Tag Archives: Concentration

Mantra as a Method to Transcend Inner Blockages

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By George A. Boyd ©2022

Q: Are there mantras that can help get through mental blockages?

A: Meditators report seven major types of blockages that impedes them going deeper in meditation:

  1. They are locked into physical pain or the symptoms of disease, and they cannot detach their attention from these deep body sensations.
  2. They encounter an etheric blockage in their inner vehicles of consciousness that stops them from further deepening in meditation.
  3. They are absorbed in emotional pain, trauma, or terror, and they cannot pass through this wall of anguish.
  4. They cannot collect attention at the waking state of consciousness; they cannot lift up into the thread of consciousness. As a result, they cannot achieve focal awareness.
  5. They become absorbed in planning or thinking, and they cannot transcend their mental field.
  6. An inner barrier, such as the gate to the Subconscious mind, the gate to the Superconscious mind, or the gate at the entrance to an Initiation blocks them, and they cannot go beyond this locked portal.
  7. They identify with a vehicular seed atom, a nucleus of identity, or the spirit in one of the 12 Domains, and they cannot view anything beyond the inner spiritual horizon that appears before them. They consequently consider this visible inner horizon as the highest stage of spirituality, and they stop their spiritual development before they reach that highest point. This perceptual ring-pass-not does not allow them to journey beyond this place on the Path.

The criteria for a mantra to function as a means to transport your attention beyond these blockages include:

  • The mantra must originate on a higher vibrational platform than the blockage.
  • It must be able to engage the meditator’s attention and move it through the blockage.
  • It must enable your attention to break through the layers of the unconscious mind, when karmic material in this zone of the mind makes up the blockage.
  • It must actively move your attention along the thread of consciousness or across the unconscious mind, and not merely resonate the seed atoms of selected inner vehicles.
  • The mantra must be repeated correctly to enable the attention to move. You need to find the correct technique—for example, chanting, whispering, using the mantra with the breath, repetition with the attention, or activation through the intention of the attentional principle—for the mantra to achieve the uplift of your attention and to move through the barrier.
  • It must inspire faith and hope that the technique will work, so the meditator will be motivated to use it.
  • For it to work in an Integral fashion, it must be keyed to the immortal essences along the axis of being—the attentional principle, the spirit, or the cutting edge ensouling entity—and not lead meditators onto unrelated Paths or regions of the Continuum that have no relevance for the their Intrinsic Soul Purpose.

Mantras that meditators have found helpful to transcend these blockages include:

  • AUM [pronounced Ohm] – repeat with your attention
  • I AM – repeat with your attention
  • HANSA – sniff in HAN, sniff out SA; repeat with your attention once your attention has become collected at the waking state of awareness
  • Centering mantras keyed to the Self or an ensouling entity on the axis of being – breathe the mantra into this essence
  • Contemplative mantras keyed to the spirit in one of the 12 Domains – remember the spirit, and repeat the mantra with your attention

Each method has its particular strengths:

  • AUM helps to concentrate your attention.
  • I AM excels at moving your attention through the unconscious mind to transcend this band of the mind.
  • HANSA facilitates collecting your attention and moving it along the thread of consciousness.
  • Centering and contemplative mantras focus your attention on a higher spiritual essence, and allow you to move beyond the gate of the Conscious mind and blockages within the personality to transcend into the Superconscious mind.

We teach the HANSA method in the Introduction to Meditation Program and our intermediate classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. We also teach contemplative mantras in our intermediate meditation programs. We teach centering mantras in our advanced course, the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.

Some people find that a meditation consultation is helpful to work on solutions to surmount the blockage that keeps them from moving deeper in meditation. Sometimes, finding an alternate method to the one you are using will help you get through the barrier that holds you back.

We encourage you to find a method that allows you to transcend the blockage you are encountering. We will be happy to assist you find a solution.

Zones of Concentration

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By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: Can you explain the role of concentration in spiritual life?

