Deepening the Circle Practice
Interviewer: What we’re going to talk about now is a deepening of the circle practice. And our readers can join us in this portion as well. Correct, Yogi Sean?
Yogi Sean: Oh yes. And basically, as you’re holding the circle in your gaze, you begin to do the mantra, which is ‘AAA-UUUUU-MMMMM,’ and the tendency is going to be to close your eyes when you do it, but don’t. Keep your eyes open. Continue to gaze at the circle as this is happening. And don’t be frustrated if part of the circle disappears. Because this is the process that we’re working with.
Interviewer: So that comes with the territory, so just kind of acknowledge it and keep going.
Yogi Sean: That’s right. Acknowledge it, bring the circle back, and keep on going. And if you find that you just can’t get the whole circle back again, then stop doing the mantra, and go back and gaze at the circle again until you can see it all there. Then begin doing the mantra again.
Interviewer: In other words, if the circle stays completely broken, then just return to gazing in silence until it’s solid again and then, off you go, back with the mantra with the intonation.
Yogi Sean: Right, because what we’re doing in this and it’s so glorious is that we’re introducing Self-Expression into the continuity of the Flow of the Whole.
Interviewer: We’re introducing self-expression into the continuity of the Flow of the Whole. So let’s now kind of hone in on that, Sean.
Yogi Sean: One of the great difficulties of the way in which Eastern teachings have been translated for the West is that we are given a very strong idea or attitude that the self is bad.
Interviewer: Is that the self with a small ’s,’ a big ’s,’ or both? Okay, so already I’m upset about it, and we haven’t even defined the term.
Yogi Sean: That’s right. See, because of the challenge that we’re dealing with is, it’s easy for us to point out the ways in which our self-expression falls short of Divine Expression.
Interviewer: It’s easy for us to see that, because we have a judging mind.
Yogi Sean: Right. And because the system itself sets up all kinds of rules and proprieties of judgment.
I’m talking about the teachings, the way the teachings have been translated into America.
Interviewer: Okay, and that again comes from the fact that British translators took this information, and they came from a rather Victorian, Judeo-Christian background.
Yogi Sean: I think that plays into it very strongly. I think also, as we’ve talked about this in terms of Bhakti Yoga, the first stages of Bhakti Yoga are stages of separation from God, or a sense of separation. And so the way in which teachings have been presented in America have been very strongly for beginners.
