The Path less Travelled

 

The Path less Travelled

When we say – The path less travelled – we recognise that overcoming adversity generally advances our awareness and understanding of the world. The mindset of an explorer or adventurer is to embrace the unknown, regardless of how difficult the journey may turn out to be. In relation to human life, there are many paths one can choose. If one were to look down from a high vantage point one would see people like ants running criss-cross on many different pathways, all of them are on a roadway going somewhere – where is the question!

If we were to examine all the pathways upon which people are walking, we notice one thing which is common to all – all these paths come to an abrupt halt once we take our final breath. Our wealth, our careers, our worldly knowledge, our relationships, our art are all left behind when our physical body perishes. The natural question is what then is the path which is eternal, that outlives the physical body and leads us towards universal consciousness? The answer obviously is spirituality – this is the pathway of universal love that leads us to the God within each one of us – where we will be embraced in a love that will last for all eternity. Thus, the path less travelled is actually like a journey of love, because you undertake it knowing full well that there will be huge obstacles to overcome.

With the practice of meditation under the guidance of a living spiritual Master, we start walking on the path less travelled. As soon as you start, some of you will experience that certain untoward incidents start taking place, do not worry, this is just the Master’s way of telling you that he has put your bad karmas on the fast track, he will give you the strength to endure them. Have faith, have confidence and trust in the Master, you will soon find that the bad times have gone and you are now in a more peaceful and loving environment. Through meditation you completely lose your heart to the God within, you are filled with love for all beings – this is the path to attain the state of universal love. As we focus within with the help of the spiritual Master, we connect with the current of universal consciousness.

We enter the inner realms and experience regions of beauty, bliss and light which surpass anything you have experienced in the material world. This brings about a personal transformation within us. We awaken to the reality of our existence. We become channels of love that can bring joy and help to others. We are able to contribute to making the world a better place. We then can radiate universal love.

Every aspect of spirituality is built on the principle of love that can be experienced universally by people of all ages and from all walks of life. The spiritual practices are fuelled by the power of love. If we understand the role of universal love in all aspects of the spiritual path, we will find that spirituality is not hard at all. It is easy – it is the path less travelled! Just remember perseverance, faith, trust and commitment to your Guru ultimately pays.

The Seven Bodies

 

The Seven Bodies

Swamiji in his discourses has spoken about the awakening of the Kundalini and the seven bodies in brief in his discourses. Here we will try and examine what these bodies are. The first body is the Physical Body – this body is also known as the Sthul sharir – we are all aware of the physical body and most of us do not progress beyond this level in our spiritual journey. This develops in the first seven years after birth. The progress starts once a living Guru plants the seed of self-realisation within you.

In the next seven years from ages 7 to 14 one develops the second subtle body which is the Etheric Body or the bhava sharir. Here, the emotional development and maturity takes place. Sexual maturity which is the most wanton of emotions is developed by the age of fourteen. Some people’s growth stops here and they cannot progress beyond this stage at all and get stuck with the physical and etheric bodies.

After this is the Astral Body or the sukshma sharir – in this seven-year phase till the age of twenty-one, the power of reasoning, thinking and intellect are developed as the individual reaches adulthood – but here too it is just the adulthood of sex. The astral body, where thinking, reason, intellect, etc develop, is a sequel to tradition, civilization, culture, education, and company. It is natural that the usual range of seven years for the development of each body is becoming less and less with more and more evolution of man. Girls reach puberty as early as twelve years now, so the time for development is decreasing, another indication of hastening maturity is the decrease in voting age to 18 years for adults. The majority of people do not rise beyond this stage.

Between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight the Mental Body or the manas sharir is developed. The Kundalini, dream, siddhis (spiritual accomplishment) mentioned in yoga, etc are the parts of the mental body. Imagination and thoughts are also underlying areas of the fourth body. When the kundalini awakens it becomes impossible to take intoxicants. A simple test to know whether the fourth body is active or not is to check whether you have to suppress the emotion of rage or violence, if this is so then the kundalini is not awakened. Still, this body is not the final aim, there are three more bodies that have to be passed.

The next body is the Spiritual Body or the atma sharir which is of great significance. The entry into the fifth body is possible only if the kundalini awakens in the fourth body.

Very few seekers reach the fifth body and once they do they get stuck here and feel that attaining the soul is reaching the ultimate goal, but that is not so as the journey still continues. At this stage the boundaries of the body are surpassed and liberation is experienced in this body.

The sixth body is the Cosmic Body or the brahma sharir. The natural development of this body occurs from age 35 to 42 years. There is very little to describe this stage as words are ineffective in offering any kind of description. This has to be experienced, but very few and far between people reach this stage.

The final frontier is the Nirvanic Body – this is the stage where the flame dies out and everything disappears, even brahman evaporates. When Gautam Buddha was asked what happens there? Buddha replied. “The blaze dies out.” Then what happens? – “When the blaze dies, the question dissolves.” Where has the question gone? Where is it the blaze now? It is dissolved and that is final – nirvana.

