Ishanga

Ok!! And I agree words just don't do justice to it.. I've adapted the use of the word Absolute, in substitution for the word GOD since GOD invokes so many varying meanings and definitions by different ppl, with Absolute I refer to it as a realm of sorts, the most fundamental realm, not a place with boundaries and such, but its a realm that is all about Potentials and Possibilities, a realm of Completeness and Oneness, but there is no physicality, no boundaries, no way to express or experience to exist there, but since Potentials exist, we came into existence over time, are here to explore it in a limited way, Yoga is just a path to realizing this for a Human Being, a methodology and science to wipe the slate clean, regain memory of what Absolute is while Embodied.. I think no matter how Enlightened one is, even Guru level ppl, they still have to deal with the Body and Mind, even though they experientially know and realize they are not either of those things, only when we transcend this Earthly realm and go up the latter per say (astral realm and beyond) that just before we lose our individuality we realize more of Absolute than we can here while on Earth!

Of course it matters! If You buy into there is no Free Will, then what is the point of life if it is already predetermined and written in stone? Its important to explore these things and find out what is Truth and what is not Truth Yes? Free Will is an aspect and quality of life that is available to Us Humans more so than any other life form, so should we just not concern ourselves with it, and let life go on as it is? If Your suffering for no real reason (self caused suffering, feeling anxious or depressed about something that does not yet exist, living in fear when there is nothing to be fearful of, etc), isn't it important to find a way to not suffer anymore? One problem we have today in the world is that ppl are not redefining what words mean to adjust to their personal belief systems.. We can talk about a subject on this forum, and ppl will have completely different definitions of words and understanding of things so that for sure arguments and conflict arise, so this is a huge problem, ppl will say Free Will is exactly this, when it may be a part of that but also other things, so we have to explore these concepts for ourselves, not be too influenced by what others say, especially others that have no credibility or authority with the subject matter...

I'm curious, what is Your definition of GOD?

I wouldn't define Enlightenment too precisely, if You do then Your going to down and specific path and maybe forgoing other paths and Potentials/Possibilities.. So Enlightenment is just living at the highest Potential and Possibility for a Human Being.. But what is that, what is the highest Potential/Possibility? Well its not working as a slave for an Company/Corporation/Employer and thinking this is It! Its not having a family, that is just reproduction, a way to make sure the species goes on after You! Its not feeling Human Emotions like Love, or Hate, Pride, Bitterness/Anger and all the ranges of Emotions we can feel! Its choosing How to Live within Yourself, Its knowing that You are connected with everything else that is alive and living, its not being addicted to Mind/Intellect/Knowledge that is from outside of You, its not allowing others to rule You... There is an Energy aspect, and Mind Aspect, Body aspect and Emotional aspect to it since these areas are a part of what makes us Human, but we are not those things essentially and You as an Enlightened person realize this and use those things and not let them Use You!

Yes very cool! I remember Eckhart Tolle talking about this process in one of his books, how we instantly label things (this takes the life out of the thing we are labelling), and Sadhguru explores this "Not Knowing" as a great catalyst for Spiritual Growth.. If You truly Do Not Know, then Your natural Intelligence within will begin to Seek to Know, it will function at a more intense state and be on searching mode to Know all the time, this is good for Life to evolve and grow.. If You think/believe You Know already, then Your Intelligence is turned off, it goes to sleep as does Your Life process, it loses its vibrancy and intensity and become dull in the end, this is the state for too many of Us today unfortunately. Because we are so Intellectually Identified, and with our tech today feeding us data/info 24/7 we think we know everything when in fact we know nothing, we don't know all there is too know about an Atom which is one of the smallest things in existence, but we know how to use it, but we don't know it completely, and its the same with everything around us, a Tree, Snowflake, another Human, and even ourselves, we don't know ourselves at all mostly, so living this way with so much unawareness leads to Suffering and really not living at all, sad to say!!

