Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Alan Finger. Welcome to the Genius of Nothing podcast. Nothing is no particular thing.
Speaker: It's all things at once. Genius.
Speaker: All right. Well, hello, everyone. London calling, genius of nothing. I'm Katrina Repka, and I'm here as usual with Sebastian.
Speaker: Good evening and welcome, everyone. And Al. Hello, Al. I think you took a wrong turn to the cosmos. Hello, Al.
Speaker: And Al. Hello from the cosmos. Namaste. So today we're working through our yamas. We've come to parigraha and literally meaning, pari means things and graha means to grasp.
Speaker: So it has to do with non-grasping, non-hoarding and basically letting go to some extent of even beliefs and expectations.
Speaker: But like all of these yamas, there's an energetic component. There's a literal component. So like don't fill your basement with crap. um Two, don't be possessive of your relationships.
Speaker: um And i think it's a really interesting way of looking at the world. I've had to, i've i come from a background where both my parents loved stuff.
Speaker: And i was inculcated with this idea of, you know, keeping stuff, recycling stuff, recycling. You never know when something's going to come in handy. And it's been a real lifelong journey for me to just get rid of stuff that I don't feel is serving me anymore. Even the stuff that I might have, you know, the the the item of clothing that I might have bought full price that I got home and then has sat in my closet for a year and then really needs to go.
Speaker: But that's a hard one. and um So, yeah. So here we are talking about that. I think it's interesting because one of my first jobs or what I was trained as in the beginning when I started working, when I went out of school, I started working advertising and I worked as an art director and ah create a creative director for probably 10 years in the advertising business. And there's a saying in advertising when you're making a campaign for something, if it's a print ad or if it's a TV commercial or whatever it is, you you're tossing around a lot of but ideas in the beginning
Speaker: And maybe you have this great idea that you just love that you know is going to be so funny and so great, but it doesn't really work with the concept or the product. There's something called kill your darlings.
Speaker: And it's something you have to use a lot because, you know, a lot of times the ideas don't work with that or you have to fit it in somehow and perhaps it just doesn't fit. But I love that. So I learned that very early on that, okay, don't be possessive of ideas.
Speaker: And that's something a lot of people do. Very nice analogy. Yeah, I thought so. Yeah, right. But you know what? Katrina's was the best. You don't want to keep a lot of crap in your basement, she said.
Speaker: and Well, I think, you know, my mom used to keep a lot of crap in her basement, and I i always thought it was her unconscious mind. No, no, that was, I said yours was the best, Katrina, because your basement is really your lower chakras. Right.
Speaker: And really the belief patterns, avidya, all store down at the root chakra and store the vital mother nature force, shakti, that's there.
Speaker: The kundalini gets constricted with beliefs. And so, yeah, it's all very well done ka things, but that's purely a symbol of don't hoard mental,
Speaker: possessions don't have don't hoard your dreams
Speaker: must be able to let go of all dreams, of all vritti, of all mental patterning. Sure, it starts with physical stuff, but it's much more, don't keep avidya in your basement.
Speaker: Don't let the belief patterns become so secure. Sure, you see it in the body. You see it in the mind. You see it in your life patterning, but it's really inside that you want to release and become free. Because when those patterns are gone from you, then vitality is left.
Speaker: So just the same example Sebastian gave in advertising. The vitality is there and we we sometimes hoard and clatter so much to it and opinions.
Speaker: So please, everyone, understand, parigraha is not only just to stop having things in your house. it's's It's a symbol of what's going on inside you.
Speaker: But you don't want to hoard it deep down. Because when you free it deep down, you'll find, yeah things come and go in life. It doesn't matter. yeah I do like the saying you have, the the quote you have that you can have things but things should not have you which is very true.
Speaker: It's hard to you practice sometimes but it's it's it's a very true statement. and i do think so so again again it's a very good sense statement that you can have things but things mustn't have you.
Speaker: But when the basement is cluttered When you've got all of that junk and your belief patterns are pushed into your unconscious, the three lower chakras, when it's pushed there and down into the unconscious, then it's very hard to do that.
