Guru Poornima Day Meditation

July 7th, 2009 is a very auspicious day for a Sadhaka. It is “Guru Poornima Day”. It is a day for introspection, celebration and affirmation. Through introspection, let us remove the impurities of our inner sky and celebrate the benevolent presence of our inner Guru, shining in Chidaakaasha (sky filled with pure consciousness) at Sahasrara. Let us resolve on this day that the inner space will be always kept clean, transparent and radiant with the Guru intelligence. It is the day to experience joyous communion with the Guru within. Listen to Guru’s messages, which splash in the fathomless ocean of silence; decode the messages; use them as the guiding light to navigate in the confused stress-ridden world, which the man has created out of his selfish, greedy, ignorant, and arrogant behavior.

On the Guru Poornima day, please sit for a while in silence and ponder on how to experience the affectionate tender touch of the Master within. Here, I would like to share some clues with you. These are the clues which help you reach the treasure, in the game of treasure-hunt.

a. Sit quietly in your meditation posture
b. Chant the following mantra:

Hiranya-garbhaad-aarabdhaam
shesha-vyaasa-aadi madhyamaam
swaami-shree-raama paadaantaam
vande guru paramparaam

c. Focus your attention at the root of your nose and practice 21 rounds of sushumna pranayama.

d. Go to Sahasrara and practice 18 rounds of `Soham’ Pranayama (inhale with sound `So’ from Sahasrara to Mooladhara and exhale with 'Ham' from Mooladhara to Sahasrara. While practicing this pranayama, listen to the naada, the musical Anaahata naada (unstuck sound) of Soham (sah-aham), which means `That is me, That is me, That is me’.

e. Stay in Sahasrara and feel the blue sky of SILENCE, BLISS AND RADIANCE and listen to the voice of the Master during the moments of absolute stillness. Visualize a golden dot---the centre of silence, bliss and radiance---in the centre of your sahasrara. Let this golden dot be your Guru. Then let the following mantra reverberate in a spiral fashion around the golden dot in the Chidaakaasha at Sahasrara:

Om Shreem Hamsah Soham Abhaya Karunaananda Guru Chetase Namah

Chant for a minimum of 516 times. Then feel that the same spiral light is enveloping you and protecting you from all negative influences. Now, let this light permeate from you, in all directions, to protect the entire humanity.

f. Feel that you are shining like a bright star in the sky. You are the nucleus of an atom and all the movements of the world revolve around you like the electrons---the movements having no effect upon you. Feeling that deeply, with great reverence, conclude your meditation by offering humble salutations at the lotus feet of the Guru within.

g. End meditation with the following mantra:

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
Sarve santu niraamayaah
Sarve bhadraani pashyantu
Maa kaschit duhkha bhaag bhavet

Suggestions:

• On the Guru Poornima day, select your comfortable time and practice this meditation at least for 40 minutes, either alone or with your family members.

• In different centers of the Sadhana Sangama Trust, I suggest the sadhakas get together and practice this meditation in the ambiance of Guru Festivity.

Hear the Mantra from Gurudev by clicking on 'Play' below:

Guru Poornima Blessing - Swami Rama

I pray to the divinity in you.

The day of Guru Poornima is considered to be the holiest day for the students of life, for those that have been treading the path of light, for those aspiring to attain enlightenment in this lifetime. They remember this day and celebrate it by becoming aware that the purpose of life is to attain enlightenment, this state of mind, internal state, that makes one free from all pains and miseries. So as you celebrate other days like Father’s Day, Mother’s day, this is a little bit different; it is very auspicious. The student mentally, religiously follows the spiritual teachings imparted by the tradition because the tradition is considered to be the highest. It is a tradition that follows truth that leads one to the highest peak of wisdom.

In our tradition there have been many, many sages. If you find any obstacles on the path, there will be help. Always you will be guided by the spiritual beings, those who watch your progress.

I want you to faithfully tread the path of light and life by doing your duties selflessly, lovingly and skillfully in the external world, and punctually meditate. Meditation is one method that helps you fathom the internal sates, those levels of life that are not normally understood by the human being. And in meditation you should be patient with yourself. You should gradually go ahead. Nothing is lost inside, everything is lost outside.

It is not external method; it is an internal method. It is a journey within you. When you go from your gross self to your subtlest self of life, when you know yourself, you can relate well to the world.

Don’t ever miss your meditation. Meditation is helpful in understanding yourself and knowing yourself. And the same meditation helps you in action in your daily life. While doing your duty in meditation, you remain aware of the Reality all the time.

