How I brewed Russian Caravan tea ?

Today I brewed my own version of Russian Caravan (for those who don't know Russian Caravan is a smokey black tea known as such it seems because at some point a caravan that was carrying black tea from China to Russia got the tea smoked without them intending that and they saw it was good).

The mixture I used is based on three varieties of Chinese tea:

Pu Erh (fermented black tea)

Keemun Congou (has a slightly plumy taste)

and

Lapsang Souchong (that's a taiwanese smokey black tea, it's smoked because it's made of the bigger leafs (the smaller leafs are said to be better quality)).

I started with mixing around half Pu Erh with Keemun and Lapsang Souchong in roughly equal proportions.

A few reflections on marriage and divorce

 Let me start with a quote from Shunmyo Masuno's book "Don't worry": "Love is beautiful misunderstanding. Marriage is cruel understanding."

It is widely acknowledged including spiritual teachers and enlightened masters that divorce is a trauma.

What is the root cause of the trauma of divorce ? Marriage

If baptism is a sacrament that makes people whole why is there a need for the Sacrament of marriage if they are already one ? And if they aren't already what did the Sacrament of baptism actually accomplish ?

Do you know that people who support marriage and officiate marriage don't have a remedy for the trauma of divorce ?

Healing from trauma is a work one has to do on oneself ... it can't be done by other people and it is to reclaim the connection between cognitive and affective memory. That is done by writing a letter to your younger self. In case of divorce the letter can only have this line:

"Do not marry!"

Universe, if I am before marriage, I want to be me before I was born.

Maha Kumbh Mela

 

On the auspicious occasion of Maha Kumbh Mela which occurs every 12 Kumbh Melas that is every 12x12 or 144 years which is basically unique in our lifetime I thought to share with you a few insights on practice which I hope would benefit you:

The event in itself makes the case for what Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said that India is the only culture that still worships the Divine Feminine, because in no other culture such astrological

computations for the purpose of inner work have been kept.

On the Maha Kumbh Mela Hindus go to take a dip in the Triveni Sangham which is a confluence of three rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati which on a deeper level signify Ida, Pingala and Sushumna in order to achieve Mukti or Moksha or Nirvana or as Yogis call it Kaivalya.

Why is this significant for Vajrayana practitioners is that basically that is the purpose of Secret Mantra and Yogic practices to bring the sun (Surya) energy (Ha) of the right energy channel Pingala and the moon (Chandra) energy (Tha) of the left channel Ida into the central energy channel Sushumna.

One of the practices we are all familiar with is the 9 purification breathes also known in India as Nadi Shuddhi that is Purification of the Nadis. The deeper reason behind the practice as I have read from the jews at least as is more commonly known of forceful exhalation is to touch the deeper layers of energy. As it is knows by the Sufis one of the names of Allah is Hu which essentially is very similar with HŪṂ or HUNG and is heard at a forced exhale. Also Jews do not utter the name of G-d because is breathed. In their prayer Hu Elokeinu basically the sound is the same but it is used to denote 3rd person singular.

Thought to share a few variants of the 9 purification breathes:

By Dorji Damdul from Tibet House:

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxmOABDXMWZ9iMmBqqQaoFU4CFNkRYXaRZ?si=BO3taw_92zau_02C

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx_m6nAZoIwBOqEegNDZzT8qb3weKI2cPB?si=CfyS24J11D-fv6FN

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxBa4nlWfBtPRJvSdvsNGX1Q0HlpMUzIc5?si=LYPyGGa-yCcM09YJ

By Dalai Lama:

https://youtu.be/aH9y8vc4CmY?si=CHTOrcANSqvoRcDW

By Sheila Patel:

https://drive.proton.me/urls/ZY49D4EGDC#454Irie5H7Oa

By Isha:

https://youtu.be/q5m6tMjcF8k?si=6ds3OIM88aE3Wrhd

an explanation of the activation of one of the three main nadis:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lDEUQdrARPU

As Maha Kumbh Mela already started and Hindus celebrate a harvesting festival called Pongal the next important dates to keep an eye on are Mauni Amavasya (new moon), Basant Panchami (first day of spring), Maghi Purnima (full moon) si Maha Shivratri (13th day after Maghi Purnima).

