Questions and Answers Part I, Kriya Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Patanjali Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Trataka Yoga, Laya Yoga

You will know the truth or untruth about spiritual, religious, and meditation ideas, concepts, beliefs, thoughts, perceptions, understandings, and teachings only through direct experiential knowledge. First experience, then believe! The following will answer some frequently asked questions which I hope will help clear some confusion regarding meditation and spirituality.

If you want to theoretically understand the exact meaning of a word, idea, concept, etc., you will always get confused because a word over a period of time gets many meanings, definitions, explanations, narrations, contextual usages, etc. It is the same case with the words "meditation" and "spirituality" also. You should first read the following post to know how spiritual and meditation words can be misunderstood leading to ignorance about spiritual and meditation ideas and concepts:
http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/08/medha-nadi-meditation-meditation.html

USELESS QUESTIONS: Questions asked by argumentative people, non-believers posing as spiritual aspirants, fake disciples of fake gurus posing as genuine spiritual aspirants, spiritual time-passers, who have never had or will never have Kundalini awakening/real meditation experiences, etc.

Question #1: I don't believe in spirituality and meditation.  They have no scientific basis. I don't believe in any Saint, Prophet, Messenger of God, Messiah, Buddha, God, Goddess, Spirit, Self, Atma, Soul, Ghost, Satan, Shaitaan, Enlightenment, Self-Realization, Kundalini, Dankini, One Reality, One God, Nirvana, Kaivalya, etc. I don't believe in any spiritual teachings. All are inventions/creations of shrewd people to delude and confuse innocent/gullible people for make money or rule by proxy by spreading lies/delusions, fear-mongering, and miracle-mongering.

Answer: Good, so what's your question?

Question: You should stop writing this post and delete your blog.

Answer: Thanks for the suggestion! I will think about it. Shubhamastu!

Question #2: Is there any scientific basis for meditation and spirituality?

Answer: Meditate and find out.

Question: Have you found out?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Then why don't you answer my question?

Answer: Read my posts.

Question: I have read but you have not proved that meditation and spirituality have scientific basis.

Answer: Unless you have direct experiential knowledge, both believing and not believing meditation and spirituality to be scientific/real/true are mental activities. All this belief and non-belief without direct experiential knowledge will bother you until you die, so if you do not want to keep asking such questions to hundreds of people or yourself all your life, then do spend some time meditating to find out the reality about meditation and spirituality. If you at least have 1 or 2 meditation experiences as listed in the link below, then you will stop asking such questions and may start writing a blog similar to mine.

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/kundalini-experiences-mediation.html

Question #3: My religion doesn’t talk about meditation.

Answer: So?

Question: Why should I meditate?

Answer: Don't meditate.

Question: Then why do you ask people to meditate?

Answer:  I have written this blog ONLY for the benefit of those people who believe in meditation and spirituality, especially meditators and spiritual aspirants.

Note: Your questions on spirituality, religion, Kundalini, and meditation can reveal a lot about your spiritual inclination/evolution. If you are smart enough, by understanding the types of questions that your mind brings up, you can know where you stand in the spiritual path. If you have useless questions (similar to the above) for me, then my answers would be similar to the above answers.

Question: What is spirituality?

Answer: Spirituality is about your inner Self or your spiritual Self, i.e., spirituality is about your spiritual body/mind/consciousness which is called by various names.

Question: How to know if there exists a spiritual body/mind/consciousness in me?

Answer: Through Meditation.

Question: What is meditation?

Answer: Silence. Meditation is a spiritual practice. Read my other posts to understand the various meanings of meditation.

Question: How do I meditate? What is the best and easiest form of meditation?

Answer: Silence is our natural/pure state. It leads to knowledge of our natural/true/pure Self. Can you get sleep without becoming silent? So everyday you are practicing/experiencing silence unknowingly. Practice/experience it knowingly/consciously:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/dhyana-or-meditation-techniques-silence.html

Question: People say meditation is concentrating or focusing on an object, idea, or thought; observing or being aware of something, mindfulness of the physical sensations and mental thoughts (vipassana); repeating a mantra; performing Pranayama/Kriya in an Asana sitting, standing, squatting, or lying supine/prone; contemplation; imagining or visualizing; etc.  How can you say only silence or focusing on silence is meditation?

Answer: The purpose of all the above activities that you have mentioned is to help reduce the number of physical activities and mental thoughts from many to one activity/thought. This people call meditation. Meditation is still going further. Meditation means Medha Nadi activation, which happens in the following stages:
1. many mental activities get reduced to one (due to concentration/focus),
2. this one/single thought gets auto-focused/auto-concentrated/auto-contemplated/auto-meditated by the mind; this state lingers on for sometime,
3. the auto-focus/concentration/meditation ceases,
4. silence is achieved (very brief),
5. Kundalini awakens, Medha Nadi gets activated.

Warning: Over-focusing or over-concentration on body parts, breath, objects, or ideas; rigid body posture; Kriya/Pranayama/unnatural breathing; or heating up the brain with repetitive thinking/mantra utterance may cause both physical and mental illnesses. You may experience ache, pain, warmth, heat (inflammation), twirling, swirling, pressure in a body part/cavity/organ which may lead to physical illnesses and pathological conditions; vivid imagination, visualization, repetitive mental activities may lead to mental exhaustion, hyperactivity/dullness of the mind, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hallucinations, and other mental illnesses/disorders, etc.
Read all posts of my blog.

Over-focusing/concentration on silence does not lead to any physical or mental trauma. With meditation on silence, you jump to the #4 stage straightaway bypassing the first 3 stages. The fist 3 stages can be harmful depending on the object of your concentration/focus/meditation.

Question: Does it mean any meditation technique that involves repetitive physical and mental activities leads to physical and mental illnesses?

