Notebook of a Virtual Alchemist

"I once heard a speaker from India commenting that one of the greatest crimes in western cultures is..."

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:09:37 -0500

“I once heard a speaker from India commenting that one of the greatest crimes in western cultures is that we force young people to base their decision to marry each other on mutual affection and sexual attraction. In their cultures, older, wiser adults arrange the marriage on what they think would make a strong, life-long relationship. Instead, he said, Americans and Europeans leave the decision up to the two people whose minds are the most clouded by hormones. No wonder, he said, that your marriages fall apart so easily.”

- On the Sixth Day

psytrance album cover designer

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:46:55 -0500

psytrance album cover designer:

Might also be useful in designing logos, tattoos, or flyers.

"Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the..."

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:30:53 -0500

“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.”

- William James

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:48:47 -0500

“Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.”

- Buddha

"Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is..."

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:54:29 -0500

“

Reality is what we take to be true.

What we take to be true is what we believe.
What we believe is based upon our perceptions.
What we perceive depends upon what we look for.
What we look for depends upon what we think.
What we think depends upon what we perceive.
What we perceive determines what we believe.h
What we believe determines what we take to be true.
What we take to be true is our reality.

”

- from The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

Lightning strike quartz

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:08:00 -0500

Lightning strike quartz

"We thought we knew everything about everything, and it turned out that there were unknown unknowns."

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:32:55 -0500

“We thought we knew everything about everything, and it turned out that there were unknown unknowns.”

- Richard Fisher

Determining the Authenticity of a Spiritual Teacher

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:38:37 -0500

Determining the Authenticity of a Spiritual Teacher:

An authentic teacher may create sacred space and presence while upholding a external structure only in order to disclose the non-dual intrinsic and implicate order residing non-dually both inside the student and outside — is this connection point met? This quality if present is the natural emanation of the authentic teacher’s own realization — his/her synchronous yantra of body, mind, and being. Does the teacher reside in this space?

"Daska once celebrated a great sacrifice, but he did not invite his daughter Sati nor her husband..."

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:16:16 -0500

“

Daska once celebrated a great sacrifice, but he did not invite his daughter Sati nor her husband Siva, the chief of the Gods. Sati, however, went to the sacrifice, but being greatly humiliated and insulted, threw herself into the fire and perished. When Siva heard this he was gravely provoked, tore a hair from his matted locks and threw it to the ground.

A powerful hero named Virabhdra rose up, thousand-headed and thousand-armed, and awaited his orders. Siva directed Virabhadra: “Lead my army against Daksha and destroy his sacrifice; fear not the brahmins, for thou art a portion of my very self”.

On this direction of Shiva, Virabhadra appeared with Shiva’s ganas in the midst of Daksha’s assembly like a storm wind and broke the sacrificial vessels, polluted the offerings, insulted the priests and finally cut off Daksha’s head, trampled on Indra (the Lord of Heaven), broke the staff of Yama, scattered the gods on every side; then Siva returned to Mount Kailash.

”

- virabhadra

"Listen! the teacher of the teacher, the creativity of the universe, In the midst of his uncontrived..."

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:57:17 -0500

“Listen! the teacher of the teacher, the creativity of the universe,
In the midst of his uncontrived audience,
According to this inner source of all contrived quintessential teachings,
Describes how everything appears,
When you have understood the united frame of reference of this core teaching,
All other frames of reference will be reflected within this creativity that makes everything else possible.
Thus, if you know me — the intelligence of the universe —
You will know the inconceivable truth.
If you know me — the majestic creativity within everything —
You will know and be at peace with the reality of everything else.”

- Longchenpa (via somalogue)

Mayavadi, Definition of

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:53:02 -0500

This is religious competitiveness at it finest. In the West, we argued with steel instead of words…

Mâyâvâdi: With this name are all adherents indicated of the two main philosophies known as impersonalism, or s’ankarism (preaching oneness of the soul with Brahman), and voidism (also known as the philosophy of nihilism).

- In the strict sense of the term not to confuse with the esoterical philosophers who express themselves indirectly and who are affirmed by Krishna as being of His love (“…The tri-kânda divided Vedas have the spiritual understanding of the Self as their subject matter but also dear to Me are the vedic seers esoterically expressing themselves in indirect terms [the ‘other gurus’]”).

- But mainly is this title used for those to whom the Absolute Truth is without a form, personality, intelligence, senses etc., and who therefore reject the existence of God as the Supreme Personality, or who think that the form and activities of the Supreme Lord would be subject to the influence of mâyâ, the deluding material energy.

- In the broader sense, retorically used as a general negative: ‘one speaking of illusion.’ Nonofficial spiritual teachers (non-âcâryas) who do not instruct by example, or who are not capable of giving one a better stability in transcendence. Narrowly defined: adherents of impersonalism (oneness, s’ankarism) and nihilism (voidism, denial of god and soul).

- Spiritual teachers outside a by the Lord enforced disciplic succession.

- Therapists and other mental healthcare people who deny Krishna, but despite of that want to give spiritual directions.

