87 posts tagged with "sadhana"

I am going to start my deep and philosophical study of Sanskrit, Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta. This will be a lifelong process so I am not in a rush. But my inquiry will be on reading and studying the philosophical works and to integrate the understanding into my life.

As part of the long term process for this is my evening practice. This practice will be done if I do not have work that I need to fulfill:

• Sanskrit. Learn to read native texts. Spend about 45 minutes on this.
• Bhagavad Gita. Read one chapter fully and contemplate one-two verse from the Dayananda commentary. Write my interpretation at the end.
• Vedanta. Read commentaries from Gurus and prepare for the study of the core Upanishads and improving my yama and niyama.

I am going to keep this block super simple. My first step is to study Sanskrit for 30-45 mins a day. This includes first really understanding and being able to read Devanagari. Once that is done start reading large number of words. Then fitting it into the grammar. Goal is to understand as fast as possible then learn the grammar.

Second is a traditional Bhagavad Gita study with commentary. My goal is to read a single verse from Swami Dayananada and contemplate its meaning. Writing my own understanding of what the verse means. Eventually this will lead to a direct study of the Upanishads themselves but initially I think a few years of Bhagavad Gita need to be fulfilled first.

Lastly, I will read a commentary or the preparation texts of the gurus to build a full understanding of Vedanta. These texts will be read at a bit faster clip. These basis of these texts are the lived.

All of this will use the process:

• sravana
• Manana
• Nidhyhasana

Read, Reflect, Contemplate.

One of the primary caveats here is that I will only study if I do not have work to finish.

You have weak agency. So any small amount of alcohol is going to pull you in. You are not strong enough to have a small amount and then stop. You will end up having more and more and it will pull you down. (Hmm AI wrote the previous.)

So I need to avoid it completely. So I will no longer

I am changing the method again. The Yoga Sutras and multiple translation has been working but the same has not been the case with Bhagavad Gita. I am going to change the method to reading the Gita from Chinamayananda's commentaries since his teachings are shorter and then ending with Dayananda at the end of the evening.

I will read th Bhagavad Gita as is a chapter at a time during the evening. So an update.

• Hanuman Chalisa in the morning and continuing with the memorizing.
• Yoga Sutras analyzing the multiple texts and doing analysis.
• Bhagavad Gita read the Chinamaya translation and append with Daryananada in the evening. This may run into the first part of the Outer time but it is okay. The evening is largely devoted to study anyways.
• Read a chapter of the Gita in full and study and contemplate a singular verse of the Narada Bhakti Sutras or Bhaja Govindam in the evening.

With the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita I realize that I need to read the commentaries. Without the commentaries I am not getting the clear sense of the message. But I also don’t want to just read what the commentaries wrote. I want to read these with my own understanding.

Essentially with the Yoga Sutras I am reading with Hariharananda, Satyananda and Edwin Bryant as the basis. Hariharananda has the closest to pure Vyasa commentary while the other two are simplified commentaries. In a way the other two have a bias even if they are exhorting the primary text. But they do provide a valuable commentary nonetheless the less.

The Bhagavad Gita I am reading is in the original form but I also want to read with Dayananada and Chinamayananda commentary. Again I want to read and understand at the high level to think through the verses before reading the commentaries.

So my basis will be going like this:

1. Spend one or two days on the same verses.
2. Read the original without commentary and contemplate.
3. Sit with it and write your own notes.
4. Read the commentaries. Plug the holes in your knowledge gaps.

With the Yoga Sutras I will be going 1-2 verses a day. With the Bhagavad Gita I will go about 3-4 verses a day. This translates to about the same time period for both texts.

Write these in the Kindle so I am able to track the thoughts.

My mistake with my process is that I am trying to get to new projects all the time. That is actually not the goal. The goal is to get through the routine as fast as possible. So the process shouldn't be to start new projects. The projects exist for the sake of fulfilling the routine. The routine is what matters the most.

So everyday the focus is to get through the routines as fast as possible. As part of the routine. This means a bit more simplicity in that since we are continuously optimizing each part of the routine. The goal is to make the checklists for the daily to be extremely strong.