Question: Can Mantra meditation, Chakra meditation, Tratak, Mindfulness, Vipassana, contemplation on Vedantic/Upanishadic truths, Jnana Marga, Kriya, Who am I? etc., lead to physical and mental problems?

Answer: In the long run or when practiced for a longer period of time during a single meditation session, YES! If you cannot give up such a practice, then practice it only for 2 minutes and try to be silent. If you get any signs of physical or mental trauma even with this 2 minutes of practice, stop it completely and start Silence as a meditation technique.

Question: Is meditation dangerous then?

Answer: Meditation is not dangerous, but wrong meditation techniques and wrong spiritual practices are dangerous.
Read all the posts of my blog.

If you are practicing concentration or focusing as a form of meditation, then the meaning of meditation for you should be "auto-concentration, auto-focus leading to silence" (however brief it may be) which results in a spiritual/Kundalini/yogic experience. Over-focusing, over-concentration, overdoing an activity, over-thinking, over-imagining, over-visualizing are all dangerous. However, silence is never dangerous. Every night, we must become silent; otherwise, we will not survive for long. We go through a period of Absolute Silence just before we fall asleep. We cannot fall asleep without our mental activities becoming ZERO. Without silence, no one can sleep. Silence saves our mental energies and we feel energized after sleep. Similarly, Silence during meditation results in Kundalini awakening; with Kundalini awakening, we feel stronger and energetic.

Question: Are meditation and spirituality very difficult to understand?

Answer: No, they are simple to understand and easy to practice. Spirituality is about your spiritual body/mind/consciousness/Self. This spiritual Self is very much a part of you or in fact it is the real super YOU, and meditation leads to experiencing your spiritual Self. Meditate on silence and directly experience spirituality = very simple.

Different past/present religions/gurus/disciples/followers/people have spread a lot of lies/confusions/delusions/interpretations/misinterpretations/verbose explanations about meditation, spirituality, Kundalini, enlightenment, Samadhi, etc., in a variety of A-Z word formations/combinations. This has resulted in millions of pages of information in the form of scriptures/books/articles/journals/newspapers/internet content, etc., making meditation and spirituality difficult to understand. Person/book ABCD will explain meditation/spirituality in one way, person/book PQRS will give another explanation, person/book XYZZ yet another explanation...... Your 10 lifetimes are not sufficient to read, understand, remember, practice meditation and spirituality as explained in the following maze of meditation and spirituality books (original fat scriptures are not included).

ALL USELESS MAZE OF WORDS (A-Z nomenclature, jargon, words, usage, meaning, theory, concepts/ideas, explanations, arguments, interpretations, philosophies, etc) LEADING YOU BACK TO SQUARE ONE!

Simply meditate on silence and understand spirituality through direct meditation experiences.

Question: People and gurus say meditation and spirituality are difficult to understand and that a guru's guidance is a must?
Answer: Not true. All gurus teach from scriptures. If you have a sharp memory and better understanding of such scriptures than the gurus, then you can think of yourself as better than the gurus.

Most scriptures have misinterpreted/misunderstood/manipulated teachings of our ancient Seers (Drashta). Due to age-old ignorance, delusions, and manipulation of the meaning of spirituality and meditation and their practices, people have been made/programmed to think/expect spirituality and meditation to be rocket sciences, very complex stuffs to understand, very difficult to practice, and impossible to understand without the help of a guru.  People think they can awaken their Kundalini/get into Samadhi by a guru's glance, touch, Darshan (vision), grace, through Shaktipat. ALL THIS NONSENSE IS TO CREATE A DEMAND FOR A FAKE GURU. Some people get their secret Mantra (Mantra Diksha/Initiation into mantra/Japa/mantra recitation) from a guru through an sms, email (previously fax, post), and such people believe that the guru will work out their salvation/Kundalini awakening sitting on a golden throne miles away. Such distant-living saintly (doorvasa) gurus and other ignorant/fake gurus will tell people that it's very difficult to progress in meditation and spirituality without a guru, but since they are enlightened super human beings, anything is possible for them (even distant enlightenment similar to distant learning).

There is no limit to people's imagination and delusion.

"Meditation and spirituality are difficult and a guru is necessary"--These are age-old misconceptions due to which meditators and spiritual aspirants may end up:

• reading a lot of practically useless scriptures, books, articles, websites, internet forums, internet content, nomenclature, jargon, mumbo-jumbo, gibberish, etc., written by fake/ignorant/non-spiritual gurus, meditation or spiritual organizational heads, disciples, followers, independent thinkers, scholars, pundits, translators, worldly attached (neck-deep in family life) self-taught/made/proclaimed gurus, engineers, doctors, scientists, physicists, quantum specialists, paranormal experts, ordinary people, time passers, deluded people, etc.
• doing all sorts of meditation circus and gymnastics by thinking/believing such circus/gymnastics to be meditation techniques,
• visiting all sorts of holy places, spiritual places, holy and spiritual people (presumed),
• practicing tapasya or asceticism,
• searching caves for enlightenment,
• roaming the Himalayas to meet Jnanis or Yogis to get instant enlightenment or for a question and answer session with them or for their grace,
• craving for miracles to happen, dreaming to become a miracle man/woman,
• hoping to become a Siddha and get miraculous powers (siddhis) as mentioned in the scriptures/books to become famous, to cure one's own and others' illnesses, or to change/rule the world, people, family, friends, etc.
• living a delusional life believing in and thinking of miracles/siddhis/riddhis/psychic powers/healing powers/miraculous powers, etc.
• hoping to raise/awaken one's Kundalini, enter into deep Samadhi, become instant Buddha, get Enlightenment/Nirvana, etc., in a day's, week's, or 10-day meditation course, camp, retreat, etc.,
• hopping from places to places to attend a variety of meditation courses/discourses taught by a variety of ignorant and delusional gurus who have introduced a variety of meditation curriculum, courses, retreats, etc.,
• begging for food and sleeping in public places, on river ghats, roads, forests, cremation grounds, etc.
• doing substance/pot as a form of Sadhana,
• having physical and mental diseases and disorders, becoming crazy, committing suicide, etc., due to wrong meditation and spiritual practices/guru's teachings.

