MahaYog - Yoga 🔱 and Buddhism ☸️

Just as a mother worries when her child does not come home on time, so a yoga student should worry when the daily practice is not done. One should love it as you love your body, have the same appetite for it as for a favorite dish. Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Enter the fire of self-knowledge. This fire will not burn you, it will only burn what you are not. Chiu Monastery (mountain bird), near Lake Manasarovar. Here Guru Padmasambhava practiced the last 7 days before leaving this world.

Keep firmly to the Dharma for your own benefit And without any complacency, endeavor for the benefit of beings. Yeshe Tsogyal

Though you desire the pleasures of this life, Because of your sins, you will never gain them. But if you renounce desires within, You will win the Great Accomplishment. Milarepa

An excerpt from a lecture by the Attainer of Mahamudra So, I've talked about two ways to feel happiness. The first is to truly liberate those who are suffering. The second is to be humble and thank those who have given you happiness as you become more and more happy. Isn't that easy? If you do this kind of thing, you will certainly gain maturity of mind. Some new practitioners must have found many of the terms confusing. But I would like to say one more thing. How to become more modest? There are two methods for that. The first is repentance. You cannot be modest because of the Tamas enveloping you, which does not allow you to see the dark sides of your nature or the things that may spoil your relations with other people. Then you must repent. This will remove your Tamas. When Tamas is eliminated, both the good and bad sides of your nature will manifest. Then you will understand yourself. And that will lead you to Enlightenment. And what to do when the good and bad sides of our nature are revealed? In other words, what should we do to get rid of the bad qualities? The answer is: that you should accumulate merit. Through the accumulation of merit, the bad qualities will disappear. The bad information will disappear. You may ask, “Master, how can they disappear through the accumulation of merit?” This question brings us back to the subject of today's lecture. There is information in the Causal World, in the Astral World, in the World of Phenomena. The fact that you can accumulate merit in the World of Phenomena shows that you have a rather pure consciousness in the Causal World. In other words, a person cannot do anything for those who do not accumulate merit. Some of you will probably say, “That is not so. Why can't one accumulate merit through imagination?” But this thought is illogical because the imagery from the Astral World would have to descend to the World of Phenomena. If actions in the World of Phenomena had nothing to do with merit and were nothing but bad karma, could we consider a person's Astral World to be purified? That is why I am telling you both the necessity of accumulating merit in the present life and the necessity of repentance.

He who has great anger has the most suffering. He who has great foolishness is like an animal and cannot understand the Dharma. He who has great pride cannot learn good things and has many enemies. He who has great desire cannot keep his vows and will be much maligned. He who has great envy - he has great ambition and loves intrigue. Guru Padmasambhava

Chitta Vritti Nirodha In the Teachings of Yoga, the above-mentioned cessation of the activity of consciousness is called «Chitta Vritti Nirodha»: Chitta (चित्त, citta), «consciousness, mind»; Vritti (वृत्ति, vṛtti), «movement, activity, activity»; Nirodha (निरोध, nirodha), «cessation». The second shloka of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras reads, «Yoga is the cessation of the activity of consciousness». Of course, since our consciousness is multi-layered, we need to experience the cessation of each layer. Thus, «consciousness» in this case is all levels of consciousness, including Atman consciousness. Therefore, the cessation of surface consciousness is, in fact, the full-fledged beginning of spiritual practice, not its completion and sole purpose. When we realize Chitta Vritti Nirodha at the level of surface consciousness, however, we first enter true, proper meditation, or dhyana. At the stage of the fourth dhyana, which corresponds to the Upper Astral World, our false «self» in the form of the workings of perceptions, will and discernment disappears. The perfect stopping point of the Astral World is Samadhi. Having entered Samadhi, we are further immersed in the ocean of crystal clear light of the Causal World. The stage of immersion in the light is called «Wisdom» in the sutras of Buddhism and Yoga. When we merge with the transparent light, in other words, when we stop the work of causal data, we realize the state of cessation of cognition and past experience. This is Nirvana, the state of Oneness that is us - the Atman, or True «Self» («Dharma - That which all things are. The Real Experience and Realizations of the Spiritual Practitioner», Volume II, Chapter 1).

A Buddhist recognizes the law of cause and effect. If one does not believe in the positive or negative consequences of one's actions and does not follow the ten virtuous actions and behaviors of a bodhisattva, the practice of true Dharma is simply impossible. The belief that one can harm others and still progress on the path to enlightenment is a delusion. Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche

Destructive consciousness leads to Hell. Greedy consciousness leads to the World of Hungry Spirits. Consciousness rejoicing in ignorance leads to the World of Animals. A consciousness of attachment due to limited views leads to the World of Humans. Consciousness that is day and night in struggle, the desire to throw down those who are superior, leads to the World of Asuras. The consciousness that is satisfied with its own karma leads to the World of Devas, to Heaven. And the soul of Bodhisattva is detached from all this.

The most important thing in yoga is not breathing technique, knowledge of asanas or flexibility of joints. The most important thing is to spread a mat and start practicing. B.K.S. Iyengar