Vision Quests vs. Hindu Meditation
I’ve been watching a lot of movies about Native Americans on youtube. Apparantly they are not so different from us Raja Yogis in many ways. In Raja Yoga it is common to have visions during meditation when we are in a deeply meditative state of mind. But, we don’t seek the visions, we just have them and then write about them in our journals and forget about them. Raja Yoga is too much about forgetting — otherwise you get attached which is bad.
But, in Native American culture, to become a man you have to go out into nature with no food and water in some cases for a few days. The idea is to conquer your fear, and also to be in so much pain that your body chemistry and brain chemistry changes to the point where it is hypnotic. Under these conditions, it is more possible to have a vision. Part of the assignment for the children is often to have a vision in addition to dealing with fear and dealing with being alone.
You can imagine how it would be even for an adult being out in nature with not enough clothes, no food, no friends, and trying to survive out there for a few days. In tribal culture, they might send someone to check on you once or twice per day as a courtesy. Also, the spirits would probably bother you if you were afraid and out in the middle of nowhere. They bother me, so they will undoubtedly bother you.
Visions are a big part of Native American life as well as the culture of most indiginous cultures in one way shape or form. We all have visions, particularly when we are dreaming, half asleep, daydreaming, or sometimes even during full consciousness. Muslims do not distinguish visions from dreams. The truth of visions is that they are messages from deep in our subconscious. Some of us are better at accessing our subconscious than others. It is an art actually to gracefully access information from deep within.
Hallucinogens were part of all indiginous cultures
Hallucinogens were common in many tribes. Some had magic mushrooms, somes use leaves from trees to create Iowaska, some used Paeote from cactuses, while some tribes had grasses that produced the same result. The Hallucinations are induced partly because of a chemical or drug that natually occurs in these plants. In ancient times, shamans had to have visions for the survival of their tribe in order to find food far away. If they goofed, the whole tribe would die. God put these plants in one form or another throughout the world for native peoples to use, survive and develop a culture of visions.
Visions for Marketing
I am a business man. I grew up in Anglo society here in America. But, I am deeply spiritual and meditate on business issues in addition to doing general mediation. The others who do meditation in our Raja Yoga group do not use spirituality as a tool to succeed. They just zone out and meditate and don’t care about anything. I have many past lives as a shaman, so I realize that spirituality is not only a nice thing to do, but can be a tool for survival looking for food, or looking for business. Over the years I have had many visions about my business. Some came to me in my sleep, others in meditation, and others during trips to the underworld. But, can you meditate and get visions that will help you with your business? If you are a Native American, this should be a standard part of your routine. But, regular folks can do it too. The question is, can you interpret your visions in a way that is accurate and helpful?