One year as a buddha by Ugi

One year as a buddha by Ugi

It was exactly one year ago - on the 26th of February '22 - when I woke up in the morning and all difference between meditation and everyday life, all separation between awareness and appearances, as well as all sense of "being on my way" to Enlightenment was gone for good. I fully realized my mind to be no other than the mind of Buddha, Shiva or Christ.

 

If it wasn't for the kindness and compassion of my yogic master Amrita Baba (see picture in 1st comment), I would never have tasted the fruit of liberation. Baba was the one who introduced me to the true nature of mind in 2016 and pointed out the innate goodness of boundless compassion (bodhicitta) in me.

 

And it was Baba who taught me the uttermost essential practice of how to directly tune into the mind of enlightenend masters like Guru Rinpoche, Gampopa or Jesus. This enabled me to progress quickly along the path of Liberation without getting stuck in misconceptions about Enlightenment or the common traps along the Path (like pride or doubt). It is to him that all my gratitude and devotion goes on this first anniversary. Thank you forever, my most precious teacher

Why am I writing so openly about this? Because people need to know that the Enlightenment of the Buddhas is not an esoteric fantasy, or an unachievable goal reserved for superhuman beings, or a mystical state that only happens accidentally.

I don't blame anyone for having such views. I also had them. That is because there simply aren't many people around anymore who truly understand - from their own firsthand experience - the inner science of the Dharma, the practice of Liberation. There are many who teach bits and pieces from the Dharma (or simply use the same terminology), but not many who teach it in its full scope. Unfortunately, that's the case in most traditional lineages as well.

For this reason, I find it so important to not keep secret about this. To let people know that the promise of all the enlightened masters is indeed true:

You all possess Buddha/Christ/Shiva nature which is the essence of the very mind that is reading this right now. And because of that, it is possible to become a living a Buddha, a living Christ, in this life-time. With the proper motivation, correct instructions of a master, and the support of a loving sangha, it can be done within a decade even.

If you want to know more about my path, then please watch the following interview where I go into much detail about my journey of Liberation.

And if you want to know more about the teachings of Amrita Baba and the practices that have brought me here, then find more information here:

English website:

www.amritamandala.com

German website (where I'm involved as an instructor):

www.amritamandala.de

May this find you well & May All Beings Be Free!

Much love,

Ugi

https://youtu.be/rmV12A25oEg

Psychological diagnoses meets the Divine Mother

 

Psychological diagnoses meets the Divine Mother

Simha: I named it diagnosis shopping not only because I see other people doing it, but because that was what I was doing myself. And yes, it is not just driven by a subconscious drive to label, but by sheer desperation for an explanation and solution.

Reading your history of self-diagnosis is like reading about my own. First being convinced of bipolar, then adhd, then borderline, then back to adhd, then bipolar again, before thinking I might just be a narcissist or even antisocial (sociopath)..

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome/trauma makes so much more sense, and also explains the chaotic, always changing nature of the symptom patterns that made it so damn difficult to figure out in the first place.

Anyway, embodied sitting and embodying Divine Mother seems to be healing it like nothing else I’ve experienced.

Baba: It is understandable that people do diagnosis shopping when one feels that life's not working. For some reason, though, I never did that. I would even say that for a long time after I found and started practicing the dharma, I didn't even take western medicine, incl. psychology at all seriously. I have since changed my view but from the moment I met the dharma, I felt so strongly that this is it, that this is the medicine to *whatever* is wrong with me or with others.

Though not at all skillfully, I have communicated this to you Simha as well since many years ago. I am sure it sounds arrogant to the reader but seeing Karl's struggles and his diagnosis shopping I felt like it was bullshit from beginning to the end, and I told him so. It must have been extremely difficult and unpleasant for him to hear that. I thought he was fooling himself. What a dangerous way to look at things... I admit that, and especially from someone like me who has very limited knowledge about these things, and yet look where we are now...

A dozen sangha members who started practicing Divine Mother as Amrita Sundari have told me it was exactly what they needed and what hits the right spot in terms of healing of trauma and whatever diagnoses they might have. I am not saying that Divine Mother practice can solve any mental/mental health problems but it clearly targets and begins to heal a whole bunch of issues that are stored in the meridian system.

And to remind the reader, I have spoken about the energetic difference between hindu and buddhist blessings for many years. They are similar yet different because they are designed differently. It's not black and white but this can definitely be stated.

