All around us, penetrating all space and all beings, exists a conscious energy, a living power. This all-pervading power (the Paramchaitanya) is an energy of love and joy and is the ultimate basis of reality. If we can experience this energy, then we will experience a pure joy that is completely independent of life’s circumstances.
Although this power is all around us we are not aware of it, in the same way that we are surrounded by radio waves and yet we cannot hear them. We need an antenna and the electrical components that turn the received signals into music in order to experience it. To feel and experience this divine energy we need the proper instrument.
Now, thankfully, inside of us we already have the instrument capable of receiving and transmitting the all-pervading divine energy into our consciousness. We do not have to invent some new device. It does not depend on human cleverness or invention. Every human being has placed inside of them this special instrument which is our own spirit, our Atma. Physically, the Atma is located in the heart and it is like a mirror that can reflect the Paramchaitanya into our consciousness.
Human suffering is a result of not being able to feel this energy. We are all the time bathed and surrounded by God’s love but we cannot feel it. We are buffeted on the surface of a tumultuous ocean which is our perceived reality, and yet all the time beneath us is the silent immense depth. If we are still we will slide away from the surface which is unreal and experience the joyful reality.
Our consciousness must merge with the Atma. Only then will the spirit be able to transmit the energy of the Paramatma, “the universal spirit”, into our awareness. “You should first realise your Atma because man cannot reach Paramatma without knowing his Atma.”
What is the Atma? “It is said that Atma is the reflection of Paramatma in our heart. This reflection is like that of the sun in water.” The reflection of the sun is seen in the water, but it is not there. The sun is in the sky sending its light everywhere on all things. But not everything is a good reflector of this light. “For any reflection to be clearly visible the mirror which is the cause of that reflection must be clean. If the mirror is not clean, or instead of a mirror a stone is there, the sun’s reflection will not be seen in it.” In the same way, if your mirror is not clean then you will not be able to see the reflection of the Paramatma within yourself, nor will you reflect this light to others.
“The reflection of the Atma appears to be absent or it just shines for a moment and disappears, in the person who is full of sin and wickedness or whose heart is loaded with false ambitions and desires.”
“Sahaja Yogis must know that they have come to Sahaja Yoga primarily to clean their mirror, to wash their sins and past deeds, to become purified of all the dirt that has been accumulated within.” This cleansing is done by the Kundalini. She is that “current which passes through the Chakras and awakens them.” As the light comes onto your chakras you become aware of which chakras are damaged. You can then use simple Sahaja Yoga techniques to cleanse these centres.
“This virgin power (the kundalini) makes us clean and pure.” The greater our purity, the more we reflect God’s light. This light shines both into our consciousness and outwards towards others. As our awareness merges into the silent meditative oneness of the stillness of God we project this light. A light to dispel darkness.
AR
(All quotes in this article are taken from a translation of a lecture given in Hindi by Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, on 18 August 1979 in Delhi, India.)
(Photograph by Vishnu Bonneau)