2/28/2008

Kundalini/ Sex Yoga With Alan Watts

Alan Watts, bad boy philosopher from the 1960's, gives a brief but beautiful description of Red Tantra*/ kundalini yoga

"...at the base of the spine is the sleeping serpent kundalini coiled around a phallus, this represents 'involution' to be absolutely involved. The sex symbol is used because sex stands for, symbolically, complete involvement. When you have gotten in, the trick is to get out.
The process of yoga is represented by waking up the serpent, who is under the sleep of maya, captivated by illusion, thinking the world really exists, you have lost sight of the eternal now........"
-Alan Watts

thanks redliterocket4/youtube 5min.

*Red Tantra: with sex
White Tantra: without sex
Pink Tantra: energy of sex without the sex

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2 comments:

Vikram M said...

Very nice blog entry.

References to Maya always catch my attention.

Some thoughts on Maya:

When I see the pointers that exist in Quantum mechanics, in 'Metaphysics of Quality', and in ancient hindu concepts that try to reduce the human being into a 'phenomena that manifests, happens', rather than an 'entity that does things', I am forced to consider the concept of maya very seriously.

So many books on kundalini say that the 'person vanishes at enlightenment'.

I remember one gnostic saying.....'when humans awaken from human life, they will realise that they were never people.'

Many people say your subconscious mind has your soulmate in it. In a sleeping state. And at enlightenment, he/she will rise, become fully conscious.

(I'm like 'wha...? There's a fully formed REAL(!) woman (or women!) in my head and I didn't even know. Someone enlighten me, fast! hehe.)

Perhaps this is the 'ardhnarishvar' thing.

Anyways, only in an illusion can a human be anything less than an entity that does things and has volition. Only in an illusion can theories about co-existence of MORE THAN ONE ENTITY in one form, arise.

How much more bizarre can things get.

Further, quantum mechanical principles have led me into considering this world as an illusion -

Very difficult to explain why I say this--but--this world seems to be a quantum world, with the objects around you having an existence that is dependant on whether or not you are observing them....

Consequences of this....for example...your TV exists only when it is within your field of vision. When it moves outside of your field of vision, it ceases to exist as an OBJECT.

Means your TV is a mere quantum function. Its existence is DISCONTINUOUS.

Same seems to apply to everything else in this world. Things exist only to the extent they are observed by a LIVING OBSERVER. Rest of the time they do not exist at all!

I am not sure, but PERHAPS 'Descartes' also went through this crisis. That I am facing currently - 'What is Real?' Wish I had the time to read Descartes.

I've been thinking about this for a very long time. Its bizarre! How can reality be a discontinuous thing? It is not possible. Discontinuity is fine at the subatomic scale....but discontinuity at the scale at which WE live and exist?

A writeup by Deepak Chopra also suggest the same thing. Discontinuity at the scale at which we live and exist. In general I am not impressed by what Deepak Chopra says/writes, but this particular writeup of his was great. I've forgotten the reference, sorry.

The entire human experience is nothing short of bizarre. From so many points of view. For example, you have people who can torture and kill little children, in this world. You have people who get a thrill out of genocide. Existence of such people (apart from in a bizarre illusion) is an impossibility, because it is in total contradiction to the life principle.

I could go on and on, but let me stop here.

So many pointers that suggest that the human world is an illusion.

But not much can be said, I suppose, until 'direct seeing' of this illusion (or bizarre reality) "as it is", happens. Only the direct seeing of it all will reveal the truth.

I have two blog entries on this issue, have a look.

Link: "Search:Quantum Physics"

Vikram Madan said...

Hi MD,

Just wanted to add a few things because my above comment puts me at the risk of being misunderstood as violating the founding principle of my path & my blog - "The truth lies in the realm of feelings and not the intellect".

______________

I've been pondering (and taking very seriously) concepts of maya, the giant mass illusion, very seriously ever since I heard of a 2006 incident in an area near new delhi in which two men killed more than six little girls and cannibalised them. They said that they did this to cure themselves of their impotency. Some black magic thing.

Link: Noida Serial Killers

But the feelings that guide me say that such an event is not possible in a real world. It is in direct contradiction with the life principle.

I am taking very seriously, the hypothesis that human life is a mass illusion involving many SLEEPING people who are merely witnessing (and not participating in ) this mad, brutal and lifeless illusion that is pretending to be a genuine world.

I have not seen 'direct evidence', till date.

It is impossible that this huge, infinite cosmos will sit quietly and allow the rape and killing of little children.

It is not possible that entropic forces could take over the living principle, like they have, in this 'world'.

The Entropic principle is real, no doubt, but it cannot take over the living principle.

Once again, all these things I've written above are based on the feelings that have been guiding me.

Things like 'metaphysics of quality' , quantum mechanics and concepts of maya etc. are merely an intellectual thing. Supportive logic. I would not have taken such intellectual pointers so seriously if I had not been guided by feelings that insist this is just an illusion.

-Vikram