To be specific, buddhist meditation is mainly focused on transforming self-based ignorance to embodied selfless wisdom. This process takes place in the so-called nadis and chakras of the subtle body, or the bhumis as they are also known. Hindu dharma and its blessings, on the other hand, are more visceral and can be felt more physically because in hinduism the separation between healing and existential wisdom (skt prajna) was never made, like it was in buddhism. Both paradigms have pros and cons but as we are discussing healing, it takes place in the meridians which is a different type of subtle body and the closest system to the physical body. That's why guru yoga with any hindu guru or Divine Mother practice, for example, have different effect than buddhist wisdom practices, be they in sutric or tantric form.

 

True peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge through Jesus

 

True peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge through Jesus

(continued from: http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2023/02/is-it-possible-to-heal-trauma-fully-yes.html)

Uma: I don't entirely agree that Psychology is a totally Sutric method, as research has shown that it is within the relationship between the person and the therapist that healing can take place. So giving someone your respect, undivided attention, understanding, care and love is what helps, and therapies that work best have this relationship as a basis.

Having said that, it is true that due to constraints placed on National Health Service Psychologists related to economics, the best that they can do is to 'stick a plaster on it' and help the person to live as well as possible with the trauma. Healing takes time, and time is money. Not many people can afford lengthy private treatment.

It would be great though if Psychologists could use tantric methods, in addition to the energy created within the therapeutic relationship

Baba: In sutra dharma there is also relationship between teacher and student so that is not what separates sutra from tantra. Empowerments and transmissions do but as you know guru yoga, for example, can be practiced without an empowerment.

That is an interesting point because even most of us western non-practicing christians learned some basic prayers in childhood that invite the blessings of God and Jesus Christ. Inviting Jesus to us *is* guru yoga, so most westerners are already somewhat familiar with the concept even if they weren't taught anything more specific about it.

It is a pity that the christian establishment messed things up so bad. It started quite soon after Jesus resurrected and continues to this day. Consequentially, like I've seen over the years, western yoga meditators get upset even by the mentioning of Jesus's name because they associate him with all the bad, immoral, wrong and dogmatic things exercised by the religious establishment.

From a different perspective, it is very fortunate that the christian establishment exists because of the baptism of babies, and sometimes adults. When a person is baptized it creates a direct karmic connection with Jesus. That is extremely precious even if people have no clue about its effect or are non-practicing christians. It is like taking refuge in buddha, dharma and sangha. These things have a huge impact but to get back to our topic, this karmic link or seed needs to be taken care of and embraced in a non-dogmatic way. In general terms, spirituality needs to be brought back and specifically through Jesus because he's the greatest and best known world guru (skt. vishwa guru) ever.

I think this is the way to bring true peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge (skt jnana) to many people. In the context of psychological therapy, this could be something for therapists to look into. 

 

 

Put your faith in spiritual masters, while studying with teachers

 

Put your faith in spiritual masters, while studying with teachers

I understand that faith towards one's/your teacher because I was once there myself. In my case blind faith which is the wrong kind of faith shattered because the practice just didn't give the sought results.

I've seen so many people turn solely to their living physical teachers and turn away from nonphysical masters such as Jesus, Babaji or Padmasambhava, even when they never needed to choose either or. Well, in some cases like yours your religion prohibits you from turning to other masters but even if it didn't, people still make that choice. It's been said over and over by past masters that their help and blessings (that are immensely powerful) are available to anyone at anytime and yet people keep missing that precious opportunity and stick to their partially awakened teachers and lineage holders instead with very limited results. It is one kind of dharmic stoopidity. What is mindboggling to me how most people get stuck and agreeably fixated with their less than enlightened teachers like little babies to their mothers without the slightest ability of common sensical thinking. Even committed practitioners get attached to teachers of this world just because they think it is automatically a better option but that is completely wrong. 

There are all the samsaric realms inhabited by countless sentient beings. The only ones who are free from samsaric mind and samsaric rebirths are the mahasiddhas, the genuine gurus and attained master yoginis and yogis. So, you have all categories of samsaric beings who are bound by their karma and their self-centered delusions and then you have mahasiddhas who are free and fly in and out the realms like majestic eagles. To yogis, to people who study and validate dharma through their own experience rather than dogma, all of this is play.

The mistake many practitioners make that it would be better to put one's faith on the guy or gal who is little or partially awakened rather than to turn to masters who've already left this plane and no longer inhabit a physical body. It's such a rookie mistake because what people are left with is a teacher who is categorically a samsaric being and not a mahasiddha with perfect knowledge and pure energy. Your teacher might be just a little bit farther in your practice than yourself. Such a teacher should be very careful about making rules to her/his students because such limiting actions have serious consequences, plus keeps the progress of the students bound. I am saying that you can have both.

