Monthly Archives: April 2021

Common Issues for Meditation Students

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By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: Are there common types of issues you encounter with meditation students?

A: There appear to be seven major categories of difficulties with which students struggle:

  1. Necessity to remediate basic meditation skills – These students have difficulties with seeing and hearing within, accessing intuition, moving attention, gaining discernment, and other key skills required for meditation mastery.
  2. Distractions of family, work, dependent care, or health issues – These students cannot find the time to meditate, because of the many demands placed upon them. As a consequence, they little progress towards their spiritual aspirations.
  3. Psychological problems and recovery from addiction – These internal temptations, compulsions, and distractions require that the student spend time in therapy and recovery groups to support stable functioning and serene sobriety. This may make meditational practice difficult, as the mind is continually processing these issues; instead of depth meditation, the student wrestles with turbulent thoughts and emotions.
  4. Ogre on the Threshold – These students encounter inner blocks that don’t let them progress beyond a certain level. For some, this tenacious resistance to deepening into meditation may keep them locked in the waking state of awareness. For others, they can go within a certain depth, and then they encounter an insurmountable barrier they cannot cross.
  5. Kundalini syndromes – Some of our students have come to us with a background of having experienced a powerful Kundalini awakening, which interfered with their personality functioning and left them with painful energetic anomalies. For some, these fires have largely died down, but they are left with trepidation to do deep meditation, lest this fiery energy reemerge. Others still grapple with this energy, and attempt to bring into under control when they recapture the imbalanced spiritual essence that is creating the energetic short circuit.
  6. Conflicts of values and beliefs – Students who toil with this type have a difficulty fully embracing Mudrashram® teachings and practices. They may harbor conflicted loyalty, for they wish to attempt to do the Mudrashram® work and the work of their former tradition. This leads to inner conflict, as the moral values and teachings of each tradition may contradict each other.
  7. Need for advanced guidance – Advanced students who reach the sixth and seventh stages of spirituality need guidance about developing their Multiplane Master form, shepherding, and engaging in spiritual teaching and ministry. These students need additional supervision beyond what they can glean from the Mudrashram® Correspondence Course and available advanced webinars.

We suggest that Mudrashram® students—and students of other spiritual traditions who are struggling with their practice—reflect upon the following questions:

  • Which of these categories describe your issues with meditation?
  • What specifically do you need to work on in these areas?
  • What have you done previously to attempt to address this issue? What were the results? Did it help resolve the issue?
  • What would be the markers to let you know you have resolved each of these issues?
  • What would be a next step you could take in the next 30 days that could help you make progress with each of these issues you have identified?

Some potential places that Mudrashram® students—and those affiliated with other traditions—could start include:

If category one is a concern, Mudrashram® students can take the Breakthrough Meditation Coaching Program. It specifically addresses many of these issues with targeted article and webinars, plus coaching to help you make movement in the problematic areas for you.

Students from other traditions can seek help from advanced students and your spiritual Master. We could also assist you with a meditation consultation to teach you an alternative approach that may allow you to make a breakthrough, if you cannot get the guidance within your own sangat.

If category two is an issue, you need to find a way to structure your life, so you have two to three hours daily to do study, meditation, prayer, personal inventory and planning, or carry out service to others and your spiritual organization.

If category three holds you back, continuing to go to your therapy and support groups will help you maintain stable functioning.

Those whose lives have been impacted through growing up in a dysfunctional family or who are survivors of an abusive relationship will find our Dysfunctional Family Recovery Coaching Program helpful.

Those in stable recovery from an active addiction may find our Addiction Recovery Coaching Program will assist them get to the bottom of the issues that led them to the destructive addictive patterns that vitiated their lives.

If category four holds you back, sometimes a meditation consultation can help you find a method to transcend the barrier that blocks you.

Sometimes a past life reading might help you uncover the original incident that led to the establishment of the block, when this seems a likely source of the problem.

If category five is your ongoing problem, a Kundalini Syndrome reading, coupled with regular coaching can help you cope with the energy dynamics you must face as you move forward towards re-integration and a subsidence of the intensity of the Kundalini.

If category six troubles you, you need to journal and clarify your values, and discover what is truly important and essential in your life. You need to explore your beliefs and identify what is genuinely true for you.

