Bindu - No 5, Joga Tantra

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Editorial
Thoroughness
and spiritual
strength
“How”,
people
frequently ask, “
can
you continue, year after
year, to be so inspired
in your teaching?”
“Perhaps because
we use the methods
we teach, and more”,
one may answer. The
energy and the training
of the awareness
we gain from our
Sadhana,
provides us
with a new experience
everytime we sit
down to teach - in that
way teaching never
becomes an empty or
formal routine. Our
experience as full-time
teachers, our common
meditations and the
constant education
at our school, gives us thoroughness
combined with spiritual strength.
development of consciousness in other
people.
In the years to follow,
the school developed
quickly. From one
small yoga room in an
apartment, to a villa,
and when that also
became too small, to a
larger building in the
center of Copenhagen
in 1975. Through the
years the school has
grown and today it is an
active center for yoga
and meditation, with
ive yoga-rooms on two
storeys, a shop and a
pyramid (see p. 9).
The need arose
early on for a place in
the country, to have
intensive retreats such
as the annual 3-Month
Course and the 10
and 14 days courses
around the year. In
1972 in Håå, south
Sweden, about l 50 km
north of Copenhagen,
the course center was
founded. The Håå
International Course Center has since
been continuously improved and tailored
to meet with the conditions that our
courses demand to give the best possible
conditions to the people that come, not
only from Scandinavia, but from all over
Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore and South America.
In the following years many schools
sprung up around Northern Europe and
Germany (see p. 23), and in order to co-
ordinate the yoga teacher education and
the teachings, the Håå Course Center also
became a meeting place for the teachers
of these different schools. Several times
a year they meet for meditation, seminars
and collective planning.
If you do not want to risk diluting the
yoga to a series of insigniicant
exercises with no real effect - and if
you want to continue this kind of work,
then we maintain that, as a yoga and
meditation teacher, you need more
than just a short theoretical education.
Not until a person has gone through a
comprehensive individual training for
several years, can one be certain that as
a teacher he or she will possess a solid
knowledge of oneself and of the effects
of yoga and meditation so that one can be
instrumental in bringing about a personal
A retrospective
The Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation
School was founded in Copenhagen in
1970, by Swami Janakananda. He had
just returned from a prolonged stay with
Swami Satyananda (see p. 21) in Bihar,
India, where he had learnt the deep
reaching Tantric meditations, such as
Kriya Yoga
(see p. 10),
Antar Mauna,
Yoga Nidra, Ajapa Japa, Prana Vidya,
Chid Akash
and others. A yoga which,
at that time, could not be learnt in
Denmark, or in Europe for that matter.
2
The foundation
The magazine
Bindu
, the teaching at the
school and the yoga teacher education are
based on four cornerstones, four ways of
testing reality. They should generally be
congruent with one another:
• First of all, one’s own experience with
yoga and meditation.
• The instructions of the classical yoga
literature, which have been tried and
tested for thousands of years.
• The scientiic research on yoga.
• The living and direct communication
between teacher and student.
of Energy
in Bindu no. 4). Dr. Thomas
Schmidt also led one of the two research
teams which, from 1987-92, tested the
participants of the 3-Month Course at
Håå Course Center. This research was
especially directed towards the blood
composition of fats, hormones etc. Some
of the results have already been presented
at medical congresses abroad, and some
are not concluded but still under analysis.
Dr. Schmidt is presently working at the
university of Hannover, investigating
the effects of nose cleansing on general
health.
In this issue (see p. 17) we have
printed an article by his Danish colleague,
neuropsychologist Erik Hoffmann,
who was in charge of the second research
team.
reasons. Many have discovered that
yoga can remedy back problems,
allergies, stress or sleeplessness. Others
do not have such problems, but do yoga
because they have felt how the ability
to concentrate improves considerably.
However, this does not only concern
healing or the ability to function -
yoga and especially meditation have
something more to offer, and that,
too, we wish to communicate via this
periodical.
The attitude of Tantric yoga is that
human beings are fundamentally healthy.
One who comes to a course is healthy.
