Girish's Blog

  Activities for Spiritual Upliftment Over the past twelve years that I have been practicing Samarpan Meditation I have observed certain aspects which help one in one’s spiritual upliftment. This post is about sharing these observations or insights. Initially it was all about ‘doing’ meditation, going to the centre for ‘doing’ group meditation and so on. It was all about doing. Then slowly realisation dawned that where there is ‘doing’, there is the ‘I’-sense, the ego. If we sit down to ‘do’ meditation we are sitting with an ego of ‘I am meditating’. This will not do! The very essence of meditation is to lose the ‘I’. After realising this, I started using the phrase ‘I am going for meditation’, I stopped using the word ‘doing’, hardly every use ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘myself’ in conversations and started using more collective pronouns than the individual ones! This helped me substantially in dropping the ‘I’-sense. Another thing that I realised was whatever activity we are doing, if we do ...

  How to Recognise Group Souls There are different kind of Group Souls – they could be termed as soul friends, soulmates, karmic relationships and twin souls. Will touch upon each briefly. Soul Friend is one with whom you can connect at any time and speak on any topic without remorse and who accepts you for who you are unconditionally, no questions asked – such a person will stand by your side come what may – if you are wrong, he will say so on your face, whether you like it or not and you will still love him! Soulmates are people in our lives whom we connect with on a deep spiritual level – this connection gets established at the first moment eye contact takes place. A Karmic Relationship describes a connection between two people that has been rekindled in this life from a previous incarnation. For whatever reason, this relationship is carried forward to this birth to complete ‘unfinished business’ – thus in this lifetime – we have the duty to clear that unfinished business f...

  Concept of Group Souls When we take birth, it is said that the soul pre-decides its entire mortal journey before it assumes a physical body so that it can work out its past birth karmas. It also decides on the family in which it will take birth so that its karmas can best be worked out. In a majority of the cases the soul forgets its purpose of taking birth within a couple of years of assuming the physical body – and so this karmic cycle of birth-death-rebirth keeps taking place. But during the course of this journey on earth you will come across people whom you do not know at all, but a single glance at them and you feel you have known that person from somewhere – you feel an extremely strong bond. This is a sure-fire indication that he/she is a part of your soul family or soul group! As you go through life you will come across several people at various points in time with whom you connect instantaneously on a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual level. These people are...

  Power of Collectivity I am sure you have heard the tale about the dying father who tells his 4 sons to bring a bunch of twigs tied together and then tells each of them to break the bundle. All of them try to do so one by one with their full might but they do not succeed. Then the father tells them to untie the bundle and divide the sticks amongst the four of them and now see if they can break them – which they do easily. The moral of the story being united we stand and divided we fall. You may well ask how this affects one’s spiritual pursuits! When you get water from a tap and there is no force, it just drips, else it comes with full force, similarly one drop of water can be identified but its identity disappears in the ocean. This is true of forests where a multitude of trees provide the collective energy, so do the mountains – where the massing of rocks provides the collective energy. So, a collective or group always provides more energy and enhances the speed at which thi...

  Preparing for Guru-Purnima Guru-purnima will be celebrated online from 23 to 25 July for the second consecutive year because of the prevailing pandemic situation worldwide. Earlier we could go to centres and prepare for the Guru-purnima by meditating in collectivity. In the changed scenario this is not possible. Nevertheless, here are some pointers as to how we could go about preparing ourselves so that we are able to receive maximum benefit from the flow of divine energy which is at a peak on those specific days. One should have an inbuilt feeling that one is going to pay one’s respects to one’s spiritual mother and guide. That feeling has to come naturally. If you meditate regularly every morning and evening at least for 45 days before Guru-purnima onr should be in a reasonably balanced state. You should join the collective online meditation sessions held by Gurutattva on their YouTube channel. These sessions are recordings of two of Swamiji’s best guided meditation progr...

  Internalising Mantras We have all heard different kind of mantras and always find them to be soothing and calming. I personally believe there is one mantra that is particularly suited to every individual. You need to find that mantra yourself. Listen to the sound of the various mantras which are easily available on the internet – from the most common ones to those that are not so common and slightly more complex to chant. Just remember the sound and rhythm of the mantras create a certain vibration within you if chanted correctly and with depth of emotion. Continuous chanting of such mantras leads you to a state of thoughtlessness and then into a deep meditative state. But first you need to identify the mantra which is unique to you. Once you hear the mantra which is closest to your heart you will instinctively know that – this is mine! Once you identify your mantra you may start chanting it correctly – the chant needs to be slow and rhythmic and should be in tune with your br...

  Make your Home your Ashram During this lockdown period most of us if not all have been forced to stay home. With the pandemic not showing signs of dying out, people now talk about a third wave – I guess the only safety valve is getting vaccinated. With a world population of 7 billion plus that is going to take a long time – so let’s be prepared to stay at home. Most of you have visited the Samarpan Ashrams or other Ashrams spread all over the world. The one thing that strikes you in such places is the divinity, the palpable energy, the serene calm, the ambience of peace and silence. It is so conducive to go into a meditative state. I know a lot of sadhaks who keep asking when will the Ashrams open and I remember Swamiji saying we will keep it shut for one year and then we will see. He had mentioned then too that this thing won’t go away for at least two years! We are now in the last part of that period which has wreaked havoc on a majority of people all over the world! We k...