by Michael Mamas | Saturday, December 5, 2015 | Spiritual Evolution |
When I was a small boy, I imagined monks as faceless mystical beings in hooded robes. As an adult who lived in an ashram I, of course, know that such people are quite normal. Most would probably say that people choose to live in an ashram in order to be closer to God. But lets consider saying that another way.
Daily life for most people is lived in overload. It is as if life is a smorgasbord of activities in which we continue to fill our plates until we have pushed ourselves to exhaustion. We eventually reach the point where something has to give, namely our psychological and physical health.
The lifestyle in an ashram is designed to be quite different. The idea is that the physiology, if cared for properly, can refine. Refinement cultures health. As the awareness becomes healthier, we evolve. To evolve is another way of saying to become closer to God.
Evolution is cultured with a healthy balance between rest and activity. Proper meditation provides the deepest rest, much deeper than sleep. Such rest releases even the deepest stresses, strains, and imbalances in the physiology and the awareness. The proper amount of healthy activity balances and integrates into the physiology the benefits of that deep rest.
The ashram provides an environment where the worries and stresses that tend to overwhelm worldly life are minimized. No worries about paying the mortgage, paying the bills, fixing the house, running your business, taking care of others, etc. etc. There are still responsibilities but they are just in the right amount… not so great as the cause mental or physical dis-ease, yet enough to integrate and evolve they physiology and the awareness.
Joining the ashram at Mount Soma for a month or longer has wonderful benefits. However, it does not provide you with the same benefits as making the ashram a longterm lifestyle. Only when the ashram has become a lifestyle can you enjoy the benefits of not being overwhelmed by worldly demands, a more carefree state. When only visiting for a period of time, the mind is still filled with concerns about your world when you return back home. The deeper settled state of an ashram life is not attained. The benefits of a longterm life in the ashram are made evident by observing the marvelous benefits attained by the people living that life.
I lived in an ashram for nine years. It was a great, great gift to my physical health and cultivation of my awareness. The only way I can possibly return the favor is to offer it to others. It changed my life.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, December 2, 2015 | The Veda |
The Veda is similar to physics. It is the underlying structure of all existence.
Right-handed tantra is similar to engineering. It is the technology of the Veda.
Left-handed tantra is like when the fuse blows in your home. You have no fuses, so you put a piece of aluminum foil in place of the fuse. Fast results, but you can burn the house down.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, November 25, 2015 | Vedic Technology |
If you walk into a church, it feels a certain way. If you walk into a library it feels different. Same with a bar, a concert hall, an elementary school, etc. Statistics have scientifically shown that a group of people praying or meditating has a very positive effect on the environment. These are examples of the science of consciousness.
Imagine a technology that maximizes the positive effect of these phenomenon of consciousness. Think of the difference between static cling on clothing versus an electrical power plant—both involve electricity but the latter harnesses it as a technology.
The knowledge of the technology of consciousness exists. The fundamental principles are ancient, but the technology has yet to become fully available to us. Mount Soma exists to construct the tools of the technology of consciousness and bring this precious knowledge forth on a Global level.
The potential is enormous!
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, November 23, 2015 | Vedic Technology |
Science tends to ignore what can not be proven in a laboratory. Though science can detect brainwave activity, science cannot prove we even have thoughts. The entire arena of how things feel, like how a church feels verses a bar, is not detectable in a lab. Scientists tend to reject these things, saying they are just psychological. However, at least half of life is about the psyche – arguably much more than that.
The domain of consciousness is only minimally understood by science. The science and technology of that innate and natural domain, which is our birthright, cannot be studied in the traditional laboratory. It is only explored in the laboratory of individual awareness.
The science and technology of consciousness is the next major step in the understanding of life and existence.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, November 21, 2015 | Clarifying Confusion |
What does it really mean to be spiritual? Some have attended numerous discourses by spiritual leaders, read volumes of life stories and quotes by spiritual Masters, and have gotten to the point where they know all about spirituality. They get it. Some have deeply heartfelt emotions about their spirituality. They love God. They pine for God. They adore God. And some are captivated both intellectually and emotionally with their spirituality. All of this can be very fulfilling and quite beautiful.
After years of such dedication, some of those people become spiritual teachers or spiritual leaders. They teach other people to dedicate themselves to spirituality in the same manner they do. Oftentimes this includes behavioral patterns, including diet or conforming to a certain outward appearance that they consider to be spiritual. This too can all be well and good, up to a point.
The fact is that knowing all about spirituality, getting emotional about spirituality, and modifying behavior and thought processes in accord with your notion of spirituality, falls short of actually embodying spirituality.
You see, spirituality is not an attitude, philosophy, or emotional state. True spirituality is a state of physiology with a corresponding level of consciousness. In fact, as your consciousness refines, your understanding of everything you thought you knew about spirituality refines/changes. Behavioral modification can bring about change, but it is a superficial change. True spiritual growth comes from the Transcendental depth of your being and radiates outward. It’s important to note that by Transcendental, we mean beyond thoughts, beyond emotion. A lifetime of thinking and getting emotional about spirituality falls quite short of resting in to the Transcendental level of your being.
On a very fundamental level, spiritual scholars and emotional devotees know this. It is often too difficult for them to acknowledge it. As a result, they live in denial and attempt to manipulate the surface to look like what they think it should look like. It can lead people into a desperate and sometimes resentful state. It’s not a pleasant thing to witness.
Now do understand that intellectual knowledge and emotional dedication has value. That value is multiplied many, many fold if it is used to facilitate a life that cultures the Transcendental level of one’s awareness. If true spirituality is likened to gold buried beneath the ground, emotional and intellectual spiritual endeavors are the shovels and hoes used to dig for that gold. They are not the gold. Nor are they the technique used to implement those tools. The technique is the cultivation of Transcendental awareness. The technique is proper meditation.
To learn the Surya Ram Meditation, click here.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
