as you inhale, the air descends from the nostrils to the navel chant ‘So’. As you exhale, the air ascends from the navel to the nose, chant ‘Ham’.
  • Chant your guru mantra or personal mantra in a similar manner. Until this step we are consciously chanting the mantrasoham. After chanting for 10 minutes or more, it is time to shift to ajapa.
  • If your mantra is ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, you can chant the mantra as you inhale and repeat the mantra as you breath out as well. Synchronize the mantra with the breath and listen with awareness to the sound of the mantra, moving from the root chakra to the third eye and vice versa. The fusion of breath and mantra makes your concentration stable, reducing the mind’s tendency to wander.
  • Next, let go of the breath and focus your attention on the sound of the mantra alone. Breathe smoothly and let your awareness settle in the mantra.
  • As the mantra gains momentum, the sound of the mantra will naturally begin to pulse more effortlessly. Feel the vibrations of the mantra manifesting, as it flows subtly through your mind, centering your heart. Stay here for as long as you like.
  • For ending the process, slowly become aware of yourself and your surroundings. Chant Om three times and slowly open your eyes.

With regular practice, your concentration will deepen and repetition of the mantra will occur with an effortless momentum in your mind.

Benefits of Ajapa Japa Meditation

A study published in International Journal Of Creative Research Thoughts, June 2013 stated that Ajapa Japa played a significant role in stress level reduction, increase body awareness and coordination between mind & body.

Ajapa japa meditation helps one to withdraw the senses and awaken self-awareness. It removes the impurities of the mind, build unwavering concentration, enhances ability to access areas of consciousness, which are otherwise locked away. It also balances Ida and Pingala thus making it possible for sushumna to function.

Chanting and meditation is a powerful exercise to transform consciousness.

As Gandhi said, “The mantra becomes one’s staff of life and carries one through every ordeal. Each repetition has a new meaning, carrying you nearer and nearer to God.”

References

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Yoga book
Mantra meditation

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Mantra meditation mala

Understanding the Three Gunas, the Primary Forces of Existence

Sonali Bansal
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Understanding the Three Gunas, the Primary Forces of Existence

“Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, — these Gunas, O mighty-armed, born of Prakriti, bind fast in the body the indestructible embodied one.” ~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 5

All material nature is an interplay of three fundamental forces or “gunas” – sattva, rajas, and tamas. This is the law of prakriti or nature, where gunas are a part of prakriti.

And it is the nature of everything – from atom to element, plant to animal and living to non-living, all that can be known in this world, tangible and intangible, is a manifestation of the gunas in their various forms.

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The degree of concentration and combination may differ, defining our nature, behavior, attitude towards life and the choices we make. But it is impossible for anything to exist in the material world without the gunas.

“The gunas are primary constituents of the Prakriti and are the base of all substances. They are said to be attributes or qualities inherent in the substances. The three gunas bind the soul to the body.” ~ Mahesh B. Sharma stated in his book, Bhagavad Gita: A Journey From The Body To The Soul.

Each of these gunas has its own characteristics, which influence our lives in many ways.

Have you faced a day when you have been on the go from morning till night, then found it hard to stop? This is an excess of the energy called rajas, or activity.

Or there have been times when you can’t wake up from sleep, feel unmotivated and drag yourself through the day? This is an excess of the energy called tamas, or inertia.

There will be days when you feel calm and clear and is perfectly in the flow? This is the balance of the energy called sattva, or harmony.

While the state of enlightenment can only be achieved when one rises above the three gunas, it is important for mankind to understand the three dimensions, and progress towards Sattva (balance) and gradually leave all three for eternal assimilation.

Tamas

Tamas originally translates to dullness, inertia and darkness. It is a state of delusion which stems from ignorance and leads us astray. Our ability to challenge the right and wrong, good and bad, is taken over by sloth and sleep. It possesses a downward motion that causes decay and disintegration. It weakens our power of perception and leads to insensitivity.

Lectures on three gunas by the Vedanta Vision Society stated, “When you are in the state of Tamas, you are in the state of sleep. You are asleep to your potential, you are asleep to your talent, and you are asleep to the world. You are definitely asleep to what is beyond the world.”

In this state, the energy will lie dormant, and the only thing that will give gratification is sleeping and eating. The reason for the increase in the Tamasic nature can be due to food like meats, chemically processed food, refined food, etc. Even the act of thinking negatively, lying, killing, anger, resentment, and laziness can increase Tamasic attitude.

