Tag: prana

Biostrata ……….. continues 7

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Mind is intelligence, awareness, consciousness, perception, mind exists in and with everything. It is the inherent and most basic quality of active prana. Therefore you will see that the human body, being made up of prana and displaying infinite complex behaviour patterns, is also Mind.

Consciousness makes us see ourselves sometimes as ‘bodies’ and other times as ‘minds’.

It is always the observation (the point of view) which changes, not that which is being observed, and so it is, with every single one of us human beings, we can all be observed as mind, body or spirit.

Now upon having gathered the knowledge of all of the above we can now look at the true nature of Mind and consider too the 3 sections it is divided into …. Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious.

The human ‘conscious’ mind belongs to the Sensory Stratum, the ‘subconscious’ and ‘unconscious’ belong to the Cellular Stratum, with the ‘unconscious’ reaching all the way down to the Pranic Stratum (after passing through the molecular and atomic strata too).

The conscious mind possesses a number of faculties, ‘Consciousness’ being just one of them.  Consciousness (otherwise termed ‘Awareness’) is introspective and results from exclusive components which make up a unit, i.e the consciousness of ‘cells’ and/or ‘molecules’ and the intelligence displayed therein of those components/units.  When awake and fully conscious, we rely on the combined consciousness of all cells for our normal functioning, together all combinations give us our Awareness.  During sleep however, ‘sensory’ consciousness can become ‘patchy’ as not all cells are still functioning, some have suspended their activities. Sensory experience (in sleep) is fragmentary and incomplete and inclined to seem slightly less ‘real’ than that of the fully awake sensory consciousness. Hence the phenomenon ‘Dreaming’.

All levels of the Biostrata need each other, no one level can exist without the others for this is all about a progressive, unifying process in the development of inert Prana to Human Being.

Communication throughout the Biostrata is strictly from one stratum to the adjacent stratum so it is not possible for say, the Sensory Stratum to communicate directly with the Molecular Stratum, the communication must pass through all intermediate strata wherever the communicating strata are not adjacent with each other. This communication is much the same as any form of communication, whereby it is an influencing of awareness of one entity, reaching out to the awareness of another.Usually this communication is for one of two reasons. Either for controlling the units of another stratum, or for the purpose of being controlled by the units of another stratum.

Consciousness is unique, it belongs to one unit and is its inherant part. when a number of units of one stratum unite they constitute a ‘complete’ unit in a higher stratum and thereby produce a ‘collective unit consciousness’ .. i.e another ‘one exlusive unit’.

Awareness (Human Consciousness) is the ‘agent’ for all communication in the Sensory Stratum, it is not only a ‘receiver’ susceptible to other strata but it is also a ‘transmitter’ which has capability of influencing all units of its own, and other, strata.

The Human Consciousness is better able to communicate with strata below its own level rather than the levels above and this makes it more understandable to us how we can appreciate being ‘stuck’ in the Sensory Strata, often unable to progress upwards to the Spiritual Strata. Consciousness marks the extent of our singular development within the Biostrata, having ascended from the Pranic Stratum and being made up of units of the Cellular, Molecular and Atomic Strata, you will understand that when any unit of the Sensory Stratum is communicating with units of the lower strata, it is indeed actually communicating with parts of itself.  Whenever we use our physical apparatus such as moving limbs or swallowing morsels of food we are communicating within the Cellular Stratum, making appropriate cells action and respond in accordance with our wishes, and those cells composed of molecules and atoms are all receiving communication from the Sensory Stratum, continuing, automatically, down and down the entire number of components until the Pranic Stratum is reached and all necessary communication has been actioned.  You will recognise for instance, when you are hungry, you are made aware of this by Sensory Consciousness, it is a message from the Cellular Stratum telling you (human consciousness) that you must eat. Therefore these are the busiest lines of communication, the interchange of influences between the Sensory Stratum and all strata below.

If you take yourself to your current level of Sensory Stratum you might think that communication on this level is the easiest but alas, even with all the lines of help brought about by Post, Radio, Telephone etc there still remains some of the most difficult, if not impossible obstructions regarding communications between human beings on a Sensory Level.

