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<p>This article looks at the 'Daradas', an ethnic group hypothesized to have been some of the earliest inhabitants of the Ladakh region. The study looks particularly to the so called Dard graves of Ladakh, the ancestor cult, and rock carvings representing different phases of Stūpa art. (Mark Premo-Hopkins 2004-07-13)</p>
The Vigyan Bhairava Tantra (VBT) is one of the most important spiritual texts of the world. It is a text that shows you how to expand your mind or awareness and liberate the energy from the clutches of matter. In VBT the emphasis is on practical methods to focus the mind and awareness. The Vigyan Bhairava Tantra (VBT) contains 112 Meditation Techniques called ‘DHARANA’ for self realization. Dharana is an essential stage in order to avoid uncharted flights of awareness. It gives training and a direction to the mind and awareness. Dharana we called ‘concentration’ and the concentration means one pointedness. Just as we need a sharp pencil to write with or a sharp knife to cut with, the mind also must be sharpened through the practice of concentration. In the yogic tradition, dharana belongs to the internal stage of raja yoga which is the path of mental discipline. Practice of Dharana refines the perception enables us to tune with your real state of being. Dharana is the way prescribed to refine the antahkarana. Prana means a subtle life force, which provides energy to different organs (including mind) and also controls many vital life process (e.g. circulation, respiration etc.). I have selected four shlokas of VBT which gives us the techniques (Dharana) for awareness to your breath called Prana dharana, through which we can find out the true self or consciousness. It helps us to reach the inner joy and enlightment. Awareness of the pranic flows is the medium for these preliminary dharanas. In fact neither the body nor the mind can function without prana. Therefore by become conscious of our prana we can effectively control the body and mind. One has just to become aware of certain points in the breathing. These points are the basis of these techniques.