A spiritual aspirant who thinks a guru is necessary becomes a disciple of an ignorant guru and may end up:

• reading more books as prescribed by the guru, either written by the guru or others,
• renouncing the world (ditching family/friends) and doing service (seva) of the guru and the guru's family, friends, disciples, followers, rich donors, etc., and considering this as spiritual sadhana (practice),
• dedicating tan, man, dhan (bodily activities, mental energies, and all the saved up money or earned wealth) to the service of the guru,
• working day and night for the guru's career growth for free after giving a fee
  (one's wealth) because the guru was graceful enough to give an opportunity to be at his/her feet. (Smart people should ask a question to the guru: "Guruji, you are asking me to renounce everything and give my money to you. With money, you will become a Samsari (householder/worldly person). Please give all your wealth to me, so that I can make you a real renunciate/saint.")),
• treating the guru as god, spreading the guru's teachings (fake/useless/dangerous) and bringing in more followers/disciples/money/donations,
• begging for food or begging for donations as per guru's instructions,
• practicing (trying to practice) 12 years of celibacy, failing miserably, and giving up Sadhana altogether or feeling sick about oneself. (The guru would have family and children but he/she would ask the spiritual aspirants to be celibates),
• cleaning the dirt of the guru's feet (prostrating) for 24 years,

Such a disciple of an ignorant guru, over a period of time, may end up:

• developing a guru's itch/Guru Itch (itching to be a guru) instead of doing Sadhana to awaken Kundalini,
• spreading the misconception "Meditation and spirituality are difficult and a guru is necessary",
• writing books/articles, creating websites, writing blogs (copying from already written materials, and just after reading a new book/article, writing 10 posts on its contents to show off one's knowledge),
• becoming online guru/guide/expert/Buddha/enlightened soul and answering meditation and spiritual questions in internet forums (without having any real meditation experience of course),
• taking imagination/hallucination as real meditation experiences and spreading more ignorance and delusions in the internet and elsewhere,
• becoming a fake guru by opening a meditation/spiritual center, etc.,

If people think meditation and spirituality are difficult to understand/succeed in, then they become difficult. If people think it is easy to succeed in meditation/spirituality, it doesn't become easier. The best thing is to start meditating with a blank/open mind without expecting it to be either difficult or easy.

Spirituality and Meditation are very simple: Be Quiet/Silent/Still and find out if there is really anything in you apart from your body-mind complex. Misconceptions and ignorant gurus make Spirituality and Meditation difficult to understand.

Do not make any drastic changes to your current lifestyle to pursue spirituality. Do not think of renouncing anything. Make little lifestyle changes and meditate for some time. Meditate on Silence. Cessation of mental activities leads to spiritual awakening. With meditation on silence, either you will have a spiritual awakening or you will not have one, but you will never get adversely affected. This is important--make sure you don't get adversely affected due to meditation and spirituality.

Question: I go to sleep when my physical and mental activities cease or when my mind becomes blank/silent.

Answer: That's normal. Three things happen when there is cessation of physical activities and mental thoughts as mentioned in this link.

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/dhyana-or-meditation-techniques-silence.html

Question: Is Yoga also cessation of physical and mental activities? What is Yoga?

Answer: Yes, yoga means cessation of physical and mental activities (silence) leading to spiritual experiences. Yoga has been given many meanings, but the real spiritual meaning of Yoga is union with your true/higher Self (soul, Atma, etc.) or Self-realization.  Yoga is achieved through Dhyana or meditation.  For you, the best meaning would be the following:

When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or A MOMENTARY swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved:

• Kundalini or a higher power in you awakens OR
• Prana starts moving upwards through a spiritual channel located in the spinal column and awakens your spiritual body/mind/consciousness OR
• your individual consciousness merges with the cosmic consciousness OR
• your spiritual self merges with the Cosmic/Supreme Self OR
• your body consciousness merges with the spiritual consciousness and ultimately your spiritual consciousness merges with the cosmic consciousness.

Spiritual body/mind/consciousness awakening is also Yoga, i.e., separating the spiritual body/mind consciousness from the physical body/mind/consciousness and being the spiritual body/mind consciousness. This is like getting united with your real Self OR Being your real Self.

Uniting/merging with or dissolving into the Supreme source/Cosmic consciousness is also Yoga.

You can also think of many other similar meanings for Yoga but never think that Yoga means Yogasana or Pranayama.

Question: Why do we have so many types of Yoga practices, like Kundalini Yoga, Raja Yoga, Adhyatma Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Patanjali Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Mouna Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Siddha Yoga, etc?

Answer: You can make 100s of dishes from rice with many recipes. Consider rice as Yoga and dishes/recipes as the different types of Yoga. In the above Yogas, remove the first word which is an adjective/eponym that describes the name of the author or the method of achieving Yoga and then read the meaning of Yoga as given in the previous answer.

Without Silence, you can never achieve Yoga.

Question: What is Tantra Yoga/Tantrik Yoga/Tantric Yoga?

Answer: Tantra means expansion or extension. Thus Tantra means expansion or extension of the Vedantic/Upanishadic truth of a higher Self or Brahm. Veda/Vedanta/Upanishad is a compilation of the teachings of ancient Seers who found the truth about Pinda (oneself) and the Brahmanda (cosmos). Vedanta or Upanishads talk about our real Self without giving details about how to realize such a Self. In other words, Upanishads talk about a higher reality of oneself/higher Self without elaborating the means for such Self-realization. They do not talk about different methods of Self-realization in detail. Tantra, on the other hand, elaborates on the principles of Vedanta/Upanishads or the knowledge of ancient Seers and gives details about Self-realization and the different means/methods for Self-realization. Tantras are easy to understand, explained from the viewpoint of a beginner or a worldly person. Tantra may also have come into existence because of the corruption of Vedanta/Upanishads by some ignorant people.