Rajas

Rajas is the state where the mind is brimming with energy, action & movement. A rajasic mind would be attached to material possessions and that person would perpetually feel chaos & confusion, as he seeks happiness from the outside world.

It might be stimulating in the short term, but in the long run it leads to distress and conflicts due to its unbalanced nature. Thus rajas binds us to attachment, to the fruits of action, and to sensory pleasures of every kind.

Lectures on three gunas by the Vedanta Vision Society added, “In the state of rajas, there is partial awakening. You are aware of yourself. You are aware of your environment. But that vision is very myopic & very restrictive.”

According to the Bhagavad Gita, when a person dies in a rajasic mindset – full of unfulfilled desires, excitement, fears, and sorrows – he/she is reborn into who the womb of who is similarly driven. Rajasic nature is induced with overexcitement, overeating, overworking, eating fried or spicy food, loud music or overthinking.

Sattva

Sattva is a state of harmony, equilibrium & purity where the mind is neither rajasic nor tamasic. This luminous state is all about reflecting on the consciousness. It possesses an inward and upward motion and brings about the awakening of the soul. A sattvic person would always resonate on a positive frequency, full of energy and mental harmony.

When pure Sattva prevails in our consciousness we transcend time and space and discover our eternal Self.

“Sattva is where you have a totality view of things… in the state of sattva your mind is totally calm, your intellect is creative, thinking clearly and therefore you come up with solutions and your body comes put with perfect action,” mentioned in the Lectures on three gunas by Vedanta Vision Society.

But according to Bhagavad Gita, Sattvic, even though good, is still a state of attachment, and he/she is not free from the circle of life and death. For this reason we must develop pure Sattva, which does not cling to its own qualities.

Therefore, we should aim to attain freedom from all the three gunas, but that is a later stage, first one has to be in balance to dissolve into nothingness.

Ways to balance the three Gunas

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Yoga

The practice of yoga and pranayama revolves around the concept of promoting sattvic lifestyle. With the help of poses and circulation of breath in the right direction, one can create equilibrium, a condition necessary for Sattva to exist.

By removing Tamas (sloth) and rajas (restlessness), a harmony can be achieved in the mind, body and soul.

The proportion of the gunas keeps fluctuating in the body. Different yoga poses can be chosen in accordance to the understanding of the current dominant guna. For example, if one is feeling an excess of thought and stress due to overworking, they can choose the easy poses that brings calm and composure and vice-a versa if they are feeling Tamasic in that moment.

Meditation

The mind is where it all lies, and the only way to curb, control and create a balance in the mind is through meditation. With the ability to balance the current situation, meditation can become a great tool in dealing with lethargy, self doubts, tension, stress, over thinking, negative thoughts etc. All the conditions of both Rajas and Tamas can be improved with meditation.

Food

We are what we eat holds true especially in the sense of the gunas. Any or each of the gunas varies in accordance to what you consume. Eating dense or heavy food can lead to tamasic mentally and physicality. It leads to lethargy, sleeping, and fixation over rest.

Similarly, rajasic food like ginger, garlic, food high in sugar, things hot in nature, or too spicy, can lead to imbalance as well. Therefore, opt for foods that are sattvic, like fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, honey, nuts, etc. These promote balance, easy digestion, and lightness in the body.

It is only us, human beings who have the ability to change the levels of gunas through lifestyle choices & practices. At the same we need all three qualities in our life.

Tamas makes us stop and rest, we need rajas to get us going in the morning, we need sattva to understand and get clarity and wisdom. Appreciate the process of life as it unfolds. Don’t become attached and obsessed to be a certain way. Simply observe and be present.

References & Image Source

Bhagavad Gita: A Journey from the Body to the Soul
Gunas
Yin yang

Three Reasons Why Having Faith Makes you Happier

Nikki Sapp
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Three Reasons Why Having Faith Makes you Happier

 “I am realistic… I expect miracles.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Whether we realize it or not we all have faith in something. Even if our faith is in that there is nothing that exists that we cannot sense with our five senses or that hasn’t been scientifically proven, that is still faith in something.