Free Will exists for sure, especially if Your 100% Responsible for Your Life, the two are one and the same... In Yoga philosophy there is something called Samsara, the Wheel of Life, its part of the Karma theory, Karma means Action, for Humans there are 4 basic areas of Action going on every moment, Body Action, Mind Action, Emotional Action and Energy Action, most Humans I would say are less than 1% Conscious of any of the Actions going on in these areas, but we can be 100% conscious, that is the point of Yoga and using it as a method.. Samsara is basically the Situation You are in, what family You were born into, what country and culture, what time period, etc, You cannot do anything about those things except on How Your Respond to It! If You react (unconscious action) then You will let all of the above rule You, the culture will rule You, your family will rule You, your work, your government, your surroundings (good weather, bad weather, by the water, on land) will rule You. For a Human this is Tragedy... If You Respond (Conscious Action) to these things then You decide how to Feel about it, how to Experience Life within It. Fundamental Existence, like the act of creation, the Earth the way it is, Universe and such, and more basic life forms, are deterministic in nature, certain things have to be determined for things to be the way they are, if the Earth was an undetermined entity, then no life could exist on it, gravity would fluctuate, the atmosphere and all other elements/forces would not allow life to flourish as it has, only Humans have the ability to really get out of this loop of Determination and explore Free Will! So that is the choice, Free Will is our basic Human Capability but very few evoke it and use it in their lives, they think it doesn't exist but it does, Choose wisely!!

Lol, fools rule this world and run rampant all over it:) I think it is wise a choice how he is doing it. Humanity is in big trouble, if things don't change soon I don't give us much hope to make it past 100yrs from now...

I haven't heard much other than they are going to be releasing some more private videos, stuff that is from more closed door meetings and events sometime soon... Here's a little clip..

The dangers of doing Kriya and Kundalini Yoga are extreme if You do it without the guidance of a Guru or Experienced person, so that is also one reason why he has toned them down for new ppl I would imagine...There's enough crazies out there, don't need anymore that are really sincere on the spiritual path!!

Regarding why he shares what he shares.. My take is that for the newbies he does things slowly, which is wise, and as well there is a liability issue nowadays, he doesn't want to get sued or have court cases saying this or that happened because of what he shares, this is my take on it.. He keeps the advanced stuff, like what the Bramacharia's do (I have no idea what practices they do) to those, and those that go to the Sadhanapada programs which are like 7mths of straight Sadhana practices and volunteering... Also, he has stated that he has only shared about 1% of what he knows, and he isn't just about the IE program and Shambhavi, his whole purpose was the Dylanalinga Temple they built and created, he's done more temples since then, this drains him allot from what I heard, so that is another part of him that is unique, Osho never did this...

For the online program there are 7 - 1 1/2 hr long videos on various topics, plus all the Q&A shorts they have available too, overall probably over 100 vids, and now they initiate you into the Shambhavi practice online too, when I did it they didn't do that yet...

Powerful in what sense? Many have given testimonies towards it, I think most just want general Well Being, but I think the practice itself can take You all the way if that is how You want to use it. Shambhavi is Kriya Yoga from what I understand, there is an Initiation or how he puts it more of a Consecration process is taking place, we also learn Suriya Namaskar as a warm up practice too... In the end it comes down to the individuals intentions, if it is truly Enlightenment that they want they can get it from the IE program regimen for sure, all of the programs I think are set up this way, but he does have a Bramachari program too, lots apply but only a few get in each year...

I think he has toned down the Shambhavi Practice, from what I understand he did something to it so that ppl practicing it don't get Siddhis from it, so its a powerful practice, and its geared towards general Wellbeing, but he has said any of the Isha programs can take one all the way if they choose it, their Hatha Yoga program is world class from what I understand, many long standing yoga teachers have gone thru their 18 week program and said its the best out there, and one can go all the way with just that, so it does depend on your intentions and intensity of practice and natural gifts for it... The actual program is thorough, its not about entertainment or fluffy, very thorough, he goes over in detail the things covered in the 7 class videos and other things, and of course there is lots of Q&A and just being in his presence is transformative for sure... Sadhguru has stated that most ppl are not strong enough to go thru strict Sadhana practices and strict Kriya Yoga practices, its not just about muscles strength but other sorts of strength and such, we're pretty weak on many levels it seems!