Some Tantras have the teachings of real enlightened people (Seers, Brahmajnanis) which are written to enlighten us and many other Tantras were written by ignorant people, sadists, or propagandists to delude us.

When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or a momentary swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, Kundalini awakens giving a glimpse of your super-conscious nature. This is Tantra Yoga or Tantric/Tantrik Yoga.

The most corrupted form of Tantra -- Sex Tantra/Sex Yoga/Tantrik Sex Yoga:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/kundalini-awakening-through-sex-sex.html

Question: What is Vedanta? What is Advaita Vedanta? What are the Upanishadic philosophies? Could someone help me understand Advaita in layman's terms and examples?

Question: If the Vedantic/Upanishadic concept "Aham Brahmasmi" is equivalent to "I am Creator, I am God, I am the cause and the effect," then am I a God? if so why don't I have the powers of God?

Question: Can I realize myself by chanting "Aham Brahmasmi?" Can I get Liberation by reading and understanding Upanishads and practicing Brahma Bhaava (I am all, All-is-One, All-in-One and One-in-All attitude)?

Answer: Advaita, Advaya, or Advitiya means One, One without a second, or Nondual. Vedanta means end of Vedas, i.e., it refers to the Upanishads.  Veda, Vedanta, and Upanishads talk about Brahm, the Supreme Nondual Reality/Principle of the Cosmos, including you and me. Advaita means the creator, creation, and creatures are made up of ONE PRINCIPLE, hence the same (ONE Reality). This is the principle of sub-sub...subatomic particles.

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/brahm-parambrahma-naad-brahm-veda.html

The opposite of Advaita is Dvaita (Two, Dual Principle). Dvaita means the creator and the creation (including creatures, you and me) are 2 different things or principles. God and Man, one is higher and the other one is lower. It is similar to humans being differentiated as Son of God and Son of Man. This is not the principle of sub-sub...subatomic particles.

 "Aham Brahm Asmi" means I am Brahm, I am God, I am the Creator, I am the Cause and I am the Effect, etc.
“Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati”=One who realizes Brahm becomes Brahm (Cosmic Consciousness). Only then he/she can say “Aham Brahmasmi.” Actually, this is an experience in Samadhi. During Samadhi, people experience that they are everything, the entire cosmos, or everything is theirs.

Those who have not realized Brahm through deep meditation/Samadhi should say “Aham Brahmeti” or "Aham Brahma Iti," which is translated as "Aham is the Supreme Cosmic Sound, Vibration, or Reality." The meaning of Aham (Subatomic Vibration) is mentioned in the link above. This is the reason why you are neither a God nor have any powers of God. 

Reading, getting influenced by some books and thinking differently (thinking oneself to be Supreme/God/Creator/Cause and Effect, etc) does not lead to Self-Realization or Brahmjnana. No matter how much we think, study scriptures, or try to understand through our intellect, it is not possible to experience this truth of ONEness or ONE NONDUAL REALITY. This truth can only be understood and lived through Self-realization, which is possible only through deep meditation/Samadhi. The knowledge of this Oneness is called Brahmajnana and the knower of this truth is called a Brahmajnani.

Question: What is Neo-Advaita Vedanta or Neo-Vedanta?

Answer: Advaita is a redundant word because Vedanta itself is Advaita, i.e., Vedanta talks about the nondual reality/principle/nature of existence, including Pinda (oneself) and Brahmanda (the cosmos). Vedanta talks about the creator, creation, and creatures being made up of one/nondual principle, hence all are one and the same. Vedanta is about the principle of subatomic particles.

Vedanta Teachings:

Ekam eva advitiya brahma—Brahm is one and without a second, a nondual principle.

Sarvam khalu idam brahma—All this (the veritable cosmos with all its universes, galaxies, planets, living and nonliving beings, including you and me) is Brahm, one nondual principle.

Prajnanam brahma—The Supreme Reality is Consciousness. Everything is Consciousness, one principle.

When Advaita itself is redundant in “Advaita Vedanta,” I don't know what to call this "neo" in neo-Advaita Vedanta! If it is only neo-Advaita, what does NEW ONE/NEW NONDUAL mean? As for Neo-Vedanta, you cannot have a "New End of Veda." Perhaps some people want to do something similar like the New Testament and the Old Testament.

Whoever coined Neo-Advaita or Neo-Vedanta may have learned or practiced Vedanta from a deluded guru or whoever coined this "neo" is deluded. Maybe it is a group of deluded persons that created this "neo." These persons surely wouldn't have had meditation experiences. If such persons are selfish, sadistic, or egoistic human beings, then maybe they created this term either to corrupt Vedanta, patent Vedanta teachings in their names by renaming or repacking it, to prove their superiority over Sanskrit and spiritual matters, to delude others, or to make money by pretending to be great scholars/gurus and fleece their ignorant followers. Many people have been doing such renaming and repacking from a long time for various reasons, both in the East and the West. If you follow such deluded people, you will definitely be lost in the maze of words and get deluded ultimately. Such persons and their teachings are dangerous. Beware!

SAD TRUTH: Everyone wants to become a guru without having a single meditation experience and without doing an ounce of spiritual Sadhana. Everybody wants to develop a guru's itch (itching to be a guru), without knowing that becoming a guru without Kundalini awakening is the end of one's spiritual progress. People who become gurus without any Kundalini experiences will never awaken their Kundalini throughout their lives.
There are some rules--physical, spiritual, cosmic, karmic, and Kundalini rules.