Some of our Mudrashram® students have found it helpful to utilize the templates in the Mudrashram® Home Study Workbook to delve into their issues in a methodical way.

Those attempting to sort out what they want to do, be, and have in their unique human life may find support in our Life Coaching Program.

Those of you, whose confusion and conflicts stem from your prior involvement in a religious or political cult, will find our Cult Recovery Coaching Program may help you discover who you are and what is an authentic spirituality that resonates with you.

If category seven is your main issue, you will need to schedule more time with the Lineage Holder or our most advanced mentors and coaches, who can assist you navigate the part of the journey in which you are now.

We suggest to you that you have resolved problems in the past; you can apply your intelligence and constructive effort to solve these problems as well. Just like a safe unlocks when you enter the correct combination, when you grasp what is the salient change factor, you will also solve your problem and make a breakthrough.

If we can assist you in any of these areas, please reach out to us.

Personal and Spiritual Cognitive Strategies

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By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: What cognitive strategies would help me make progress in my personal life? Which cognitive strategies are helpful in spiritual development?

A: Personal cognitive strategies are primarily functions of the intellect. Spiritual cognitive strategies are functions of the intuition and Illumined mind in the Superconscious mind.

Personal cognitive strategies include:

  1. Goal setting – This visualizes a clear goal image. It determines a plan to achieve it. Then, you execute that plan.
  2. Empathic listening – This operates when you listen to the words of other people and sense their meaning; this can take the form of internal dialog with subpersonalities to understand your psychological issues.
  3. Project management – This identifies the steps of multiple activities and scheduling them so they are coordinated, and the end product is delivered on time and within the allotted budget. This can be applied to organizing homework assignments in school, caring for children and family and coordinating each family member’s schedule, and to achieve work objectives.
  4. Creative listening – This receives ideas from the Subconscious and Metaconscious mind and organizes them in a “presentation envelope”—for example, as music, poetry, an essay, a screenplay, or a marketing proposal.
  5. Analysis and testing – This subjects hypotheses to rigorous testing and uses specific criteria to determine whether the findings are valid. This is the primary approach of scientific research.
  6. Introspection – This searches your conscience and notices how you have deviated from your standards and moral values. It looks for solutions to improve your behavior and reform your character.
  7. Synthesis – This ties together the contribution of multiple factors in a system to enable you to visualize the whole, and to understand the relative influence of each factor with that system. It identifies key factors within the system that can be “perturbed,” to bring about necessary, desired changes.

There are also spiritual cognitive strategies drawn from Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of Intuition; Raja Yoga; and other invocational techniques. These include:

  1. Yoganidra – This examines the track of one level of the unconscious mind and identifies each issue within it. You then apply methods to work with each issue that you find there.
  2. Contemplation – This focuses attention on a particular object of meditation. You allow your awareness to open until you are able to become aware of the content that surrounds and arises from your object of meditation.
  3. Studying Interrelationships – This studies individual elements in an array and notes their interrelationships with other elements in that array. This cognitive strategy plays a role in Pathwork and the intuitive sciences. In Pathwork, you might adopt this strategy in working with an Enneagram, or studying the Tree of Life (Kabala). In intuitive sciences, this is used in doing an astrology reading, a tarot card reading, or in numerology.
  4. Becoming Mystery – This enables you to penetrate beyond words to become one with the object of meditation. This state of fusion has been called Gnosis, Samadhi, and Oneness.
  5. Finding the origin – This strategy uses a technique to trace a trace an issue to its origin. Examples of techniques that help you achieve this aim include sustained attention to an issue as a felt sense in the body and opening into it (Vipassana); asking repetitive questions to the unconscious mind (Process Meditation); identifying progressive layers of the issue down to its core (Mandalic Reasoning, the Mandala Method); and dialoguing with the issue and finding its core (Rainbow Method).
  6. Remembrance and Invocation – In this strategy, you bring your attentional principle or spirit into “center”—this may be the nucleus of identity or the ensouling entity in your spiritual tradition upon which you meditate—and from this location, you invoke the Grace and Guidance of the Divine or the Masters of your tradition. This inner listening—to the voice of the Soul, the Holy Spirit, an angel, or a guide—is called Receptive Meditation.
  7. Dimensional expansion – This progressively opens the mind to encompass a broader experience of the object of meditation. These dimensions include:
    • 0 – the point where attention focuses (focal point)
    • 1 – the thread of consciousness that connects focal points
    • 2 – the field of perceptual content contained within each focal point
    • 3 – The space containing the focal point, which appears as a form or inner body, which we call a vehicle of consciousness
    • 4 – The present time experience at that focal point, where you notice what arises in that level of the mind in each moment
    • 5 – Integration center; this is the aspect of the mind that contains and operates that facet of the mind. In the Conscious mind, ego is the integrating center; in the Metaconscious mind, the Self is the nexus; and in the Superconscious mind, the Soul ties together the functioning of the vehicles in this zone of the mind.
    • 6 – Inner witness; this is the essence of consciousness and intention, which we call the attentional principle. It witnesses each of these dimensional states and can use intention to open the origami-like folds of the mind to expand awareness into these larger perceptual and experiential frames.

