On this 'path' I have listened to a lot of teachings, I have sampled a lot of practices. I have loved it all. 

The MPP was particularly delightful for learning about additional belief systems that share inner wisdom.

You might think that having completed MPP, I also have a thorough familiarity with Regina's teachings. To an extent, through MPP I do. But to those who have completed e.g, years of Gentle Healing, you are the lucky ones!

Recently, thanks to the abundant teachings on the AT website and YouTube, I have been saturating in Regina's playlists such as: the snippets of the early teachings, seven steps to Awakening (spell checker chose the capital a), inner stillness, and clarifying the teachings.

And here I am, listening to each recording several times over (I'd like to say with full attention each time, but I listen several times to hear it all once!).

And here I am listening to the four principles of God in more detail. 

Which brings me back to: sat chit ananda. 

Which I previously felt to be: nothing something substance. But which I doubted, because that's what I do, because after all, everytime I know, I find out I didn't know 🤣

And after hearing Regina talk, perhaps I shouldn't doubt my understanding.

Perhaps nothing something substance is: first, second, third principles of God. 

It makes sense.

Because after substance, comes all the forms that we know.... Our manifest reality, the world we live in, aka the fourth principle of God.

I understand ananda to be the fabric of reality (little r 😆). 

It is divine love. It is the energy, the substance, of all form and all the space between form. Everything you can know as a human, including thought, is made of divine energy. Manifestation (our everyday world) cannot exist without it.

So it makes sense that ananda might be the third principle. I am sure of nothing. Just connecting the dots.

During meditation yesterday, I felt the compassion from the teachings (if that makes sense). I wept with the error of suffering whilst completely and lovingly held. 

I don't think it's any coincidence that in life at the moment, I have been 'gifted' acute opportunities to look from the inside and apply the teachings.

Oh the suffering 😆!

Alongside the seeing. The synchronous teachings I listen to on any given day. 

Believe me, I was not impressed to hear that Bernadette Roberts went through twenty years of teachings provided by the world 'out there'. I'm not suggesting I'm where she is/was, but boy, that bit sounds familiar!

The path is not for the soft. That's right because at times it skins you alive ! (Though thankfully this time, it was easier to recognise and focus elsewhere. As in, focus on the applying the teachings and not delving into the sufferings, so I only feel half skinned and it didn't take as long. Or will it ?!).

I don't want to hijack my book thread for my musings, but not sure where else to put it.

🌻

Funny what you find when you start looking

https://awakening-together.org/tips-regina-lesson-302/

Give a dog a bone.

Brahman the ultimate reality of Hindu tradition has a trilogy.

I'm not sure if this trilogy of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, plus Brahman, is pointing to the four principles of God or if Brahma Vishnu Shiva are representations within the fourth principle.

If they were aligned it might go:

God Brahman

First Brahma, source, creator

Second Vishnu, sustainer, 

Third Shiva, transformer and destroyer (there's your universe flicking off and on with every next moment, perhaps)

Fourth Maya, the illusory world 

What I find interesting is that I read most people devote to one of the three, such as Shivaism, not the ultimate Brahman, or Godhead.

In my own understanding, Shiva, or third and creative principle (awareness with attention on Maya, reality, illusory world) , is Ananda (bliss, Love, the creative energy)

And I know Shivaism to be strongly attached to Shakti , the creative energy of manifestation. So is it that devotees of Shiva and the consort Shakti, stop at third principle? 

I don't know and it doesn't concern me.  But I do love thinking about SatChitAnanda, which might be the FirstSecondThird principles of God.

I'm a bit obsessed with third principle at the moment. I know 'my' third principle has all it's attention on fourth principle 😆

And I'm figuring out how to swing it around , attention on second 😆

All in good time 🙏

"Of the three incarnations of Brahman, Shiva has a special place in the yogic traditions as he is considered the first yogi, or adiyogi. Shiva also symbolizes the balancing of awareness and bliss, and the calming effects of yoga practices in general"

https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5800/brahma-vishnu-shiva

nb: in Hindu tradition, it usually goes consciousness, awareness, bliss ....  a bit different to the order Regina and others teachings go in, which have the words awareness and consciousness flipped.

So then, Shiva does seem to be in the very perfect place to be the yogi, the first to channel awareness with bliss; the original third principle, manifesting the fourth. 

