# The Woman of the Sky Answer Key, Class Nine: The Woman of the Sky **1) One of the most important subjects of our text is the "Seal of the Woman of the Sky."  Give the Sanskrit for this name, along with some related English words; and then explain the meaning of the name—which is to explain how the seal is performed.** The "Seal of the Woman of the Sky" is a translation for _khechari mudra _oecrI muÔE_.  Khechari _ is a made of two parts: _khe _and _chari.  Khe _means _in the sky, _where the word _kha _by itself means _sky, _and the ending _e _means _in.  _A related English word is _sky._ _Chari _comes from the root √_char _crœ_, _which means _to move.  _A related English word is _car.  _The _i _sound at the end of _chari _is the feminine ending, and makes this the _Woman _or _Lady _of the Sky. The idea here is of _moving through the sky, _which in the ancient texts is traditionally explained as _moving through the sky of emptiness: _the state of mind where we are flying through this void—the void represented by the fact that there is absolutely nothing around us which is not coming from our own projections, forced upon us by how we have treated people in the past. Enlightened beings are always "flying through the sky" in this way: their minds are always moving through the object of emptiness.  And this kind of flying is what has produced their enlightened bodies, the enlightened form of an Angel Woman being one of the most common of these bodies, and known by tradition as _Kechari: The Woman of the Sky._ **2) How do you think it's true that, as the Master says, "the Seal of the Woman of the Sky is more true than truth"?** This is a recognition of two levels of truth, or reality.  When we master the practice of the Seal of the Woman of the Sky, we have reached ultimate truth, or ultimate reality.  This is a higher reality than the one we see surrounding us now, but this is not to say that what we do see now is not real, or true, in its own way. What we do see around us is known as "deceptive" reality, in the sense that it is real, it does affect us, but it is not coming from where we thought it was. And so the Seal of the Woman of the Sky, through which we see ultimate truth, is trully "more true than (this lower) truth." **3) What does it mean to say that, with the Seal of the Woman of the Sky, "we bring on the very bliss of Shiva, a matchless ambrosia"?** The word Shiva has the meaning of Maker of Peace (Shi-je in the Tibetan).  It is a reference first of all to the fact that the emptiness which we perceive directly through the practice of this seal enables us to overcome, permanently, all our negative emotions; that is, it enables us to reach the state of nirvana, which is sometimes simply referred to as "peace." Secondly, we can go further and reach the peace of enlightenment itself: the state where we are a deathless Angel who can serve all beings on all worlds; and this in itself is the greatest form of peace—here called the "matchless ambrosia," a reference to amirta or nectar. The Greek word nectar  gives us the same meaning as amirta (deathlessness, where a- means not, and mirta means to die).  The nec  refers to death (as in necrophilia), and tar means to cross or go beyond, as in the name of the Goddess of Liberation, Tara. **4) What is the Master referring to when he says that nectar flows through the opening of the central channel "at the back," and then "fills the front as well," leading to the state "beyond the mind"?** This is a reference to what happens as the kundalini or inner fire melts down the white element at the tip of the head.  This element flows down in certain stages to the lower opening of the central channel, traditionally positioned at the back of the body, near the base of the spine.  It then reverses direction and flows up to the top of the body, one could say to the point where the central channel emerges between the eyebrows, at the front of the body. During the progression of the nectar up and down, we come to perceive emptiness at four different levels, which the Master here refers to as the state "beyond the mind." **5) The Master says that "death will forever be destroyed" if we can "master the practice of yogic sleep."  Describe this kind of sleep.** The reference here is to what in the Tibetan tradition is called the "yoga of dreaming."  We practice continually to maintain a normal state of awareness during our dreams.  As we begin to master this "lucid dreaming," we take it even further. During our dreams, we keep our mind on the fact that what we see in the dream is not real: it is only an illusion created by the mind.  We use the dream to stay aware of what an illusion is.  And then we bring to mind how everything else we ever see in our waking state is the same; it is all illusory, in the sense that it seems to be coming from its own side but is actually a product of our own minds, controlled by karma. #nidra **6) Master Svatmarama speaks of "dwelling forever like a vessel made of clay, standing between the space outside and the space within."  Explain.** The Master is reaching for a metaphor which will allow him to describe how we live after we have used the Seal of the Woman of the Sky to reach the direct perception of emptiness.  A clay vase has a space inside of it, and it stands as well within the universe at large, a grander sort of space outside of it. With the direct perception of emptiness, we come to the realization that we are living between two similar spaces.  "Space" here is of course, like the word "sky" throughout this section, referring to the philosophical lack of any object that comes from its own side. This philosophical voidness, again, takes two forms: (1) the fact that the world around us is not coming from its own side; and (2) that fact that we ourselves are not coming from our own side.  Both the world and we ourselves are perceptions resulting from karmic seeds that have ripened within our minds. **7) What does the Master mean when he says that the "wind in the middle dissolves just as the wind outside has already dissolved"?** The winds "outside" the central channel are, primarily, those which are flowing within the two side channels: the winds responsible for our misperception that we ourselves, and the world around us, are coming from their own side, and not from our karmic seeds. The first step in the progression of our transformation into an enlightened being takes place when these side winds "dissolve into," or enter, the central channel—a state which is marked on the outside by the evening out of the breath between the two nostrils, and its equal rate of flow through both. At some point well after their entrance, these winds—which are now inner—melt down within the central channel itself, dissolving in a second sense.  This of course, as we have mentioned before, is the point at which the process of laya begins. **8) When the "blessed waters of immortality" flood the body, then we "attain the form of majesty, infinite might of the conqueror."  Explain this form, and might, and the meaning of "conqueror" here.** The "form" referred to here is the physical form of an enlightened being, which has two parts: the "home" form, or the way that the being appears within their own paradise; and then the "emanation" form, or the infinite variety of physical appearances which the being takes on in the service of countless different suffering creatures. The "might" here refers to the ability of an enlightened being to help others, which is a perfect kind of strength.  This does not imply an ability to change other beings' reality for them, and simply take away their pain with the wave of a hand.  Since everything each of us experiences is coming from what we ourselves have done to others, then it is impossible for one person to simply cancel another's experiences, or change them at will.  This in fact is why we are suffering now; if it were possible to simply take our pain away and onto themselves, holy beings would have done this for us long ago. The "might" here is, rather, a perfect ability to teach people how to make their own perfect karma. The word "conqueror" is often applied to enlightened beings in recognition of the wars they have won against the negative forces of life; the scriptures specifically mention that these beings have conquered the adversaries of their own mental afflictions; their own past karma; the need to take a normal, suffering birth ever again; and the obstacles that prevent them from knowing all things, from serving people with a perfect knowledge of what they need, what they have done in the past, and what will happen to them in the future. **9) We have been discussing the physical, mental, and behavioral signs that might help us diagnose ourselves as having a _lung _disorder: a disorder of the inner winds brought on for example by the improper practice of asanas or pranayama.  Name at least 5 ways that we can prevent or lessen a lung disorder by adjusting our general behavior or lifestyle.** The following are some "behavioral fixes" for a lung disorder; they are largely based on doing the opposite of what we tend to do when we do have a disorder— (1) The Tibetan medical texts advise us to go out into nature; to take long quiet walks, preferably in a natural setting, especially where we can spend a good amount of time looking at the sky, either the daytime sky or nighttime sky, covered with stars. (2) Do something manual and grounding, the opposite of something like surfing the web; the three-year retreatants at Diamond Mountain found that activities like gardening and sewing were very helpful here. (3) Spending quiet time not exposed to sources of stimulation.  This can include lessening the degree of shallow, worldly sexual input that we have. (4) Avoiding unnecessary, unimportant input such as news from newspapers; radio; or television. (5) Restricting the use of computers and the web (including email) to periods of one and a half hours each, then closing the machine and doing something more grounding for half an hour before continuing. (6) Restricting interaction with friends to quiet, purposeful, quality time spent together with a few good friends, rather than many busy, shallow interactions. (7) Making sure that we eat responsibly, avoiding products that have involved harming others, and also avoiding sugars and starch and getting a lot of protein and greens.  Avoiding caffeine and carbonated drinks, slowly switching over to different types of water and calming herbal teas. (8) Making sure that we get sufficient sleep, be responsible about avoiding behavior that prevents us from sleeping whatever amount we personally need, which is typically 7 to 8 hours, or even more. (9) Seeing that we exercise regularly.  Again, we can only really be regular in our exercise if we are very purposely and consciously doing it to better ourselves so that we can better serve others. (10) Maintain an orderly, clean living space. (11) Don't put ourselves in a position where we are stressed out financially.  Live simply and responsibly, within our means. The Yoga Studies Institute Course VI: Hatha Yoga Pradipika II Pranayama: Breath and the End of Breath