What's In a Happy Mind ?

In the year 1997, I was flying Mi-17 helicopters at an 'Advanced Landing Ground' at Along in Arunachal Pradesh. Indian Air Force helicopters were task with food & essential supply 'Air Dropping' to some remote hilly villages; as well as transportation of people & goods, wherever landing was possible. It was a bad weather day. Crew & passengers were waiting for the clouding to reduce for a possible sortie. Weather trends of the serene lush green valley made us predict that weather would be the same till mid-day. Seated under the make-shift 'Gahzibo' made from a used parachute, I found a book on the center table, while seeking some activity to engage myself. The Book was on 'Yoga'. It was certainly an area of interest. I had seen my father practicing 'Yoagsanas' daily, for the past 20 years. We had been taught Yogasana and Meditation as cadets during our Air Force Training. The book belonged to a passenger from 'Ramakrishna Mission' and was placed on the table to avoid wetting. I sprung out of my chair, looked out for the person and took his permission to read the book, which he smilingly granted.

Reading a portion of the book from ‘Swami Vivekananda Trust’ that day changed my concept of a 'Happy Mind' forever. I still utilize the concept to consciously improve my meditation, conscious awareness of situations as well as consciousness ascension practices.

There was an questioned asked -

What goes on in your mind when you see a beautiful scene which you appreciate & feel happy seeing it?

What are the thoughts associated with the moment of appreciation causing the emotion of happiness? A sunset for example. 

When you feel happy looking at a sunset; practically there is no other thought in your mind. The intense focus of the scene being viewed filters and reduces all other  sensory inputs as well as thoughts for brief moments. The mind is so focused that it is filled only with intricacies of the sunset  & consequent appreciation leading to a 'happy feeling'. In fact there are moments where the mind goes blank and there are no thoughts in the mind. It is thus expected that prolonged blank state of mind leads to blissful ecstasy which will be logically akin to deeper and pronged emotion of happiness.
 

Meditation practices of the yester years or modern times, all aim at extended blanking of mind for an experiential bliss.  Energetically, cluttered thoughts in mind reduce the vibrational connect and energy flow through the energy body. Reduced thoughts in the ‘Happy Mind’ paves way for an abundant flow of etheric energy (प्राण संचार), rejuvenating etheric body also. The reverse happens when etheric energy is directly worked upon with help of mediation or energy healing. Good flow in the energy body takes care that the mind is not cluttered with thoughts thus ensuring overall well-being. Intuitive guidance and ‘mind power’ also increases in meditative states clearly indicating consciousness ascension. Intuitive guidance has no fixed formats, thought process and synchronicity of events, it can be received in any way, through any medium.

'Mind Care' & 'Taking care of energy flow in eitheric body' are interconnected. Working on either will result in benifit of both. Either path certainly lays the foundation to overall  wellness.Here is a an awesome clip of an educational animation film 'Spiritual Reality' which gives a brief insight to etheric energy body flow with thoughts and meditation. The clip also serves as an excellent tool for 'Creative Visualization' during energy healing.

'Gnaural' - Awesome Binaural Beat Genrator - Instant Meditative States

Sound, especially music produces effective results as an mediating and healing aid. Sounds utilization in mediation and energy healing  has progressed from of ancients civilization bells, drums,  mantras and chants  to modern brain wave entrainment methods which work on waveform engineering to get the desired results.

For a slightly more elaborate blog on sound healing, click here for an earlier blog at another location .

Here we will take a step towards binaural beats and a very good tool 'Gnaural' - (which is mentioned in the referred blog) for quick access to binaural beats.

Here is an extract from Wikipedia explaining Binaural Beats

" Binaural beats, or binaural tones, are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, caused by specific physical stimuli. This effect was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove and earned greater public awareness in the late 20th century based on claims coming from the alternative medicine community that binaural beats could help induce relaxation, meditation, creativity and other desirable mental states. The effect on the brainwaves depends on the difference in frequencies of each tone: for example, if 300 Hz was played in one ear and 310 in the other, then the binaural beat would have a frequency of 10 Hz.
The brain produces a phenomenon resulting in low-frequency pulsations in the amplitude and sound localization of a perceived sound when two tones at slightly different frequencies are presented separately, one to each of a subject's ears, using stereo headphones. A beating tone will be perceived, as if the two tones mixed naturally, out of the brain. The frequencies of the tones must be below 1,000 hertz for the beating to be noticeable. The difference between the two frequencies must be small (less than or equal to 30 Hz) for the effect to occur; otherwise, the two tones will be heard separately, and no beat will be perceived.

Binaural beats are of interest to neuro-physiologists investigating the sense of hearing.
Binaural beats reportedly influence the brain in more subtle ways through the entrainment of brainwaves and provide other health benefits such as control over pain. "

 In layman's language, the beats produces because of the minor frequency difference in two stereo channel causes waving listening patterns causing brain working to alter and the mind enters hypnotic states, especially in the lower frequencies of alpha and theta states. Monroe Institute, first experimented with Hypnotic Trances and Out of Body Experiences with binaural beats near 4 hz frequency.  US defense forces personnel were trained at the Monroe Institute for OBE experiences using binaural beats. 