Taking a dip in the water literally is a celebration which is common to many traditions, Jews bath in a Mikvha (https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1541/jewish/The-Mikvah.htm) which being central to family life is always considered to be more important than a Synagogue and the poorer communities when they start and do not have money for both a Synagogue and a Mikvha, Christians dip in the Holy Water, Japanese Shinto bath in Water at the beginning of New Year. If one doesn't find a river to dip into here is a Vedic Ritual (https://youtu.be/Jbv-uRoSd6g) which can be done if one finds a spring. The reason to go to a spring instead of using bottled water or water from the sink is that flowing bodies of water have an energy which is in sync with the rhythm of Earth and which fades when the water is carried away from the spring.

If one wishes to practice meditation with mantras, one can try Primordial Sound Meditation mantras which is formed by Pranava (Oṃ) + Bija according to the Nakshatra Pada at the time of birth with an added ṁ + Namaḥ.

To compute the Nakṣatra Pada:

https://agasthiar.org/AUMzine/0019-rasi.htm

To count the Position according to the 27 Nakṣatras and the 4 Padas:

https://worldyogaforum.com/nakshatras/padas/?amp=1

To check out the Bija:

https://choprapsm.com/images/PSM%20Pronunciation%20Guide.Revisedv2.pdf

The most effective hours to practice are during Sandhya Kalas which are 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after sunrise, noon, sunset, midnight (Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says that the midnight Sandhya is not appropriate for pregnant women) when the energy is shifting very rapidly between Ida and Pingala making it easier to enter meditation and Brahma Muhurta which is a period of 48 minutes (a muhurta or two Ghatikas (as I have heard from Lopon Chandra a Ghaktika is the interval of time it takes the prana to circulate the body one complete time)) with 96 minutes before sunrise when the Universe is mating, that is it is the most fertile time to set intentions. Essentially according to OSHO if one manages to meditate for 48 minutes, that is to be in the gap between two thoughts for 48 minutes, attains Moksha, Nirvana, Kaivalya.

and the most effective days are, according to Lochen Dharmaśrī (from Shambhala website):

Externally, during the three days of the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the waxing period and during the twenty-fifth, twenty-ninth, and new moon days of the waning period the ḍākinīs circulate to the three external places. Internally, these are times when there is a special circulation of energies in the channels. In particular, on the tenth during the day and on the twenty-fifth during the night the accomplished ḍākinīs convene at the places of practitioners. Thus, in order to accomplish whatever ritual you initiate, exert yourself at those times.

(and a more comprehensive explanation of the 10th day https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/gonpo-tseten-rinpoche/bouquet-of-udumbara-flowers)

An honest (to the best of my abilities) review of the spiritual journey in the last 9 years

There are almost 9 years since I first started to bring more clarity to my life's purpose and almost 7 years since I somehow got more into the spiritual journey and off the day to day organized religion.

I believe that finding a daily rhythm and regularity to the practice near a community and a teacher of a spiritual path would probably yield results that would bring one's individuality to dissolve into the ocean of existence and with that success would also come whatever that means for everyone, probably that would include enough money to pay the bills and lead a decent lifestyle and a partner and close friends that would provide for the close emotional connections everyone needs.

With that said I have to say there is a lot of hype around what the spiritual teachings would deliver right off the bat. That's kind of moving from the magical to the intellectual and from the intellectual to religiousness (a classification that I know from OSHO's transcripts).

