{"id":3189,"date":"2016-04-09T22:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T02:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/?p=3189"},"modified":"2016-05-11T03:21:09","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T07:21:09","slug":"echo-from-the-cave40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/2016\/04\/echo-from-the-cave40\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo from The Cave:40"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sat April 9th, 2016 10:00pm, NYC<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>EXPERIENCE:<br \/>\nNY Gurubai&#8217;s Visit to Japan, 2016 Winter<br \/>\nand Its Synchronization\u00a0with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/subscription2015_2016\/article_2016vol17.html#top\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Pranavadipa<\/em> Vol. 17<\/a>:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Part 1: PURIFICATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3242\" alt=\"20160201_124546\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1245461.jpg\" width=\"995\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1245461.jpg 995w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1245461-500x282.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1245461-624x353.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Crossing the first <em>torii<\/em>\u00a0(gateway), symbolizing the entrance into the sacred grounds, located at the Shinto Shrine of Kitano Tenmang\u016b<b>\u00a0<\/b>(founded in 947 AD)\u00a0near the Ashrama. Shri Mahayogi used to play baseball here when he was a young boy. It must have been quite different back then.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3240 aligncenter\" alt=\"20160201_124729\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1247292.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1247292.jpg 548w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_1247292-336x500.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Another <em>torii<\/em> (gate) to pass through.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.714285714;\">To become a disciple, or to\u00a0<\/span>begin on<span style=\"font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.714285714;\">\u00a0a path of any sorts,<br \/>\nwe write in Japanese &#8220;entering the gate&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u5165\u9580\u3000=\u3000\u3000\u5165\uff08Enter\uff09\uff0b\u3000\u9580\uff08Gate)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Usually the approach to the Hall of Prayer from the first <em>torii<\/em> does not follow a straight path.<br \/>\nShri Mahayogi taught me that this is symbolic of the process of purification.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3244 aligncenter\" alt=\"20160201_124833\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124833.jpg\" width=\"362\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124833.jpg 628w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124833-314x500.jpg 314w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124833-624x993.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0Another gate to pass through: Tower Gate<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3245 aligncenter\" alt=\"20160201_125827\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_125827.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_125827.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_125827-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_125827-624x350.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Finally, we arrive at the Hall of Prayer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3250 aligncenter\" alt=\"20160201_124810\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124810.jpg\" width=\"288\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124810.jpg 562w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160201_124810-328x500.jpg 328w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Nandi, the holy cow\u2014this shrine must be for worshiping Shiva!!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Day 1:<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\">Heading towards the center on a bus to familiarize ourselves with the city of Kyoto,<br \/>\n<\/span>Japan&#8217;s ancient capital for 1,000 years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3260 aligncenter\" alt=\"IMG_4868\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48681-500x428.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48681-500x428.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48681-624x534.jpg 624w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48681.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/> Taka, Aniruddha and Nandi<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-3261 aligncenter\" alt=\"IMG_4867\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48671-500x422.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48671-500x422.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48671-624x527.jpg 624w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_48671.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0Ryan<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3263\" alt=\"20160129_113719\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_113719-329x500.jpg\" width=\"329\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_113719-329x500.jpg 329w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_113719.jpg 435w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3264\" alt=\"20160129_115933\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_115933-500x310.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_115933-500x310.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_115933-624x387.jpg 624w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160129_115933.jpg 905w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-3266 aligncenter\" alt=\"20160208_095040\" src=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160208_095040.jpg\" width=\"713\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160208_095040.jpg 792w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160208_095040-500x351.jpg 500w, https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160208_095040-624x438.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" \/><br \/>\nShanti Kutira<\/p>\n<p>The three brothers had the daily assignment of practicing <em>asana<\/em>, meditation and attending to the housework. Knowing that there was a dinner meeting with <em>gurubai<\/em> that evening and knowing that they must not eat for at least two hours after practicing, they returned mid-afternoon to Shanti Kutira, the residence of Taka and Yohei and place where they were staying, to complete their daily <em>sadhana<\/em> before the dinner would be served. Taka practiced with them, then went to work. He is a social worker, as is Yohei.<\/p>\n<p>After completing their <em>sadhana<\/em>, they rested until the dinner meeting. They must have been tired and jet lagged after such long hours of travelling. In spite of that, they had woken up early and started off the morning cleaning house.\u00a0And this continued every morning throughout the time they were in Japan, in both Kyoto and Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Shimada arrived from his job, and prepared the dinner, assisted by Yohei who had also come back from work.<\/p>\n<p>The first night with the <em>gurubai <\/em>was spent with\u00a0Sananda, Kripalu, Mr. Shimada and Yohei. Wasting no time, Aniruddha began asking Sananda questions about the practice of discrimination. In answering these questions and throughout the course of the night, Sananda spoke a lot about \u201cthe importance of discrimination and daily practice: <em>kriya yoga<\/em>.\u201d He emphasized that <strong>in order to make progress toward the goal of Realization, <em>asana<\/em> and meditation practice are essentially pointless if you are not practicing thorough discrimination in your daily life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yohei mentioned that following the instruction of Shri Mahayogi, he had started practicing discrimination thoroughly, not only in meditation but also throughout his everyday activities. He shared a lot about himself, the mistakes he made, his tendencies, and how he has been practicing discrimination strictly. He remarked that it has helped him to clarify his obstacles and goal, so that he can focus only on Yoga. Aniruddha told us later that hearing the fact that Yohei had been practicing discrimination for a year was quite shocking, but then when he heard that he had been following such detail in his practice\u2014this was truly eye opening. He had found the way his brothers had spoken about discrimination so practically to be very inspiring and helpful in allowing him to understand how to dig much more deeply into what the practice really is.<\/p>\n<p>For sure, that night\u2019s conversations set the tone for the whole visit. All conversations that took place after that were related to <strong>the application of discrimination in daily life\u2014what you eat, how you act, how you spend your time, how you interact with people, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>(The journey continues&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/2016\/04\/echo-from-the-cave41\/\">to Echo 41<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*<\/p>\n<p>Both sections of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/subscription2015_2016\/article_2016vol17.html#top\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>Pranavadipa<\/em> <\/strong>Vol. 17<\/a>, Shri Mahayogi&#8217;s <em>Satsamgha<\/em> and the Testimony\u00a0by Yohei: &#8220;Three Gurubai From New York and My Ten Days with Them&#8221; are centered on the topic of applying discrimination in daily life. It is a very practical and inspired issue!<br \/>\n*****<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/book\/index.html\">Pranavadipa<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>is a Monthly Publication of Online Study Material containing the Teachings of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/ssmp\/index.html\">Satguru Shri Mahayogi Paramahansa\u00a0<\/a>\uff06 the Experiences of Practitioners that is available by annual subscription. A new volume of\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/book\/index.html\">Pranavadipa<\/a><\/em>\u00a0is issued on the 8th of every month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/book\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"PRANAVADIPA\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/announcements\/img\/Pranavadipa_Square.png\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" align=\"middle\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mahayogiyogamission.org\/book\/index.html\">Go to Information\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sat April 9th, 2016 10:00pm, NYC EXPERIENCE: NY Gurubai&#8217;s Visit to Japan, 2016 Winter and Its Synchronization\u00a0with Pranavadipa Vol. 17: Part 1: PURIFICATION Crossing the first torii\u00a0(gateway), symbolizing the entrance into the sacred grounds, located at the Shinto Shrine of Kitano Tenmang\u016b\u00a0(founded in 947 AD)\u00a0near the Ashrama. Shri Mahayogi used to play baseball here when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3189"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3189\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}