How great and how obvious is your benefic accomplishing power? (II)
or
How to continuously transform ourselves, by being filled with enthusiasm and living with a ceaseless aspiration
By Cornelia Palii, yoga teacher
We recommend you also read here the first part of the article.
Each year, history seems to repeat itself for those of us (quite a few) who set out, on new year’s Eve, for example, to transform themselves into better people, more loving or more efficient, maybe more spiritual or more successful in certain fields of activity, but who often give up their goals quite fast. Their goals will have just evaporated just like a fairy dream in only a few days. European statistics show that 88% of the people give up what they’ve set out to achieve, along the way… Year after year, taking note of the partially respected promises, I began to wonder, more and more often, actually, how great is my benefic, achieving power, the efficiency I’ve gained on the path which guides my footsteps. Here are a few ideas I’ve synthesized in order to evaluate my benefic, accomplishing power, in order to organize the steps needed for amplifying this force and finding the complete recipe to use in gaining this extraordinary power.
Focusing upon the benefic goal we set to achieve means constant choice
A nervous mind, incapable of focusing for a longer period of time, shall diminish the accomplishing power through the dispersion it brings. Instead of one’s energy to be clearly focused on the goal, like the sunlight is being focused through a lens on a sheet of paper and setting it on fire, it will disperse into multiple thoughts. In order to “harness” this energy, unitarily directing it on the goal we’ve set, a mental practice is necessary. The power of concentration and focus, just as motivation and willpower, are things which can be developed, just as a muscle, which becomes stronger and stronger, with effort!
In the training conducted in order to improve mental control, as well as in developing any quality, patience and perseverance are of major importance. To focus means to unify everything in one core, and this unification can be learned through practice. During this process, the entire potential of attention is effortlessly focused on the chosen objective. In fact, it is a continuous choice – always renewed – of focusing the attention exactly on the chosen point. Analogically, continuous transformation is based on repetition. This is a repetition of the choice of focusing our entire being, in intention, thought and deed, towards the goal we are set to reach.
Yoga practice takes us beyond the limits
Modern science states that man can live for 40 days without food, eleven days without sleeping, 22 minutes without breathing and 12 minutes without moving, but the yoga system has proven these assumptions to be wrong, showing that the boundaries of ordinary knowledge and “normal” capacities can be extended or even eliminated through persevering in the spiritual practice and through deepening the yogi techniques. Thus, there have been cases of perfectly healthy human beings that have not eaten anything for decades or who stood still for many years in a row, immersed into states of divine ecstasy, etc.
Through the scientific method of researching the phenomena which take place during deep states of yogi meditation, through computerized EEG imaging, one can easily identify the spiritual states of those who meditate. Dr. Fischer Szatmári László, neurophysiology researcher, yoga teacher in Hungary, after performing hundreds of evaluations of the phenomena that occurs in yogi meditation states that “through deepening the yogi meditation (DHYANA), the physiologic effects become precisely determinable.
The electric activity of the brain during the prolonged and profound meditation is presented with significant changes. We can say that the profound spiritual states are presented as slower cerebral waves (alpha, delta) that are present on the entire surface of the brain, and not only in a certain area, as expected. Also, the generalized waves are presented with significant changes in amplitude, thus, the generalized alpha waves can be encountered all over the surface of the brain, approximately four times more present than usual. In such profound states, the prolonged suspension of breathing goes without saying.
Also, in these profound states, the reactiveness of the brain to external stimuli is greatly diminished or even missing, which indicates an obvious state of PRATYAHARA (retraction of the states). To a neuro-physiology expert, this is equivalent to the modification of the evoked potentials (such as, for example, VEP – visual evoked potential), or even their complete disappearance, which is something of a novelty!” So, here we have a series of documented examples where what seemed impossible had easily become possible. The human being can continuously transform, by gradually and perseveringly eliminating the mental agitation and influence of the ego on the fresh background of a vivid spiritual aspiration.