Speaker: So the more you can free the patterns from inside you with your sadhana, your practice, your meditation, your coming back to self, then you realize, and it's easy to say, yeah and knock atta and I can have anything, doesn't matter. Yeah. But you've got to be free. then it Then, you know, you can have it, you don't have it, doesn't matter. And in there lies the irony also of it.
Speaker: Because when you get to that point, you don't really feel like you need so many things or want so many things like you did before. The allure of it is kind of gone. And usually when you get there, that's usually when also when abundance happens, when you get all the things that you used to want to have. Yeah.
Speaker: But what do you think, so yeah there's this there was a tidying um epidemic a couple of years ago with Marie Kondo, this Japanese woman who basically like had you, like she was very much for getting rid of your possessions. And I think there's great value in that. And like there's a reciprocal arrangement where you get rid of your physical possessions and you actually lighten the load of your mind.
Speaker: And it's what you're saying, Al. there's if But if you'rere if you lighten the load of your mind equally, you're going to not have a difficulty getting rid of your physical possessions because you can see them more clearly. But, Adriana, can I just add yeah one thing there?
Speaker: You sure can. Because when you do what the Japanese lady said, you form a new attachment, an attachment to being perfect in your wardrobe.
Speaker: So you want to be careful that this is all, all of these things were really not what we tend to do with it. We tend to philosophize these things into our living.
Speaker: And so the yamas and the niyamas then become ethical, behavioral patterns so you can live better. And, and, and,
Speaker: And in Tantra, it's not that. In Tantra, you want to live these things, but you unless you go deep down and do the Kriyas and purify your consciousness, you'll have a ah new belief structure that you're going to try and live by.
Speaker: Yeah, but I also think that it can actually be kind of positive because if you if you're cluttering and you're hoarding and doing all that, starting here can be like a sprinting board for for you to change and and to get into this. It's hard to go right into Tantra for a lot of people right away and do these practices.
Speaker: So... I think it can be a gateway to building something better and to start something new. Yes, of course it can.
Speaker: But I teach Ishta and Tantra. yeah And so to me, I don't want to get stuck in behavioral patterning. No.
Speaker: I want to be free. from that stuff. I want to be able to see, if I see something and someone points something out and there's a pattern there, sure, my brain could do It's a complex thing.
Speaker: yeah And I'll say, oh, okay, I need to change that. And I'll go in there and make the shifts necessary. If you have a lot of stuff that you're hoarding, then it's very hard to do that. And the hoarding is in belief patterns too.
Speaker: just as we see in religion. Not that it's bad, it's very good for a lot of people, better far better than nothing, I guess, right? But then you get a new belief that eventually you can go to war for your belief.
Speaker: So it's the same thing that I'm trying to share with us. we're try We're all in evolution, and in evolution there was not these rules of mind and how we act.
Speaker: If we can get to the pure consciousness, and we practice the Kriyas, you purify, you eliminate the stuff that you're hoarding in you.
Speaker: And when you do that, well, sure, it's then you're free. Then you're going have things, things doesn't it doesn't really matter. Yeah. And there is actually a neurological component to all this that I want to come back to. But first, Katrina, going to say something. Leave it.
Speaker: Well, I'm just curious. that Yes, we have the Kriyas, etc. But just from a more practical, like in the world view, I'm sitting here looking at some possessions of mine that I inherited from my late husband.
Speaker: And these are things that I've held on to because they're a like monetary value, but I look at them and I, and also emotionally for, for him to, as a reminder, et cetera. But they're actually not like my taste or my, um my, they're not things that I bought or fell in love with.
Speaker: And I'm just wondering from a purely practical perspective, because I do enough Kriyas that I don't need more. um If like I am preventing myself and I know this is psychological talk, but you're going to have to indulge me for a second, Al.
Speaker: If this is something that I'm that I would evolve by letting go of because I've since he died almost six years ago, there were stages of letting go. it was quite easy to get rid of all his suits and give them to a charity. And then we dispersed the artwork between me and his kids and so on and so forth and so forth. But I've kept things that do have value, but they're not really reflective of me and does that somehow prevent me from becoming my true self, I guess?