When a human being (one unit of the sensory stratum) communicates with another human being it is possible for there to be awareness of who is the receiver and who is the transmitter, both can occupy consicousness at the same time, however, when one human is communicating with another, what has to be remembered is that communication is happening with a ‘separate’ consciousness and therefore, this is not as easy as communication with one’s own component cells.  If you have little understanding of your own Sensory Self and all parts below (and above if possible) then you will have greater challenge in communicating with other conscious beings (especially if they have little or no understanding of their development).

Finally, to reach up and communicate to the strata above proves the most challenging and is probably the Sensory Stratum units’ upmost difficult communication. When a human being ‘reaches up’ it is doing so into the ‘unknown’ and the awareness is that of the actual reaching rather than of which level is being reached.  The Spiritual Stratum is intuitive and when the Sensory Stratum does manage to communicate with the Spiritual Stratum it receives intuition and inspiration. Human consciousness must expand and transcend the Sensory Stratum if it is to successfully communicate with the Spirit and the Godhead of the Biostrata. Only when Human consciousness has made itself receptive by negating the significance of all sensory stimuli can it expand, can it reach up, can it communicate with a unit of the Spiritual Stratum and thereupon receive Intuition and Inspiration.

Biostrata …. continues 4

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In simple terms, Life is an upward motion/process and movement in any other direction is that of deterioration or failure of development.

Here is a diagram to help with a visual understanding of the Biostrata.  The simple, yet empowering shape of the Triangle is utilised.

The Biostrata

The bottom line represents the Pranic Stratum – that of inert energy, the ‘potential life force’ … that from which all recogniseable existence emerges.

You can see that as we move up to the next level of the triangle we enter the Atomic Stratum – that which relies heavily on the Pranic level for its existence, but which is of lowest order of intelligence with its uncomplicated patterns of behaviour … it provides the basis for all matter.

Lifting up to the next part of the triangle we gain admission to the Molecular Stratum and up again into the Cellular Stratum, a continuum in motion, a trend toward unity, a state of being one.

Always, a number of atoms must unite to form a molecule, a number of molecules must come together to form a cell (thus there are fewer cells than molecules) and this continues with existing numbers of units becoming fewer as the number of elements within each unit increases.

Keep returning to this Illustration to assist in understanding.

From the Cellular Stratum we move cohesively into the Sensory Stratum and this is where the collective activities of the cells move forever upward towards unity, being a whole, and thus commit to their specialised groups to form the Body. Again, it is a large leap, like that of the molecular to the cellular.  What is significant about the progression upward from Cellular to Sensory is the contributory elements taking place in the formation of tissue and cells like that of the storing of hereditory data, the relative positionings of tissue formations and much much more which cannot be shown in the illustration but which exist in other ‘strata’ which rest in between the significant stratum as shown in the diagram.

So now we are in the Sensory Stratum and this is known as such quite simply because we have arrived at our Senses.

Biostrata continues ….. 3

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From the beginnings of the Biostrata we are aware that Prana is the vital force, the ‘potential’ life force in everything and seeing as it is indeed  the first stratum it deems logical that the atomic, molecular and cellular strata all have prana manifesting in them.  Prana is capable of manifesting at various levels of mind and matter (all relativity dependant of the observer).  Thus, there is a predetermination of the development of pranic manifestation and progress within the natural laws imposed by ‘original design’ (the groupings, the selective process of atoms and molecules and cells) and is something that is predictable at every stage of development.  So when, at the cellular level of life, cells, eventually ‘die’, is this due to the cell running out of Prana? Atoms form molecules, molecules form cells and so forth in an ever upward development of pranic manifestation. There is the common logic of upward direction toward a higher stratum. However, as soon as no further progress is being made within development, or if atoms, molecules and cells fail to conform to their original design, then they are deemed to be ‘dead’ or inanimate and they will begin to break up and fall back downward through the lower strata. This activity denotes gradual deterioration. A cell will break up into molecules and then the molecules will separate into atoms and so it continues.  This could be nothing more than a re-cycling process whereby during ‘deterioration’ there is assessment of how much decline has taken place and if indeed some atoms and molecules can re-enter the upward development and further contribute to fresh material and life-form then so they shall.  When a cell ‘dies’ it does not mean all Prana has disappeared. The dying cell is merely reversing its direction of movement within the Biostrata. It has the capacity to regenerate.

