beoverwhelmed by the appearances during the bardo of dying. This recognition is what isknown as the merging of the luminosity of mother and child; their previous recognitionwill mix with their identification of it. The mother is the luminosity of the ground whichis recognized and the child is the experience of dharmata which one previouslycultivated.Courtesy Namo Buddha Publications Thrangu Rinpoche"From The Direct Instructions on Mahamudra and Dzogchen. To be published, Fall, 2008."Analytic Meditation of a PanditaWithin the instructions on Mahamudra and The Great Perfection which are presentedin this text, we have reached the insight methods from both of these traditions. I feel ofthese two systems of instruction the one that is most beneficial for practitionersnowadays are Mahamudra. And, I feel therefore that Mahamudra teaching and practice isthe most important.The reason is that, although, there are many profound instructions which if practicedwith great diligence while living in retreat, and having given up the world are veryeffective, nowadays it is very rare for people to be able to give up all the concerns of thislife. What we really need, practically speaking, is a system of practice that can beproperly implemented while we continue to maintain active lives, a system that can bepracticed without any harm to the course of our lives, or our livelihood. The system ofpractice most applicable in this context is Mahamudra.King Indrabhuti was not only a ruler but lived a life of luxury where as Nargarjunawas a great scholar and teacher. Both reached realization thru the practice of Mahamudra.The Kagyu forefathers Tilopa, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa all had different lifestylesinvolved with certain different responsibilities. Whatever their circumstances theyintegrated it with Mahamudra preserving mindfulness and alertness throughout all oftheir activities.In short, whatever your lifestyle may be and whatever form your practice may take, if itincludes the practice of Mahamudra it will be successful. Mahamudra is essential ornecessary practice even if you do other practices as well. For example, there are profoundmethods such as the Six Dharmas of Naropa, and the leap-over or Togel practice withinThe Great Perfection tradition; but if you do these practices without Mahamudra practicethey are not as affective. For example, you can practice Tummo or Dream Yoga and soon, and if you do them conjoined with Mahamudra practice they are tremendouslypowerful and effective. If you dont conjoin them with Mahamudra they are really notthat useful. Now we cant say that they are useless, no Dharma practice is useless, butthey dont fulfill their proper function unless Mahamudra practice is integrated into them.The same thing is true of the leap-over practice or Togel practice of The Great Perfection.Togel includes powerful methods such as the white instruction, red instruction, yellowinstruction and the darkness teaching, but if these techniques are practiced in the absenceof Mahamudra experience, not much benefit will accrue. Where, if they are practices inthe context of Mahamudra they are tremendously powerful. On the other hand, you canpractice just Mahamudra without any of these methods and it is still tremendouslybeneficial by itself.In this text the practice of direct valid cognition is divided into two styles of practice.One called the analytical meditation of