One who comes to a course is regarded
as a unique individual with his/her own
background and outlook on life - not as
some kind of patient, or one who should
be persuaded of this or that. And though
you can cure or reasons of cure or beauty.
The actual perspectives are wider:
To come nearer the essence of life.
q
Yoga and research
Since 1983, comprehensive research has
been carried out at The University Clinic
in Cologne, in collaboration with Thomas
Schmidt M. D. (see the article,
The Source
The attitude
Today people use yoga for different
Contents
Psychic energy 4
Energy is more than a discovery in our technical age. “Prana”,
“Ki”,“Mana” the psychic energy has been known through all
times. Now it is being discovered by us.
and everyday life. The creative spontaneity. Where does Kriya
Yoga come from? Ritual and meditation. The inner reality...
Lasting and deep-reaching effects 17
The 3-month courses seen through the eyes of a
neuropsychologist - a report from 6 years of research.
Håå Course Center 20
About the center and the courses, in English, this autumn and
winter.
The Plough 7
Can a yoga pose regulate your body weight? Read how the
Plough influences body and mind.
Swami Satyananda 21
...for a short while leaves his seclusion and invites you to
“Satsang” in India
Yoga Shop 22
Neti pots,tapes, books...
Information 23
The pictures and illustrations used in this
issue, addresses of the different schools,
subscription...
The Pyramid and Pratyahara 9
More effective than sleep - the relaxation tank, The Pyramid
- helps you rest the senses and become open for a clear,
direct way of experiencing. This is equivalent to the yogi’s
withdrawal of the senses.
Kriya Yoga 10
- to the depths of your nature - Swami Janakananda continues
his description of Kriya Yoga, with these subjects: Meditation
3
Psychic Energy
The history of psychic energy
- by Joachim Rodenbeck
“We have in our time discovered electricity, from the search
to understand the energy within ourselves”
(freely quoted from Sri Yukteswar in “The Holy Science”)
What is energy?
Energy, irst of all electrical energy
- the foundation of modern technology
- plays a role in our culture today that
cannot be ignored. But what actually is
energy? Does the history of energy start
with Edison’s discovery of the light bulb
and has it reached its peak with atomic
energy, laser beams and ultrasound? Or,
considered from another viewpoint: is
this, which generally is regarded as the
highest level of technical development,
just a mechanical, coarse, rather limited,
almost primitive way of utilising energy?
If you examine the ancient cultures on
all continents there can be found traces of
knowledge and use of biological, cosmic
or psychic energy - or whatever one
wishes to call this energy. In this article I
will cover various approaches.
achieved great success with healing.
However, his unconventional methods
were not in accordance with the ruling
medical practice, and he was excluded
from the medical association. Nowadays,
however, Paracelsus is considered one of
the greats of his time.
The German researcher, Franz Anton
Mesmer (1734-1815), developed
the concept,
Animal Magnetism:
he
channelled his patients’ energy with his
hands. Today, so-called Magnethopaths,
whose treatment is based on his
teachings, still practise. Mesmer did
not succeed in justifying his Animal
Magnetism to the medical association
and he too was ostracized.
In the 17th century, in the
neighbouring country of Belgium, the
chemist and physicist Val Helmont was
the originator of the concept,
Magnale
Magnum.
He was convinced that through
this energy one could inluence or heal
another human being, even at a distance.
Also the renowned German chemist
Baron von Reichenbach worked with a
similar energy concept; he named it
Odic
Energy.
In the 20th century, the Austrian
psychotherapist Wilhelm Reich created
in his therapy the concept,
Orgon
Energy.
He assumed that tensions and
blockages in the energy ield of the body
manifest themselves as psychological
disturbances, and that the psyche, in
the same manner, inluences the energy.
Reich applied certain exercises of which
many resemble yoga poses to recreate a
free low of energy. Reich’s ideas today
form the basis of certain psychotherapies.
One of the most well-known students
of Sigmund Freud, he was subject to
persecution from Hitler. It should be
noted, however, that after emigrating to
the USA he spent the last years of his life
in prison there, having been convicted
during the McCarthy period for spreading
anti-establishment ideologies.