What is currently transpiring is that I have three sets of trackers Github, Notes, and Google Docs. I keep looking at the Google Docs even though the place I need to keep track which is automated is Github. So I need to get back to Github as the primary source.

This means I will need to migrate to Github completely and off Google Docs. I know I just moved to it. But it is actually easier to manage the improvements as I go through the tasks rapidly in Github.

Another aspect is to go through the routine list before ever reading.

My goal with my spiritual practice is moksha. It is not self-help, it is not to feel better, it is moksha! It may take me many many lifetimes but meditation and study and everything else is based on the notion of me working towards moksha.

So this is a reminder for myself. I am not pursuing a goal of studying these things for the sake of studying these things. I am doing these things because I want to achieve moksha.

This is why the Inner and Outer practice is important. The Inner path is focused completely on experiential and the Outer is focused on getting the appropriate information. The outer is a pramana for the inner world.

This also means that the Inner period is worked on as a mediation in of itself. Focused on training the mind continuously. Focus on the mantra as a part of this and any thoughts not it as a thought or write it down for later and return to the task. We are not looking for improvement during this period. We are strictly looking for observation.

During the Inner time I can read scriptural texts but need to do so slowly and with a focus on internalizing.

1053 verses so about three years to get through at a steady pace. My goal is to focus on reading these and their commentaries. Each text has an idea of when to be read.

The body is unclean and temporary. Alcohol seems to take me into the body where I feel its pull and weight. It takes me away from the eternal. Alcohol pulls me down. What does it even give me?

I am on day two of a hangover and I feel awful. The progress I made last two weeks has stalled as my body feels gross and unclean. It is trying to push out the poison that I put into it.

So I am going to avoid it:

• It destroys my mind and focus on the eternal. It takes my focus away.
• It makes me feel gross and unclean.
• It gives me body problems and sets my body off balance.

I have dabbled in a bunch of different sastras and read a bunch of different texts but I haven’t gotten into any depth. Further, my Inner period is scattered as I feel like I should be reading during this period but then get scattered. This is not working out. I am still on screens and it isn’t actually making me better. I want less screen time during my Inner time. Screens are the definition of Outer focus. Further, my reading has not been to internalize. So I am changing my routine to only focus on a few areas of focus.

The Limb texts should be completely read only during the Outer period. The Inner period is spent in the mind, not in the world. So no podcasts, no external distractions, what happens in the world is not important during this period.

For each of these texts:

1. Memorize. Internalize by making them a part of you.
2. Reflect First on the Verse. Then read the commentary.
3. Contemplate on them when doing your routine

The 8 Limbs of Yoga are a pretty great system for giving an end to end system for all aspects of one’s life. I unfortunately divided my life into sevaka and sakha which was supposed to be inner life and outer life which is actually not fruitful. This divides my attention from outer life and inner life even though the point is it is all the same. The outer life informs the inner life.

• I am moving the Team, Capital and Ventures under yama. yama covers Karma Yoga so it makes sense to move the sakha portions under this limb.
• parabrahman is moving under ishvarapranidhana because my goal is to bridge the worship of the East with my life in the West. Further, devotion happens with others so it belongs under this section.
• Move Samaja under Capital. My aspiration with Samaja is to understand the Capital markets. So it is migrated under the Capital section.
• I am moving the biographies section in Yama into Niyama under Gurus. The biographies are actually mechanisms for creating Bhakti and thus fall under niyama.
• Migrate sakha to yama. sakha doesn’t exist independently and is moved to yama.
• Move the sakha blogposts to yama. All the sakha blog posts are now yama blog posts.
• Got rid of the sevaka and sakha altogether. Flattening the structure. Flatting sevaka and move the writing into index
• Update daily to be flattened.
• Moved Bhakti Sutras to be under niyama.
• Move Hinduism study section under niyama to isvarapranidana
• Move guru section under study
• Merge classics in ventures under yama
• Split itihasa and Puranas into Yama and niyama