Depending on your dominant Personality and Soul Rays, and your training and experience with these different personal and spiritual strategies, you may find that certain of these approaches are easier for you to utilize. These personal and spiritual strategies that are almost like second nature to you are your strengths.

The challenge for the aspirant and disciple is to learn to use these non-dominant strategies when required. This ability to switch Rays and dimensional perspectives empowers you to understand what you currently cannot grasp; to solve problems employing new methods that you do not currently apply; and to find ways to surmount your obstacles through an alternate approach.

See if you can learn to use each of these personal and spiritual cognitive strategies to enhance your ability to function in your life and to receive insight and guidance from your spiritual pole. For those of you who would like to learn several of these evocative spiritual cognitive strategies, we teach them in our intermediate meditation courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

Identity Meditation in the Conscious Mind

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By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: You mention that when attention moves along the thread of consciousness, it is able to detect the identity state of each level of the mind. Could you shed some more light on this?

A: In addition to the subtle sensory faculties that you can access through the mind’s eye of the attention, it can also tap into the intuitive, discernment, volitional, and identity functions that can be detected in each vehicle of consciousness. For example:

Intuition reveals the content of the vehicle in a global sense. You put together the different streams of sensory information into the big picture of how the vehicle is operating and what it does.

Intuition also allows you to shift dimensions of how you perceive each vehicle of consciousness… from the single point of the attentional focus… to the line of the thread of consciousness that leads to the seed atom of that vehicle… to the field of perceptible content in that vehicle… to the sense of the form of the energetic vehicle as a shape or volume… to the present time experience in that vehicle… to the integration center that operates it [in the Conscious mind, this is the ego]… to the detached witnessing of the attentional principle that observes the activity of each of the centers of the Conscious mind from beyond it.

Discernment enables you to recognize where you are in your inner journey through the inner vehicles of consciousness. This function labels each level of the mind: this is my movement center… this is my sensory center… this is my deep body awareness… this is my feeling center… this is my mental center [the faculty of reason]… this is the volition of my Conscious mind… this is my ego… this is my preconscious…

Volition is the conative force that operates the vehicle of consciousness. In the Conscious mind, this aspect of volition is anchored in the ego. It enables you to perform selected activities through each of the vehicles of the Conscious mind. For example:

You can make movements with your body… you can voluntarily focus on a particular sensation… you can tense your muscles and slow down or speed up your heart rate and breathing with visualization… you can focus on a particular emotion or thread of experiences… you can apply your reasoning ability to analyze why something isn’t working… you can carry out discrete individual behavior you have learned… you can communicate from the different identity states of the ego… you can request specific memories from the Subconscious mnemonic temporal band…

Identity arises from you realization of the seed atom of each vehicle of consciousness. You typically experience this state of realization when you are in the state of Samadhi, and the seed atoms of each of your vehicles of consciousness in the Conscious, Subconscious, Metaconscious, and Superconscious mind declares itself. For the Conscious mind, these identity statements might take the following form:

  • I am the one who is aware of my body position and movement.
  • I am the sensorium: the switchboard of the senses.
  • I am the awareness of the deep body sensations and the activity of each of my organs and physiological rhythms.
  • I am the awareness of my feelings as they arise, and the attachment bonds of love and caring I form with other people.
  • I am my analytical mind, the faulty of reason.
  • I am the aspect of will that allows me to carry out individual units of behavior.
  • I am the ego, the one who lives the experience of my life.
  • I am the preconscious: I interface with the reservoir of memory of the Subconscious mind.

