Discovering One’s Spiritual Essence

 

Photo Credit: PranicKolkata.com

Discovering One’s Spiritual Essence

Discovering one’s spiritual essence is in a way, simple and intuitive. When we sit for meditation, we have to guide our awareness from our ordinary active mind to our body and then breathe slowly. Slowly, the mind quietens down and then we can guide our awareness inwards.

While sitting our spine should be upright and our breathing slow and steady. Allow the head to kind of float above the shoulders and then direct our awareness to our posture and breathing. Sometimes it becomes difficult to observe the breath, in that case just be aware of the posture; with a little practice we will be able to observe our breath without difficulty.

Thoughts will interrupt this breath cycle, when they do, gently and consciously bring the focus back onto the breath and on your posture – this will quieten the mind. Continue this practice till the mind becomes quiet, silent. In this manner, we will learn to guide our awareness inwards.

Knowing one’s own self is like a voyage of discovery, so, it becomes necessary to write down one’s thoughts and feelings after meditation - this is one way to try and understand and hear what the soul says.

Visualisation techniques also help in cleansing one’s chakras. Visualise positive energy entering the body while breathing inwards and visualise negative energy leaving the body as we breathe out. Regulate the breathing in such a way that you inhale to a count of seven, hold the breath to a count of three, and slowly exhale till you feel all the breath being squeezed out up to the navel. Have faith in the process and slowly we find that we are becoming quiet within.

For some people this works immediately, for others it takes time. Actually, one needs to find one’s own technique out of the 100 odd techniques which Osho has described. The one with which you are most comfortable and which you in going within easily, that one is for you.

Impatience is a barrier – nothing happens in a hurry; everything takes time and it happens in its own given time. So, be patient and continue practicing, and one day you will find that you have slipped into meditation, into a deep slumber without realising it. This is not sleep, this is a deep state which one reaches with full awareness.

Each one of us is on our own path. No two paths are the same – so my spiritual essence will be different from yours. The process and timetable for unlocking one’s spiritual gifts are different for everyone. We are all on our path, going at our own pace. Some people obtain their spiritual experience quickly, for others it takes time. They will come when we are ready for them. Awakening is akin to the birth of a butterfly – it takes time and then the beauty is there for all to see.