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Sankalpa as we saw in the last blog is aligned with the highest truth. It is a life resonant with the cosmic heart. Even if we do not have an experience of our wholeness we place our trust in masters or those who have experienced it and tell us we are essentially whole. If we cannot place our trust in anyone because we feel betrayed and wounded we can think of it as an experiment to shift and uplift the whirlpool of unresolved emotion or the cycle of wounding and betrayal we might be stuck in.
THE POWER OF SANKALPA AND MANTHRA
A Sankalpa like Manthra is in the present tense. Manthra is a combination of two words. “Man” sounds like tonne or fun and means mind in sanskrit. Man has “manas” or a mind. “Thra” is a tool for transcendence. Thra also means to cross over. So manthra is a tool to help us transcend the limitations of the mind. Or it helps us cross over from a stuck or limited mind to an expansive mind.
Manthra like sankalpa attracts or magnetizes to us the expansive vibration we chant. So we invoke that energy and evoke that energy from within us. When we chant the surya or sun manthra we are first invoking the sun however because of the repetition and rhythm we become the sun
It can be generic or specific. For example :
I am universality or Aham Brahmasmi is a common vedic affirmation or sankalpa. We are affirming to our unconscious this highest reality. There is no grandiosity in doing this and done with humility. There are many general manthra like this
In a specific sankalpa we can say “ My root chakra is open and aligned” if we feel particularly ungrounded. Again it is in the present tense.
Or we use bija manthra or seed mantra like the sound “lung” to rebalance that area. There are many approaches to rebalancing aspects of our lives into wholeness in the yogic system.
RESISTANCE TO SANKALPA
Negative thought patterns from the past deeply embedded in the unconscious may prevent sankalpa from sinking into our day to day lives even though intellectually it may seem like a good idea.
In some cases it might also seem repulsive as it seems so far from the truth of where we are now.
The greater the disconnection the greater the discomfort with Sankalpa. So be aware of why something uplifting can feel so off. Maybe we were bombarded with toxic positivity and may have put sankalpa in the same box. Sankalpa is not there so we escape cultivating discernment or creating healthy boundaries. In addition to all of that we are re imprinting our original reality onto spaces or grooves that feel scratchy and off.
Think of an old vinyl record. In my grandfather's home we had those and this generation may have to google it. Or think of a CD that you can re record on. What sort of music would you have on it if you were given a choice? Ayurveda lays out that we are attracted to that which is within us. So if there is anger within, maybe heavy metal is a good outlet. However that very same thing we are attracted to can also create more discord by imprinting negative action words or melodies that take us on a self destructive path. So it is important to be aware of the degree and depth with which we get involved in something that is not sathvic. Sathva is the quality of aliveness, stillness and awareness.
SANKALPA IN A HOMA
Homa is a vedic fire ritual for the purpose of transforming offerings into a vibration that can reach higher planes. It is done in homes in India for the purpose of purification and to honour mother earth, the elements, ancestors and certain enlightenment deities. There can also be specific homa done for bringing in health to those in the household. Usually a homa is performed by a priest and the priest starts the ceremony with a Sankalpa. He will ask the person who hires him to repeat. It will have the name, place and time of the person to whom the benefits need to go to and the sankalpa he takes. San also means good . The highest truth is also good. So sankalpa is a resolve here to bring good into one's life. Sankalpa reinforces that you are willing to put in efforts in that direction and beget goodness. So one will take a resolve to chant a particular manthra for a certain number of times for the purpose of bringing in goodness. Here it cultivates focus and discipline and helps one see the value of not pushing but allowing and aligning.
About Yogacharini Maitreyi
Yogacharini Maitreyi is an international master teacher, practical mystic and founder of Arkaya Awareness Center and Arkaya Foundation. For the last 25 years she has been dedicated to sharing and teaching mindfulness, traditional tantra and expansive life principles. Her grandfather was her first guru and then she studied and served in the Shivananda and Ananda ashram for many years.
Since 1997 in India, Maitreyi has been given titles: Yoga Chemmal (expert), Yoga Shiromani (gem), and Yoga Acharini (guide). In 2007 she was one of the youngest to be invited to the Advisory Board of the World Yoga Council, in Europe. She has shared the deeper dimensions of yoga, self management and sattvic tantra worldwide. This includes seeing and shifting within ourselves, deep rooted conditioning that is divisive, exploitative, colonial, disrespectful or distorts.
Maitreyi facilitates a 500 Hour online Self awareness (Yoga and sattvic Tantra) teacher training apart from offering a weekly drop in session and satsang from 9 a.m to 11 am P.S.T each week. All are welcome to the satsang and to know more programs go to Events — ARKAYA YOGA for details.
Maitreyi has over 100 published articles and has trained over 60 corporations in enlightened leadership, stress and self management. She runs a foundation in India for children living in the slums. She enjoys ayurvedic food, being close to nature and lives in Vancouver now.
For more on her go to Founder Yogacharini Maitreyi — ARKAYA YOGA