Therefore it is interesting to observe here, how despite the ‘dying off’ of various components within the ‘life form’, whether they be cells, molecules or atoms, there is an ‘essential design’ maintained by the ‘ever upward’ progression of new components (prana, atoms, molecules, cells) coming up through the Biostrata (resulting from reproduction or selective attraction).  These are once again of original design, and are simply replacing those constituent parts whose term has expired and are in descent, possibly to be drawn again into circulation and ascend the Biostrata as new life-forms if their manifestation can regenerate, re-cycle itself.

Life, as we understand it, is an upward progress through the Biostrata and we should see that all development, progress and retrogression, manifestation, behaviour patterns and all intelligence are under direction of a Supreme Controlling Force. It is notwithstanding that everything in existence, whether it be an atom, a molecule, a cell, a human being or inanimate object, it has to make an upward progression through the Biostrata and has to conform to laws which emanate from the Supreme Controlling Force. Non-compliance of this will produce premature stagnation and deterioration because unless there is compliance with the laws of the supreme controlling force, whether by design or by accident, there can be no progress. Progress is Life in the generally accepted context. There is much opportunity for free expression at every level of the Biostrata, however this can only occur within the ‘essential design’ on the law of life.

Biostrata continued ….. 2

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The molecular stratum comes after the Pranic and Atomic stratum … basically, molecules are specialised groups of atoms.  Atoms arrange themselves into categories with each category applying specific characteristics having come together as an ‘expression’ of atomic intelligence (atomic characteristics are mainly determined by the number of electrons orbiting each nucleus), so there is always a selective process responsible in forming groups of atoms. This, in turn, relates to selective processes for grouping atoms into molecules. Molecular intelligence is therefore one level higher in intelligence than atoms but only due to the fact that molecular patterns of behaviour are far more complex than that of atoms and therefore selection processing is more intricate. Atoms will come together to form a molecule by use of interaction, producing a pattern of behaviour within a single molecule.  The molecule’s behaviour is mostly due to the atoms influencing each other by way of attraction or repulsion, so as to maintain equilibrium within a molecule’s precise structural arrangement. When molecules start their process of selection they are mainly extending the faculty of ‘atomic selectivity patterns’ within their formation.  The formation of molecules are but an extension of the same procedure as that of atoms, only more intricate, molecules are moving closer to the development of the human body.

Molecules unite to form living human cells.  The jump from molecules to living human cells is far greater than the jump from atoms to molecules but there are always firmly fixed ‘roots’ of the selectivity processes coming from the Atomic stratum. There are specialised groups of molecules to give us complete cells of every design – muscle, blood, bone, nerves. This development now shows us the growing complexity of each successive stratum and how it utilises the qualities and faculties of its preceding strata. This also allows us to witness the different behaviour patterns increasing during growth and displays the increasing level of intelligence, always gaining in superiority as the strata continue upward. The level of intelligence at the Cellular Strata is outstandingly high, so high that cells seem almost able to think.

Final Examination

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the Sanskrit for Prana is ‘moving force’ or ‘life force’ … this force is the fundamental energy and source of all knowledge, it is an upward moving breath which causes spiritual evolution.. it is all-pervading and self auto-energizing… prana is a vital energy .. it permeates the Universe and all individuals at all levels and it’s aim is to both maintain and destroy further creation …… it is both ‘being’ and ‘non-being’, a physical energy, a mental energy (where the mind gathers information) and an intellectual energy (where information is examined and filtered).  Sexual, spiritual and cosmic energy are also activities of Prana.  It is the creator of all things; life is moving because of it … when there is death, individual breath then dissolves into the cosmos.  Without Prana there is no life. Pranayama is the ‘science of Prana’ .. it is first and foremost awareness of the breath. It is the ‘focusing of attention’ to and the ‘observation of’ the breath…. breathing is a dynamic process and there are practical ways to keep attention to it; by focusing on its entrance and exit to the body via the nostrils… by listening to the breath by gently contracting the vocal chords… by following the breath through all areas it passes… through Pranayama one can prepare for the stillness of meditation… the ‘out’ breath is a most important aspect of the body’s elimination processes for one can utilise it as a mechanism to free the mind of any blockages and thus lead to the manifestation of greater clarity…. Pranayama aims to achieve this ‘following of breath’ through the offering of many and various breathing techniques and breath ratios… Pranayama is also the movement of Prana toward Apana (an eliminative derivative of Pranic energy) and Apana toward Prana…..

