I decided to try Sahaja Yoga meditation due to health reasons. I suffered from severe migraines, and I was sick of taking a range of strong medication to relieve them, and “losing” days due to the medication’s side-effects of nausea and grogginess. I found a local Sahaja Yoga class and started attending once a week. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I had tried other meditations I felt quite comfortable turning up.
The people who ran the classes were very nice, and I felt at home immediately. There were a handful of other attendees in the local community hall, and so we began. The subtle system was explained to us, and also a little on the various chakras or energy centres. I found it all very interesting, and was keen to continue.
We were guided through a short meditation. Afterwards, we were asked if we felt anything – perhaps a cool (or warm) breeze on our palms or the tops of our heads. All the people in the room put up their hands to acknowledge that they had felt something. Heads nodded, and there were smiles all around. But I felt nothing. I put my hand up, however, to acknowledge that I had felt something because I didn’t want to look stupid! All these other sensible, normal people could feel it. So I didn’t want to be the only one who missed out. I simply went along for the ride, agreeing with most things, but also enjoying the stillness of the meditation, and the information that came with our “experience”.
When I left the class I felt very relaxed. I’d had no amazing feelings; no out-of-body experience; simply a quietness and calmness. I tried to meditate at home during the week by following the brochure I had been given. Again, I couldn’t feel anything, but the ten minutes that I spent meditating became my quiet time. “Mum time”, my kids called it. It became my ten minutes of sanity and battery re-charging.
The following week I went along once more to classes, and the rest is history, as they say! I’ve been meditating now for six years. Whilst it took a very long time for me to feel the cool breeze on either my hands or my head, what I did feel was something inside. I simply felt better, and all aspects of my life seemed to improve because of this.
Looking back after six years, I can tell you what has happened to me. My migraines have almost completely gone, my health is good, and I can now “feel” when I have a chakra that needs attention. Consequently, now I can pay attention to my body’s needs, before a problem may arise.
A girlfriend once asked my 16-year old son, “What is this meditation business your Mum is doing all about? Is it any use?” His answer was, “She doesn’t yell at us anymore.” You could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn’t think I yelled at my kids! OK, a little bit maybe, but I had no idea I was having such a negative impact on my children. Now with the meditation I handle situations (both difficult and everyday ones) more easily and quickly. My response to my children, and other people I come in contact with each day, is positive and easy. Everybody’s happier!
There is so much more to Sahaja Yoga meditation than I have covered here, but I just wanted to let people know that it doesn’t matter what you may “feel” when you begin meditating, or even what you may think or understand about it. Just relax and sit in meditation, and it all seems to work out. You don’t even have to “do” the meditation. It is the easiest way to become centred; even my 6-year old can do it. And some days when I find I can’t meditate properly, because my brain won’t be still, or because I’m busy, I still gain serenity from sitting down for my ten minutes of peace. Now I’m pleased to say I often sit for longer than ten minutes to meditate, but the amount of time is not important – it’s the process of going within that gives me peace and serenity.
Good luck, have fun and enjoy the results!
Anna Penton
These beautiful things that flow about like commas in the sky
are serendipid moments bumping into each other,
and they can never be imagined
no matter how hard you try.
These wonderful things that are dancing through the ether,
are timeless quotations arriving at the exact moment
to crystalise a thought that has
barely taken its birth.
These precious things drift upon the stream and arrive at your feet
like a child delivering nothing but joy
and talking with her eyes in a way
that adulthood forgets.
These eternal things weave through and through the universe
like melodies echoing from ear to ear,
bringing fond scents and reminiscences
and dissolving into time.
These glorious fleeting things escape our earnest intentions,
and are grasped not with will, but synchronicity.
They are prophets busy reminding us that we
are flowing with the beauty of things.