People are weird... Yes for sure I understand that there are plenty of Scam artists out there, taking ppl's money and running with it, giving nothing back in return, but that is not the case with Sadhguru.. I wonder, and every time I ask this no one answers, how is one to pay for the programs, getting to the venue/host city, the facilities, the food offered, and such, how does it work when its free? How does one pay for the ashram? The thousands of volunteers working and living there? The hundreds of thousands of visitors everyday? How is it to run with no money coming in??? We have to function and deal with the present day reality, the Guru's of the past may not have had to deal with this, but their audiences were very small, Sadhguru has a large large audience, so money comes in, it goes out, all of it is for the Good of Mankind as far as I can tell, I've been to the ashram in Tennessee its very good, and a great piece of land!!!

The Inner Engineering Course is Excellent! The 7 classes are awesome as well as the practice learned at this level Shambhavi Mahamudra, its very effective, I felt a wave of Bliss after a couple of weeks practice. You have to practice twice a day for a mundala or 40days after You learn it, then after that its once daily minimum... The videos are great, and the Q&A videos attached to each of the 7 classes are very very good, he goes into more details than he does with the regular Youtube video's, its very worth the effort and price, I did both online and in person with Sadhguru, in person of course is the best option if its available to You!! No risk, no reward, do it and then give it a good go for at least 6mths, You won't regret it!! Some of the topics on the video's/classes: Responsibility, how to get Your Free Will back This Moment is Inevitable, basically a class and dissection of the art of Accepting What Is! Present Moment Awareness Sounds and Mantra The Mind, how it works, its a miracle worker! Food, what foods to eat and avoid while on the spiritual path. Karma, what it is and how to use it and/or dissolve it.. and a few more topics too...

I think this is common, ppl are so distracted by everything that is non important, their phones, social media, sporting teams, the girl/boy on the corner, on and on it goes, very few are really paying attention, Why did I just think this Thought, where did it come from?? So its no wonder ppl think another force is controlling them when they have no clue what is going on inside of themselves right?? But we don't have to live like this, there are ways to gain more Awareness of what is happening within Us and then fix it...

Yes Agreed! I've learned that life comes down to a simple equation, its the "Avoidance of Pain, and the Gaining of Pleasure", it seems simple, but we are all applying this equation to every action we take.. Just posting here, replying, ppl are either avoiding pain or gaining pleasure from it, then if they investigate further as to why posting/replying does one or the other, they would find out more about themselves, more Perception is revealed, but they won't do that, it takes too much work and inner discovery, its easier to just post, reply, say dumb things, and go on, so we have to delve deeply into what makes us tick, what it means to be Human and how far we can go in life beyond this equation, beyond survival/accumulation processes and see where it can lead too!

Yes, we have the power to identify, most identify with their Body and Mind, both are accumulated things, Body via Food, Mind via 5 sense input data, but we are neither of these things, as what was there before the Body and Mind came forth, what is the foundation upon which the Body and Mind is built on? Find out what that is, then things Transform!

Its a complete time tested methodology and science, today science is just finding out how powerful simple Mindfulness is, never mind the depths of what the Yogic Science has to offer.. From what I understand Yoga has found 80,000 different aspects to the Mind, the basic 4 are Intellect, Identity, Memory and Chitta or Consciousness, so its a complete investigation into what it means to be Human, via trial and error over the thousands of years its been around!!