When one grows beyond his soul, when he desires to leave it, he pierces the cosmic body. The fifth body is the gateway of liberation, and if he accesses up to the sixth there achieve God-realization stage. Then the question of liberation disappears. Now he declares Aham Brahmasmi – I am God – is of this superficies. Yet one step is more, which is the final leap – where there is nothingness or empty; there is no aham and no Brahman, here I and thou are completely non-existent, – there is complete and utter void. This is known as Nirvana.

Spiritual Energy and the Cosmos

 

Spiritual Energy and the Cosmos

We are all aware of the gross body and the subtle body – Swamiji has explained this in many of his discourses. With meditation and opening of the chakras and awakening of the kundalini energy, we start receiving cosmic energy. Actually, this is an ongoing process but because we are not aware and our minds are filled with thoughts of the past and the future, we are actually unable to receive this flow of continuous energy.

With continuous practice of half an hour of daily meditation as indicated by Swamiji, over a period of time we cleanse our chakras and meridians and begin to live in the present moment. Once we become more or less empty that is when our own spiritual energy starts connecting with the cosmic energy. Cosmic energy is nothing but the energy of universal consciousness or Paramatma or God – we all are surrounded by it, in and out, it is everywhere – we are just not aware of it.

When one’s spiritual energy unites with cosmic energy it heals the blockages present in the body. Once we are aligned with cosmic energy we become a channel, a medium for it, like Swamiji is in today’s world. This energy regulates the blood flow and lowers stress on the heart. It expands our consciousness and make us more in tune with everything around us rather than restrict us to our immediate family and inner circle. We become more aware and responsible for the planet and all its creatures and their right to live equally in harmony on earth. This expands our field of thinking and makes us wiser too. It helps us to lead a happy and prosperous life wherein we become a medium to share happiness selflessly with everyone and everything. Once this happens it gives us inner peace and joy.

Cosmic energy is all knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient because it is God’s own energy. With meditation we reach a stage where our mind becomes silent, we become void and then we welcome the cosmic energy as it starts flowing in us and becoming one with our own spiritual energy. Our body is truly wonderful. It is like an interconnected web of many systems and organs working together – our body is actually a reflection of the universe within the physical body with billions of cells etc.  When one system is stressed or agitated, the brain sends ripples (signals) across the body & the whole body feels stressed out & disturbed. When we are emotionally disturbed, stress hormones adrenalin & cortisol are released in our blood inducing illness in the body.

Emotions i.e. Energy in motion. An emotionally disbalanced mind sucks our physical energy too & leaves us drained out. But when we detach from this monkey mind and see the big picture, we realize that everything happens for a reason. We wish to solve all problems at the physical or psychological level but when we rise to the spiritual level & connect to the Universal Energy, all the problems are effortlessly solved and we attain permanent peace & bliss.

 

When will we Learn to remain Awake?

 

When will we Learn to remain Awake?

Many of us have been practicing spirituality in some form or the other for several years. Some of us are born spiritual, some work at it and become spiritual and some have spirituality thrust upon them. Whichever category you fall into, the question is after becoming soul conscious do you remain in that state continuously or do you vacillate between period of body consciousness and soul consciousness?

We all live in society, go to work, attend parties, and so on where we come in contact with a variety of people – some good some not so good. Because we practice spirituality either through meditation, mindfulness practice, yoga or whichever method – we have a tendency to pull in negative vibrations from others. When we do that, we get disturbed and we are not aware about what has disturbed our balance. We try and analyse what went wrong and invariably cannot pin it down! The trick is to remain balanced and aware in spite of living in society with all its facets. I will try and tell you what works for me – remember it is something we have to first learn to do consciously and then with practice it becomes a part of you.

Start noticing things consciously – why do I get angry so often? Why am I comparing myself to others? Why can’t I get up when the alarm goes off? Why do I attract so much drama? The first step is always being aware of the present moment followed by an impulse to change something. Next, is feeling a sense of connection which comes from shared humanity. This connection could be with your friends, family, community and so on. You develop a heightened awareness of other creatures and their right to live on this planet. You consciously stop littering and so on which establishes your love for earth. You then start letting go of your attachments – each attachment drops away like another piece of clothing. Once this process starts you start feeling inner peace and quiet.

You slowly develop a sense of empathy to others’ problems giving rise to compassion which is inspired by the empathy. As you progress and learn to remain awake you will begin to feel a sense of being in tune with existence, once you start feeling that you will begin to lose the fear of death, once you lose the fear of death, you will no longer be afraid of anything – you have reached a stage of soul consciousness where you are always in a state of wakefulness.

To remain consistently in a state of wakeful awareness one should practice meditation, spend time in nature, laugh and spread joy, dance in abandon, do community work, volunteer for social causes, practice gratitude and consciously slow down in today’s fast paced world. As Eckhart Tolle said, “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realising who you are at the deepest level.” Focus on becoming yourself – that will be time well spent!