A: Concentration means that you shrink the focus of your attention and hold it on an object. There are several levels at which you can apply concentration:

  1. Schema – this is a category in which you access stored knowledge about a particular topic. You use this in study and academic education. You might, for example, focus on the schema where you have learned rules for grammar. You would learn the new material about this subject and remember it in the frame of the schema, associating it to your current knowledge.
  2. Matrix of experience – You access this level when you ask your deeper mind questions and listen for the answers. You might ask for a particular incident (process meditation), a specific fact (mnemonic recall), how you feel about something (emotional inquiry), what something means (cognitive inquiry), what your options and choices are (personal inquiry), or ask for information about spiritual topics (metaphysical inquiry). You concentrate in this band when you are doing personal process, inner dialog, or psychotherapy.
  3. Reflection – You access this level when you think deeply about something and you want to solve a problem. This accesses your intellect, whereby you apply your intelligence to explore ideas and to solve problems. Those who are writers, scientists, and philosophers tap into this level of concentration.
  4. Archetypes and arrays – You access this level when you interface with elements in your Superconscious mind. You might encounter an archetype and reflect on the meaning of the form you see. You might explore the meaning of a myth or wisdom story. You might contemplate the meaning of a scripture. You might associate symbols in an array to do an intuitive reading. Theologians, metaphysical counselors, psychic readers, and transpersonal psychologists interface with this level.
  5. Nucleus of identity – You access this level when you focus your attention on one of the integration centers of your Superconscious mind. These centers include, for example, the Star Seed on the Psychic Realm, the Moon Soul in the First Planetary Initiation, Cosmic Consciousness in the First Cosmic Initiation, or the Supracosmic Seed Atom on a Supracosmic Path. Those following a religious or spiritual group focus at this level.
  6. Attentional principle – Focusing your attention at this level awakens your intentional consciousness. Once you can function at this level readily, you can perform inner work on your personality and in your Superconscious mind.
  7. Individual spirit – Focusing your attention at this level awakens the love and devotion of your spirit. Once you can readily focus your attention at this level, you can participate in opening the channels of the Nada through which your spirit returns to its origin.
  8. Ensouling entity – Focusing your attention at this level awakens the Soul. This brings about the experience of Samadhi and Gnosis. This conveys the Realization of the Inner Divinity within the Soul, and aligns you with the Soul’s Path of spiritual evolution.

Direct spiritual experience is contingent upon your ability to concentrate upon the spiritual essences at levels five through eight. We teach you how to tap levels 6, 7, and 8 in our intermediate meditation courses—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. We teach contemplation of nuclei of identity, level 5, in the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.

Developing facility with levels one and two is important for successful learning and adult functioning. Those who are thinkers and who are able to access the creative and intuitive channels of their mind learn to tap into levels three and four.

We encourage you to become familiar with each of these levels of concentration, and learn how to use these attentional foci skillfully and efficiently to bring success in your life and to awaken to your full spiritual potentials.

The Seven Varieties of the One-Pointed Mind

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By George A. Boyd © 2018

Q: I find myself being wavering and ambivalent much of the time. I never keep my resolutions. It’s hard for me to decide on what to do and to make commitments. How do I reach the state of “one-pointed mind” that the most dynamic and successful people have?

A: There are seven “power states” of the mind. These are:

  1. Concentration – This occurs when you collect your mind stuff, which produces mental alertness and presence.
  2. Decision – This happens when you select one action from other options, together with putting aside other options.
  3. Commitment – This operates as an emotional affirmation and tenacity to complete a long- term goal.
  4. Union – This is the state of mystic union or Samadhi, in which your attention in a state of voidness and Being, or united with an essence of consciousness.
  5. Investigative focus – This is a state of inquiry in which the mind asks continual questions until it arrives at correct answer, exact knowledge, clear understanding, and full realization and mastery of the object of inquiry. This intensive discernment opens the Buddhic capsule of the Soul and brings about enlightenment.
  6. Faith – This is the absolute conviction of the existence and Presence of God through establishing a dynamic connection with the Divine through the cord of faith. Your reception of God’s comfort and love, God’s communication of guidance and direction to you, and your expression of love, devotion, and worship for God mark the presence of faith. This may also face the form of igniting the love and devotion of your spirit, together with an irresistible yearning to go back to your Divine Source.
  7. Creation – This occurs when you generate one-pointed intention marshalling the forces of your attentional principle to create and manifest what you desire. This can take the form of an affirmation, decree, or powerful suggestion. Making attunements also uses this magnetizing of your intentional force.