an excellent way of re-connecting either during or after an argument is to move into the ‘spooning’ position and to lie front to back with the person at the back resting a hand on the front person’s anahata chakra (heart centre)…. both can then lay relaxed and non-goal orientated simply breathing into the abdomens … for greater benefit it is recommended that the faster breather follow the slower breather… this is most often seen as man following woman, but of course, there are exceptions

kundalini is the feminine (shakti, dynamic, creative and energetic) aspect of potential energy which rests at the base of the spinal cord and when awakened, will rise it’s ascension through the psychic centres, the seven chakras (wheels) which lie along the axis of the spine (all of which are consciousness potential) .. this risen kundalini energy will then unite above the crown of the head with its polarity Shiva (the masculine, static quality identified with unmanifest consciousness) and thus pure consciousness unity fuses with the absolute…. the potential of kundalini energy is far-reaching and thus its release must not be forced … it is an awakening and occurrence must happen naturally and with consideration and care …….

familiarity with tantra can help a person to enjoy life to the fullest for tantra is a ‘positive attitude’ toward life… ultimately taking a generally positive attitude toward life will evoke great discovery, adventure and peak experiences … the enjoyment of ‘all and everything’ will be a direct result of this … the same familiarity with tantra will lead to a greater connection to this planet, to nature and to the universal cosmos, it will allow for a higher sense of self which will promote greater values for the self and the universe as a whole… once fundamental good changes become channelled (through processes of tantra) then higher growth ensues …. longevity is a product of all of the above ……….

in the context of tantra the ‘guru’ is one who removes the darkness of ignorance and replaces it with the light of intelligence .. the guru is an essential part of life, his ‘role’ being the essence of all mystical systems …. the guru can be found within all but sometimes this inner relationship is difficult to connect, follow and understand … an external guru can assist with this first linking with the inner ‘self’ guru and thus enlightenment can then continue … the guru aids inner discipline, spiritual energy and primary intention ……..

visualisation is used alongside kegel exercises to increase effectiveness .. the power of the mind is infinite and far-reaching optimum results can be achieved by the strengthening capacity of envisioning images of controlled development … ‘seeing’ the outcome before it occurs is the ultimate path to success ….

the law of karma state is very deep and profound, hence few human beings attain full awareness and understanding of its intricacies … it is generally found through enlightenment, along a spiritual pathway, still unmanifest in much of humankind… it requires continued discipline to perceive the significance, the explanation, the cause…..  continued self-control and order for the human being is not easy when travelling through this modern age of ignorance … (however this modern age is now pivotal to a new time of greater consciousness thus new positive humanitarian karmic light is on the horizon)

a knowledge and arrest of ‘will’ and ‘intent’ is required if one is to foresee, accept and agree with eventuality… for the successful conduct and execution of life and death, great strength and selflessness is paramount… there are many weights to first pull in efforts to become light and lifted in line with the laws of cause and effect …. even when one is unloaded and free in the lightness of intelligence of karma, there is further mass consciousness of dark, unintelligent to contend with, its negative power sometimes draining ….

the greatest thing about karma is that joy will overcome all …. this will be achieved by making no distinction between self and other and having belief that all persons are empty, individually then each will receive karma ….

the true power of karma lies in its latency and infinity for here, time, space and existence have no bounds … karma will return and return again, whenever, wherever, howsoever, simply in relevance to the primary action that occurred …

my experience informs me that every act must have great intent, will and skilfulness, for every act will re-appear with its regenerative force whether that force be negative or positive … reactions have far-reaching effect … if primary action is relative to joy, all will be good …

Breathing Meditation

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Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace.  We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions.

Simple Breathing Meditation

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Benefits of Meditation

If we practice patiently in this way, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that is is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within.  This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life. So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.