Pitfalls in Spiritual Progress

 

Pitfalls in Spiritual Progress

As we move along our day-to-day life and parallelly be a seeker on the spiritual path we will come across several pitfalls which we must be aware of. Spirituality is all about complete unconditional surrender and total faith in one’s Guru who is taking you to your destination – liberation or moksha! But on that path, as we live in society, we need to be aware of the pitfalls which bring you down. This entire journey is like a game of snakes and ladders – good deeds and commitment take you up and deeds which go against the grain of spirituality bring you down through the snake’s mouth!

If we are not aware and are stepping in the dark then we end up making more karmas due to misdeeds, wrong actions or plain ignorance which leads to taking more and more births. Such people are unable to release themselves from the cycle of birth-death-rebirth and this has resulted in a population explosion on earth, the consequences of which we face today. Today, people are becoming more frustrated, arrogant, hopeless and losing control of themselves. Very few souls are able to meet the objective of their taking birth and because of the majority not being able to do so the quality of souls is degrading.

The churn has started, shift in consciousness is taking place, but this is a long process. So, for ensuring that the churn continues and positive change happens on earth we need to know the pitfalls. In the current scenario just meditating will not help spiritual growth. Unless soul consciousness increases through meditation and practicing honesty, selflessness, compassion, balancing one’s ego, removing unwanted and contaminated emotions and so on it will not be possible to attain one’s goal. Purification of the soul is an ongoing process and this is of utmost importance because on its journey the soul passes through many situations through several births which results in certain patterns – these unwanted patterns need to be purified.

A soul’s quality is inbuilt and always pure but over several births layers of muck gather over it and it takes birth with those patterns to achieve its Soul Mission. Over births, if the qualities are not properly balanced or lacking then it needs to be balanced or improved. Soul pattern is a subtle characteristic of the soul which is either induced or picked up by the soul during its journey over several births. When these characteristics are repeated over several births they become a pattern of the soul, and unless these unwanted patterns are removed it keeps repeating in future lives too.

So, to conclude we have to balance or improve our unwanted qualities and purify or remove our unwanted patterns. Meditation helps you, a living Master clears your current birth karmas and helps you balance the soul’s qualities and purify its patterns, But for that your commitment, your awareness and your dedication to your goal of liberation are of paramount importance.

Selfless Service and Spiritual Progress

 

Selfless Service and Spiritual Progress

All across the globe we are witnessing heavy rains and floods which has resulted in untold damage to life and property. The scenes all over the world are tragic to say the least. Compassion starts flowing when one sees such scenes and one feels like doing something to help those in dire straits – it could be anything, donating money, clothes, food packets, volunteering physical help in rescue and rehabilitation efforts – it has to be selfless and without any ulterior motives. When your service is selfless out of the kindness of your heart, at this point you are very close to God, your soul is guiding you to do what is right.

In the words of Sri M, “An activity that benefits others – feeding the hungry, sharing knowledge with the unknowing, resolving the suffering of others, worshipping the poor, and serving the needy – thinking of them as the very personification of God. One’s spiritual purification is realised only through this selfless service. Service is the best way; serve others and do your Sadhana alongside. Both must be combined.”

Selfless service takes you closer to your soul and increases your soul consciousness which results in giving your spiritual progress a booster dose. It is an essential key to happiness and fulfillment. When selfless service is done at the soul level, it is considered as the highest form of service from an existential perspective, because the ultimate goal of each soul is moksha or liberation and not just material growth or enjoyment on earth!

But again, the truth is that, if the basic needs are not taken care of, no soul can improve at the soul level, which means, spiritual growth is possible only if the basic needs are fulfilled. One thing one must always remember that the service one offers should not be for name, fame or glory and to show off in society! It is also important as to how the service is being performed, whether it is from a comfort zone or if it is being done in tough and trying conditions! The Universe is observing all this – it is not about what one is offering but in what conditions one is offering and with what intent – that is what matters in the eyes of the Universe.

So, to conclude apart from one’s meditation and allied spiritual practice one has to serve society, give back to society without any expectations with love and compassion, that is what will help you in your spiritual progress.

The God spot in the Brain

 

The God spot in the Brain

You may or may not have heard about the God-spot which exists in the brain. You have definitely read about the research on the God-particle in atoms on which large-scale research is taking place. But God spot! Well, this is a spot which is said to be in the brain which is one distinct area which is responsible for spirituality. Certain parts of the brain play more dominant roles, but all of them work together to facilitate an individual’s spiritual experiences. Whether you have it or not, you are wired for it. There is a central part of the brain which is known as the limbic system, which has the thalamus and the amygdala – it is in the center of the brain and it is connected directly to the stem – the brain stem – the medulla. They have found that this limbic system is that which is the emotional part of the brain and if the person has that which is known as samadhi – a spiritual experience, it is the limbic system that becomes active – not the rational part of the brain (the right lobe and the left lobe which are necessary for us to survive), but the inner part.

