vote? Vote?? VOTE??!!!! What's the matter with you man - get a grip!
The only ballot paper to "vote" for a Raja is a check for $1 million USD :-))))) But seriously - thanks. I think it's all good advice - and it has been repeated endlessly by MMY and MAV etc... TM on it's own is NOT the be-all and end-all. Any good meditation technique induces MAJOR physical changes to your physiology and literally PHYSICALLY changes your brain. That has been proved. And all sorts of things get "released" and need to be dealt with at the gross level. I forgot to include another MUST: early to bed and early to rise. This should go towards the top of the list. 8 hours sleep from 9:30pm to 5:30am to TOTALLY different to 2:30am to 10:30am. Sama Veda before you sleep is nice. Plus a regular routine - mealtimes, work, sleep etc. If it's good enough for the animal kingdom is good enough for us! Don't work too hard - and take regular holidays. Lot's of SUN if you can get it. And of course be regular with you meditation and program. You start to cut a grove in your life like the groves in a record. Organic food is good if you can afford/get it - as is lots of fruit and vegetables. If you have physiological blocks, addictions and repressed issues that have not been released by your meditation, then you MUST seek help from the various sources that are available. Your meditation will help them melt away. And sometimes we all just need basic philosophical help with life issues and how to deal with people and existance. It's all out there. And I would say that regular physical exercise is something which is NOT pushed enough by the TMO - but is essential. It's no suprise that monastic communities emphasize hard physical work; to say nothing of all the communities that developed martial arts etc. Weight-training is especially helpful - both for men and women. Being out amongst nature: mountains, lakes, seeing the moon and stars at night - all helps. And a healthly and good sex life with someone you care for is another plus! Or even someone you don't care too much for if the sex is good and they're hot :-))). Group practice is good - but not endless rounding if it dulls you. And hanging out with happy, good, friendly, positive folk is good. They DON'T have to be meditators - that's ridiculous. I know plenty of satvic non-meditators who would put hardened TMO folk to shame. All the rest: Joytish, SV with the east entrance stuff, Rajas, celibacy, expensive courses, sexism, the Laws of Manu, and the rest of the dogma you can put to one side in my opinion. Even reading stuff here at FFL can be a BIG help. Stops you becoming a fanatic, and too "attached" to MMY and the TMO. It gives you perspective and allows you to appreciate your own, pure experiences of meditation. It helps to make you a free thinker and to grow-up and act on your own as a unique being. And I think that that's EXACTLY how MMY wants you to be. He wants you to take the knowledge and then become empowered by it. Somebody once asked MMY if he was "divine" - he replied that EVERYONE is divine. You ARE MMY/Guru Dev/Lord Buddha. Realise that. You are not a human being having a spiritual experience; you are a spiritual being having a human experience. And you have a human body and mind that you need to tend, nourish and look-after The greatest words of wisdom are on the home page here: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." ~ Buddha > That's the best comprehensive advice I've ever heard given to a > practicing meditator, it ought to be route TM dogma, where can I vote > for you as our next Raja?