In Sankaya yoga, there are words like purushi, prakriti, the tattwas and on, which all describe the chain of manifestation, all in fourth principle I believe (as far as I remember, I will have to look it up again). 

Better let this percolate some more. 

Continuing on the theme of SatChitAnanda (followed by Maya), or, the four principles of God. 

I have been asking how to turn the creative attention (third principle, Shiva/Shakti, divine love) around;  from being on fourth principle (little r reality) to being on second principle.

(I don't even know if the above paragraph is 'correct' but it makes sense to me right now.)

How to cease the embellishment of fourth principle? How to turn around and let go of illusion, let go of Maya, let go of concrete concentrated attention and belief on fourth principle as reality?

It seems that the same lessons that applied back at the beginning of the journey, apply here. Nothing complicated. Very simple. And the reason the same lessons apply is because it is all about healing belief in fourth principle. So, even though years appear to have passed, while we are 'stuck' here, the same simple lessons can apply. 

The simple lesson of non reactivity to craving and aversion. The simple lesson of stepping outside of loop of: what you think is what you get, what you get is what you see, what you see is what you think, what you think is what you get 😆 (or however that goes).

I call craving and aversion: the constant longing.

The constant longing for more of this or less of that. 

On the journey of life, ups and downs; yes more please and no thanks less please. Aka stuck in fourth principle.

And I/we learned this, realised this, applied this, eons ago! So why is it still the lesson to go back to?

Because it was applied back then, to free up a layer of delusion around a particular circumstance or suffering. And then it was applied again to more.  

But it seems that I/we keep getting more layers of illusion to wake up from. And this will continue until the penny really drops, in an abiding way, about the nature of fourth principle and it's grip on us.

It keeps occuring until the penny really drops about who/what is meant by 'us' 'i' 'me' etc.

So, to step outside of the self perpetuating nature of fourth principle, the practice of non reactivity occurs.

The same lesson from where you began. Turning away from thought story. Going to feeling (sensation in and around the body). 

 While sensation sounds like it is in the fourth principle, it is only in the fourth principle for as long as the experiencer of sensation believes itself to be in the fourth principle.

By turning around as the creator, as the third principle, placing attention on second principle (?? I'm still refining articulation of this), that is;

Looking back at the stillness (the fabric, the screen, that it all arises from/on (?))

Notice the noticer.

Eventually you will get the experience of trataka* again; noticer, noticing, and noticed are one.

And if you want this to stay?  Well then, you keep looking back (in the direction of fourth to first). 

Non reactivity is the tool to look back. Reactivity brings ripples in the pond of stillness. 

Keep practicing!!

*Trataka is a candle meditation where you look at base of flame for about a minute, close your eyes, and attempt to steady the after glow of the flame, in the centre behind your eyelids. Of course, like a floater, it goes where it wants and you might struggle with it, force it, fight it, to no avail. But one day, by grace, the observer, observing, and observed become one. 

Sat Chit Ananda Maya

1st 2nd 3rd 4th principles of God

The ongoing inquiry on how to turn attention in the direction of 4th to 1st.

What jumped out at me this morning was PRATYAHARA.

Pratayahara is fifth of eight limbs of yoga. Otherwise known as Ashtanga (eight limbed) yoga, which should not be confused with the modern and highly physical practice of yoga postures that is also called ashtanga yoga!

The eight limbed path of yoga are signposts to the 1st principle of God (I think. It could be to second principle. I'll let you know when I arrive!). And pratayahara is a tool to turn in the direction of 4th to 1st principle of God.

There's a lot of information on the eight limbs online, so I'll name then briefly. 

1 yamas, conduct in the world 

2 niyamas, self/inner conduct 

3 asana, physical postures in preparation to sit

4 pranayama, control of vital life force

5 pratyahara, withdrawal of senses

6 dharana, concentration 

7 dhyana, meditation 

8 samadhi, liberation 

The yamas and niyamas help to stop disturbances n the mind. While you are a Jiva (living as the deluded or ignorant person, fully embellished and believing in fourth principle self/world), you can be thrown around by your own thoughts. Using the yamas and niyamas as a guide, we learn to act, speak, and think in ways that promote inner and outer harmony. Less ripples in the pond assists the turning of attention in the direction of fourth to first. 

