Fiddling With the Dials for Better Reception, Part 2.

It was around 3:00 this afternoon when I realized that I hadn’t yet done my meditations and, oh yeah, I was going to complete the piece about my personal practices and disciplines. So I went and meditated and now I’m here about an hour later writing this thing.

What happened was I started working on this new song and then it occurred to me, down the road that I’d just blown right past my usual routine. The thing is; I don’t have a usual routine. I have what I usually do but sometimes don’t do. It’s better to have a fixed process, inasmuch as possible, and so it is better to go right to ones meditation as soon as one can after awakening. It sets the tone for your day. It’s good to do it in the same place and the same time. There are reasons for this. I think you can figure out what they are so I will leave it at that.

When I am set some way, across some days, into my routine and am not being plagued by personal inconsistencies brought about by a taste for altered mindsets, or any of the various hobgoblins that steal ones time and attention; at least in my case, I begin my day with some variation of The Sun Worship- which serves also to loosen one up. Then I go into my yoga which is a combination of various martial arts forms and dynamic tension. Following that I meditate.

I open my meditation by saluting the Amitabha Buddha and asking him to make it possible for me to live in his Pure Land while I am yet in this body; that I might become a window into his kingdom and that I might seamlessly pass fully there upon the release of this garment; or whatever may actually occur. The Amitabha, over the course of a great many years and austerities and the completion of some 48 vows (or so) achieved enlightenment and refused to pass over until every other sentient being had preceded him (more or less). According to the Amitabha, you can call his name sincerely in your dying moments and he will transfer you to his Western Pure Land (alleged to be somewhere in Manchuria- certain of the Heavens interpenetrate with the physical realm- one needs the eyes to see however), no questions asked. You can also reincarnate there over and over and work out your karma in his kingdom. I’m all for that. He’s got the best plan I’ve come across and, for whatever reason, I’m a big fan.

Next I salute The Man on the Beach and request that we might meet again, soon- and that I might have the benefit of another conversation with him. Who and what he is to me I do not know. I do know that as a result of our encounter my Kundalini was awakened.

Next I salute Lord Kalki, the coming avatar and ask that the waters of his presence might flow into my being and transform me into his likeness so that I might reflect his being into the manifest realm.

Next I begin a period of; I’m not sure what to call it. It is like chanting but it isn’t that. It’s a low rubbing, but oscillating, vibrating series of sounds that follow a pattern known to itself. Sometimes I will begin with the repetition of some variant of ‘Ram’; Ram and Om and Amon and ‘Hiram’ and many variations all point to… well, maybe you get the picture. Then I go into this sound pattern and it provokes moving mudras and other special effects and I can generally feel and move with the indwelling presence. Then I will meditate for a time. My general focus is union with the divine. I don’t spend any time asking for anything. There isn’t anything else that I want; not really. Sometimes I will be riding on waves of gratitude, or it might be Love but it’s all about union and becoming more and more completely a part of the divine.

When I come out of it I take a few minutes to integrate. I recommend against just jumping up and heading off for the next thing. Then I’ll get up and go write this, unless I write it just before I meditate (which sometimes happens). Then it’s on with the day which involves writing and composing, recording and; who knows what?. Through the day I try to remind myself, as often as I can remember, of the divine presence. When I walk down the street I let my footsteps beat out a pattern of remembrance. I may repeat Amitabha every time my foot hits the ground. There are many things I practice when I’m moving through the public realm. If I don’t then I’m fair game for it’s marketplace of attractions. I like to walk in the woods.

Before I go to bed I may meditate but often I do what I do when I am in bed. I lay there and I reach and I interact in my mind and my heart with the divine and whatever thoughts I may have about that. It is at this time that I may engage in some visualization about possibilities in my life; where I might live, what I might do, things that might happen for me. I always leave the ‘might’ in there because I have no way of knowing what is best for me and I would rather leave that in God’s hands. I try to remember to ask God to please come into my dreams and my sleep time and grant me teachings. I may repeat something like “Be Still and Know that I Am God”, or quietly vibrate my variation on the Ram-Om sound.

There’s not much else I do. I try to stay with a few things. Something may drop away. Something may evolve into a further refinement; often that is the case. I believe you do yourself no good switching from one thing to the other as is the case with many new age butterflies. I’ve little use for much of anything that has a new age imprimatur. Probably because there isn’t anything new and there never will be; things forgotten will of course be rediscovered, but they are not new. I have some difficulty being around people who are doing big business around their spiel.

I’ve no patience with- and immediately reject any system- that can be learned over the course of three weekends and comes with certifications and such and… now you can go out and instruct others and collect a fee. I’ve no patience with anyone who presumes to teach Tantra; the possibility that they have any idea what they are talking about is slim. I’ve no use for formalized religion- in my own life. Few yoga teachers have a clue. As long as they are just teaching stretching based on yoga principles, that’s ‘probably’ okay.

As far as the truth goes, hardly any of the people purporting to possess it have it. Real fountains of the living waters are few and far between. If you are sincere, you will find it interesting how the teachers you encounter become more refined as you become more aware. Accept nothing, test everything.

I often repeat from memory the first mediation in the back of “The Way to the Kingdom”. I don’t have a copy of it anymore but I will write it out and put it up sometime in the next few days.

I eat a basically vegetarian diet, except that I also eat fish (of which I am very fond) now and then. My diet is based around brown rice and vegetables. It can get pretty exotic. I eat usually once a day in the late afternoon or early evening. I eat fruit at odd times when I want something. I drink a lot of apple juice and other juices and I have a couple of cups of fine black tea in the mornings. Sometimes I smoke American Spirit cigarettes but that is more and more a thing of the past. Once in a while I’ll have an espresso.

That more or less completes a sketchy outline of what I’m about. I’m not sure I recognize the guy but I do as far as I was able to go. Since it came up here; I’m going to write next about movements and teachers and what I think about a lot of them and who I admire and a few things like that. Be well.

Visible sings: ♫ Down The Roads ♫