A whole new field of research and study called neuro theology is examining this aspect of the brain. We in Samarpan have carried out basic research on the impact of meditation on one’s blood sugar and blood pressure among others – in all the cases we had seen a remarkable positive improvement in the before the event and after the event results. This is a part of neuro science where research is taking place to find out which part of the brain is actively involved in enhancing your spiritual experiences, when this part of the brain gets activated, whether meditation can help in finding the God spot. These are all questions which are being asked and research is taking place to find the answers. The best part is how do we do the research unless we have subjects who are at different levels of spiritual activity through meditation who offer themselves for carrying out this research.

Basically, what neuro theology is trying to do is try and confer the authority of science upon religion. I personally feel that without appropriate subjects for testing this entire exercise is bound to be nothing more than scientific gibberish which leads nowhere. Finding the God spot, even if there is one, can only happen when you get a strong pool of meditators who would be willing to be subject to this research, which to me looks a bit far fetched today. I am sure the God spot exists without which the spiritual experiences would not have been possible. Let us wait for the right atmosphere and the right tools to find that spot. But if you ask me the less you know about it the better, because once you think you have found it, then the scientists and control freaks would definitely end up using it for ulterior motives!

Kindness and Compassion

 

Kindness and Compassion

One of the best spiritual teachings which I read was in a post by Sri M – it was all about kindness and compassion. If the seeker is following and practicing the teaching then the teacher is right within him, however far he may be physically! That is the difference between a spiritual Master and a school, college, university teacher! The teaching needs to be imbibed in a way that it becomes a subconscious part of you and you become the teaching. He explained this with a story which went something like this –

There was a great king who wanted spiritual guidance, so he went to the Royal Sage and asked him for guidance. He told him to go visit a certain village and meet a sage called Raikva. The king went to that village and asked for Raikva and the villagers sent the king to a hut. The Royal Sage had told him that this sage does not own any ashram, all he has is a cart which he pulls to earn his living. When the king reached the hut, he saw a man come pulling a heavily loaded cart. The kind introduced himself and Raikva told him to wait as he went about doing his work. After some time, he turned the cart in a way that he could sit under it shaded from the sun. The king told him that he had come seeking spiritual guidance. As Raikva sat in the shade of the cart the king saw that he had several festering wounds in which white maggots were feeding. He looked at them with compassion and let them feed. When he saw the kings shocked face he said with great kindness and compassion, “This is their food so I do not let the sores heal and deprive them of their food. Now tell me what would you like to know?”

The king was dumbfounded, without Raikva guiding him verbally he realised that the highest spiritual attainment comes with compassion and kindness, and not anything else. Some people think that spiritual knowledge and practice is tied to the intellect. It is not! By learning scriptures, one does not become spiritual, you get information but not knowledge and wisdom. That comes with practice from the depths of your heart. The heart needs to be open for kindness and compassion to flow.

Therefore, if you have been doing your spiritual practices for a number of years and find that you have yet to develop compassion and kindness towards all living creatures then we have to re-examine and review what we have been doing all these years. Introspection is a must to keep on the right path and for course correction if we find we are deviating from the path. As we progress in the spiritual field one of the most important changes that takes place in one’s spiritual evolution is kindness and compassion that fills the heart. Unless and until the heart becomes kind and soft, one cannot strive for perfection in the spiritual sphere!

What does Freedom Mean to You?

 

What does Freedom Mean to You?

When we hear the word freedom in the modern context, it is all about rights – freedom of expression, freedom to practice one’s religion, freedom to protest, freedom to do this, that and the other. Never mind if your freedom tramples on someone else’s freedom. The ego only recognises what is ‘mine’ and to hell with what is ‘yours’! The media, the political world is up in protest – freedom is under threat, democracy is dying in some of the most robust democracies – the irony being that people shouting about threats are not being arrested and thrown in jail in such democracies – whereas countries like China can get away with murder and still not be held accountable – look at the Uyughir issue. In fact, the Islamic countries talk about threat to their religion in all countries except in China, where it suddenly becomes an internal problem!

As far as I am concerned, for me freedom means becoming free from bondage to the physical body – that can only happen with subduing the ego! As you progress on the spiritual path, you realise that the religious practices of every religion are nothing but bondages – they bind you rather than free you. You are stuck in religious dogma where right and wrong are defined as per standards laid down 2000 years ago. Like the saying goes one man’s food is another man’s poison – so what is right for one may be wrong for another. Who decides right from wrong? Societal standards? These standards are set up by ‘modern’ society – all you have to do is go into the tribal areas and see how simply they live in nature – for them God is nature as it provides them everything that they need for survival. It is modern society which corrupts the soul by giving modern solutions to so called ‘problems’!