Speaker: Yeah, that that is a very interesting question. Isn't it, though? or just
Speaker: Well, now we're getting into some real psycho babble. so that Right, so so so indulge me because I think it's really, I do think it's really interesting. Well, you know, different people would view things very differently. Right. Different belief structures would view things very differently. Yeah. How could you release those things that your late husband left you?
Speaker: How do you not honor that? That could be a belief structure. course, I don't agree with that at all, but because it's a belief structure, man-made stuff. Yeah, but live by man-made structures.
Speaker: That's how society society works because we live by man-made structures. moral observances. um that's That's not true. Society ends up in all sorts of wars and differences because of these man-made structures.
Speaker: Sure, but when we live in the world, we impose beliefs on them because we're in the mind. We're not in meditation. it's I'm trying to teach you how not in your brain, you've got two sides to the brain, every human being.
Speaker: And your brain, your midbrain area, you work out, you emotionalize, you feel, you talk. And then through your sides of the brain, you react back again.
Speaker: I'm sure Sebastian can share with us that if they cut the corpus callosum, as they've done, then you have different responses. You think differently. You act differently.
Speaker: and so I think it's important to understand how this affects us when we cut the corpus callosum. First of all, that usually it's done for people to have pretty severe epilepsy. for And it's done for the epilepsy not to spread spread from one hemisphere to the other because it becomes like kind of like a wildfire. And by that, you contain it. And split brain syndrome is not really...
Speaker: that it's two people in there, it's just more that the two hemispheres kind of operate a little more independently and can some quirky stuff can happen. Like the right hand does something the left hand doesn't know about and stuff like that. But in general they work pretty fine, but it can show a personality and in different ways. yes Because there's no communication between yeah the duality.
Speaker: And so there are youve got two kinds of things which we exist in in this world. So your brain is designed to function. It can only function between those opposites.
Speaker: So in that realm of opposites, there's so much there that, well, am I going to go to the society's belief or that society's belief?
Speaker: Where, how, do well, I guess I'll make a choice. This sounds better for me. This sounds what I feel, I guess, at the moment, and it can change. So lowering your consciousness, and it's a Kriya, to your heart.
Speaker: Your heart gives you response and your brain gives you reaction. So unfortunately, all the talk is reaction and it can go either way.
Speaker: But if you go to your heart and you look at what possessions were left and you say, you know what, this doesn't fit in. i can honor my late husband, by leaving something, a little memory of him, that every day in my puja, in my place where I meditate, and ah or anywhere in your home, a little something, a crystal or something that you remember him by.
Speaker: and doesn't have to be his possessions. But in the then end, isn't that also something that, you know, holds us and binds us and causes us pain in the end? Yeah. Oh, eventually, eventually, if you look at evolution, you don't want to do anything, but I'm i'm trying to give Katrina a ah a symbol so that she can do this and let the stuff go without guilt.
Speaker: But guilt is created from the size of your brain and your midbrain region. Yes, that is very true. And there's been so many studies since and papers about this, about people who had brain legions, depending on where in the brain it is, how guilt and shame and all these kind of personality traits kind of disappear. So your soul doesn't feel guilt ever.
Speaker: Your soul doesn't. When you die, your mind goes. And all your possessions just belong to dust and water. Whether it's famous art or whatever, it's junk because it goes back to the basic elements.
Speaker: Everything will perish. So our attachment is in our mind. Yeah. So aparigraha is learn not to hoard attachments in your mind.
Speaker: Be free. Let your heart speak. ah You need to put something there. I don't need to put something to remember people that died, my father, my brother.
Speaker: i feel their presence in my heart. That's an enough. i I think the conundrum is is that I just have a ton of stuff that's still from him.
Speaker: I'm not talking like a crystal. I'm talking like just just stuff that was his that um lives around um and So what is it about that that feels hard? Nothing feels hard about it. I'm just wondering, like, I'm, you know, it's like a, it's like an evolution of stages of getting rid of stuff, I guess, is a letting go. But then there's this question of, like, is it, does that, does that contain energy? Like, I look at it, I don't look at it and feel sad. I look at it and
Speaker: Yeah, I think everything contains energy. Everything contains energy, but energy is can be released in the click of your finger, in a snap of your finger, or you can live it out up to you.