Persons who think that they have realized the truth about Vedanta by reading or who think they are the masters/mistresses of Vedanta become BHRAMjnanis (delusional or people who delude others):

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/bhram-jnana-bhramjnani-brahmajnana.html

Question: What is Kundalini Yoga?

Answer: When the mind becomes still, breath becomes equanimous, or swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, Kundalini or a higher power in you awakens – WITHOUT ANY PHYSICAL OR MENTAL TRAUMA. This is Kundalini YOGA.

Question: What is Kundalini?

Answer: Kundalini is a mechanism that gives you spiritual experiences and helps you gain Self-Knowledge or knowledge about your spiritual body/mind/consciousness.

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/06/kundalini-as-it-is-myths-about.html

Question: What is Hatha Yoga?

Answer: Hatha Yoga is a practice of Asanas, Bandhas, Mudras, Pranayamas and other physical activities to make the body and mind strong, maintain a healthy body and mind, prepare the body and mind for a rigorous spiritual sadhana involving meditation for achieving Yoga (union with the Supreme). Legendary Baba Gorakhnath or Gorakshnath seems to be the father of all meditation techniques involving Asanas and Pranayama.  Many spiritual/meditation gurus teach Hatha Yoga under different names such as Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Patanjali Yoga, Laya Yoga, this Yoga, that Yoga, this Kriya, that Kriya, etc. Shrewd gurus make a combination of an Asana, Bandha, Mudra, Pranayama, Tratak, etc., and give a unique name for such a combination and pass it off as a new or the best meditation technique for Self-realization.

Spiritual aspirants need not practice Hatha Yoga, Yogasanas, Bandha, Mudra, etc.  Pranayama to raise Kundalini is dangerous. Asanas, Bandha, Pranayama, Mudra, Tratak, Laya, etc., are not meditation techniques. These are meditation experiences (i.e., when Kundalini awakens, all these happen without your will)!

Question: What is Tratak Yoga?

Answer: Tratak/Trataka is staring or constant gazing at an object. You gaze at an external object with your open eyes, usually a lamp. You look internally at a place or fix your gaze at some body part with your eyes closed, usually Ajna Chakra or Nasikagra (tip of your nose). You can also do Tratak on Ajna Chakra or Nasikagra with open eyes. Tratak Yoga means doing Tratak to have meditation/spiritual experiences leading to Yoga.
Tratak is not a meditation technique! Tratak is a meditation experience! Stop it if you are doing it--it is dangerous!

Question: What is Ashtanga Yoga?

Answer: Indian Maharshi Patanjali wrote Yoga Sutra (a treatise on Yoga) in which he advocated an 8- limbed/part practice for achieving cessation of thoughts in meditation and becoming Ritambhara Prajna (Self-realized Jnani, Knower, Seer like himself). He advocated simple Asana, Pranayama, and Dharana (concentration/focus) so that a meditation practitioner can sit comfortably for longer duration of time, do slow and relaxed breathing to calm the mind down, concentrate on an object/idea/thought which would lead to auto-concentration or auto-focus by the mind on it. Such one-pointed auto-focus ultimately results in silence and then Samadhi (Intense Meditation Experience). He advocated purity of body, speech, and mind before taking to meditation for Yoga. There seem to be similarities between Patanjali's Yoga Sutra and Buddhaghosha's Vishuddi Marga or Visuddimagga (Buddhism).

Patanjali's Asana and Pranayama portions have been wrongly understood by people and fake gurus are prescribing all Hatha Yogic asanas and pranayamas, bandhas, etc., as a prerequisite for meditation. Would a Maharshi teach a lot of bending and twisting exercises and performing altered breathing and locking of breaths to achieve Samadhi?

Words "Yoga" (union) and "Asana" (body posture) were clubbed together to make the word Yogasana, which now means a lot of bending and twisting exercises. Fake gurus would say you need to strengthen your body through yogasanas and purify your nerves/nerve channels/Naadis through bandhas and pranayama. They would say that pranayana Kriyas lead to Kundalini awakening.

Truth: Real Brahmajnaanis neither did Yogasanas and Pranayamas nor taught them as a practice for Self-realization because they knew it is only Kundalini that can accurately do Kriyas.  Brahmajnaanis abstained from prescribing Pranayama because it is a natural Kriya of Kundalini, and any Pranayama done to raise Kundalini is unnatural and is fraught with dangers. Except for Kundalini itself, nobody can perform Kriyas accurately. Enlightened persons, Kundalini-awakened persons, and those persons who have had Kundalini experiences do not teach Kriyas to awaken Kundalini because they very well know the meaning of Kriyas, the effect of Kriyas on Kundalini, the dangers involved in Kriyas to awaken Kundalini. They know that except for Kundalini itself, nobody can perform Kriyas correctly.

Sadhus: "Don't read the Vibhuti Pada (III chapter) of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. You will never get any superpowers as mentioned in that book, but instead you may go crazy if you think too seriously and practice meditation to get Ashta siddhis (8 miraculous powers), psychic powers, superpowers. Keep Ashtanga Yoga as simple as practicing silence or cessation of thoughts in meditation and waiting in silence for meditation experiences to happen."

If you are a genuine spiritual aspirant, just follow this time-tested and the real meditation process:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/dhyana-or-meditation-techniques-silence.html

Question: What is Kriya Yoga?

Answer: When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or a momentary swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, Prana enters Sushumna as a result of which the body involuntarily starts performing Asana, Mudra, Pranayama, Bandha, Tratak, or other physical activities – WITHOUT ANY RESULTANT PHYSICAL OR MENTAL TRAUMA. This is Kriya YOGA. These involuntary or spontaneous or natural activities of Kundalini are called Swabhavika Kriyas, Shakti Kriyas (Shakti means Kundalini, Kriya means activity), or Kundalini Kriyas.