As you dive deeper and deeper into your own inner core through meditation you find everything dissolving into nothingness – nothing matters but the state of your own being. In this state you feel light, buoyant, joyous, peaceful and free at last. Here there are no boundaries as you find the void which leads you into dazzling light – in this stage nothing is good or bad and you are not limited by any constraints. You get released into that state of void and realise your limitlessness – the freedom to roam at the speed of thought. If you recollect Rabindranath Tagore’s poem – ‘The Mind is Without Fear…’ you will realise what I am talking about. That is the freedom Rabindranath Tagore was referring to when he ends his poem, “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

 

 

 

Doing Meditation or Meditating?

 

Doing Meditation or Meditating?

There is a subtle difference between ‘doing meditation’ and meditating. The question is whether one can do meditation? One can definitely practise meditation but do meditation – naa, you can’t do meditation because if you are doing meditation then you are not getting a state of meditation. The very fact that ‘you’ are doing it means you are involving the physical body in action. Meditation is the means to connect with your inner self – it is a slow process that involves total and unconditional surrender with complete faith to a higher power, it could be your Guru or Enlightened Master or any person to whom you submit yourself for higher spiritual learning.

I personally feel that even when a person says, “I am doing meditation” – that person subconsciously has the feeling of being a ‘doer’ – the moment that happens the ego comes into play and the state of meditation which one is trying to attain goes further away. When you observe people who are doing meditation, you will invariably find their brows stretched or brought together which show that they are trying to meditate, they are making an effort to stop the rush of thoughts in their mind. Many of us while sitting down keep wondering how we can stop this thought process.

The very fact that the mind is hyperactive indicates that we are far away from the state to which we aspire! An easy way to meditate or slowly work towards achieving that state is by just observing one’s thoughts while breathing slowly. Initially slow down your breathing consciously and you will observe that your thoughts also slow down, hold your breath for a minute and your thoughts will be on hold for a minute. By practicing in this manner, over a period of time, you will imbibe this habit and your breathing will automatically slow down the moment you sit for meditation. Whenever you want to meditate and you inform your family or friends, just say I am going for meditation, or sitting for meditation – do not use the phrase – ‘going to do meditation’. By consciously avoiding the feeling of being a ‘doer’, one is reducing one’s ego. Once this happens and the way you express yourself changes over a period of time, you will observe that your ego has subsided substantially. 

Just be a witness and meditate. With time you will go into depths of meditation and the feeling of being a doer or meditation will disappear. Meditation is something which happens, one does not ‘do’ it. Practice and you will definitely find yourself going into meditation rather than going to do meditation.

 

Remaining Centered in a Material World

 

Remaining Centered in a Material World

Today, with all the chaos both political and the pandemic which is afflicting all parts of the world, staying balanced and centered is becoming more and more challenging, I would say. Luckily, with the lockdown we do not have access to newspapers anymore – at least we have stopped subscribing to the print media. I have also stopped watching TV and the slanging matches which sell as news today! So, just by staying away from the media, to a certain extent, I manage to retain a degree of sanity. But the question is – is this enough?

We are bombarded with all kinds of stuff through the alternated media and it comes directly into our handsets! I invariably read or watch something which is of some interest – 90% of the whatsapp, telegram, facebook, Instagram posts are ignored. I end up seeing only what needs to be seen. This actually happens automatically – anything of interest just pops up and says – ‘read me or watch me’!

If you have a compelling desire to remain centered and balanced, believe me the universe will help you achieve your goal – you should have the desire for peace or bust – nothing in between – inside me as well as around me! When we accept that life is nothing but a mirror which reflects our inner state, that is when we begin to understand that the external chaos is nothing but a reflection of our mental state. As Swamiji says our outer world is a reflection of our inner world – so once we learn to quieten the inner noise, our external noise and chaos will simmer down. Most of the time we get this process backwards and hence it takes such a long time for us to realise and then tame this mental monster.

We can transcend this external chaos only by cultivating an inner calm and remaining centered in one’s own self. We can do this through regular meditation and consciously practicing mindfulness, living in a state of constant awareness, correcting oneself when we find ourselves deviating from the chosen path. It is very difficult to do this, as those near and dear to us will taunt us, tease us and do all they can to bring us back into ‘their’ world. It is up to us to follow our chosen path and at the same time remain in society, participate in it fully but without getting emotionally involved or attached. We can only do that by practicing, what I call, detached attachment!

Meditation and living in the moment and not vacillating between the past and the future will help you remain centered in spite of the surrounding chaos and noise – once you quieten the mind you will not ‘hear’ the external noise. Guru-purnima is round the corner – let us stay focused, balanced, centered and peaceful withing our own core to maximise the absorption of energy which will shower on us in a couple of days.

The Moment is the only Reality

 

The Moment is the only Reality

In 2009 the seed was sown

He said - regular meditation is needed.

Sit alone and drink the nectar each morn

And in the evening, sit with a group and be reborn.

This happened day after day, every day 

Until the day dissolved, into a moment’s play.

The dissolution opened the inner eye

And showed the way to die, then re-emerge without the ‘I’.

The falling of the ‘I’, it lifted a burden huge

That for eons was carried in the cauldron within.