Asana, I have been told by Swami Shantimurti, means 'preparation to sit'. The asanas condition the body and keep it well, so that when we sit for the next limbs, the disturbances are few. Partly because they help us with sitting posture ease, less pain in knees etc, and it wears the body out a bit for less agitation. Of course, I am skipping over a lot about the energetic theories of asana. 

Pranayama is thought of these days as the breathing practices of yoga and they are know as an energetic practice (aka prana, chi, Ki etc). In yoga they are a way to gather the life force and gather it into the central channel (Nadi) where it rises from base of spine to skull. This is also termed an energetic awakening. Perhaps it also equated to realisation of the third principle, the experience of the creative energy manifest in the body. Of course, I am skipping a lot! Modern science would say we are manipulating the nervous system and bringing the body to a lower metabolic state, more stillness of body and mind.

Pratyahara. This is what I'm here to write on. And the relationship to looking from 4th to 1st principle. While the senses can be explored as more, here I'm keeping to the simple 6 senses of taste, touch, hear, see, smell, mind.

While immersed in the land of illusion and delusion (!) aka Maya, the experiencer of the senses is thought to be the distinct, discrete, seperate and personal body-mind. Upon waking up in/to(?) the 4th principle, it is much clearer to see the senses for what they are. Their grip loosens. The word 'dissolving' seems to make sense. As does the analogy to a ghost; that you can be aware of, but is also a bit fictional, and does not have control of you.

Which reminds me of the Bhagavad-Gita and the five horses pulling the chariot. It's like the horses have slowed down to a relaxed walk. Just chillin. No upset. No gallop. No distressed front legs in the air neighing. Just relaxed.

Looking back from 4th towards 1st enables pratayahara and pratyahara enables the turning of attention. Useful loop 👍

I made a list of the five physical senses and one thing that the body-mind craves for each sense, and one thing it avoids. For hearing I had: seek=voice of RDA, avoid=neighbours noise during sleeping hours (aka seeking silence)

Each time the senses pick up a stimulus, there can be a simultaneous reminder of '4th principle ', which makes it what it is, rather than cascading to a reaction.

The reaction would be based in the sixth sense, or thought stories.

If I apply the reminder of '4th principle ' to a thought, the thought dissolves, I cannot catch it.

This is the bit to be practiced if the noise during sleeping hours recurs. There is not a reaction to 'the other' who potentially could be blamed. That is not what is holding in 4th principle seperation.

The holding is the thought cascade that comes after the heard, hearing, hearer. 

Concerned thoughts for quality rest, health impacts; resentment at having to take a pharmaceutical to knock oneself out! Frustration. 

I can feel it sticking right now, as I write it, it's hooking me in and getting embellished. Heart rate rising. Character solidifying. 

And here lies practice. Remembering of turning attention from 4th in the direction of 1st principle. Loosen the grip. Turning away from personal ownership of the senses. Turning away from a personalised interpretation of a sense stimulus. 

Remembering that perceived, perception, and perceiver are one.

Righto I better percolate this.

Pratyahara is the turning around, placing attention in the direction of 4th to 1st principle of God.

Hello there.

Regarding the eight limbs of yoga, we now have a group meeting in the sanctuary, every other Sunday, 930-1000 ET.

We commenced 14 January 2024, next meet is 28 January, and on.

It's called Shiny Things, as the gifts that are uncovered from the practices surpass any fleeting feel good feelings of material gains such as jewellery, cars, or getting our own way in life. The gifts of the practice stay with you, burning bright within you, in daily life.

Teach what you need to learn, and learn what you teach. I think that's why Shiny Things has arisen. I've been looking at the eight limbs for years, always getting sucked back in to 4th principle, ego, worldly matters, seperation, conditioning, false ideas. 

Shiny Things is guided by the book by Bhava Ram: the eight limbs of yoga. This is an introductory course on the practical teachings of Pantanjalis Yoga Sutras.

There are >20 chapters in the book, so meeting once a fortnight, we will take nearly a year of reviewing eight limbs and applying in daily life. 

Then we can move onto a more thorough look at the yoga sutras of Pantanjali, if people want to.

Join us anytime in the sanctuary, with or without the book. I'm sure that even if you visit half way through, it will be exactly the right time for all of us.

💕