Nobody knows when Kriya Yoga became a meditation practice involving Pranayama for Self-realization or Enlightenment, and also there are various views as to what Kriya Yoga really means. Currently, gurus are publicizing Kriya Yoga as performing of asanas, bandhas, mudras, pranayama, and/or other physical activities as a meditation process for Yoga. Such Kriya Yoga gurus teach voluntary kriyas whereas when Kundalini awakens, natural/spontaneous/involuntary kriyas (swabhavika kriyas) happen. Performing Kriyas for awakening Kundalini does not work and it is dangerous. You need to meditate in silence and let Kundalini perform Kriyas. If you experience a swabhavika kriya/Kundalini Kriya, then you will know what real Kriya Yoga means.

Question: What is a Swabhavika Kriya?

Answer: Swabhavika (natural) Kriyas (activities) are called spontaneous or involuntary Kriyas. These are the activities of Kundalini, which are natural to it. When Kundalini awakens, the body performs Kriyas (physical activities) automatically. Swabhavika Kriya is a meditation/Kundalini/spiritual experience! The ancient Indian Yogis and Seers told what happens during deep meditation, Samadhi, or Kundalini awakening. They told that when Kundalini awakens:

• breathing alters-body position changes- involuntary body movements take place-gaze gets fixed- different types of speech are produced (Kriya),
• body starts twisting itself in certain postures and move in certain positions (Asana),
• different hand/finger/eye/tongue gesturing, positioning, or movements happen (Mudra),
• breathing starts changing (altered breathing) and breath gets locked in various parts of the lungs for various duration, breathing stops or a person becomes breathless (Pranayama, Bandha, Kriya, Kumbhaka),
• eyes start rolling upward/backward, gaze gets fixed as happens when a person is dead (Trataka, Mudra),etc.

The ignorant followers would have taken such effects of Kundalini awakening as the causes to awaken Kundalini. These are natural Kriyas that Kundalini performs when she/it awakens. “Prana (Vital Breath/Energy) enters Sushumna” can also mean Kundalini breathing though Sushumna in addition to Ida and Pingala. WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER OUR BODY WHEN KUNDALINI IS AWAKENED. It would seem as if somebody is breathing for you or you cannot control your breathing. It feels like as if somebody has taken possession of your body and forcing you to perform Kriyas. Swabhavika Kriyas are meditation/Kundalini experiences. These Kriyas happen when Kundalini awakens/Kundalini breathes through Sushumna/spiritual nerve currents are passed/high level of energy is released due to Kundalini awakening. Such Kriyas last as long as Prana is passing through Sushumna.

Important:

• Pranayama and Kriyas are unnatural to your physical body but are natural to the spiritual body—pranayama, bandha, swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) happens only during Samadhi or when Kundalini awakens.
• Only Kundalini knows how to regulate your breathing.
• Only Kundalini knows how to breathe when you are sleeping, running, walking, relaxing, etc., hence stop all unnatural breathing practices, Kriyas, and fancy-named breathing techniques to awaken Kundalini.
• If you are practicing Bandha or Kumbhaka to raise Kundalini and if your breath gets locked and if you are unable to release the locked air, then you would surely die.
• Anything unnatural to your physical body will lead to irreparable damage to your body like permanent physical or mental disabilities.
• Give up such Kriyas to awaken your Kundalini.
• If you are having any swabhavika kriyas, do not do anything. The Kriyas will stop on their own. Continue with your meditation. There is no need to worry. These are common and normal Kundalini awakening experiences/Kriyas.

Swabhavika kriyas are also called Shakti kriyas. Shakti kriya means activities of Kundalini when she/it awakens. These are natural activities/Kriyas of Kundalini which can be known only when Kundalini awakens. All the meditation/spiritual/Kundalini experiences are swabhavika kriyas or Shakti kriyas. For a list of swabhavika kriyas:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/kundalini-experiences-mediation.html

Warning: Never practice Kriyas for Kundalini awakening. It is dangerous. Practice silence and let Kundalini perform its Swabhavika Kriyas.

Question: What do you think of the Eastern religions? Can they help me on my spiritual journey?

Answer: A religion that talks about meditation, spirituality, and Self-realization must be good because it is talking about YOU. A religion that talks about you and helps you understand yourself completely must be good. Only the eastern religions do that. Religions which encourage spirit of enquiry must be better than those which kill people's spirit of enquiry, demand blind faith, and make religious slaves out of its followers. Indian religions, which in the ancient times spread to other Eastern countries, surely will help you evolve spiritually and guide you in your spiritual journey.

Eastern or Western, human beings are human beings and we all have a SUPERNORMAL PRINCIPLE in us, which the Indian Seers and Yogis called Kundalini, which is not only responsible for our breathing but also responsible for Self-realization.

Question: What are the 4 paths of Yoga in Hinduism? Is Bhakti Yoga not for low castes in India?

Answer: WE HAVE A SUPERNORMAL PRINCIPLE RESIDING IN ALL OF US.  This principle is not subjective. ONLY A FEW PEOPLE KNOW, many don’t. Human beings are human beings (whatever religion you follow, whatever tradition, whatever caste, whatever belief, theist or atheist , whatever path you take). Bhakti Yoga is for all.

When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or a MOMENTARY swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, a higher power/Kundalini awakens your spiritual body/mind/consciousness. This is YOGA. This  is the meaning of all types of the following Yogas: Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Patanjali Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Islam Yoga, Buddhist Yoga, etc.

Question: Are there 4 paths to Liberation (Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, and Jnana Yoga) or are these actually only One path or do all these lead to the same goal of Liberation, Freedom, Emancipation, Moksha, Mukti?

Answer:

Words of a Jnaani:

Bhaav bina Bhakti nahi

Bhakti bina Dhyan nahi

Dhyan bina Gyan nahi

Translated roughly as: Without a spiritually-inclined mind, you cannot have devotion/dedication toward spirituality.

Without devotion/dedication toward spirituality, there is no spiritual meditation.

