posted on Feb, 19 2010 @ 05:38 AM
Ciao Caji316
OK, so, want to become enlightened? Congratulations, you're halfway there.
Before I go any farther let me apologize as I will most likely repeat what many others have already said.
The path to enlightenment is really quite beguilling. Before you know it you're already on the path and halfway to the destination.
Let me tell you about my own path and maybe it'll give you an idea of what I mean. For me it all began in a public library. I was interested in
something completely unrelated to enlightenment, I was doing some research in the library when I came across a picture of a Sadhu smoking a chillam.
I was enthralled. After a while, I was planning a trip and I decided that I just had to go to India and see the real thing for my self. At this
point I was still not interested in meditation or Yoga or enlightenment, I was vaguely aware of the terms and what it entailed but I was still not
serious about doing any of the practices myself. All I knew was that picture of a Sadhu smoking a chillam. What got me was the eyes. I could see
that this guy had something, (I call it shakti now that I know what it is), some kind of power or knowledge that I nor any other person I knew had.
And I sort of got the idea that it was related to the chillam he was smoking. You being a hippie you can probablely deduce what it is he was smoking.
So anyways I arrived in India and found myself wondering around looking for any info I could find about Sadhus and what they did. I ended up in a
place called Rishikish. It was here that I first got my first taste of meditation and Yoga. I was interested in the whole ritual involving chillams,
so I asked some of the Babas what they were doing when they smoked their chillams. Outwardly I could see what was going on, they were smoking
chillams. Many other foreigners were also smoking chillams but I could see that the Sadhu were doing something special when smoking chillams and I
was curious about it so I asked(you know what they say, ask and you shall receive). So I asked, and this one Sadhu showed me the ritual and explained
to me the underlying theory and concepts behind the rituals. All that was left was to try it out. With the help of my new found mentor, we picked an
auspicious night and I did the ritual. What happened to me during/after the ritual I cannot describe in words, I hesitate to even think that what
happened as being objectively real. Anyways, what happened to me, happened to me and only me and it can only be meaningful to me so I'll not bore
you with details. It would be useless to explain to you because it'll not happen to you, when it does happen to you, you'll experience it
differently, as will everybody else. As for the ritual itself, as someone mentioned in another post the use of drugs can be dangerous, so I'll not
mention it(if you're really interested you can go to India and it'll present itself, or if you're meant to learn it, you'll learn it India or no
India). So, after this experience I was hooked. I was soon learning about Yoga and Dhyan, meditation and Pratyahara, Asanas, Pranayama, Yama,
Niyama,the works. My mentor said I should learn Hatha Yoga from one of the Ashrams, so there I was taking lessons at the Ashram. Some of the other
students were talking about a new Yoga teacher and his classes so I decided to tak drop in on a lesson to see what everyone was raving about. The
lesson ended with a half hour lecture from the Guru. He started talking about information and knowledge, about how information/knowledge is a living
conscious energy. He said, you are all here from various parts of the world to gain knowledge and information about Yoga, this is no coincidence, you
are here because the information, the knowledge has picked you.