Speaker: You can live it out for all the years that you're alive on this planet, in your home, in your house. Yeah, but mean, like, either is fine, is I guess what we're saying, which is always what it comes back to. I never really get like a definitive yes or no, just do more Kriyas, right?
Speaker: i No, no, I think a specific Kriya. Yeah. And I think you need to lower your consciousness to your heart. And feel, what does my heart say about this atomic energy yeah of matter that's going on here?
Speaker: yeah Because you've got to get to the point of evolution. In evolution, there's no real emotion and rules and I'm in the play process of ah of this in my morning and blah, blah, blah, blah. bla There's none of that. People made those things.
Speaker: so and And I respect it because most people don't know how to get there. They sow in their mind. They sow in their paragraph and to attach to all of these um things in their mind. It's all in our mind. It's nowhere else.
Speaker: The thing is just a thing. whatever it is, a painting or whatever. It's just a thing. And so that's why I hear you guys and I hear what you're saying.
Speaker: And it's very comforting to people to have this in the brain. But is it really releasing the samskara that you are here in evolution to do? Well, sometimes it sounds like it's creating it to remain longer.
Speaker: Yeah, but sometimes it does release it. So that's the thing. I think sometimes getting rid of physical physical stuff does release some scar. Yeah, and and that has actually been proven even.
Speaker: But just for anybody who doesn't really know what some scars are, they're mental impressions, habits, imprints that shape how we think, feel and act really. But what I really think is is very interesting is to understand why we collect things, what makes our brain attached to things in such a way like we're squirrels, you know, saving for winter, like we're keeping 12 sweaters because, you know, winter is coming.
Speaker: Partly that is because... we You don't just store memories in your possessions. You know, you store so store you inside of them. A mug and a shirt is more than just clay and fabric. They are, you know, small outposts of your identity, really.
Speaker: And in there lies the problem, I think. so and And a lot of fMRI studies actually shown that getting when you're thinking about getting rid of possessions of things, neural networks like the AAC, which is short for the interior cingulate cortex, the insula and the amygdala, and these are neural networks deep inside the brain,
Speaker: they activate and they light up. And this is really interesting because these neural networks are also active in pain processing. And that really means that getting rid of things or thinking about getting rid of things is actually viewed by your brain like a loss, like a threat.
Speaker: And this is really hardwired. We have to understand that this is really hardwired into us to avoid from an evolutionary standpoint as well as a neurological standpoint. That's so interesting.
Speaker: Yeah, and but it is really that your nervous system is really operating on, you know, stony software. That's really why I think these techniques and the teachings are so important, so amazing, because they they help us to evolve in a way that we otherwise would not be able to.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah So all all of these things are ah in the normal functioning of your brain. And what I'm asking you to do is not be normal. I'm asking you, yoga is not normal.
Speaker: Nadi Shodhana, when you alternate the flow of breath in your nostril is not normal. you're actually going against what's normal. Normal takes you into this normal patterning of your brain and of evolution.
Speaker: But if you want if you want to live on that razor's edge of yoga, singularity, then you must get there, not into all the chitter-chatter of your mind, that I am divine energy. I'm not this matter.
Speaker: But we get so trapped, everyone, that we believe that in our life, who we are and what we are in matter becomes such a strong belief that we can't let go.
Speaker: So I only believe in yoga, the state of singularity where magic can come through. And that yoga is chitta vritti nirodaha.
Speaker: So yeah, the yamas and the niyamas can help us a little bit to get to the place where we can discuss and have these discussions so that ultimately we can let go and not be governed by these things.
Speaker: Because if you want to live as a yogi, it's more important to live in that world where you're in tune with the subtle forces that govern things, not the product of the subtle force, which is matter.
Speaker: And know that's hard, man. It's hard for people because you you go back into life and these things are there for one. I was a very fortunate karma, I guess it's where my karma was, but I was born into a family of yoga, into yoga.
Speaker: And so whatever went on for me, it always came back to get involved in this material stuff, elevate your consciousness and the answer is there for you.