However, the faith I am speaking about in this article is in something that has not been “proven” by scientists…yet. It is something that is way more powerful than us. You could call it a higher intelligence, a higher self, God, the universe, or pretty much anything that you want to. It is something that is deep within us, in the core of our souls.

It is something that we can sense on an intuitive level but not necessarily something that we can explain easily. When we think about it our heart perks up, feels “curious” if nothing else, and at the deepest level of our being we feel a tinge of yearning. We yearn because we know that this is the answer, this is what “home” feels like, and we long to feel the complete safety that this thing provides us when we are in connection to it.

This higher self is inside every single one of us and when our soul connects with something that we can feel as “the truth”, we know that there is something to all of this spirituality stuff. Even if on a logical, mind based level we have no idea how it could be possible, our soul knows it doesn’t need to “know”, it only needs to feel it.

However, the term “faith” has been tainted. Religious fanatics have over used and misused the term to the point that the mere mention of it makes people immediately shut off. It now seems to be being associated with the “sheep”, “still asleep”, or the logical realists who refuse to associate with anything that can’t be scientifically proven.

It has become a term that is associated with the infantile and ignorant minds of those who need something to believe in. What many people may not realize is that having faith in this unseen force actually makes us happier, less stressed and more peaceful.

And while it’s completely understandable that some people are still operating from the perspective that there couldn’t possibly exist something that is more powerful and smart than, GASP… us and our logical based minds, for those who have begun their spiritual awakening process having a faith in a force that is much greater than our small minds can comprehend sounds completely logical.

When our souls begin to awaken to higher state of consciousness wisdom that is on a more metaphysical level becomes something that we just instinctively “know” versus something that we just “believe in.”

Below are three ways that having faith makes you a happier person –

1) You realize that you are not alone

faithimage2“We are not alone in the universe. If you look deep into the psychology of the people who say it is impossible, you find that this knowledge disturbs the fragile human ego.” ~ Gray Scott

This is perhaps the most important and most comforting that faith provides us with. As our spiritual self blossoms it becomes apparent that love is the ultimate truth of the universe. When we believe that there is a force that loves us even more than we love ourselves, that there is something that wants our happiness as much as we want it and something that is helping guide us through life’s trials and tribulations, a sense of peace overtakes us.

We haven’t been abandoned here to just fend for ourselves, although sometimes it may feel like that. Not only is this higher intelligence always with us, we actually are it, therefore we can never truly be apart from it. It won’t let us fall, unless falling is part of the plan that is.

2) You realize that there is a reason for everything

“Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don’t think that you’ve lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time.” ~ Asha Tyson

let go and trust the universe So from where we are standing we can’t see the bigger picture of our lives. We don’t know why things happen the way they do, in the timing it does, but through faith we see that there is always a reason behind the circumstances of our lives.

When we operate from the standpoint that life is giving us whatever situation that is going to help us grow and evolve in the quickest manner possible, we see that everything that happens to us is ultimately helping us. When our faith is only in ourselves and our conscious minds, life can seem like one problem after another.

Through the eyes of faith we go from asking, “why is this happening to me?” to “how is this here to help me?” Next time you are faced with a strenuous circumstance instead of throwing your hands in the air in utter defeat and hopelessness, go internally and ask your higher wisdom how this situation is ultimately helping you. You may be surprised how approaching all adverse circumstances from this perspective actually moves you through things much quicker and with a new found wisdom than ever before.

3) You realize that you are only the vessel in which the universe experiences itself

“Life is the universe experiencing itself in endless variety.” ~ Alan Watts

The ironic thing that happens is that on one level of understanding faith comforts us by letting us know that we are not an “accident” and neither is anything that life brings us to. However, from an even higher level of understanding we realize that there really is no purpose to all of it.

Yes, life brings us to situations that are meant to guide us back into our most unconditionally loving part of our being, but it’s all simply done so that this higher being can experience itself through us. From this level of consciousness there are no “wrong” or “right” emotions.

There are no “right” or “wrong” people, or belief systems, or ways to experience the all that is. Everything just is, and all is part of a perfectly orchestrated divine plan. When we are completely free to feel any thought or feeling that arises within us without judging these things as “bad”, we reach a point of even deeper faith that everything is perfect, everything is unfolding exactly as it is supposed to and we are merely the space in which all things are experienced.

Faith in the utter perfection of everything is when we begin to see the beauty and joy of every circumstance, even if it is a circumstance we do not prefer.

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