You have a very good connection with Jesus. Cherish it! Make him your compass and you will never regret it.

-Baba, 22 Feb 23

Is it possible to heal trauma fully? Yes!

 

Is it possible to heal trauma fully? Yes!

Mani: Hi! I wanted to share this channel on youtube, she has some great videos for people who has trauma from childhood/teenage years. It's always good hearing someone talk about something they themselves have been through/worked through, and so has solid advice. Be it trauma in the form of neglect, ongoing stress over years, episodes at school, illness etc. She speaks mostly from a psychological and physiological perspective, and not so much spiritual, but it still has been super helpful. For the longest time, as I wrote many times in my log thread here in the group, I genuinely thought I had autism or some other mental/neurological duagnosis. ? Turned out it was childhood traumas, which I am working through with the wonderful practices Baba has taught us.
Now she says in one of her videos that childhood trauma can never fully 100% heal, which I don't think is true, but that just seems to be the general perception for mental health, that it is difficult or impossible to fully heal.


Baba: I never bought that you'd be autistic. Misdiagnoses have been a nuisance in your family...


Mani: Yeah, I am so glad I didn’t settle for that diagnosis and know what the cause is now. It makes all the difference. My sister also got a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, but it turned out to be PTSD from childhood and of being failed by the medical community.
I am so glad to know now about the subtle bodies and how tantra can heal...

Baba: We had a discussion with Amrita Uma (who is a psychologist) at the recent retreat about the common perception about the heal-ability of trauma among professionals of psychology. Gabor Mate who is a very influential trauma specialist said what I've heard from a number of others (the ones I've listened to) that "you can learn to live with trauma but you can't (fully) heal it". But Uma enlightened me by saying that that is not a prevalent opinion, that some psychologists and psychoterapists have the opposite view, that it is possible to heal it fully.


Even without the methods to heal it fully I find it very problematic and disempowering to say to patients that it can't be healed. We all probably know someone with trauma or some other illness who's been said that they can't heal and that they just have to suffer with it for the rest of their lives. Of course if we are talking about tetraplegia it is a different matter but my point is that just like in dharma you have teachers who give really poor, insufficient and actually completely wrong instructions backed up by a lineage, the same happens in medicine where doctors go too far in their statements and diagnoses.


Having worked my a*s off with my own trauma with very specific energetic practices, I am highly doubtful if it is even possible to become fully aware of one's early trauma by psychological means (that are basically sutric/non-tantric) and consequentially if psychology really even understands what full healing of trauma means. That might sound like a very arrogant thing to say and I am happy to be told/proven otherwise but having seen the regular shallowness of non-tantric methods I am doubtful, though really hope that there'd be tons of efficient methods and techniques out there available to humanity. But even for those few who have the priviledge to live in wealthy circumstances and have the access to psychotherapy, that extremely few in the world have, the actual results don't look too good, even after years of regular therapy. Little benefit is much better than no benefit at all but just like in dharma, it's just not good enough.


Childhood trauma being misdiagnosed as bipolar or as a million other things doesn't surprise me at all, though it is of course quite tragic. The understanding of trauma and how thoroughly it affects people is very poor among medical professionals from what I know.
All people should go back to their religions to find answers to these problems. Not the dogmatic belief rubbish but the practices; prayers, chanting, meditation, service, contemplation and above all to receive the grace that heals. You know, being healed by the spirit that dwells in all of us is not a fairytale, it is real.


Linking a short documentary from Finnish tv (swedish with finnish subtitles) from 2019 that testifies about the power of prayer. It's very impressive, especially the testimony given by the doctor. https://areena.yle.fi/1-4598175

Better to practice and not attain full enlightenment?

 

Better to practice and not attain full enlightenment?

Baba: There is a weird fascination among practitioners of dharma about the long duration of the practice process on the way to enlightenment. It is as if it would be better to practice for several decades and not attain full enlightenment instead of attaining enlightenment in just few years and be done with it, to then be able to help others. True, most methods are not designed to give the ultimate fruit in just few years but it seems like the long time frame of commitment and ritual really does distract people from cultivating wakefulness in a proper manner. When I hear people say that ”I have practiced 30 years in this or that lineage and am still practicing”, in my ears it sounds like, ”I’ve practiced for all these decades not having a clue what I’m doing and having no direction where I’m going”.

Joey: It all depends on where someone is in their journey in this lifetime, when they start but generally speaking I fully agree Amrita Baba - it is amazing and sad how folks with poor character throw around the 30 years of supposedly amazing practice or a teacher, they've engaged with, as some kind of badge of honour. It is inconclusive at best.