Without spiritual meditation, there are no spiritual experiences that will ultimately lead to Self-realization.

The ultimate goal of religion and spirituality is Moksha or Liberation, which can only be gained through Self-realization. Without spirituality and meditation, there is no Self-realization. Without Self-Realization or Self-Knowledge, there is no freedom from bondage or ignorance (Bandhan, Bandha, Avidya, Ajnana). In other words, there is no Liberation/Freedom/Emancipation without Meditation.

• Good Karma (activities of the body-speech-mind/Kaaya-Vaacha-Manasa Karma) leads to a spiritually-inclined mind,
• A spiritually-inclined mind leads to Bhakti (devotion/dedication) toward finding the truth about oneself.
• Such spiritual Bhakti leads to Dhyan/Dhyana (spiritual meditation).
• In Dhyana, you will get Jnana (Self-knowledge or Self-realization which leads to Mukti/Freedom/Liberation/Moksha).

All the 4 paths of Karma, Bhakti, Dhyana, and Jnana are not mutually exclusive but are complementary to each other. Thus spirituality is ALL-IN-ONE. Many people seek to benefit physically/psychologically from spiritual practices and think they are following one of the routes to Self-realization; this is due to ignorance.

To succeed in spirituality, one should "take the opposite route" (Vipareeta Bhaavana). You should do spiritual karma, spiritual bhakti, spiritual dhyana, to gain spiritual jnana.

Yoga means Self-realization or Enlightenment. Yoga is achieved through Dhyana or meditation. Yoga is not yogasana or pranayama. When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or a momentary swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, a higher power in you awakens and merges in the cosmic power/reality/consciousness. This is YOGA.

Only Jnaanis know that when all the physical and mental activities become SILENT, spiritual and super-conscious activities begin. If you want to know about the spiritual and super-conscious activities, yogic experiences that will give you an insight into the higher reality of your existence, click:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/kundalini-experiences-mediation.html

Question: What is Mantra Yoga or Mantra Meditation? What is Japa Yoga? Who can chant a Mantra? Is it true that only people from a particular caste/religion or only those who are initiated by a guru should chant a Mantra? Is it true women are not allowed to chant a Mantra? Is it true women are not supposed to chant a particular Mantra when having periods? What are your views on mantras and mantra meditation?

Question: What are some time-tested, powerful, secular, and effective mantras? 

Question: What is Bija/Beeja Mantra? What is the difference between a
Bija Mantra and a regular Mantra? Do Tantric Beej Mantras Hrim, Kleem, Shreem, Aim, Bum, Yam, Lam… help awaken Kundalini? 

Question: Why do all Mantras start with OM? Does it have any scientific significance? Is it true that NASA has recently found that the sound from the sun resembles the Vedic mantra 'Om'?  What is the frequency of OM? Some doctor has found out Gayathri mantra to be the most powerful, is it true?

Question: Does chanting of Vedic mantras bring about a positive change either from the inside or from the outside?

Answer: Definition of mantra:

a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditating

a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs

a mystical formula of invocation or incantation (as in Hinduism)

A watchword.

Repetition/Recitation of a Mantra during meditation is Mantra meditation. Reciting, chanting, uttering, or thinking a mantra repetitively as a technique to attain Yoga is called Mantra Yoga or Japa Yoga. Japa or Jaap means reciting/chanting a mantra.

Anybody can chant or meditate on a mantra; caste, religion, age, sex no bar; whether you are having periods or not doesn't matter. A mantra can be a word, sound, phrase, or a sentence.

The following are the types of/stages in Mantra meditation:

• You loudly utter a mantra, others can hear you.
• You quietly utter a mantra, others can’t hear you, only you can hear.
• You close your mouth and utter the mantra with your tongue.
• You mentally recite/think the mantra.
• You have closed your mouth, you are not reciting it. The mind starts reciting the mantra, you cannot stop it—-this is AJAPA (involuntary mantra recitation). Your head becomes heavy—this is dangerous if you do not know what to do.
• Last Stage: All the above Mantra uttering stops—You experience the following:

There is MAHAJAPA or ANANTA JAPA (The Great Eternal Recitation/Chanting) of a Mahamantra (The Grand Mantra) happening everywhere, in you and in the entire cosmos.

This is the mother of all Mantras. This is the seed (BIJA) of all Mantras. This is the eternal Grand Bija Mantra.This mantra is the Cosmic/Universal Mantra, the Sound of the Cosmos, mentioned in all the religions of the world, eg., Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc.

The Mantra of Bible: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Mantra of Islam: 786

The mantra of Hindus, Buddhists, etc., and the Mahamantra is:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/brahm-parambrahma-naad-brahm-veda.html

The Greatest, The Best, The Most Powerful, and The Most Secular Time-Tested Mantra in the whole cosmos is this Mahamantra, which is being chanted 24/7 and which is the cause of and the reality behind the cosmic creation. The frequency of this Mahamantra is either unknown or is the frequency of all cosmic frequencies--everything known/knowable and unknown/unknowable is AUM/OM/AHAM/AHM. This Mahamantra is reverberating in the entire cosmos, the sun, moon, galaxy, including you and me, which the great Indian Seers and Yogis found a long, long ago in their deep meditation (Samadhi), which NASA or any doctor in the world has never found. This is the REAL SEED (BIJA) of all regular Mantras, Tantric or otherwise. This is the reason why most mantras in Veda, Puranas and other scriptures start with this Mahamantra. IN SHORT, AHM/OM/AUM/AHAM IS THE COSMIC CREATOR.

To know how this Mahamantra resulted in cosmic creation, click:
http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/religion-versus-spirituality-science.html

This Mantra is the cosmos or the whole cosmos is this Mantra.

It is not the chanting of any Mantra that brings about a change in a person but it’s the volition or will for chanting the Mantra that brings a change—stronger the will, quicker the change, of course there are some rules. The Mahamantra is being chanted everywhere, how can you chanting an extra mantra give you special results?