The weight was gone, and the time conundrum 

Dissolved into nothing except the moment.

The pandemic taught us to stay at home

Meditation took us deep within our dome

That dome is our home, we live in it.

In our day to day ignorance we had lost the way.

Now however the way is clear 

Live in the moment and be without fear.

The moment is the only reality for sure!

Once we realise this - we are infinity!!

Aura Explained

 

Aura Explained

Yesterday I wrote about charisma and aura. Today, I will try and give more information about the aura. We now know that aura is nothing but the bio-energy or electro-magnetic field surrounding every living being. Even plants, trees, animals have an aura. The aura has colors of the rainbow and each color is associated with the chakras or energy centres or glands in the human body. The aura has seven layers each layer connected to each chakra this in turn is said to give rise to seven auric bodies or planes. The first one is the physical aura or etheric plane which is closest to the physical body and represents our physical health. The next one is the emotional aura plane and as the name suggest it is directly linked to your emotions and its color changes as per your mood – if you are in a bad mood, it will appear dull or smudged. The mental plane is related to logic, reasoning and thoughts – this is the third layer from the body. Beyond this layer is the astral body plane which deals with your spiritual health. This plane also stores your capacity to love. The Etheric plane is the fifth level which is connected with your psychic abilities. A clear etheric plane helps you tap into other’s energy and connect with those who are on a similar wavelength. The celestial plane is related to your dreams an intuition. It is also the plane of enlightenment – a person with a strong celestial aura tends to be extremely creative. The final one is the causal plane – this harmonises all the other layers and basically guides you on your path in life.

The colors of the aura are connected to the chakras. A brief explanation of positive attributes of the same is given below.

Red: (Muladhar or Root chakra) – indicates a well-grounded, energetic and a strong-willed person. Orange: (Swadhishthan or Sacral chakra) – indicates an adventurous, thoughtful, considerate person. Yellow: (Nabhi or navel chakra) – indicates a creative, relaxed, friendly personality. Green: (Hriday or Heart chakra) – indicates social, communicator, nurturing nature in a person. Blue: (Vishuddhi or Throat chakra) – indicates an intuitive, spiritual, freethinking person. Indigo: (Agya or third eye chakra) – indicates curious, spiritually connected, gentle person. Violet: (Sahastrar or crown chakra) – indicates a wise, intellectual, independent person.

With meditation all these chakras and auric planes are formed which creates the auric field around your body. Seers can see the aura; a good strong aura has vibrant colors whereas an unhealthy aura is dull and dark in color. Para-medicine uses aura healing to treat diseases or sicknesses before it affects the physical body – research on this is on-going and it has great potential for preventive medicine.

The best way to remain healthy with a clean and vibrant aura is to live healthy, remain positive, be helpful and compassionate, meditate regularly, banish negativity from your life and your radiance will reflect the state of your mental and spiritual well-being.

Charisma and Aura

 

Charisma and Aura

We have heard and read so much about a person’s charisma and how it is attractive and so on. We know that great leaders, actors, sportspersons have a very attractive personality and we are invariably told that they have great charisma. In this post we will see if charisma and the aura or electro-magnetic field around a person’s physical body is the same thing.

Charisma is someone or something with a compelling and charming personality or traits that are attractive and alluring to others. This word is invariably used to describe people who have an outgoing, likeable, energetic personality which naturally attracts other people towards them.

According to me the aura is something more than one’s charisma – I personally feel a person with charisma may not necessarily have a great aura. People with a good aura are usually spiritual people with years of meditative practice and penance behind that aura. The aura is the electro-magnetic or bio-energy field surrounding one’s body.

The aura has colours which are the same as the rainbow and match the colours of the seven chakras in the human body. These chakras are scientifically called glands. In spirituality each chakra has a shape, a colour and a sound attached to it. The aura and chakras are dealt with in yogic science and it is said that the aura has seven layers, just like the seven chakras and each layer is said to correlate to a different element of one’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Science is now testing whether these layers can interact with one another to influence one’s overall health.

My personal experience with meditation under the guidance of a spiritual Master, His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swami has improved my health tremendously. Meditation has completely taken me off pills which I used to pop at the drop of a hat. In the last twelve years I have had to take recourse to medicine only thrice. My consumption of liquor and non-veg food has disappeared, there is no yearning for such intake anymore. My weight is in the healthy range and people who meet after a long time say that I look younger! They say I have a glow to my face, which I personally cannot make out anyways!

Once you have developed your own aura, you get a feeling that nothing bad is ever going to happen with me, a new-born confidence is created in one’s self, fear disappears altogether from one’s dictionary and a feeling of love, harmony, well-being and compassion towards all beings is a natural corollary! Apart from meditation there are short cuts to cleansing one’s aura momentarily – participating in a havan, taking a salt water bath, or bathing in the ocean, circumambulating a cow seven time – all this cleanses your aura. So, in a way we can say that a person having a good aura is definitely charismatic but the opposite may not necessarily be true!

