Y'dig?

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

A small group of hardy souls braved the elements and the impending snowstorm, and met at the Center for Arts Education at 225 West 34th Street in the great city of Gotham, Manhattan, New York.

Jonathan said he was originally looking for a more structured way to approach meditation. Monica said her niece told her about Sahaja Meditation having discovered it while in India, Bill, who’s tried lots of different forms of meditation, seems to really like this one, Rose is full of enthusiasm and Rina says it’s changed her life. Craig came for the first time as did Beverly. Margaret, who works at Teacher’s College, and is getting straight A’s in her college course, spoke eloquently of the changes that have come over her, Jai, a fund manager, told how he uses this to keep him balanced and Erica, a HealthCorps coordinator, who’s been hugely enthusiastic about bringing Sahaja Meditation to her students said, ”

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.”
— Marianne Williamson

I came across this quote today and couldn’t help but think about last night’s session.. sometimes it really seems like only in that silent space, we’re able to clean out all the gunk, the fears, the distractions, the cynicisms, whatever it is that has accumulated over that day. I loved what ? George said about using it (Sahaja Meditation) as a diagnostic technique.. what am I feeling today, how can I address this. It seems so much more dynamic and real in that regard. Not a cookie cutter model, but ready to work and repair what we show up with that day.”

Vasu, who led the meditation explained why a course, a structured approach won’t work, why it has to be, one on one, we learn to meditate to be in the present. He showed us how to diagnose what’s going on in our bodies and in our subtle system and we worked on ourselves fixing imbalances. After about 20 minutes doing this, Alan led a meditation where the stillness and silence within us all was palpable and we could feel the cool breeze at the top of our heads and on the palms of our hands. It was pure bliss, no duality, no unbliss and where each of us, from different cultures and backgrounds were as one.

Rina said, “Tuesday night was special for me too. I was feeling the same about most of the things that were said by other people. I always want to say more then I actually say, but don’t want to take too much time. Nice image of the hand with the cool flame. May I say love, without being too familiar? (Ed. of course, love is what it’s all about.)

Monica said, “Thanks for the blog.  Tuesday was special…and esp special to me since most times I have super buzzing ears…occasionally I get a relatively quiet day and yesterday was one of those…so it was ultra special…I loved it.  I could actually meditate without having to accept the noise.”

Craig just wrote to say, “I really enjoyed the no frills, no fancy pants feeling. Down home to the point. So many halls for worship/yoga are like Saks for god.”

The illustration, by the way, was one of a range of possibilities given me by a friend in Bogota, Colombia. The one I settled on is at the top of the blog.

A Holy Fire

afternath

Just spent a weekend in Raymond, Maine, with 21 people of all ages, from about 12 months old to 66, and from all over the world, from the USA, Russia, Ireland, India and China. We came together to meditate, to go spiritually deeper -  to eat together and have fun. It was a hugely successful weekend from all standpoints.

Lioudmila, my wife, who is always more sensitive to these things than me, said it was a special time for her. It’s a funny thing, but growing up in Belfast, in the north of Ireland, and later, living in London for many years, I’d always been essentially a loner. And of course, in time I grew to like that. If someone had told me that I’d come to enjoy the collectivity of good people, I’d have been dubious on a good day, scornful on others,, but love has a curious way of resolving things.

Bija in Flight

Bija

Take my dog Bija. We rescued him from an animal shelter in Yonkers. He was about 18 months old at the time and had spent the first 9 months of his life in a home where he was beaten and abused and the next 9 months with 90 pit bulls and a few assorted other breeds in the shelter – hardly an auspicious beginning. He was so down and nondescript we didn’t even notice him at first, but my stepdaughter spotted him and as soon as we focused on him, we could see his potential. His name at the time was PJ, a perfectly fine name, but I’d always liked the Sanskrit name Bija, which means ‘seed’ and there was clearly a little seed inside this poor fellow, who was so afraid, he couldn’t even be in a room with a man for the first couple of weeks, and he was equally scared of children too. Taking him into a group of children or a room full of of adults was just impossible. Now, two years later, Bija played with the young children and enjoyed meandering amongst the adults and the company of other dogs too, and his confidence is at a level we could not have imagined. This is what love will do, it is the most powerful force on the planet. And love worked the same way on me too, thank God.

The love that exuded from the 21 in Maine, was special, yet ordinary, commonplace amongst such who’ve surrendered their lives to a greater power and specifically, in this case, to the living incarnation of the Adi Shakti, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

As we arrived, yours truly – the worst navigator known to man – the merits of a GPS notwithstanding – had entered the wrong street number – 236. We readily found 230 and 238, but no houses in between! I spent half an hour driving up and down in the absurd manner men do when behind the wheel of a car, as if, miraculously, a house would appear out of nowhere in what has been two or three times previously been verified as empty space. Eventually, a man came out of 230 and explained that this was ‘a bedroom community’ so he didn’t know any of his neighbors yet he warmly invited us in for a cup of tea. One wondered what sort of world we’re living in when such a nice man will not make an effort to get to know the people living beside him, yet, when a stranger intrudes, he’ll invite that stranger into his home.

When we found that 266 was the correct number we were made to feel welcome by Jane Gagnier, in whose house we stayed – we never felt like guests, and she made us feel that her lovely house was our home too. It was built in 1790 some seven years after the end of the Revolutionary War.

The weekend progressed spontaneously everything happening at the right time. Those who practice this meditation, called Sahaja Meditation become quickly able to feel cool vibrations, the energy of the divine – and in Jane’s house and garden, this energy was so tremendously strong, one immediately went into a state of the pure present, where all unnecessary thoughts abate and one can simply enjoy all the bounties around.

Lioudmila commented that it doesn’t matter if it’s 21,000 or 21 people who are theret, that the  result is the same because of the attitude and strength of the collectivity.

One of the highpoints of the weekend was the havan, the Holy Fire used, in this case, to clear out negativity preventing us from deepening spiritually. Holy fires have been used by many peoples across the world and here, we used the 108 names of Lord Shiva as a basis for this havan. There’s an important balance to be struck, for while there are important protocols to be observed, if things become remotely ritualistic, the vibrations don’t work. Here, the havan worked powerfully, so much so, that even the birds stopped singing, and all living entered the worshiping, surrendered state. Even as I write this, back home in the Bronx, my Sahasrara is wide open and I am in bliss.

Here’s a lovely photo of the house we stayed in.

What blessings.