Once you have isolated attention and have been able to move it at will through each of the focal points of the Conscious mind, we encourage you to see if you can tease out these higher order functions at each focal point. In addition to noticing what visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile impressions arise at each focal point, you can also tap into the functions of intuition, discernment, volition, and identity.

We train you to access each major focal point of the Conscious, Subconscious, and Metaconscious mind in our Introduction to Meditation Course. This practice of focusing on each level of the mind improves your ability to concentrate and contemplate. It enables you to utilize the abilities in each vehicle of consciousness consciously. It leads to enhanced self-knowledge and insight.

Those of you who wish to gain a thorough grasp of the rudiments of meditation to prepare yourself for the more advanced work presented in our intermediate meditation courses—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—will benefit from taking this introductory meditation program.

The Gifts of the Masters to Humanity

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By George A. Boyd ©2006, 2021

Q: What are the gifts, the Masters—the Planetary Adepts, Cosmic Masters, Supracosmic Masters, and Transcendental Masters (Sat Gurus)— have bestowed upon humanity?

A: They have given us the tools for transformation and enlightenment. The five great gifts of the Masters to humanity are:

  1. The Cosmic Fire – the Light of Translation; was first revealed by Zoroaster via myth to humanity. It has existed for millennia, known only to a few Initiates.
  2. The Transformational Mantra – this draws down the Light of Spirit to transform the ensouling entity and its vehicles of consciousness. It gave the power of self-initiation to humanity.
  3. The opening of the Nadamic Path – this taught humanity how to free the spirit from the clutches of matter and guide it back to liberation.
  4. The awakening of the Kundalini Shakti – this taught humanity how to open the full potential of the mind.
  5. The ability to assume karma on behalf of others – the crucifixion of Jesus Christ typified this ability of an Initiate to assume karma for others

Methods one through four are methods that aspirants and disciples can invoke and utilize to bring about unfolding of their spiritual potentials.

We teach you about Divine Gifts one through four in our intermediate classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program:

  • In Mudrashram®, you access the Light of Translation through our Light Sittings and in the sitting for Guru Kripa in our intermediate classes.
  • We teach the transformational mantra keyed to your cutting edge of spirituality in the Mantra Yoga portion of these classes.
  • We teach you how to awaken your spiritual heart and travel in the spirit’s Path in the Nada Yoga part of these classes.
  • We teach those who take the Master Course how to safely awaken their Kundalini; those taking the Accelerated Meditation Program may opt to learn this technique under direct supervision.

Those who become Multiplane Masters in our tradition are shown how to access the fifth gift—to assume karma for others as a part of their ministry.

Q: How do the Masters work with the karma of humanity?

A: The Masters work with your inner forms filled with karma and impact them through a variety of methods. In the form that Masters inhabit, they can send the Light through each of their chakras to work with karma and alter the awareness of those with whom they make attunement:

Through the brain chakra, they send the Cosmic Fire (Light of Translation), which directly burns the karma in disciples’ forms. They may also activate and bestow a transformational mantra to enable the disciple to “self-initiate”—to voluntarily unfold their spiritual potentials.

At the point between the eyebrows, the Masters can know the nature of the karma within the disciple. The Master may impart techniques of contemplation, process meditation or Vipassana to enable the disciple to know the nature of this karma and to process it.

In their throat center, the Masters give inspired speech or Satsang. This inspires disciples to reflect, to think through, and to discern the karmic patterns operating within them, which enables them to understand how karma operates and gain insight into its nature.

Through their heart center, the Masters imbue the disciple with love and devotion. This inspires introspection, daily review, repentance from evil actions, and sparks a request to be forgiven for past sinful behavior—with the resolve to not repeat former mistakes.

Through their solar plexus center, the Masters inspire work on the astral level of karma. Methods of dialogue, listening, reflection, self-questioning, and other methods of psychotherapy and emotional healing help the personality to integrate this material. These psychotherapeutic techniques promote insight, catharsis, emotional release, and re-choosing.

Through the navel center, they interface with disciples’ etheric body. This inspires healing modalities such as body work, massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture. Which aims to clear energetic blockages and bring about emotional and physical release.

Through the base of the spine center, they activate the Kundalini Shakti of the disciple. This brings awareness of the content of disciples’ inner forms; the abilities in these forms are activated; and the forms are purified of their dross.