Baba: I think all that waste of time is the fault of few main issues such as,

1. most dharma pedagogy is nightmarishly bad, so that
2. the view or the theoretical understanding of the practices and the path is poorly or wrongly understood, that is then
3. supported with practices that might be only little relevant or completely irrelevant with the task at hand.

Anyone who's had secular education can understand how devastating any of these three factors would be, not to even mentioned all three together.

I am a tantric and follow the mahayana/vajrayana buddhist paradigm of buddhahood or full enlightenment in this lifetime. Being an engineer I always questioned that "where someone is in their journey" in the light of our innate potential (we all have perfectly wakeful nature) in relation to the above three points (and possibly others), plus the whole karmic connection thing.

I don't think there is a way to reach full enlightenment (i.e. immortality, lightbody, rainbow body) except through tantric/esoteric methods (sorry because I'm sure it sounds awfully sectarian in the ears of some) but having said that there are countless really ready and mature seekers in the world who are either seeking or already practicing tantric yoga, but whose progress is then stumped by the above three points. It's a waste of everything; time, energy, money, reincarnations and incredibly precious opportunity.

Imagine what would be possible if all those fundamental errors were corrected.

Enlightenment is supposed to end suffering, but does it really?

 

Enlightenment is supposed to end suffering, but does it really?

Q: Have anyone experienced a change (for better or worse) in the experience of psychological trauma following attaining a path (SE through to arahant)?
We all know enlightenment is supposed to end suffering, but does it really?
I know Daniel Ingram and Tina Rasmussen mentioned still having ego material, even after enlightenment, which I find disheartening. Maybe I am just overthinking it, but I would love to hear anyones direct experience with this, if you would be willing to share it.

Baba: Hi. It's a really good question that can't be answered in just one or two sentences. I'll explain this in nutshell and link a video that goes into this in more detail.

There are two types of subtle bodies: one made of one kind of channels (commonly known as nadis and chakras) and other made of different type of channels (commonly known as meridians). The meridian system is very closely associated with the physical body to the extent that traditional chinese medicine uses physical acupuncture needless on nonphysical meridian points to heal physical organs. The nadi system on the other hand is farther away from the physical body, though still connected with the body through the meridian system. If we look at these three bodies, the continuum is set like this: physical body, meridian system and nadi system. From grossest to subtlest.

Enlightenment through wisdom insight, as taught in buddhism, takes place in the nadi system and while all the bodies are connected and one event might have effect on all bodies, as a rule, it can be said that even if wisdom insight makes great changes in the nadi system of mind, the meridian system of mind and whatever is stored there can still remain mostly untouched. It's the meridian system that stores traumas (mostly).

If we leave the whole vehicle (skt. yana) discussion out of this and think of buddhists at large through the same lens, this explains (at least in some way) why some teachers who were considered to have been highly realized, acted badly or abusively because of their trauma. If you're solely focused on wisdom insight, most of trauma goes unnoticed and unadressed.

My present understanding of shamatha/calm abiding and jhana/meditative absorption is that they're buddhisms answers to adress the meridian system, though to this day I have not seen a presentation that would discuss them as ways to heal trauma, instead of being presented as concentration practices. I've recently been listening to talks by jhana-teachers and was just about to watch Tina Rasmussen's interview if they present this aspect in her tradition. View and instructions are everything in this art and largely define the results. I know lots of people who practiced shamatha solely from concentration/samadhi perspective that left their traumas pretty much entirely unadressed.

More in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iuNj_zU8A8

Hopefully you find this helpful.

Abandoning one's religious faith

 

Abandoning one's religious faith

One of the true pandemics of our time is people abandoning their religious faiths and I don't think people know how devastating this is for them. Cultural tenets of the old religions, that have nothing to do with the original teachings, have long required updating but this shouldn't be the reason to abandon one's source of refuge and existential safety beyond life, illness and death.

Common people don't know about existential matters because they are not students and practitioners of spirituality, i.e. do not meditate or practice contemplation. The mistake modern people have made is to become believers of science and secular thinking that do not and can not offer protection and consolation in the midst of life's difficulties and definitely not at the time and after death.

Without religious or spiritual refuge people are lost, confused and do not know what to do or where to go. Without refuge all they have is their own karma using their bodies and minds as punching bags.

To live and die like that is a dreadful experience without a trace of grace, love and peace. I see that on people's faces anywhere I go.

Baba, 10 Feb 23