"In 1978, the U.S. military evaluated TMI and arranged to send officers there for OBE training. In 1983, it sent further officers" - Quoted from Wikipeadia page of  'The Monroe Institute'

The Monroe Institute (TMI), formed by Robert Monroe for binaural self-development technology, is now a charitable organization with great efforts towards consciousness development.

>> read more from TMI website >>

Gnaural is an effective experiential tool for experiencing bliss arising out of exposure to binaural beats.

- It is a frequently downloaded software from the parent website 'gnaural.sourceforge.net'  or through search in 'sourceforge.net'. 

- Being open source, it is free of cost. 

- There are no restrictions of use on the software for personal, non-profit or commercial purpose. 

- The software can also be used in a web based mode.

- Number of demo presets are available for easy experience.

- Can produce pink and white noise. 

- Easiest way to explore - ANDROID APP on Google Store.  Demos come per-loaded with the app.

Personally I use the sound of rain, sea waves and flowing water from the android app for regular listening as well as background music for guided meditations. Just take a comfortable posture, plug in the earphones, focus into the blank space and enjoy !

Gnaural Android APP

Gnaural Application Screen Shots

Cosiousness Ascension - Vedic Philosophy & Current Comprehension !

In the Vedic texts of Upanishads, it is mentioned, When energy (god) divided into  multiple the fist division was into two everlasting supreme forces 'Aditya' (prana) & 'Rayi' (matter) . Sometimes 'Rayi' or  'Chetna' is translated as the total field of consciousness which interacts with the manifest and unmanifest dimension of name, form and idea. Human existence, thoughts, emotions, actions and behavior are associated with three Guna (गुण). Consciousness develops in stages to overcome the three Gunas (Property / Quality/Virtue). These are.

1. Sattva ( Goodness, Constructive, harmonious)

2. Rajas(Passion, Active, Occupied, Creative)

3. Tamas (Darkness, Distuctive, Chaotic)

The three Gunas apply to all facets of life including, thoughts, ideas, food, habits etc. While Yogis practice ‘Saatvic Behaviour’ for consciousness ascension - the ultimate goal is to be detached from all gunas - both positive and negative.

All gunas create attachment and thus bind one’s self to the ego. “When one rises above the three gunas that originate in the body; one is freed from birth, old age, disease, and death; and attains enlightenment” (Bhagavad Gita 14.20).

Rising levels of 'Chetna' result in reduction in dependence on the three 'Gunas' & increase in conscious awareness of all existence.

 7 STAGES of CHETANA | चेतना |  CONSCIOUSNESS

Contemporary Comprehension

1. Jagriti (Akin Conscious State)- It is the logical awareness of actions,thoughts, ideas, emotions and memory. It applies to the logical conscious awareness of everything involving self as well as the external environment.

2. Swapna (Akin Dream State) - It is a creative or imaginative stage in which the mind is creating things before they come into existence. Dream state is not necessarily in sleep but also in the consciously awakened state where the mind is imagining while co-existing in the physical reality. So, in the swapna state, there is awareness of the visible and also the invisible, the manifest and the un-manifest, the gross world and the subtle world, in harmony with each other. This state may be a consciously meditative state also.

3. Nidra (Akin Sleep State) - Shushupti -Sleep  state used for both mental and physical rest which results in rejuvenation of energy “Prana”. It may also be a meditative state in which the physical senses are not giving as much input to the mind as the subtle conscious awareness. It is certainly a energy revitalisation state in any case.

4. Turiya (Akin Subconscious) - It means the fourth state which is working in the backstage  of mind, for the development of the first three stages. It is referred to as atyanta-shunyata (absolute emptiness). This is also a stage of consciousness ascension called Transcendental Consciousness.

Note: ॐ chant, also called the primordial vibrations, is all by itself cable of consciousnesses ascendence. Relation of ‘OM’ sound to the stages of consciousness, cosmic energies and physical body vibrations.The syllable Om (ॐ) - also referred to as the sound of primordial-vibrations)  widely used for meditation is divided into Three and a half stages. Correlation to various aspects is :-

AUM ॐ Correlation with Chetna, Guna, Energy and Altered Body Vibrations with Mantra Chant

5. ‘Turiyatita Chetana’ by Sustained Turiya Consciousness(Cosmic Consciousness Realisation) -  It is the beginning of awareness expansion resulting in conscious realisation that there is vast universe beyond self which is connected to us. The expansion of consciousness beyond our physical world begins at this stage.

6. ‘Bhagavat Chetana’(God Consciousness) - Conscious realization of the supreme energy and forces governing the manifested existence.

 7. Brahmi Chetana (Creator or Unity Consciousness) - One with all vibrations of the cosmos -  ‘ Aham Brahmasmi’.  This is the stage dawns the realization and capability of 'Co-Creator'.