Sri Vasudeva on Meditation

[Uma]

My ramblings here will continue - but if you want to interact with the Q&A part of it - this year they are offering a kind of virtual classroom experience:

Joining virtually through the Internet:
This year our online streaming of the morning workshops is through a virtual interactive portal (Zoom) that allows each participant to be visible, join the conversation, and share seamlessly in the retreat workshops.

link for more info here


Actually it will ONLY be streamed via Zoom this year but one has the option of course of turning off one's camera and microphone so you can be an anonymous viewer.

[Uma]

The opening Satsang concluded with a few remarks by Sri Vasudeva on what to expect for the coming retreat that will be focused on deepening the meditation practice for self-transformation, enlightenment and wellbeing.

He spoke about sadhana - a word that refers to one's spiritual practices.

Sādhana literally "a means of accomplishing something"

What is amazing about the 40 Days is that this event generates a lot of spiritual energy, so sadhana becomes easier. Everything gets a boost. Sri Vasudeva commented that when you do sadhana during these days, those people in your life whom you are especially connected to, will gain the benefits also through you automatically. The energy you receive from the true Masters is transmitted to you through a process called shaktipat (which means energy transmission from a higher to a lower source), and that flows through you and to those you are connected to.

We are all hot-wired for spiritual evolution. All we need to do is to flow with it. That requires the right attitude of openness and the right discipline to build our spiritual muscle from the inside out. He will speak about all this during the coming days.

I am especially interested in learning how to intensify my meditation practice and get more results from my practice/sadhana.

[Uma]

Day 1 of the 2019 40 Days

The first week of workshops will be focused on preparing for meditation practice. The rest of it will be about deepening the meditation practice itself. Preparation is really important, as is living the teachings in everyday life-in-between sitting meditation.

The first lecture-workshop just ended and many things were discussed, but I'm highlighting just one question of particular importance to me:

How can we use the powers in us to align to this evolutionary drive to fast track this journey so we can really enjoy the journey?

Guruji mentioned three basic powers we as seekers have on the evolutionary journey to self-realization and total fulfillment:

1. The power to know (gyana shakti)
2. The power to intend (iccha shakti)
2. The power to act (kriya shakti)

Knowing what to desire and then acting on that desire is all the teachings in a nutshell.
The idea is to act with wisdom, to co-create in alignment to divine will, and then to act with wisdom surfing the waves of karma and getting into the zone or the flow of life with wisdom. The idea is to follow my inner bliss by working hard for it! This is the essence of a really fruitful meditation practice.

[Uma]

"The goal of meditation is to know what we are, not what we are not," ~ Sri Meditation

Today I am focused on the question posed:

How to use this intellectual tool in the best way?

In meditation and in life the teaching is to use intellect to the limit to contemplate, to understand, to analyze, to discriminate true from false...

Discrimination:
What is real - use in context with "Who am I?" and "What takes me away from my power?" and "What gives me authentic power?" What is contributing to our Goal (transformation, wellbeing, enlightenment)? Use discrimination to know what we are truly are and what we are not.

Truth is that which is not changing.

Here even intuition is an obstacle - because that comes up when intellect goes quiet. In meditation I need to let go of intuitive insights that come up when I go deep, and allow it to pass if I want to go deeper and touch the core of my being.

p.s. Weekend workshops are cancelled - all morning talks after chanting and meditation on weekend are streamed to the public https://www.facebook.com/bluestartt/ or from

[Miss Hepburn]

Hi Uma.

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Hi Uma.

Hi Miss Hepburn - it's been a while. Nice to see you

[Uma]

Today's topic raised some really important questions for me. I'll just highlight these two:

How do we become empowered by detachment? And how do we engage with life in a passionate way without getting caught?

Guruji many times has clarified detachment or dispassion (Vairāgya वैराग्य in Sanskrit) as being centered in a space of stillness whilst fully engaged in the world within and the world without. It means engaging in the world without fear from a space of excitement and adventure. It means being fully alive - whilst operating from that space of stillness.

Detachment goes with discrimination. My discriminative intellectual faculty is what allows me to know whether I am operating from a space of stillness or not. My discriminative power allows me to see the Divine within and without, as above so below. Detachment for me is a process of deepening that stillness, anchoring me deeper into a space where I feel so empowered that I can be fully alive.

This is one of the greatest benefits of a meditation practice. Not to run away from the world, not to give up the worldly things, but to be engaged from a space of power - from the seat of my power not the seat of my meditation cushion.

I have always been a sensitive person and I hoped that detachment would come naturally as I evolved spiritually so I wasn't always getting hijacked by sensory over-stimulation but in my experience (and he addressed this in today's workshop) detachment is one of the most difficult things to practice and is really the product of grace (but one has to earn that grace by working hard for it).

We are still in week one - preparation for deepening meditation practice. Detachment takes a lot of practice so tomorrow's topic will be: What does practice mean? How can we practice in the way that serves us and helps us to evolve? So I look forward to that and hopefully learning some new tricks or improving what I'm doing.

