Nothing can be further from the truth than what Mr.Tree is saying. What happens at a typical workplace, like a 9-5 office job?
Work for money: You have saved enough money to retire and live modest life but you keep working even though you know there are things far bigger than money in life.
Work with a$$holes and corporate bull$hit: There is constant pressure to advance in the corporate ladder. Talent doesn’t do it by itself, but ambition becomes a key component. Those in the senior management and above survive purely by ambition and selling their soul 24 x 7, many of them are so ambitious and egoistic and opinionated none of which seem like any good for the soul but only for the wallet. Other worker bees reporting to them too sell their soul although to varying degrees.
Work on things that you care less / respect less: To a pair of open eyes there is more engineering genius in a single bacteria / a single leaf / a stinking cockroach etc than all the excellent engineering technology ever invented by man. Yet he has to work on these less exciting stuff at the corporate jailhouse. A smartphone is exciting to you? I’m more excited by the more primitive God’s own technology like the eyes that take light from the retina, convert them to electrical pulses, transmit them to the brain, inverse the image so it doesn’t appear upside down etc. Pure miracle. No “householder” appreciates these things, no, not the eye doctors even.
Now who’s to say the above things will not mud your window faster than you can clean it with Yoga? Afterall noone can serve 2 masters.
AFAIK Yogani retired from work decades ago.
Christi Jensen said “A person shouldn’t stay one minute in a situation that compromises the living spirit in their heart.” How many householders can truly say they aren’t in such a situation?
Hi ak33 and All:
The “hours of practice” model is flawed because it does not take into account spiritual starting points in this life, which are different for everyone, and does not take into account that results of practices in one life are carried over into the next life. That is how everyone is at a different starting point in this life to begin with. For some, a few years of daily practice will do the deed. For others, it could be a few lifetimes. Either way, forward progress is forward progress and not one minute in practices is wasted.
Using a one-size-fits-all calculation for everyone in this life is meaningless, because everyone is at a different place on their path. It is quite impossible to come up with a formula that fits everyone in this life. What matters most is what we are getting out of practices in our daily activity. If that is good, the rest will take care of itself.
In AYP, there are no guarantees of enlightenment in this lifetime, but progress is guaranteed for those who practice.
See Lesson 426 for more discussion on this.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
Hi ak33,
Yes the states of mind and depth are possible in this lifetime.
Does meditating for longer periods help? I am sure it doesn’t hurt. Meditating for only 15 - 20 minutes twice a day hasn’t slowed me down.
One big thing of note with your post.
Have you ever meditated and just past out? Yogani talks about it often.
The reason why you pass out is because you don’t have the energy to sustain the level of depth you are hitting.
It is very important if you are serious about your progression that you do some form of energy practice prior to meditation. Not doing so would be a big mistake in my opinion.
All the best,
Tom
FakeYogi called me Mr. Tree! Oh my God, that makes my evening. Thank you so much, Mr. Fake.
Tomorrow, I will return to my office job of white-collar slavery in much better spirits, due to that subtle shift in nomenclature. My enlightenment hinges upon such small joys, which seem to be abundant, if one’s awareness is properly attuned and ready to receive these trivial pleasures. For those looking for the grand and final enlightenment, good luck!–but I’ll just stick with floating through the current matrix of options and opportunities before me. There is plenty of raw material to work with here, I do believe.
Hi again All:
Increasing the daily time of AYP practice beyond recommended limits is not advisable, as it can lead to overload and delays on our spiritual path while recovering. The best way to increase practice time is in AYP retreat mode, which is a specially structured routine of group practice that can greatly accelerate our progress, without undue risk of overload.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
Hi Ecdyonurus,
Go for it!
Do bear in mind though, that the figures that I mentioned above are based on years from the beginning of the awakening of kundalini and apply to practitioners who are engaged in a full scope yoga practice: asana, pranayama, meditation, mudras, bandhas, samyama etc.
Also bear in mind that they are average figures. In practice, people fall on a bell curve, in terms of time taken to purify the subtle body, with most around the middle, but with some taking less time and some taking longer.
The model I presented above is based on observing hundreds of spiritual practitioners over a 30 year period. It is not really a scientific model as a real scientific study would involve thousands of practitioners. The more information that we have available to us about the process of human purification and awakening, the more accurate our models will become. Eventually, I am sure the scientists will take this one up.
As for not wanting to achieve enlightenment, enlightenment is not something that can be achieved. Paradoxically, it involves the surrendering of any desire to achieve anything, ever again. Part of the process of liberation includes the surrendering of all the fruits of our actions, including the fruit of liberation itself.
Being the best dad ever, is certainly part of the path (karma yoga).
Christi
I did find enlightenment when I first went to Nepal. I am sure I could be in any other country, but I just needed to stay there for longer. When you don’t talk to your friends and relatives, you understand that you are full of their ideas. When you are alone you become yourself.
Maybe the effect of practices on our daily life is more important than how long it takes to reach enlightenment.
You can have a nice life without enlightenment I am sure.
“Rahter life times too late than minutes too soon”
I’m personally not doing AYP or other yogic practices for enlightenment, but for betterment of my life. When I can practice on the plan’s practice schedule, I feel a gradual improvement over weeks. When I cannot, my quality of life (degree of bliss infusion? Sorry, engineer here, can’t help it!!!) tends to level or even become a little more muddy.
Better life, better work, better home, better recreation. My job (new techniques and technology for the safety and security of automobiles) is about societal and global improvement of personal transportation, considering many influences and variables. I need to think efficiently to improve the world in these ways, essentially countering some of the ills of technology. AYP, Iyengar asana practice, and ™ before these have helped me move on my path.
If I can build enough good karma (not sure this is part of AYP theory but I’m sure you’ll all follow) along the way to further my absolute spiritual advancement, so be it. But my aim is to do the work I’ve chosen to do.
Even after I cease employment, I expect to remain active in this work by consulting, assessing and training. Roughly 10 more years, assisted by exercise, meditation, pranayama, and asana. Perhaps I can work in more of the 8 limbs as I go along. For now, I need to do better at exercise.
So a concrete timeline or target date does not matter to me.