Taboo - fear - intolerance
The foregoing represents only a selection
of the more well-known names, theories
and concepts. The real list is much longer.
No matter whether it is called Vital
Energy, Munis or Orgon, the names stand
for the same thing: a subtle energy which
is behind and inluences the physical
body.
One can wonder why so many different
names for this energy emerge just to
sink into oblivion again. None of these
pioneers succeeded in estabishing their
theories as an “oficial” science. Most
were forced to perform their research
secretly, and some were pursued even
to their death. Their work was grouped
together with superstition and quackery.
Already around the year 400, the
activities of the Gnostics were forbidden.
They, among other things, used the
chakras. Esoteric knowledge hereafter,
up to our time, was only used in secret
circles, lodges or among the Alchemists.
The psychiatrist, Carl G. Jung, for
example, had contact with such a society.
But why were these people rejected
to such an extent and their ideas met
with intolerance in the culture of
the past? Apparently, it was taboo to
A glance into
the European past
The interest for exploring psychic energy,
the life energy which is at the disposal
of every human being, can also be traced
back through European history. It is
important to note that here we are not
dealing with philosophic considerations,
but practical methods, which, for
instance, were used for healing.
The alchemist, physicist, doctor and
miracle-man from the Renaissance,
Paracelsus, called it
Munis.
He
discovered that this energy can cleanse
the body and restore health, and that
blockages or a weak energy ield can
cause illness. In his time, Paracelsus
4
deal with psychic energy, an almost
panicstrickened fear of the unknown.
What is not explicable by the currently
acceptable means and concepts available,
evidently cannot be.
This limitation, though, originates
solely in the material way of thinking
and conceptualising. It is not the case all
over the world. Other cultures (which
I will deal with later) have integrated
the use of psychic energy into daily life.
But irst an excursion into a more recent
scientiic view.
Western Science.
This bio-energy, which we call
Psychotronic Energy, seems to be behind
PSI (supernatural powers).
”
In the book “
Psychic Discoveries
behind The Iron Curtain
”
,
1973, the
Americans, Ostrander and Schroeder,
published the most interesting
and spectacular results of these
investigations. Of course, the researchers
in the East did not invent this energy
- their discoveries, however, identiied
what has been handed down over the
centuries in many traditions. The merit
of their work lies in demystifying the
concept of energy and formulating it into
words which can be understood from a
technical-scientiic world view.
Discoveries in the Eastern
bloc - Psychotronic Energy
In the late 1920’s in Russia, there was
a strong interest in the exploration of
psychic energy and
so-called paranormal
abilities (telepathy
at greater distances,
motion of objects with
the help of will power
etc.). Various research
teams - physicists,
mathematicians
biologists and
psychologists - received
generous inancial
support from the state,
and laboratories well-
itted with electronic
measuring equipment
were placed at their
disposal.
Kirlian photography - a
bridge to the present?
The development of
kirlian photography
since 1939, is one of the fruits of
the work in Russia. It is a type of
photography in which the energy ield of
human beings, animals and living plants
can be seen as coloured rays of light on a
picture or a screen - and here we are not
talking about heat radiation.
An example from the experiments:
A healthy leaf is “photographed”, and
the energy ield becomes visible - as a
contour of rays of light in all directions
around the leaf. Then a third of the leaf
is cut off. The photography is repeated,
with the result that the energy ield of
the
whole
leaf is still present - with the
same form and size as on the irst picture.
Not until more than a third is removed,
does the leaf “die”, and the energy body
disappears.
“
All activity in the inner life of
human beings is written down in light-
hieroglyphs...
”
(Seymon Kirlian, inventor
of kirlian photography).
By means of kirlian photography, it
In comprehensive
investigations lasting
several years, they were
able to make “non-
mechanical” energy
tangible and document
their indings. The
scientists agreed that
they had discovered a
revolutionary form of
energy, an energy ield
or body.
“
Human beings and all
living things are illed
with a kind of energy
that, until recently,
hasn’t been known to
5
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