Seeking answers to life's challenges.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

That sounds like a good practice. When I used to try to focus on the third eye I would do it with too much tension and cause myself discomfort. I didn't really know what I was doing. Yogananda taught to ever so slightly lift the eyes in their sockets. Right? When I strain too hard to see something it creates mental tension too.

i know exactly what you are talking about. It really took me years to get really comfortable about even looking slightly up and i would have to continue reminding myself. Now i feel comfortable with the practice but await the experience.

i think it interesting to note though that some spiritual practices-specifically Buddhism-do not recommend gazing at the point where we do. Some even recommend looking down. i suppose you have to follow what you have faith in. At any rate i have had to remind myself over and over again to relax while meditating. Many of us really take all our worries and tensions into meditation. There just can be no relief from this world if that is the case. There has to be a faith that answers will come while finding the most intelligent solutions and acting on what we can in the moment.

This is an ongoing process in many ways--finding the middle path between passivity and action. i am looking for that balance myself. Sometimes if we wait a bit answers do come but if we wait too long without putting in our own effort we may find that we get buried in worldly concerns that we have not addressed.

[b]

Yup. I went to meditate a few times at a Shambala center in Birmingham, AL which is about 45 minutes from where I live. On my first visit, they offered complimentary one to one meditation instructions. I took them up on it just because it was the first time I had ever got the chance to be instructed in person. All of my previous instructions had come from the ananda website or books from various teachers like Yogananda and OSHO. So, I had been previously instructed in the Yogananda way. I had learned that looking down was associated with subconsciousness. I was kind of surprised when I was told to look down. I followed her instructions but thought it was interesting that it was the total opposite. In recent times, I became drawn to Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings. He was asked a question about this and I think it might be helpful to share it here.

Q: We are advised to concentrate on the spot in the forehead between the eyebrows. Is this right? 

A: Everyone is aware - 'I am'. Leaving aside that awareness one goes about in search of God. What is the use of fixing one's attention between the eyebrows? It is mere folly to say that God is between the eyebrows. The aim of such advice is to hep the mind to concentrate. It is one of the forcible methods to check the mind and prevent its dissipation. It is forcibly directed into one channel. It is a help to concentration...

I think if anyone has taken Yoganandaji as their Guru, they should follow his advice and not worry that Ramana Maharshi didn't tell people to do that or that the Buddhists do it differently.

Finally, I have been wanting to share a photo of Yogananda with one of Sri Ramana's disciples, Yogi Ramaiah. I grabbed this from the Awake documentary.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Thank-You b

Meeting Amma and seeing her many times was indeed and 'eye opener' in many ways also. i used to read that the spine was the depositor of all our past karma. It is located in our astral spine. Every time i would see Amma she would rub my back along the spine as if to relieve me of some of that karma. At one point i thought to myself... i wish she would touch and rub my third eye and perhaps it would help opening it. Then after that, as if to read my mind, many times when i received darshan from her she would do just that--rub holy sandalwood paste into my third eye --- as if she knew my thoughts.

i spent perhaps hundreds of hours setting/meditating with Buddhists when i was younger. Even though they meditate in a slightly different posture and looking downward-- usually with eyes partially opened-- they did not seem to mind my slightly different posture and position of the eyes. i have received even more impetus to open the third eye thru mccoys influence. It is remarkable how people and their vibrations-- even in thought-- enter us and influence us for good and bad.

i like your quote from Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings. Yogananda goes into length about concentration and the third eye in the lessons. Concentration being essential to meditation and success in any endeavor. So this is in harmony with Yogananda's teachings in that sense.
As you no doubt know and alluded to...he described the eyes in a level position as being indicative of worldly thoughts, while the eyes positioned slightly upwards as being a spiritual resolve and downward as subconsciousness. But he also gave lessons on switching back and forth to have control of various states of consciousness.

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Often in life … I’ve not known the path forward and find myself in transit between places where I am not able to meditate or do some of the spiritual exercises to support meditation practice. It may be that Im driving - for instance - and the weather is very challenging to be outdoors. I attempt to ‘practice the presence’ as much as possible during these times. As soon as I find a place to meditate and exercise again, i often double up on the practice to make up for time people and place distractions, in spiritual sadhana.