On Mental Culture

Danger colors are red, orange and black: tiger colors.

The body is a miniature universe: there is nothing outside which cannot be found inside.

The moment you cut off stimulus from senses, you will have demons attack you.

One does not need gem stones to concentrate on a color; one may use earth colors.

Sometime concentration upon breathing will bring a gift, called a reflective image, to one of the five senses. Examples include silky soft touch, beautiful fragrance, etc.

A curse from a former life can often be removed by meditation, reciting mantras and other specialized procedures.

Some possible effects of concentration practice: radiation & light emanating from the body; feelings of extreme joy; awareness of distance things. All these are hindrances to attaining excellence.

Practitioner contemplated a bull. After 1 or 2 months intense practice, he behaves as a bull. His teacher concedes he was a realized being.

I could see the body I created. I could make others see it. It took years to get rid of it.

Mind over matter is a phrase parroted often: In its truest sense one can make a tree half dead and half flourishing through concentration.

Being able to walk on water arises out of the second chakra.

A test for the power of "unlimited perception" is to name what is in a cloth bag.

An extremely excellent mind can concentrate for 10 minutes on one subject. Examples of this heightened consciousness include projection. Note: In cases of projection, objects on the left may appear on the right.

…A third image will arise “It is beautiful - guard it.” When one sees the third image they are in the neighborhood of the first jhana.

When you have the experience of absolute nothing, the best thing to do is to say nothing about it.

Beings can arise spontaneously with all their limbs … entirely apart from and without any sexual birth, etc.

If one drinks beverages made of glucose, phosphoric acid and caffeine it will not be possible to calm oneself down enough to satisfy the requirements of this discipline.

Great beings in many traditions … can communicate by planting a thought in your mind while you are sleeping. It is an act of grace.

Yogi with a stilled mind: much sattwa. Such a person can establish his citta in that object. The more sattwa, the more he penetrates into the pure nature of any object. His consciousness must be pure. He would forget himself because he puts himself in the object of concentration. His consciousness would acquire the shape of the object being contemplated.

All is contained in the mind/thought of creator. That is how you create a being … a saint or a devil.

If an individual were unprepared for this, then a disastrous result. [Psychic energy] moves down to lower world – the base of spine. Likely to become a devil. Such a person is a black magician.

Witnessing as opposed to indulging is mindfulness: a detached viewpoint. It is impossible to be a detached observer without practice.

When an evil thought arises (prompted by lobha, dosa, or moha) we must not fight it. Rather we must know it. To know an evil thought is to destroy it.

One needs a teacher.

What is being taught here is mental culture – not meditation. Meditation is a misnomer because it has religious implications. Two results are intentional from mental culture: (1) calming of the mind (remove agitation – become still); (2) develop insight - penetrating vision to see things as they are.

Perceptions build up a fund of memories, indulgence follows. To be free of sense perception is true freedom. This can be accomplished through meditation.

The aim here is to refine perception. This is not the ultimate truth. For an object to be perceived, felt by you, it must fulfill certain conditions in the areas of both rupa – physical – and nama – mental. Most of us do not perceive truly. Our perceptions are false. For example, the concept of ‘walking’ is an ignorant statement.

If posture is relaxed, the mind is relaxed.

When successful for the duration of the meditation session you do not have lobha, dosa thoughts.

Breath should be watched to understand motion.

One mediates with an all-embracing awareness: awareness of the personality; awareness of the body. Also mindfulness of feelings … "Now lust is present, now self-loathing is present." You are no longer undergoing an experience – you are observing.

Practice is to sit still; to restrain the body. Man is a conqueror if he has conquered himself. In meditation you will find out how rebellious your various selves are.

Postpone charitable impulses so that you can develop competence. "In what way can I develop competence? By not allow my emotions to overwhelm me… to control me."

In meditation one has thoughts without violence: Thoughts with no ill-will in it. Ahamsa. When an unwholesome thought arises we should not struggle with it. Rather the task is to know the thought. To be aware. To see it for what it is.

In the case of fears, one should apply mindfulness to them fearlessly. One should continue the practice – not get lost in the fear.

Why is concentration not achieved? Other objects compete for attention. Attachment, annoyances, irritation, self-dissatisfaction, anger, hatred, questioning ‘Is this the right practice?’. All these are enemies of concentration. Also, over scrupulousness.

Concentration is naturally present in sexual embrace, in avaricious states, hunter-hunted. We (naturally) seek a concentrated state. Maybe the reason behind our directing self to a negative state.

A concentrated mind is a gifted mind.

One seeks the destruction of mundane consciousness so one can be seized by a superior consciousness not subject to the ordinary limitations through which ordinary consciousness arises.

Awareness is a form of concentration.

High attainments of concentration occur when the object of concentration is metta.

Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind. Yoga is concerned with freedom from mental disturbances.

Conquest of pain is a purpose of yoga. It is achieved by practicing non-attachment to the world. (Not isolation from the world physically.)

Silent witness that watches, does not take part. Purpose of yoga is to realize this – to know. It cannot happen unless chita vritis are restrained.

To achieve jhana (samadhi), you need a special gifted state of mind. We once had it but we lost it.

Samadhi can last as little as a millionth of a second. A rare experience. Samadhi mind is not ordinary. One makes the effort because it leads to happiness.

What happens in samadhi? All our wishes, aspirations, desires with which we are born and that compel us become dormant through this spiritual experience. Seeds are not grown. It is the highest state of detachment.

Jhana: a very gifted state. A so-called super-normal attainment. People with these attainments never publicize them.

True experience can be had by a mind that has achieved samadhi. (By contrast) memory and perception falsify.

Supermundane experiences: like the taste of Coca-Cola, they cannot be defined or described by concepts.

Any human being can obtain the consciousness of a god, including conceiving the infinity of space or achieving a state between perception and non-perception, through jhana, an attainment of extreme concentration.

In intense meditation the objects of concentration change and give rise to a secondary object. For example, contemplating a bloated corpse might give rise to a second image, that of a nourished man. One then contemplates the second object until the second object becomes a third object which is very, very refined and is so pleasant to contemplate that it will hold the mind. That third image is beautiful: guard it. By further contemplating it one achieves the first jhana. When on sees the third image he is in the neighborhood of the first jhana.

In the fourth jhana one reaches a cataleptic state of the body with no sensation. The fourth jhana is also the miracle-making jhana: by willing something, it comes.

At any give moment the consciousness is not pure, it has colors making it finite, limited. If consciousness is separated from chetasika, the consciousness becomes unlimited … a great attainment.