You can activate these “power states” through remembering an incident in your life when you experienced these states in your life. Inquire, what were the circumstances, the way your saw the world, when you were able to muster these powerful focusing forces within you.

See if you can replicate that energy through focusing your attention upon it, and notice what enables it to come forward.

You can also observe another person who models this quality, and determine what enables him or her to express this quality. Cultivate this quality in yourself. [My mentor, Eben Pagan, used to say that if you want to become successful, spend time with people who are more successful than you, and their qualities will rub off on you.]

Resolve to learn how to acquire these seven “power states” of mind. Do not stop until you have developed them to a state of proficiency.

If you understand how each of these “power states” of the mind operates, you can readily acquire them.

  • Concentration arises from one-pointed intention. Intention is a faculty of your intentional consciousness, which we call the attentional principle. You use intention to collect your attention and move it to discrete focal points. [We teach this practice in our Introduction to Meditation Program. We show you how to focus your attention and explore each level of your Conscious, Subconscious, and Metaconscious mind, and activate your abilities at these levels.]
  • Decision arises from the faculty of volition that is anchored in the Self at the core of your personality. Your intellect frames the options available to you, and their pros and cons, and you choose the option that appears to be best.
  • Commitment engages your desire body, which provides the tenacity, courage, perseverance, and long-term staying power to stay with a decision you make for as long as it takes to reach your goal. This can take the form of obtaining a college degree, sustaining a marriage to raise your children together and spend your retirement with your life partner, or saving for your retirement throughout your working career. If you can make an important life decision, activating your desire body can translate your choice into the motivation that will drive you forward through the difficult periods and get you to your goal.
  • Union unites your attention with an object of meditation. Your intention focuses your attention on that meditation object. Your awareness opens. You become completely absorbed, at one with this object of meditation. [We teach you how to produce the state of union through our training in Raja Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Investigative focus activates your faculty of reason through your will. It can stimulate your quest to find out the causes of selected phenomena; in this aspect, it is the driving force of scientific research and discovery. In its higher form, it appears as incessant questioning that you direct to your attentional principle, your spirit, or your Soul. This opens the Soul’s illumined mind, and progressively leads your attention to the state of enlightenment—when all of your Soul’s wisdom and knowledge is opened to you. [We teach you how to tap into your intuitive stream that can answer your questions through our training in Jnana Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Faith connects you with God through the cord of faith and remembrance. Through this connection, you establish a dialog and loving relationship with the form of the Divine to which you pray and invoke. Its higher counterpart awakens when you focus your attention on your spirit. [We teach you how to awaken your spirit and show it how to travel back to its Divine Source through our training in Nada Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Creation focuses the forces of thought, contemplation, suggestion and affirmation to anchor what you intend in the Subconscious and Superconscious mind. Its higher counterpart is to “carry the Light” and make attunements. [We teach you how to activate the power of creation through affirmation and how to do attunements in the Invocational Methods and Agni Yoga modules of our training, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]

Develop these “power states” of mind within yourself, and you will transform the way you study and learn, the way you operate in your career, and the way you achieve your personal goals. It will also enhance your meditation and communion with God.

The mind does not work at its best in a state of duality, polarity, or ambivalence. Find the point of clarity, synthesis, and purpose: this will enable you to summon forth these “power states” of mind. This will connect you with your innate ability to do what you say you will, to complete and achieve your personal goals, and to fulfill your spiritual destiny. Settle for nothing less.