This day is a day of determination. When you determine, you do your sankalpa, you decide that I will devote my time and energy towards enlightenment and that I will attain enlightenment in this lifetime. Determination is one of the greatest powers, gifts, given to the human being by Providence. That sankalpa shakti should not be broken, should not be scattered. The more your mind becomes one-pointed and inwards, the more you will find yourself. Sankalpa shakti, determination must be developed.

Be punctual. Learn to sit in meditation and do it systematically. See that your body is in a state of steadiness and is not uncomfortable. Learn not to move in meditation. Learn to have physical stillness first. Then make your breath serene without any noise, without any jerks, without any pause, and then you will find your mind becoming calmer. And whenever thoughts rush from the unconscious mind, learn to let go. This sort of introspection will lead you to a deeper state.

A day will come when you can go beyond the mire of delusion created by your mind, and you will have control. Meditation, contemplation and prayer should go hand-in-hand. I pray to the mighty Lord to help you. I pray that you all will be happy and enjoy, and let the flower of your life bloom so that you can serve one another and helps others. Enjoy all the time. Be happy. Learn to be happy.

Let me tell you something. If you learn to do human effort sincerely, then that ascended power suddenly comes in touch with descending power that is called Kripa, blessings, as the grace of God, the grace of the highest, the grace of the Absolute One.

So, human effort is Sadhana. It needs the grace of God. When you are doing your sadhana, you are bound to receive the grace from Providence, from the Highest Level.
May God Bless you. I love you. I will continue praying for your. That is my wish for the Guru Poornima Day.

I revere this day because I too have a Guru. The spiritual path can’t be tread with-out kripa, Guru’s graces. But if you want to have the Guru’s grace, you would have to have your own grace. You should make sincere efforts, and then the grace of God will come. Let you be graced today, the day which reminds you that you have to follow the path of enlightenment, loving all and excluding none. That is the way to the Divine.

Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi. May God bless you.

Summer Camp at Ashram

OUR EXPERIENCES AT SADHANA SANGAMA ASHRAM

Myself and my wife spent a few days in May 2009 in Sadhana Sangama Ashram to better understand and practise yoga for effective management of our health. The experience was very rewarding and we recommend it to all people who want to manage their life and health better. However, minor but essential improvements are needed at the systems and maintenance level at the Ashram, as the visitors may not be able to adjust to the environment.

Let me put first things first –

I have been practising yogasanas and have been propagating Yoga Nidra for the past several years for improving the health of people. I have introduced it in our companies for our workers and managers and in our Trust for our patients. I had my training in yoga from an early age through Bihar School of Yoga and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi group who taught us very easy ways to meditate called Transcendental Meditation. The methods of both organisations are highly impressive and easy to follow. I have seen the practitioners even lifting themselves (If they are very well trained) and floating in air. Their systems are very effective.

However, I have not been able to graduate beyond this to a higher level and experience the true power of meditation. I used to get emotionally stressed with all my office work after meditation. I used to get angry quickly and agitated on small disturbances and wrong happenings. Possibly I must not have been meditating properly and had little time to go back to the Ashram and relearn. Things were alright as long as I meditated only for about 15 minutes. However, I continued to do yogasanas regularly. Yoga Nidra has always been a great energizer.

The programme at Sadhana Sangama under the guidance of Guruji opened my eyes. Suddenly I realized what was going wrong in my previous attempts to meditate deeply. Guruji guided us on the ways to deal with the Chakras and the Pranic energy associated with them. I also realized the true meaning of the statements in the Bhagwad Gita on Yoga. My wife practices both Asanas and meditation regularly now. I enjoyed the meditation inside the Guha (the cave), deeply dark and difficult to enter when you enter from the outside natural light. But after meditating there, one can easily see the light around, possibly because the eyes got used to the darkness and improved its light recognition capability.

Another thing that impressed and made us to come closer to the Sadhana Sangama was the way Guruji projected the teachings of Bhagwad Gita in terms of Karma Yoga and Yagnya. His explanations clarified quite a few things than what I had perceived as the meaning, quite a few years ago. These meanings match with the principles of management. Thanks once again.

Guruji highlighted that instead of talking just intellectually we must aim to experience the teachings. Our experiential knowledge has been taken farther by learning directly under Guruji. Many of the Japanese Holistic Management practices have similarity with this. Importantly, experiential realization is superior to intellectual. This is the true power of yoga.

Most important of all, we learnt to live close with nature and lead a life with all participants in community spirit. We also realized how easily one can practice yoga and meditation while being a good householder.

Guruji gave us a prayer for helping the world to become a better place of living. We all must daily pray so that the economic condition improves throughout the world and job security and mental poise of the modern youth is protected and not allowed to get highly stressed, driving them in wrong directions.

With infinite thanks to Guruji and his wife, and prayers for the happiness and well being of all who studied with us.

- K S Madhavan