 

Is Spiritual Evolution a Revolution?

 

Is Spiritual Evolution a Revolution?

The world has got several major religions with their own religious books and methods of worship. If you observe across the globe people have started questioning their own religions because what is written in the books goes against basic tenets of humanity. Organised religion today is more about getting people to respective places of worship and getting donations for various projects of such institutions. Unfortunately, today this has become more about money than about ‘religion’.

The pandemic comes along and all places of worship are forced to shut down. This has caused tremendous financial loss to organised religious institutions all over the world. With almost no footfalls, such churches, mosques, temples, gurudwaras have still to bear operating fixed costs. And all the while the followers of their respective faith were flooded with opportunities to meditate through online programs led by various spiritual leaders across the globe. Suddenly yoga and meditation came to the centre of focus. Many spiritual leaders talked about inner engineering, journey within, journey to inner peace etc.

People suddenly realised that one really does not need to visit places of worship, if by sitting at home one can visit one’s inner abode through meditation. Suddenly, now because of the pandemic, spirituality has come into focus. So, is the spiritual evolution taking place now? In India, it was always there, because India has been the land of spiritually evolved souls or Gurus since time immemorial. But today, these living Gurus have spread their wings to all the continents. We can see people of all faiths meditating and practicing yoga. The International Yoga Day is celebrated all over the world on June 21 every year! With this I feel the revolution on spiritual evolution has truly started.

With the beginning of this revolution a churn has also started globally – it is like the poison is slowly being brought to the fore worldwide – this process appears to have accelerated with the pandemic, natural disasters, wars and so on – the churn is truly on, and once the poison all comes out the nectar will start flowing too. I personally believe that the shift in consciousness has started, we are now moving towards an era of spiritual evolution where humanity will be the religion and will power or chitta shakti will rule the world. Countries with spiritually evolved souls will rise up to show the path of humanity to the world – this will result in a cleansing of souls all over the world.

We are entering a phase of turmoil which will eventually bring about great positivity, love and harmony, peace and tranquillity across the globe. Let us meditate and pray collectively for this era to dawn quickly, and this will be a golden era for humankind!

The Art of Listening

The Art of Listening

We have all heard people saying so and so person is a good listener, he is always willing to lend an ear and listen to your woes, etc. All our listening is focused on the outside world, as we are aware only of the physical ears. The ears listen to the sounds which are transmitted to the brain which decodes those sounds and you understand what is being heard. You are actively listening to external sounds, noise throughout your life – and now in the modern world the noise in cities is so much that we have a new kind of pollution – noise pollution! This continuous hammering of a variety of sounds ends up creating stress in people, so much so that they start yearning for silence.

When they feel stressed, then a holiday to a resort is on the cards, but once you reach the resort you feel the external silence, which is absence of noise pollution – but the noise in your brain continues. Your thoughts, your work stress, your family stress is carried with you in your brain and your thoughts follow you. The internal noise continues which is just a mirror of the external noise. If we can stop this noise then we will be in a position to really listen to our inner voice.

Our inner voice is nothing but our conscience, soul, gut feel, insight or whatever you want to call it. In spirituality it is your conscience or your soul. Your inner guidance and wisdom aren’t always a voice in your head. Often, it’s a feeling, a sensation, image, energy or emotion. There’s no one best or way to experience your inner voice. The important thing is to identify when and where you feel it.

The question is – if this inner voice is so powerful and effective, why don’t we hear it? And if we do hear it, why don’t we listen to it? Most of the time our brain overrules the inner voice because it does not think it is practical, it doesn’t like the answer, so you end up ignoring it and later on regret ignoring it because of the adverse consequences.

The best way to start listening is to quieten the mind. Meditation under the guidance of a spiritual master over time helps you achieve that goal. Once your mind becomes quiet, your body consciousness reduces and you soul consciousness increases. With the increase in soul consciousness, you begin to hear your inner voice which was otherwise buried deep within you. So as Ram Dass said – “Be still, the quieter you become, the more you hear.”

Is Awakening akin to Soul Consciousness?

 

Is Awakening akin to Soul Consciousness?

We have heard the term awakening a lot in spirituality – but what do you understand by it? How do you know whether you are awakened or on the right path to awakening? Is awakening a rebellion of the soul? We could say that a spiritual awakening is a call to higher consciousness and a heightened sense of awareness. This brings about a personal transformation and a radical shift in how one sees the world! With spiritual awakening a shift in one’s mental framework is experienced.

For those of us who have found a Guru the process of awakening takes place during the initiation and bestowing of the Guru Mantra by the Guru. Once you receive the Guru mantra and start chanting it as per the instructions received and meditating upon the mantra, we begin to observe a gradual change in our personality. This change is actually being brought about with the cleansing of chakras through meditation – all changes are beneficial to the physical body. You stop falling sick, if you have bad habits, even of you continue with them your physiological system rejects the intake and makes you sick, thus making you give up such bad habits! You find that your mind has reduced if not stopped vacillating from the past to the future. You get the feeling of living in the present moment all the time. Whatever you do in the present moment gives you the best results – your work efficiency increases without burning of extra energy. You find that you now sleep like a baby the moment your head hits the pillow. No dreams – no disturbed sleep – just a calm drowning in a comfortable nothingness before you wake up next morning completely fresh and fully alive in total awareness.