Lucidly and objectively evaluate life situations and your own being
When trying to amplify our benefic accomplishing power, another important aspect is our attitude towards procrastination: “I’ll do it later, or even tomorrow. I’ve had a much too hard day and I’m too tired…” and tomorrow, there are usually other excuses followed by other delays that will slowly but surely shatter the initial good intentions. Based on thorough studies, Tali Sharot, a neuroscience professor in the London University College, has drawn some staggering conclusions regarding the way in which people evaluate their life situations, their correct approach towards their goal, indicating that 80% of people suffer from a distortion and a predisposition towards optimism which is caused by a cognitive illusion coming from a precarious judgment.
This is a tendency to ill-foundedly overestimate – when there had not been established any processes of occult resonance yet – the probability of living pleasant life experiences and to underestimate the probability of experimenting unfavorable situations. When it comes to foreseeing the future, one month or x years from now, in our life, we underestimate the probability of unpleasant events caused by keeping hold of some weaknesses or vices.
And even more so, if we take not, for example, of a persistent state of jealousy or a strong desire for power, but we do not intervene, by taking the adequate measures immediately, in order to develop the opposite qualities, starting from the premises that we are managing them reasonably, in time, they will be able to give birth to authentic inner infernos. Through their resonance, they will attract corresponding energies, and the false optimism (“It will be OK!”) coming from the lack of discernment and from laziness, will do nothing but deepen an unwanted characteristic, one which can become harmful, or even fatal to spiritual development, in general.
Cultivate healthy optimism
True, healthy optimism is an extraordinary engine which propels the being towards its transformation, but overusing it when other qualities of the being are brittle – discernment, lucidity, the pervasive quality of the mind, etc. – leads to unrealistic expectations and fantasy-like evaluations of the exact current situation. Thus, the so called syndrome of false hope occurs: repeatedly believing that this time, it will be OK, and that the approach with the purpose of its harmonious approach is more facile, but without making the inner adjustments needed.
Albert Einstein once defined madness as: “doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results each time.” Psychologists often refer, in these kinds of situations, to the Yo-Yo effect – similar to the toy we are all familiar with since our childhood. The toy is made of two opposing plastic discs (they can also be wooden, or metal), connected with an axle around which there is a string, or an elastic piece of cord. Leaving the Yo-Yo to fall down, it will bounce back, the thread will roll up on the axle and the elastic string will bring the toy back into our hand. So all we do is come back to where we started, until we decide to make the necessary adjustments, and even start doing them!
Our purpose in this world depends on the meaningful questions we ask ourselves
The key to help us get out of this situation is the clear intention, expressed in the form of a plan (“a battle plan”, a plan to lift ourselves above the ordinary, above the limited, which is nothing more than maintaining or even persisting in states or attitudes that will not make us proud). Mental focusing can be easily verified through following our attention. And the direction will always be given by the profound questions we ask ourselves, in one form or another, for they are just as a laser of human consciousness; they focus our attention and they determine what exactly we feel and do.
The meaningful questions that we ask ourselves persistently and regularly will always find their answer and, even more so, “questioning our limitations we will discover hidden inner powers, questioning our conventional wisdom, deeper truths will emerge and questioning our capacities as human beings, these capacities will expand”, for just as a great sage used to say, “our purpose in this world depends on the questions we ask ourselves”.
Here are a few examples of such questions: Why does everything exist? What exactly makes me have what I have? What is my purpose in this life? Etc. But the first questions related to our particular effort in reaching our purpose are: what is truly my purpose? Why do I want to reach it? What will its fruit be in my inner universe and what will I be able to offer to others, upon reaching this purpose? How will it make me feel? And then we seek to charge, again and again the image which comes to our mind with plenty of benefic emotion and plenty of colour, by letting it grow together with the deeds we do from all our hearts, deeds which are meant to help us reach our purpose, without excessively thinking of others and others’ results, for eventually, we need to compare our results today with those from yesterday, or with the results we had a month ago, or ten years ago, in order for us to really seize the difference in ourselves, not in others.