Melissa Richard
(Photograph: geekphilosopher.com)
“Shri Mataji has described Zarathustra (Zoroaster) as one of the 10 Adi Gurus looking after our void, situated on our left side. Many do not know, that Zarathustra incarnated in Persia much before others and His vision of the world has left some traces on Judaism and Christianity which came much later. Today in terms of numbers Zoroastrians are very few in the world, but the rich heritage of human spiritual thought that Zarathustra has left behind is still very appropriate and typical to today’s world. The basic teachings of Zarathustra give an essence of his revelations, Zarathustra’s vision of the world and his heritage to humanity in the form of revealed religion known as Zorashtrianism.
“Like many of the great prophets Zarathustra established the one God, whom he called Ahura Mazda, as the basis of belief. After a period of meditation in the wilderness he realised the singular Self (the ‘One without another’ described in the Upanishads) and wanted people to turn their attention away from distracting multiplicity and towards that singular Self. However, this Monad was not a dreary monolith; it was more like a multi-faceted jewel. In order to bring about the creation and maintenance of the world it gave forth six divine beings (known as Amesha Spentas) which, including itself made up a sevenfold creation. The old Iranian deities, which are archetypes, found all over the ancient polytheistic world from Egypt to India were not abandoned entirely but were identified with these seven angelic beings or Immortals…
“Zoroastrian refugees arrived in the Gujarat region of India in the 8th century AD, and it is not surprising that in the relatively tolerant atmosphere of the Hindu culture into which they were received, some Parsi thinkers looked for, and found, similarities between their cosmology and that of the Hindus. The Seven Amesh Spentas described by Zoroaster in his Gathas have been compared by some Indian Parsis, with the Seven Chakras (subtle centres) of yoga tradition, each of which also represents an aspect of Creation…
“In the Zoroastrian system Wisdom is necessary for Knowledge, Knowledge is necessary for Harmony with nature, Harmony with nature leads to Righteousness and Love, which leads to Perfection, which leads to Immortality and thence to self-realisation. Zarathustra described the seven qualities of the One, not merely to make a compromise with the old religion of many deities. He wanted his followers to strive to awaken these qualities in themselves. His concept of emanations from the Godhead formed the foundation of Gnostic Christianity and influenced the development of the mystical aspect of Judaism – the Kabbalah.
“Benevolence towards others is the essence of the prophet’s teaching, encapsulated in the words: ‘Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds’. Many subsequent prophets have imparted similar teachings and it is easy to underestimate the revolutionary nature of Zarathustra’s ideas; one of the most important being the concept of free will. Followers of Monotheistic religions owe much to Zarathustra and could benefit from his concept of a single God with multiple creative aspects, both masculine and feminine. In yoga these are conceived of as seven flower-like spiritual centres, each with its abiding deity or aspect of the Self, on a single Tree of Life.”
Excerpts from Nirmal Fragrance. Pune, India: Nirmal Infosystems & Technologies, 2005.
(Photograph: ajna.com)
The goddess Iris is the messenger of the Greek gods, and the personification of the rainbow. Like the Kundalini, she is a bridge connecting the human world with the divine. In yoga tradition it is said that union with the divine Self is impossible without the ascent of the Kundalini energy from the sacrum at the base of the spine.
Iris is particularly associated with the supreme goddess Hera (Juno), the wife of Zeus. Callimachus portrays Iris as sleeping under Hera’s throne. The throne of the Goddess is the Kundalini (called Merkabah in Hebrew).
It was sometimes said that Iris’s husband was the west wind, Zephyrus, the gentlest and most welcome of winds. When awakened within the subtle system of the body, the Kundalini is experienced as a gentle, cool breeze.
Her attributes are the caduceus and the vase of water from the river Styx. The caduceus is a symbol of the subtle system through which the Kundalini rises. It consists of a central staff (the Sushumna Nadi of Yoga) entwined by twin serpents (Ida and Pingala Nadis). The Kundalini is described as a serpent-like energy. Both the caduceus and Kundalini are associated with healing. The vase (Indian Kumbha) is a symbol of the Kundalini itself.
In Greek myth, Iris was often summoned to be present at councils of the gods so that she could pour out the Styx water and thereby discover whether or not truth was being told. Kundalini awakening is believed to confer the ability to discriminate truth directly on the nervous system.
Graham Brown
(Photograph: inf.nyme.hu)