As you grow spiritually, you can become more aware of the activities of the Masters behind the scenes, as they bless and support humanity move into their true potential. One of the first markers of this enhanced contact with the Masters is when you encounter their form within you in meditation. We teach about how to meditate on the guide form in the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.

Perspectives on Judgment Revisited

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By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: What is judgment? Does it have different facets?

A: There are seven key facets of judgment:

  1. Critical judgment – When you operate in this posture of judgment, you find fault with others, blame them, and point out how they have made mistakes or failed.
  2. Self-judgment – This is you evaluate your own speech and behavior, and the outcomes of your efforts. When you do this, you attempt to be honest with yourself. You may use some type of inventory, assessment, or introspection method to arrive at a measure that is more objective than your own subjective impressions about how you are doing and how you are coming across to others.
  3. Evaluation of alternatives – Judgment at this level attempts to select the best option after gathering information about each option and weighing the pros and cons of each potential choice. This enables you to winnow your possible courses of action to what appears to be the optimal one; this process facilitates decision.
  4. Life evaluation – At this existential level of judgment, you are making decisions about what you want your life to be about and what you want your life to mean—what will you do with your unique human life.
  5. Next steps – When you operate from this platform of judgment, you identify the steps you must take to fulfill different threads of your purpose. You identify next steps for your personal and spiritual growth.
  6. The Silver Onion – This Superconscious level of judgment locates spiritual essences on the mandala-like, concentric circles of the Soul’s consciousness. The Soul is able to discern the content of each nodal point of its spiritual journey from this perspective. It judges where something dwells on the Great Continuum of Consciousness, up to its current level of spiritual development. This type of judgment operates using what we all mandalic reasoning.
  7. Multiple Mandalic Consciousness – As a Master reaches universal states of consciousness; he or she can access the Soul’s consciousness of many individuals. Those who become Multiplane Masters extend this ability even further, to interface with this mandalic wisdom through multiple perspectives.

Q: Is it wrong to judge? What was Jesus referring to when He said, “Thou shalt not judge?”

A: “Thou shalt not judge? This statement says that you should suspend critical judgment until you can understand others’ motivation for their behavior. The attitudes of prejudice, arrogance, and condescension come from making a premature negative judgment, without truly understanding the other person’s viewpoint and the needs they are trying to meet.

Some questions you can ask to probe beneath the surface and get closer to the truth about the other person:

  • Why they do what they do?
  • What are their beliefs that tell them to do this?
  • What lessons could you learn from the example of their behavior, good or bad?
  • Are you jumping to a premature conclusion about this other person without getting more complete information about the person and their situation?
  • Are you aware of their background, the beliefs they hold, and the mindset from which they operate that might influence them to act in this way?

You can also notice if you are distorting your perspective on the other person through projection of you own needs and wishes on them:

  • Are you criticizing others for something you are doing yourself?
  • Are you putting someone else down so you may feel superior?
  • Are you finding fault with them to express your unhappiness and frustration that they aren’t fulfilling your desires?

Instead of reflexive criticizing, self-evaluation allows you to learn and grow from your experience, and reform your character. Judging others is done from an egoic platform; when you stand back from striking out, you can gain insights, understanding, and wisdom.

Evaluating alternatives is a necessary activity for adult functioning in society—and certainly “thou shalt not judge” does not ask you to refrain from making important choices in your life.

Judgment assumes a revelatory, intuitive function when it reveals to you next steps in your life, and shows you the next stages on the Path beyond where you are right now. This insightive aspect of judgment was clearly not forbidden in the admonition, “thou shalt not judge.” Here judgment combines with the discernment function of intuition, and shows you the next layer on the mandala of your life experience and your station on the spiritual Path.

We encourage you to use judgment at the personal level to strengthen the ability to evaluate yourself honestly, to make optimal choices for your life, and to decide what you will do in your life. You may also apply it at the transpersonal level, which grants you the ability to behold the many dimensions of your Soul’s spiritual evolution, and to trace the stages that are to come.

Those of you who are working on the next step in your personal life may benefit from our Life Coaching Program. Those who feel ready to make your next step in spiritual evolution can learn the key transformational methods to journey to higher levels of the Great Continuum of Consciousness in our intermediate courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.