4 Tantric Seals

Dear reader, there are known to be 4 Tantric seals which are kind of untying certain knots that kept us bound in the cycle of action-memory-desire.

The first of these seals is called Karma Mudra. To open this seal one needs to be total in action what the Dakini pointed to Saraha when he hold the arrow and closed one of her eyes, the eye of logic. What does it mean to be total in action (and action is not only of the body but it is also thought and speech) is to not act as a means to an end but to utterly enjoy it in the present.

The second seal is called Gyan Mudra. This is related to knowing. The open this seal you need to let go of borrowed knowledge, beliefs, 2nd person perspective what people tell you or told you, parents, teachers. There are voices and voices that have piled up and one has to peel off the layers one by one to hear his inner voice. Everyone has a still, small voice that whispers to us, what to do, what not to do, what to say, what not to say. You can hear this voice if you get nudges about things that stay with you longer, days may pass, sometimes months, years and the depth of your being keeps calling you to what has meaning to you. What do you know for sure ? That you are and that you are someone who knows. And where you are ? Here. Here is not a place in space but your innermost Self.

The third seal is called Samaya Mudra. This is related to time. When you don't live in your memories and you don't live in your imagination or your dreams, the mind is free to be in the present moment. This moment. This moment, This moment, This moment. Experiences such as sensations, images, feelings, thoughts are all fleeting, they arise in consciousness, you experience them in consciousness and they subside in consciousness. When you don't cling to experience and you don't judge the experience you can just be with the experience in the present moment then subject and object merge. Language by its very nature is dualistic the knower and the known. When dealing with practical matters we tend to objectify experiences in space and time and this is useful for planing, for going to the market but as such in truth there is no boundary between the experiencer and that which is experienced (which is always sensations, images, feelings, thoughts) there is a stream of consciousness and you can flow with the stream consciously when you don't try to swim upstream. There is no past, no future. There is only Now. Whatever you experience is always Now, when you have a memory of the past or you dream it is also Now.

You are Here Now.

You are Here Now.

You are Here Now.

The fourth seal is called Maha Mudra. The great gesture, inner spaciousness. That which is called Shunyata and is often mistranslated as void. That's where Maitri (compassion) and Pragya (wisdom) meet. Loving-awareness. This is known in love. The path of wisdom is fulfilled in love. The path of love is fulfilled in wisdom. That's how you know you have reached on the path of wisdom if you have love. And on the path of love you know you have reached if you have wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge. Knowledge can be borrowed, understanding acquired and wisdom is always lived. Knowledge is what we learn and remember through recollection (what in Sanskrit is called Smrti). We read something, we think we got it, than we forget, and at a moment in time we might remember. Understanding goes a little deeper is an insight into a matter, we are involved, is not something borrowed. For example when we see the benefit of quitting a certain habit that is not beneficial but every once in a while we might get caught into forgetting about it, like turning off auto notifications on the phone when we do something and we don't want to get disturbed, but every once in a while, one might just forget about it, understanding is there but it's not permanent. When understanding is permanent, where there is non stop remembrance (what in Sanskrit is called Smaran) than the door to wisdom opens. As with Shamatha, through habituation, through repetition, the mind habituates to sitting calm but alert. The same mind that gets from one thought, to another thought and get carried upstream can Now watch thoughts like clouds, arising in consciousness, witnessing the thought in consciousness and letting the thoughts subside in consciousness. Wisdom arises when one moves from object referral, from seeing the witness is always Here and that which is witnessed (sensations, images, feelings, thoughts) as objects in consciousness to Self referral, to being the seeing and the seen. We are both. One Being, many forms. The innermost of the mind is the heart. When one recognizes the Self in a rock, or a plant, or an animal this recognition is called beauty. When one recognizes the Self in another human-being that is known as love. Love is always connected with appreciation (deep gratitude), attention (deep listening), affection (deep caring) and acceptance. Acceptance is drop judgment and comparison. Everyone is doing the best they can from their level of consciousness and whatever is that we know is the work of many friends on the path. In this way we don't boast with our accomplishments, when we give, we give without expecting anything in return, if thanks come that is ok, we can receive them graciously, if not, that doesn't need to bother us, we offer because we are love. Often times people beat themselves up because they are not a big boat like Jesus or Gautama or Krishna or Eckhart. We each have our measures. Some people can hold in their heart the whole world and some are called to love their family and tend to their friends and to the work they love and be of service in this way.

Hope that helps!

Love!