Considering that whoever wants to transform his/her life needs to adequately change the meaningful questions he/she asks himself/herself, it is worth questioning ourselves right now: What am I truly grateful for? – And we need to give ourselves time to come up with a complete list…
Periodically verify your position in relation to the goal you have set out to reach
In everything we do, evaluating what we’ve already done is always welcome. The same affirmation is available when it comes to the spiritual path, regarding awakening and amplifying our benefic accomplishing power. But above all, you need to be aware of your starting position, in this endeavor, and of the greatness of this occult power, in this very moment. And the verification is simple: the longer the duration between the moment you set out to reach the goal and the moment of reaching it, the weaker your accomplishing power and faster you reach your goals, the more alive and strong is this energy
But this initial verification is not sufficient in order to reach your purpose. You need to periodically check your position during the journey, make the necessary modifications and make sure you’re still on the course you’ve set when you started, just as the skillful explorer does when constantly checking his sea map and his coordinates, in order to avoid any useless wandering. And once we reach our goal, we need to joyfully and patiently crystallize all the gifts we received on the way, because as J. Ruskin once stated, “The biggest reward for our efforts is not what we get in exchange for them, but what we become through them”.
A group of economy professors from the Yale University have created, a few years ago, a free web site where, once the objective is defined, one signs a commitment contract with the other members of the website who will encourage him in order for him to reach his goal, while also being monitored by a third person. You also have the option to bet a certain amount of money which you will lose if you fail to reach the goal you signed for. The money will be give to a cause which opposes your own cause.
The amusing part is that through this contract, involving a possible financial cause, the success percentage of the people who sign up is 70%, which is much more than the 12% given by the British psychologist Richard Wiseman, whose study I’ve mentioned in the beginning of this article. If we can call this way of reaching our goals a method, then it’s worth adopting and adjusting it, in relation to our objective.
In our spiritual practice, we could make a vow with God, The Father, a vow through which we commit ourselves to reach a certain spiritual condition. We could even write our commitment on a sheet of paper, the commitment to do the tapas which is proper for our needs, the tapas we chose, and, why not, we might as well call on someone who we love and who is close to us to stand as a witness to our commitment, a person who will then be able to ask us, from time to time, about the level of accomplishment of our efficient and serious spiritual practice, to support us and guide us when we need it.
Authentic spiritual transformation makes us integrate ourselves more and more plenarily into the macro cosmos
In order for us to continuously transform ourselves – a sign that we obviously find ourselves on a spiritual path – it is necessary to always keep in mind the base of the Yoga system, to respect the moral and ethical code of YAMA and NIYAMA. These ethical and moral precepts integrate us into the macrocosmic ambience in a way characterized by complete harmony, purifying our actions – following the successive stages of RAJA YOGA or the Royal Yoga – through the persistent practice of yogi poses (ASANA), the breath flow balancing techniques (PRANAYAMA) etc. They are the ones that will help those aspiring to completeness to surpass any tension, pain or suffering that puts a shadow over his spiritual practice, while also expressing – when reaching perfection in practice – the traits of the being who reached spiritual completeness.
They are the pillars of success in any field of life, leading to the generating of an enormous amount of spiritual energy, a gigantic occult accomplishing power that will propel the aspirant straight towards his goal. And efficiency in accomplishing any action and respecting any precept is given by the degree of maintaining the forms of resonance with the subtle energy of the willpower involved in the process. Thus, the law of willpower is the one who expresses the practical method of deep and complete tuning in with the kind of energy specific to the action we seek to perform.
Consequently, in every moment, we are creating that which we want to become, and the signs we meet on the path we take, the situations in which we find ourselves are meant to authenticate the spiritual accomplishing force that we possess!
Yogaesoteric
october 2014
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