Speaker: But can I be controversial and just ask about that because doesn't yoga then just become another belief system?
Speaker: ah What kind of belief? A belief in nothing. Well, yeah, but we have different techniques and things that are are a system of belief that if you do this, then you get to nothing.
Speaker: I'm just playing devil's advocate here. you Well, for the devil, um you you we need to learn how to bring ourself into singularity.
Speaker: So there are certain practices that you can do, which... The ancient rishis of yoga saw, which slowly science is uncovering, how you can balance your brain and bring it back to singularity.
Speaker: That's all it's about. When you're in singularity, your brain goes quiet and your heart leads you. And your heart has the neurons in your brain, 40,000, think it is, Sebastian, 40,000.
Speaker: Can correct me? Yeah, it's about 40,000. And it's interesting because it's a whole network. So it's called the intrinsic cardiac nervous system. Those neurons in your heart are what give you, speak from your heart. Your heart doesn't have this whole thing going on.
Speaker: That's your mind, your brain. Yeah. So all the tools that I share with you, I ask you when you've used the tool and you're back in singularity, put it down. Don't worship and don't hold it.
Speaker: And eventually it becomes that you are living in that place. I don't know if you guys ever saw... the movie where that Frenchman puts the tightrope between the Twin Towers when they were standing. Oh, yeah, you mean the documentary on Netflix. What's it called? Man on Wire.
Speaker: Great documentary. Yes. yeah And you see this guy high up in the sky doing these ridiculous things, but you saw he went into Tartacum.
Speaker: He became the wire. He became the wire. And when you become the wire, siddhis happen. So he went into singularity.
Speaker: He wasn't thinking. He was just there. Learning to transcend. That's what yoga is about. You're transcending it and then seeing it. and the the word is Mangalam Garunadhavaya.
Speaker: You want the auspicious energy that's out there that makes magic, that makes these magical moments happen. You want to be like to lift you up like an eagle that flies in the sky.
Speaker: Because Garunadhavaya, when the eagle is sitting on its perch, it cant it can only see immediately around its perch, its tree. But it can see where its food is. So it flies up high into the sky where it can see everything.
Speaker: And then down there, oh, I must fly over there. That's where my breakfast is my food. but And so the yogic practices are to create you to lift up so you can see the world of Maya more clearly. Okay, so then let's say you're a borderline herder. You're feeling like you have way too much stuff at home. You're holding on to stuff.
Speaker: You feel it's not really healthy. You listen to this. You think, oh, this all sounds you know good and old, but what do you really do? What kind of practice do I do to release this? So I think it would be helpful if you could give a short little practice of how...
Speaker: to help people release. Bring your ahankara mudra, put your thumb and index finger together, other three extended. Bring your fingers into the center of your chest, into your heart.
Speaker: And when you breathe in breathe in and feel the expansion of your ribcage and your heart. Everything opens up and your consciousness expands. And breathe out, come back to a point of light in your heart.
Speaker: And do this until you feel you break all the mental stuff and the programming. You breathe in and you can go out to the cosmos because your consciousness can do that in a second.
Speaker: There's no time to consciousness. But your mind limits you. So if you can break that boundary by doing this practice and come back to a point of light, your breath will go still.
Speaker: The point of light when you come back to it will expand and becomes it fills your cells and fills your field, your aura. And when you feel that that's what it's done, then put your hands on your knees, look at a point on the floor and front, come back, slowly take in the room, and let it happen.
Speaker: Don't try and make it happen. Let it happen. If you see, no, I still need to keep the painting at this point in time from ex-husband, let it be.
Speaker: If you look and you say, nah, I don't, he's in my heart and his energy it's not in that painting, then let that be. So that practice of Anahata Bedana,
Speaker: is so powerful. Do it all day long. Practice it. That eventually you just put your fingers to your heart.
Speaker: Literally one or two breaths, you feel your heart glow. Let light your jiva. You let it fill your cells, even with your eyes open. And look at life.
Speaker: And let the decision happen. Don't make it. Let it happen. Smiling. Mangalaya Tanohari, let the auspiciousness lead you and guide you through your life.