With all the above changes taking place, you find yourself going closer to your soul till one day you see your soul in meditation, you feel its cool vibrations and realise that all those changes which were happening were nothing but the awakening and you coming closer to your soul. With the rise of soul consciousness your body consciousness reduces, you feel less affinity to physical desires till a point comes when you are fully immersed in the ‘self’. When that happens, you could say that your awakening has taken place.

The journey still continues because as the saying goes – you have miles to go before you sleep! After the awakening deeper and deeper meditation practice helps you explore new areas of your subtle self. You start understanding energy and how it operates. All this happens subconsciously, nothing is available in books – it is just the universe educating you without you knowing it. You will realise this when you start explaining things and you realise – I have never read this anywhere, so where is this coming from. With that realisation you thank the unknown power from the bottom of your heart for blessing you with that knowledge!

 

Understanding Karma

 

Understanding Karma

How does karma affect one’s life? In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that the soul chooses its parents before birth in such a way that it has the best chance to work out its past life karmic bonds. With this as a given, it means that no person in your life is a coincidence. Karma places everyone into your life for a reason – you just do not know it, because you have not reached that level of awareness which gives you the ‘vision’ to ‘see’ why things are happening in the way they are! Karmic relationships will always play out the way they are supposed to, whether you like it or not and despite your best efforts. So, the best way to minimize the effect is to recognise the role of each and every person in your life.

Such people will come for a brief moment, some time or be with you throughout your life – all this depends on what karmic bonds are being worked out. Here, it is necessary to mention that as you live your life, you need to pay particular attention on not creating additional karma. Creation of additional karma may stop only once you meet your living Guru or spiritual guide. Once you are initiated by the Guru, then he takes on all the karma you have created in your current life till the time of your initiation. Once you start meditating, some of you may find that all kinds of bad things have started happening and the normal reaction is that all this has started because of meditation! Everything was fine before I met this Guru and now everything is going haywire! Many people give up meditation as they cannot endure the bad things which have started happening. Actually, all this is the Guru’s way of putting all your previous life’s bad karma on a fast-track mode. The Guru also gives you the strength to face these bad karmas, but many times the family members and friends get into your head and keep hammering that this is happening because of your Guru and meditation, just give it up! Many people do, some don’t.

Those that do not give up, face their bad karmas and move on suddenly find that life has become different, now it is joyous, peaceful and fun. A calmness has enveloped the family, there are no more problems and even if any kind of problem comes, they approach it with an attitude that this is nothing as compared to what we have already faced – and they move through life riding the wave in joy.

 

 

What does 'be Spiritual' mean?

 

What does ‘be Spiritual’ Mean?

I have been asked this question many times over the past 2 – 3 years. I have ruminated over this question and tried to analyse what it means. The answers I have given to different people may have been different depending on the context with which it was asked. I will try and include all those points in this post based on my limited understanding of the subject.

Primarily, being spiritual means having a feeling or sense or belief that there is something which is greater than ‘myself’, something more than just sensory experience and that the greater whole of which we all are a part of is cosmic or divine in nature. A spiritual person first begins to love himself and then that love expands to include all beings living or otherwise. A spiritual person cares not only about people but also animals and the planet as a whole. Such a person knows from within that we are all One, and consciously keeps trying to honour this Oneness.

Spirituality is often confused with religion; people think that both are the same. The basic difference is that the different religions are a path to find the One God that lies within us. Unfortunately, religions which are basically just methods of worship are thought to be the destination rather than the path – the destination can only be reached through spiritual practices which include being a good human being! So, the religion of human beings is humanity and not Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, etc!

With the arousal of your spiritual curiosity, you become a seeker, once you become a seeker you find your spiritual guide or Guru, who guides you onto through his teaching and through meditation to look for your own ‘self’. This search for one’s own self is the foundation stone of spirituality. The journey within which commences through meditation, the experience of divine energy, the feeling of oneness by merging one’s own identity with that of the cosmos – that is the goal – where universal knowledge gets transferred with ease.

A true seeker will always be humble, questioning, testing, validating all his/her own spiritual experiences. The deeper one dives within one’s own inner world, the truth starts unravelling slowly, the divine experiences commence – you start getting the fragrance of rose, jasmine, havan, etc when there is no rose plant or perfume anywhere nearby; you start feeling cool vibrations, feelings of oneness with nature – a sense contentment, satisfaction, serenity envelop you from within. Once all this is internalised – your being radiates your spiritual nature. You stop getting affected by things which happen around you and remain at peace with yourself and with the world regardless of the circumstances!