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Kriya Yoga/Advaita Vedanta
exists between the inhalation and exhalation of the breath? It took him a long time to come to that discernment and realization. It was beyond anything that the mind could contrive, or conjecture, or fabricate. That is why it was a revelation when he got the answer. It happened when the mind was not interfering or creating static.
L.M.: Which the mind normally does all the time.
S. SHANK: That is how we can differentiate between what truly comes from beyond the mind, and what is wishful thinking or manipulation of the mind, or intellect. He discovered, as he continued meditating on hamsa, that hong means I: that I am the one who is meditating; I am the devotee seeking the truth; I am the disciple of truth. To find out what the truth is, I have to detach myself from focusing my attention on the outer world of illusion, or appearances. As I focus on, and spontaneously follow the inhalation—the pranathe sound vibration is realized as hong. In that split second between inhalation and exhalation, and in that still point, we actually connect with the source, with the spirit within us--with that atman, or God-or with the core of existence, the root, or the essence. And as we exhale, the door to the infinite has been opened through the subconscious. In that moment of nonthought, or absence of thought, we enter the state of undifferentiated consciousness. I am neither this nor that: there is simply awareness. It is only a split second of experiencing pure awareness.
L.M.: Nonduality.
S. SHANK: Nonduality—I am aware that I am. That consciousness equates with the kingdom of God, the kingdom of all treasures. It is the kingdom of heaven that Jesus spoke of as he was a practitioner of different meditation techniques.
L.M.: Do you think Jesus knew hamsa?
S. SHANK: Oh yes, definitely. It would have been unlikely that he had not known hamsa, considering that he did travel in India; and that he could have traveled quite a bit during the eighteen so-called hidden years between the ages of twelve and thirty.
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