- False teachers and preachers, prophets, cheaters and/or charlatans who allure people with nice discourses, but estrange them from God and their fellow man by some or another cult. [ironic choice of words for a Hare Krishna lexicon ]

- Someone following the misery of vedic heresy of king Arhat, who “…gave up on the safe path of the religion that would ward of all fear and adopted a wrong heretic view in defiance of the vedic injunctions introducing most foolishly a concoction of His own, foreboding the beginning of the Kali-Yuga.”

- Follower of buddhism [harsh!] “…from the Kali-age an abundance of godlessness will, those whose pure consciousness are destroyed, become almost blasphemous towards the strict brahmin and his vedic culture, the ceremonies of sacrifice and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees.”

"Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the..."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:39:51 -0500

“Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.”

- Kahlil Gibran (via arcaneeidolon)

"As the strong man exults in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles..."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:38:28 -0500

“As the strong man exults in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles into action, so glories the analyst in that moral activity which disentangles. He derives pleasure from even the most trivial occupations bringing his talent into play. He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, of hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension præternatural. His results, brought about by the very soul and essence of method, have, in truth, the whole air of intuition.”

- ~ Edgar Allan Poe (via ddrrnt)

"Our bodies are built somewhat resonant all the way into the bones. Some sounds and vibrations can..."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:32:18 -0500

“

Our bodies are built somewhat resonant
all the way into the bones.

Some sounds and vibrations can shake us so
thoroughly that we can, by meta-programming our
bio-computer, toss the old stuff (belief systems
build themselves upon memories bound to them by
shock or trauma) out into the orgasmic vortex of
release.

At the cellular level, this is the basis
of sexual healing. As an all-encompassing act
of love, it may be only possible for this to
occur safely in the presence of one who has
profound agape - the kind of love that can go
beyond its personal needs for another.

”

- healing the past

Yoga vs. Tantra

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:21:22 -0500

Kdeejah: I ♥ kundalini yoga.
December 6 at 9:33pm via Facebook for BlackBerry · Comment · LikeUnlike

Singh: either love kundalini or love yoga... don't mix cold coffee with hot... the entire world has been making this mistake since long.

Kdeejah:The class is called kundalini yoga...but its not exactly a yoga class....its more of an energy work session with simple postures and movements

Singh:calling every energy bodywork session 'yoga' seems to have become a fashion in America! :D

Kdeejah:Haha yeah ur right

Kdeejah: i love how i feel after this kundalini class....its very different from any yoga class i go to...but i have to admit i like doing both. by saying 'dont mix cold coffee with hot' do you mean to say that you think practicing both is a bad idea and we should just stick to one? why?

st:Isn't a yoga basically a 'technique?' there can be a yoga of knitting if it is systemic enough...

Singh:the difference between yoga and kundalini is like that between compromise and adjustment. While I would love to make all adjustments in life, I would never want to compromise ever, which I never did.

Steven, yoga is not a mere technique... it's a whole philosophy in itself... which I never found conducive to energy in life.

Yes, tantra is a technique that stands 180 degree opposite to yoga in its approach... and though it's only a technique, it has a much wider canvas than the entire philosophy of yoga has at its disposal....
Somehow, tragically, in today's world, almost whatever you see as 'established', has someway or the other done it through this corrupt means or that. Yoga also did it so.

Kdeejah: i can definitely see how kundalini is conducive to energy in life, but i don't see why yoga is not at all...could you explain what you find to be negative about the philosophy?

Singh:Yoga 'controls' in order to 'unite' what has fallen apart.

Kundalini (or tantra) expresses spontaneously (not impulsively) in order to awaken the 'whole' from its slumber.

st:I found an illustrative, humorous website by a tantrika from Byron Bay:

"'Tantra' is derived from the sanskrit "tantrum" which is how Krishna first attracted God's attention. Practising tantrum yoga he held his breath until he turned blue thus uniting forever with the infinite.

Also known as the yoga of passion and desire, Tantra has a very bad name in certain circles because of its relationship to sects. In fact, tantra is not about sects or sex, it is about 'the harmonious weaving of forces' although there is not a tantra teacher west of the Ganges that will admit this because weaving seldom makes a prophet and sects sell.

The tantric path is said to be littered with the bones of saints. There are rigors on this short path to enlightenment.

It is one thing to be a saint on a mountain (yoga) and quite another to be a saint in Las Vegas (tantra)..."

2 seconds ago · Delete

"When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary."

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:11:33 -0500

“When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.”

- Will O’Brien

"I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:48:18 -0500

“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.”

- Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), In “Apology,” by Plato

"With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live..."

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:22:03 -0500

“With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live it. Star-gazers are still walking on the solid earth.”

- D.T. Suzuki

"Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don’t..."

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:20:58 -0500

“

Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don’t they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I’m sure that would help.

But then, I wonder. Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual’s consciousness does indeed touch infinity—a total embrace of the entire Kosmos—a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. It’s at least plausible. And tell me: is that story, sung by mystics and sages the world over, any crazier than the scientific materialism story, which is that the entire sequence is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing?

Listen very carefully: just which of those two stories actually sounds totally insane?

”

- Ken Wilber

"You are wise to climb Mt. Fuji, but a fool to do it twice."

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:46:16 -0500

“You are wise to climb Mt. Fuji, but a fool to do it twice.”

- Nipponese proverb