I can agree on this, I am not saying those things in my post for anyone to believe it or disbelieve, rather ppl have to find out themselves Experientially, so know one can say yes this is truth or no this is not truth, we individually have to find out.. But Yoga has been around for thousands of Years, they say and relate their experiences and methods they used to find out the truth for themselves. This is the problem with talking about Grand Things like Enlightenment, Death, God, and Absolute, and wanting concrete answers, its doesn't work that way at all, what we write here is not IT, concepts are not IT, but we can use methods to first make ourselves Peaceful of our own nature, then from that solid foundation, we can go further and Explore what they have said in the past to find out if it is True or not.. Or one can continue to live they way they are, suffer today, feel good tomorrow, listen to other ppl, search for drama to feel their hearts beat, have kids, work to Your 80 then die, maybe to do it all over again or nothingness,,,

Genes is Karma, is a form of memory, there are other form of memory too that influence Us and make us who we are or appear to be on a daily basis. Karma is also what binds You to the body, there are 5 bodies that make up a Human Being, this is yogic science, Food Body, Mental Body, Energy Body, Etheric/Astral Body, and Bliss Body, most are only Aware of their Food and Mental Body to a low degree... There are also actions (karma being created) in 4 main places for a Human, Body Action, Mind Action, Emotional Action, Energy Action, again most are 99% unconscious of all the Actions taking place in these areas, that is why their lives are spinning out of control and they have no idea why or make up stories like God or Aliens or Ghosts are controlling them.. So if we raise our Consciousness levels, then all of this comes into Your Perception, then Karma has less effect on You, then You have Free Will available to You, here while Embodied and after Your Body dies (the Energy Body, Etheric and Bliss Body goes on, kept together by your Karmic Makeup, Karma is like glue keeping it all together).. So when Body dies, the other bodies go on, karma included and if Your consciousness is high, You can choose where to go next...

From my own research and trying it too, I teach Kung Fu as well as I have a Life Coaching thing set up but no clients in any of those areas right now, since I work full time and its sort of exhausting work mentally and physically, but have had clients in the past (covid stopped all martial arts coaching)... With this sort of thing, from watching other Youtube creators and such, they have to build up a Brand, something that distinguishes You from everyone else in Your field, this takes time and consistency, Your creating vids and content on a consistent basis, giving away free stuff too, to build an audience and trust from the clients and popularity as word of mouth is great advertising.. So it takes time and effort with little coming back to You in rewards in the beginning stages, if You can support yourself for a couple of years then maybe You can replace Your income via this venture, but there are no guarantees, unless You go sketchy and lie about stuff and have no integrity, those types seem to do well more quickly, but you will feel empty afterwards going this route!

There would be pain of course, but much less pain is experienced if You really know via Experience that You are not the Body or Mind,, I liken it too turning down the volume or standing further away from Noise or loud Sounds/Music.. If you created enough space btwn what is You and what is not You, You now Know what You are, then pain is felt less intensely... As well, most ppl are not being tortured daily by someone else, at least with Torture You have an excuse to Suffer it, but most ppl are not in this situation, they are causing their own self suffering, reliving past event, fearful of the future events, but neither of those things exist, past or future.. All suffering is via the Body or Mind, if You know You are not those things, suffering ceases to exist in normal situations, and much less pain felt if Your in a war zone or tortured daily...

While Embodied we have to deal with the Body and Mind complexes, lots of that is Karma or Predetermined in a way, what You did in previous lives, the karma created there, and the Karma from the other past lives (could be 100's, or 1000's of lives, as a Human, or plant or other life form), so these process set up who You are today, with all Your Personality traits, Tendencies, Habits, Conditioning as well as with the Culture Your Brought up in, but this is all "Past" actions, if You can live Absolutely in the NOW moment where Life really Is, then all of that doesn't not have to affect You and Your Free to Experience Life as You want to Experience It! Spirituality is about coming intouch with what You really are, which is not the Body or Mind Complexes, so call it what You want, Soul, Atman, Source, God/Absolute, its non physical in nature, so its boundless basically, always in Connection with Source or God/Absolute, we can touch that as a Human, and when You do, if Your highly conscious, and You die but with Karma left to still work off, then You can choose what body to go into next, like choosing to eat at a certain restaurant, its up to You where to go!! MahaSamadhi is just that, ending Your own Individualize form or bubble of Consciousness/Life Force, with all its karmic makeup and history.

Free Will Exists. Its only a Matter of how Conscious You are, if Your Completely Conscious, then You can choose to stay here and be Embodied, or go one to the next thing, where You will have Conscious Choice as well, even to the point of choosing what Body to Incarnate into!