In my case after 7+ years I haven't been able to find a partner, get to speak to close and dear ones or to casual acquaintances about what drives most, apart from writing on the blog. On a more lucid note, prayers for finding a partner, including blessings and affirmations didn't yielded. And the procedure is not clear and wasn't the absolute focus of enlightened beings up to very recently when at least if didn't grew in importance at least it was brought into focus and certain affirmations have been given in that direction (even though as I said they haven't worked for me as such in the actual, because in the potential we are told that what we ask is given right away provided that there are no limiting beliefs and the desires align with love and what the Universe wants). Certain aspects have indeed manifested, some quicker, some after steady and focused involvement and overall I feel that the law of attraction is not biased and would deliver anything provided one is free of limiting beliefs, including I would say religious ones which encapsulate one in a particular spiritual body and cultural and religious conditioning attached to it (like repressed sex in Christianity and so on).

I think that people are slow to follow, provided that most expect to see manifestations quicker and the ones that most expect and want like meeting someone manifest much quicker with the innate intelligence than what the prayers would deliver. Not that they don't ... but to get the depth one would require consistency, regularity, rhythm of which the innate intelligence of human beings has enough of to start with and the incentive to get into consistent prayer is ousted by what can manifest right away without formal prayer so to speak.

There would undoubtedly be benefits in praying as to provide a common ground of understanding and communion but because one cannot get convinced by talk but by what one live, the depth needs to be there at first ... and thus they years I have spoke of ... If one doesn't put the 9 years ... and than surrender and let existence take course ... the results are shallow.

There are undoubtedly enlightened beings in existence embodied and souls of enlightened beings that assist one if help is requested but then again ... without the depth of the 9+ years of rhythm, regularity the results are shallow ... synchronicities in response to prayer do occur but at least in my experience they didn't quite delivered in terms of relationships for example. I wouldn't say that they can't because that's not in line with how existence works ... 

Then there are obvious limits of culture conditioning that have shaped a certain social reality over millennia which even though impermanent and subject to dissolution, might sometime take years or even tens or hundreds of years to pass away and in the meantime getting past them sometimes could be more effective to move in a new place and combine contemplative practices, meditation, conscious manifestation with what one can do to get past certain common beliefs.

Rhythm - the one wise counsel that brings rhythm back into life

One key ingredient in aligning with the evolutionary impulse of the Universe is rhythm. There are many rhythms but the one that resets all the other according to Ayurveda (as taught by Deepak Chopra) is the circadian rhythm.

Bringing rhythm to one's own life needs to start with the body.

To center oneself life energies in the body (Yama) and to bring regularity (Niyam) sound sleep is necessary. Sound sleep helps the body regenerate. Sleeping closer to the earth energy that recharges and replenishes the body or in a consecrated space is necessary to revitalize and rejuvenate as the bindu chakra, the manipura where all the 72 nadis meet and marma points maintain the body and the subtle body.

For sound sleep the body needs to be free of the effort to digest food. For the body to be free of the effort to digest food, food shouldn't be taken for a a few good hours before going to sleep. As I have heard from a Jain girl in a video on YouTube her family had the habit of not taking food later than 6.30 PM. With this simple and essential point, the body can take the time to digest then go to sleep and regenerate the body so that one feels rested in the morning and can wake up easily even in the Brahma Muhurta or during the morning Sandhya Kala for meditation.

Like this after meditation one can eat because there will be already 11 to 12 hours since the last meal and one can now eat the first meal of the day with gusto. And through this the body can brought without much effort to sit for the meditation if it is a sitting or moving meditation.  

What created western "civilized" society as we know it ?

Basically private property and marriage. That's the basis of the so called "civilized" life and also the basis of all conflict, sexual repression and sexual perversions down the ages. 

There are parts of the world where private property is not the norm of communal living, like in communes and the kibbutz.

As for the marriage Shunmyo Masuno in his book "Don't worry" nails it: "Love is beautiful misunderstanding. Marriage is cruel understanding."

The matter concerning religious so called 'dialogue' in christianity in particular

As OSHO explains in one of the books released based on his transcripts "From Ignorance to Innocence" when a man knows himself there is no need to meet with another man who knows himself and if a man does not know then he needs to listen to the man who knows that is it is a monologue. This proves that the 'dialogue' is bogus. If one part would know themselves the other would need to listen. And that can be extended to other so called religious 'dialogues'. There is no such thing. It's a lie of the people who do not know themselves.