I can't possible write about everything in these little posts but am hoping this is helpful to you in your own practice. Am open to comments, feedback, questions or whatever.

uma

- - - - - - -
In response to requests from people who can't chime in during Monday to Friday, he is going to again offer the interactive virtual workshop on Saturday from 10:30am - 11:30pm These workshops require registration and a donation (if you can afford it). The morning chant is open to the public with a teaser lecture after the meditation 7 days a week.

[Uma]

Today Sri Vasudeva spoke about what discipline means for the seeker and its benefits. There is a lot that could be said about this. Basically enlightenment is not a free lunch. We get what we deserve to get based on self-effort, karma, and grace. Here are the main points he shared:

Discipline:

• Working through Karma
• Can facilitate mental emotional patterns
• Facilitates ascent of Kundalini and hence evolution in consciousness
• Protection against undesirable influences
• Can reprogram brain and nervous system of body
• Tools for reprogramming are mantras, affirmations, prayer, visualization

These are what discipline is for. And Guruji always teaches that discipline should be joyful - which at first glance sounds odd but from his enlightened point of view makes sense. Here's why...

In response to seekers who worry about "discipline" he said the idea should not be to think "Am I disciplined enough?" The idea should be to experience the best you can be in every moment. (So it's not about being self-judgmental, it's about being one with the light.) He says discipline is to be fully in the joy, the learning, the adventure of the moment, seeing the divine purpose… and the more that evolutionary consciousness opens up, the more it gives this kinds of discipline. What he's talking about here is getting into the zone and staying in the zone.

To always strive to do your best, to choose the way of expansion, not limited/contracted ego...is to be disciplined. There is a discipline for every chakra, for every kind of action in the human experience. The joy of discipline should be in thinking about it in a better way - as aligning with the Divine. The actual joy - the bliss feeling - comes when discipline IS aligning with the Divine. At least this has been my experience.

And the final point I'd like to comment on is when he spoke about not being fanatical about discipline, in the sense of let's say I'm on a strictly vegan diet but I'm in a social situation where someone went to a lot of trouble to make me a birthday cake and to refuse even a slice would hurt their feelings. Then the discipline would be to uplift the other person - because the toxic mental emotional energy from a refusal would be worse than any chemical toxin from the cake. This is advice for people who are too much in tunnel vision when it comes to discipline and forget the whole reason for it - as so many seekers go to extremes. And that's where the other three D's - desire, discrimination and detachment come in.

I hope this is useful to you.
namaskar
uma

[Uma]

...continuing with all these D's....Today Sri Vasudeva spoke about "God" as our own Being not some big guy in a cloud or whatever. In fact this is the subject of one of his books Seek God Within

"The worship of God is not external. External worship is for those who are now beginning worship unless you are able to see God outside. And you can only see that if you have the inner perception. So until you see God within you cannot perceive God outside of you. Until you can perceive within your own being as Divine you cannot perceive love everywhere as being Divine. Unless you know peace within your being you won't be able to recognize it outside of you. When you are able to recognize Divinity inside of you then you are able to recognize it outside of you." ~ Sri Vasudeva, 2019

This is enlightened perception. It is a transcendental experience - beyond intellect yet as real and actually more real than intellectual understanding. I respect people where they are at. If they need a God that exists outside of them, all power to them. Eventually "I am Divine" comes into play as a lived experience - and that's the ultimate goal of meditation - that's the ultimate goal of life.

To know "Who am I?" is not an intellectual exercise. Guruji spoke about this in the morning talk. He said that intellect is only cognizant of "Who I am not." The creation cannot know the creator. The observer needs to be observed - and that comes with the silencing of mind, silencing of intellect, silencing of ego. It's hard to conceive of these guys - mind, intellect, ego - as being separate to Being but that's because ordinary human perception is the fish in the goldfish bowl not realizing that there exists another dimension of experience beyond water, not even knowing what water is until it is taken out gasping for oxygen.

More about this next week when the workshop series Deepening Your Meditation Practice will focus on exploring the consciousness space - understanding it, how to get into it, how to tap into it, knowing the space, becoming more aware of the space itself and its power, and learning to operate with more consciousness.


Since Wednesdays have the healing circle, now the workshops will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday only. Going with the flow...

Originally Posted by Uma

This is one of the greatest benefits of a meditation practice. Not to run away from the world, not to give up the worldly things, but to be engaged from a space of power - from the seat of my power not the seat of my meditation cushion.

I have always been a sensitive person and I hoped that detachment would come naturally as I evolved spiritually so I wasn't always getting hijacked by sensory over-stimulation but in my experience (and he addressed this in today's workshop) detachment is one of the most difficult things to practice and is really the product of grace (but one has to earn that grace by working hard for it).

These are wonderful pointers. Thank you Uma!

JL