Speaker: And that's what I am trying to share with you all. So all this other stuff and all that Sebastian is studying, you know what it's good for? Uh-oh. No, no, no.
Speaker: It's all crap. yeah No, no, no. Sebastian, I'm complimenting you. I heard him go pale. that was really nice Because in order to stand up off the floor, you've got to use the floor to push yourself up.
Speaker: So these little things are helpful for the mind in this plane. But ultimately, guys, I want you to become...
Speaker: to live in Mangalam, to live in tune with the the auspicious energy that cities just happen for you in life.
Speaker: But I do think that when you start some of the things like the Marie Kondo, I mean, the reason why it's been a runaway bestseller is because it does help people in the material plane to think about the relation to their possessions, what it represents, getting rid of it.
Speaker: get like I think it it's a it would be a real... um paradox to have a yogi who had a clear mind whose house was full of junk and stuff, right?
Speaker: So there's like sometimes clearing your house clears your mind, sometimes clearing your mind clears your house. And we are trying to um approach things from a yogic viewpoint where the emphasis is on clearing the mind because of all the wonderful things that happened there. But equally, i think that there's value to the people who are doing the work to help people in whatever way, if it helps you, you know, then great, too.
Speaker: It's not the only path, there are many paths to the top. alton Ultimately, there's only one path. No, see, that's where I think we need Ultimately, there's only one path.
Speaker: That's being in singularity because that's the only way that you can be in tune with those greater forces. You can't get there through your mind.
Speaker: You can only get there when your mind is in singularity. And that's where that energy can come through. Yeah, but you can get there in different ways, not just your way.
Speaker: No, you can get to singularity in every way. But ultimately, I would like to see better ways than Kriya to get there.
Speaker: And I've looked at them all. And doing these little things in life are very beneficial. They help us. But to actually be in singularity long enough for it to come through you,
Speaker: Well, there is a kind of formula to do that, which is quicker than trying to clean your house. But it'll help you with all these things. It will help you on the path.
Speaker: It'll help you to even be able to understand what I'm asking you to do. Right. So we start where we are. Well, you start where you are, but I hope that you learn how to get there and tune.
Speaker: yeah I hope you can learn the most... efficient route to get there. Let it be your GPS. Like on PS. That was terrible.
Speaker: I do think that even though we have all these techniques and all these practices that are amazing, I mean, they bring you to singularity and to stillness, to that moment where you just where you're nothing at all.
Speaker: And that's great for a lot of people, but some people don't really connect to that at all. And they're going to have their own journey. And I think it's always important to really respect that.
Speaker: And we're all in our different evolutionary phases. that Different things will help different people. Like a book about cleaning can help people to start on their journey, on their evolutionary journey towards something much, much bigger.
Speaker: And really, in the end, we all end up at the same place anyway. so ah Yeah, but it can take you 30 lifetimes. Yeah, have you seen the world lately? I think we're going to need another 60. Yeah, we're not in control of that. Sure, everyone, there's different levels of evolution.
Speaker: So I'm trying to help you to understand the path of Kriya that, to me, is the most efficient way. There might be another way that, I don't know but that's very possible.
Speaker: But these Kriya techniques are direct ways without forming new belief patterns. You do them, you let them go, and you feel oneness. The goal is to feel one, not duality.
Speaker: So when we're talking about evolution and and our journey and the path we take and and walk, I think one of the most significant parts for me has been to have a teacher. And that's not for everyone.
Speaker: I know that. But the ability a teacher has to push you and to see you and also sometimes to just piss you off to know it. It's very odd without a teacher because then it's just...
Speaker: The teacher is going to push you and push you till you fall into that pattern. Usually your usually at teachers are a little bit kafa because they're solid and can just sit there and come back to the same thing, which can piss some people off, but eventually they come back and again and they'll want it. Okay. Well, that seems like a good place to finish up.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so. Clean your basement and live a super wonderful life in Mangalam, that auspiciousness. Namaste.
Speaker: Namaste. Namaste. And don't forget to like and subscribe. Perfect.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us today and have a super wonderful week. Namaste. Namaste.