If you can experience this Mahamantra reciting in you, then you surely are on the right path to Self-realization.

DANGER: Mantra meditation is a tiresome mental activity. It becomes a hindrance in achieving SILENCE. Without SILENCE, take for granted that you will not have Kundalini/spiritual awakening. Sometimes, the mantra starts repeating in the head on its own and the head becomes heavy, you can't stop it. During meditation, people start imagining the form of the deity of the Mantra which may lead to delusions/hallucinations (Bhrantidarshana) in the long run or if practiced INTENSELY/SERIOUSLY to have a vision of the deity.

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/hallucination-imagination-and-kundalini.html

Note: If you cannot meditate without Mantra or cannot become silent, then recite the Mantra for 5 minutes and then practice silence, because silence is a stage you have to go through in meditation.

Question: What is Mindfulness meditation? What is Vipassana meditation ? What is Insight meditation? What is Dhyana Yoga?

Answer: Vipassana means "to see/know/experience the real nature of things, i.e., an insight/awareness into the reality about oneself (Pinda) and the entire cosmos (Brahmanda)" which has been wrongly, misused, or misunderstood as Mindfulness to mean "observing, focusing, or being aware of one's bodily sensations, breathing, or thoughts." Real Vipassana/Mindfulness/Insight means an awareness of a supernormal or spiritual phenomena and not the ordinary insight/awareness (however intense or one-pointed it may be) of physical and mental sensations!

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/vipassana-mindfulness-here-and-now-just.html

When the mind becomes still, the breath becomes equanimous, or A MOMENTARY swabhavika kumbhaka (natural cessation of breath) is achieved, breath starts moving upwards through a spiritual channel located in the spinal column and awakens your spiritual body—WITHOUT ANY PHYSICAL OR MENTAL TRAUMA. This is Dhyan of India which became Chan/Chen in China and then Zen in Japan—also Dhyana became Jhana of Buddhism—problems with pronunciation you know. Mindfulness is a part of Dhyan/Dhyana (meditation). Vipassana is a Dhyana experience.

Whether you practice Mindfulness, correct Mindfulness, the right Mindfulness, practicing Mindfulness with a proper/right/good guide/guru/teacher, etc., all will lead to physical and mental problems because mindfulness is a not a meditation technique! Mindfulness is a meditation experience! Vipassana is a meditation experience! Insight is a meditation experience. It is similar to Pranayama which is a meditation experience being practiced as a meditation technique to awaken Kundalini. Meditation in its original form is practiced for spiritual experiences/awakenings and Self-realization.

To know the various Vipassana/Mindfulness/Insight/meditation experiences you get during deep meditation, Samadhi:

http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/kundalini-experiences-mediation.html

Question: What is the difference between Ashtanga Yoga and Kriya Yoga, Kriya Yoga and Kundalini Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and Asthanga Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Kriya Yoga, Mantra Yoga and Vipassana, Bhakti Yoga Vs Jnana Yoga, Mindfulness Vs Tratak Yoga, Vipassana Vs Raja Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga Vs Mindfulness, Japa Yoga Vs Dhyana Yoga, Laya Yoga vs Pralaya Yoga, Raja Yoga vs Rani Yoga,  This Vs That, That Vs This…..?

Question: Which is the best among Ashtanga, Kriya, Japa, Kundalini, Hatha, Bhakti, Tantra, Jnana, Mindfulness, Vipassana……?

Answer: For a person without direct meditation experiences, all these are different types of practices, but for a person who has had meditation experiences, these are all same—physical and/or mental activities. All such Yogas should end in Silence for Kundalini to awaken, and without Kundalini awakening, all Yogas are useless. Meditate on silence, have a meditation/spiritual experience, and then you will realize the truth.

____________
There are many other types of Yogas which I have missed out. Whatever the type of Yoga, the goal of all Yogas is Kundalini/spiritual awakening. Without silence, you cannot have Kundalini/spiritual awakening.
A life wasted on impractical/useless spiritual practices which won't result in Kundalini/spiritual awakening is the worst thing to happen to a spiritual aspirant.
____________

CONCLUSION:

Meditation Happens. Silence leads to Meditation (Medha Nadi activation).

WHATEVER TYPE/S OF MEDITATION PRACTICE YOU FOLLOW, THEY ALL SHOULD END IN SILENCE—only then will you have a spiritual experience, spiritual awakening. Only then will you know for sure that meditation happened, and you are on the right track.

You should know that activity-based meditations/Yoga practices, including mantra meditation, are practiced to reduce the number of thoughts and activities from many to one and then ultimately achieving silence by giving up that single activity/thought also. This is real renunciation (Tyaga, Vyragya, Vairagya, Viraga, Veetaraga, etc.).

When silence (cessation of all physical and mental activities) is achieved during meditation, a person can have spiritual experiences. This is the real purpose of practicing meditation - to have spiritual experiences or to directly experience spirituality. Without achieving mental silence in meditation (however brief), nobody can have a spiritual experience because silence is a stage that one has to go through during the meditation process:
http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.com/2016/05/dhyana-or-meditation-techniques-silence.html

Continued in....
Questions and Answers Part II; Meditation Experiences That Weren't; What Should I Know About Meditation; Effects of Tratak, Focusing, Concentration and Other Dangerous Meditation Techniques; Choosing a Guru
http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/09/questions-and-answers-part-ii_22.html

WARNING: It's okay if you don’t meet a Brahmajnani (Self-realized seer) or realize yourself in this life, but never ever meet or follow a BHRAMjnaani (fake guru who will make you delusional).  If you do, then you will suffer your entire life.
http://kundalini-brahmajnani.blogspot.in/2016/05/bhram-jnana-bhramjnani-brahmajnana.html

Shubhamastu--Let Good Happen To You!