Vedantic Meditation Lighting the Flame of Awareness

by Frawley, David; Douillard, John

• ISBN13: 9781556433344
• ISBN10: 1556433344
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-07
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

As yoga gains popularity across the U.S., many people are becoming interested in its traditional Vedic roots. While Buddhist meditation is well represented on bookshelves, there has been little Vedantic philosophy written in lay terms until now. Author David Frawley guides readers through the challenges of cultivating awareness, calming the mind, and practicing meditation according to Vedanta and Hinduism. He examines how cultural knowledge systems in the West lead individuals to disillusionment, and speaks about how meditation can aid in understanding the true nature of one's thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. Frawley explores meditation support practices such as yoga, mantras, kundalini, and pranayama, as well as the role of gurus, and concludes with a short, more technical essay on self-inquiry.

Author Biography

David Frawley has been a student of Ramana Maharashi’s teachings since 1970 and has written for their magazine The Mountain Path since 1978. He is a visitng professor at the Sringeri Shankaracharya Math, the oldest vedantic center in India, and has receive the personal blessings of the Shankaracharya. He teaches at Vedantic centers in America and is one of the few Westerns recognized as an authentic Vedantic teacher by the Vishva Hindu Parisha, the largest Hindu religious organization in the world. Frawley directs the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
John Douillard
Preface	x
PART I Vedantic Meditation	1	(24)
Introduction to Vedanta	3	(9)
Self-Inquiry and its Practice	12	(13)
PART II The Challenges of Awareness	25	(46)
Action and Transformation	27	(2)
Addiction and Thought	29	(2)
Anxiety and Its Message	31	(2)
Being	33	(2)
Beyond Self-Illusion	35	(1)
The Consumer and the Consumed	36	(2)
The Eternal	38	(1)
Fear and the Unknown	39	(2)
The Guru's Role	41	(2)
Karma and Time	43	(2)
The Knowledge and the Ignorance	45	(1)
Limitation and the Unlimited	46	(2)
Memory: A Burden We Cling To	48	(2)
Opposition and Understanding	50	(2)
Perception and Preconception	52	(2)
Presence and the Present Moment	54	(1)
Reality and Appearance	55	(2)
Relationship and the Self	57	(1)
Renunciation	58	(2)
Security and Insecurity	60	(2)
Sensitivity and Sensation	62	(2)
Suffering and Awakening	64	(2)
The Universal Religion	66	(2)
The Waters of Life	68	(1)
Wonder and Awe	69	(2)
PART III The Practice of Meditation	71	(46)
The Alchemy of Perception	73	(2)
Channeling and Meditation	75	(2)
Concentration and How to Develop It	77	(2)
Conscious Will	79	(2)
The Creative State	81	(2)
Devotion and Meditation	83	(1)
Discrimination Between Subjects and Object	84	(2)
Ego, Breath and Sound	86	(2)
Energizing the State of Seeing	88	(2)
The Flame of Awareness	90	(2)
The Fundamental Question	92	(2)
How We Search for Enlightenment	94	(2)
Kundalini, the Power of Consciousness	96	(2)
Mantra and the Mind	98	(3)
Pranayama and Meditation	101	(2)
Reversing the Stream of Thought	103	(1)
Service and Karma Yoga	104	(2)
The Space Within the Heart	106	(3)
The True Self	109	(2)
Visualization	111	(1)
The Way of the Actual and the Way of the Ideal	112	(2)
Yoga and Mediation	114	(3)
PART IV The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi	117	(18)
Upadesha Saram: The Essence of Instruction of Sri Ramana Maharshi	119	(11)
The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi: An Integral View	130	(5)
Glossary	135	(2)
Bibliography	137	(1)
About the Author	138