self-realisation
Sahaja Yoga Meditation Program is now at a new time of 9.30 – 10.30am each Sunday morning on Radio 2SER 107.3FM.
The Sahaja Yoga Meditation Program first went to air in 1995 on Radio 2SER at an 11.00 – 12.00 timeslot and was the initiative of two Sahaja yogis. What a great initiative it has been! Thirteen years later we are still on air, offering a unique program where people can experience the state of meditation over the airwaves. To the best of our knowledge we conduct the only program of this type.
Each program always includes at least one substantial guided meditation to enable listeners to deepen their meditative experience in the comfort of their own homes. The content is at the discretion of each presenter. Included are diverse descriptions and discussions/interviews about the many aspects of Sahaja Yoga, including ancient traditions, the religions of the world and history’s great spiritual personalities. Also we make use of music conducive to the meditations, or to illustrate points being made. The music is varied and often original, sometimes performed live in the studio or from recordings made by Sahaja Yoga practitioners around the world. Occasionally, we have a delayed outside broadcast, wholly with live performances.
All programs to air have been paid for solely from contributions volunteered by Sahaja yogis, rather than by sponsorship.
The aim of Sahaja Yoga, in Australia and worldwide, is to offer the experience of Self-realisation to everyone regardless of race, creed, religion or age. This is something that has never happened before in the history of human evolution. Traditionally, achieving Self-realisation was very difficult and perhaps only one person in a hundred years would receive it. It was also always a one-on-one practice of guru and disciple. However, the guru who was able to give Self-realisation had disappeared in these modern times until the coming of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga.
On Sunday 25 May 2008, “Nirmala Devi – Freedom and Liberation” was shown at the Logan Entertainment Centre. Preceding the film, the Brisbane Sahaja Yoga music group, “Sahaj Sangeet”, performed for 40 minutes.
Even though the film had been shown previously during March this year, this was the Brisbane Sahaja yogis’ first event at a large venue. We had decided to go all out and the music group had been practising for weeks. More than 25,000 flyers were distributed in 13 suburbs and posters placed in most of the libraries. A broadcast email was sent out to all Queensland subscribers. The Entertainment Centre also promoted the event on their website and in their weekly newsletter. Glenda, Coralie and Robert did a radio interview and a newspaper article with photos appeared in the “Logan and Albert News”.
During the planning stage, it soon became apparent, as Glenda constantly reminded us, that the venue staff were extremely professional and their desire to give us the best chance of success was foremost. At 10.00am on the day of the event, the musicians arrived for sound checks which were thoroughly performed by the audio technicians. We rehearsed a few of our songs while adjustments were made. It certainly sounded impressive.
Dr Akshay was to be our “anchorman” and to finish our rehearsal, he went through his introduction after which we did our run-on behind closed curtains.
It soon became time to change into our kurtas and saris and get ready for the big event. Ten minutes before curtain time, we lined up in the order in which we would be sitting and silently raised our kundalinis, sitting in quiet meditation.
Then we heard Dr Akshay’s voice welcoming everyone and announcing the sequence of events. We had no way of knowing how many people were sitting behind that curtain but we hoped there were many.
Suddenly, Glenda waved us forward and we quickly took our places on stage. As the curtain drew back, we started singing the “Maha Mantras”.
We looked into the audience but saw only complete darkness! All the lights were on us! At first this was a little disconcerting, but then we forgot about the audience, and just gave it our all. The mood lights were constantly changing and sometimes we would get a glimpse of a few faces.
All too soon, we had finished our performance and the curtain drew back again. Now the audience was actually clapping!
We made our way backstage to the welcome lunch which the yoginis had provided. After the 20-minute interval we joined the audience on the balcony to watch the film.
Everyone seemed to be intently interested and at the conclusion of the film, Dr Akshay demonstrated where to place the hands. Then the screen faded to Shri Mataji giving Self-realisation. Only one couple left at this point and even the two audio technicians got their realisation.
We found out later that a little over one hundred people had attended. For Queensland this is probably our best result so far. We later mingled with the crowd in the foyer, handing out flyers and talking to interested people. All the comments we received were favourable and it certainly gives us encouragement to do more events of this kind in the future.
Peter Hewitson
A heart is healthy not only if it gives but also if it receives. If for some reasons it cannot, then it aches and can make the whole body and the whole being become sick. It hurts because we are human beings. So whatever affects the heart can have an enormous impact on our moods and personality, on our physical health and spiritual wellbeing.
As Sahaj yogis, even if we are dealing with difficult people or difficult situations, our heart can ascend to a higher level. After Self-realisation, our enlightened attention can take us through the reactions of ego and super ego and rise to Sahasrara. Thus we enter a new and higher realm of pure forgiveness and of pure love, in which the heart can expand and let the vibrations flow both ways to the whole (also called Heaven on Earth).
After realisation, we are all walking on that path and our Kundalini (our inner spiritual Mother) is pushing us to grow and ascend as much as She can, and as much as we accept to face ourselves.
The tendency in this modern world is to make brain our God and believe that everything can be explained. But brain cannot explain heart. Being ourselves so small, how can we even think of trying, even more when it comes to our inner spiritual Mother’s Heart?
How can we explain the love that a normal human mother’s heart can have for her child or children? Where is it coming from? That love is so powerful, it can move mountains if it has to; it can fight to death if it has to. It can protect, heal, comfort but also correct, guide, strengthen. There is no end to what it can give and do. But this love (present in all of us) can become sick and tired if it is not allowed or not in a position to give or receive. Both movements of giving and receiving are essential for a heart to be healthy, to remain strong so that this Love can flow freely and without effort.
Raising our heart beyond brain is like freeing ourselves from all these entanglements that can be so overwhelming in life. It is the expansion of our small heart to a higher dimension, a higher Heart that encompasses and cares for the Whole world.
Our Heart belongs to Thee, our Heart belongs to our higher spiritual Mother (both ways), if we let it.
Meenakshi Pujari
(Photograph: www. sahajaradio.org)
So, now a New Age has started which is called the Age of Aquarius, meaning the pitcher carrier of spiritual holy water that is the work of Kundalini. (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi)
Since the 1960s and ’70s there has been much talk about the Aquarian Age, especially due to the song, “Age of Aquarius”, from the musical, “Hair”. The words, “New Age”, refering to the Aquarian Age, have also become commonplace and seem to refer to a wide range of alternative philosophies, music, therapies, meditations, exercises and diets. But what is the real significance of the Aquarian Age?
Western astrological thought indicates that we have just come out of the Piscean Age and have entered the Aquarian Age. Each Cosmic Age lasts about 2,000 years and has its own atmosphere or world view due to the influence of the prevailing zodiac sign on all of the planets during their transit, as well as their configurations and the relationships between them.
Dan Costian PhD, author of “Bible Enlightened”, relates that in each Cosmic Age a new avatar or incarnation of the Divine took birth on the earth in human form in order to reveal another aspect of spirituality to human beings. In the Age of Gemini (c6000 – c4000BC) this Divine incarnation was Rama, in the Age of Taurus (c4000 – c2000BC) it was Krishna, and in the Age of Aries (c2000 – 1BC) it was Abraham, Moses, Zarathustra, Confucius, Lao-Tse and Socrates. In essence, the planets “set the scene” by providing the atmosphere or mood of the time to harmonise with and to reflect the message of the incarnation of the Divine of that Age.
The Age of Pisces extended from about 1AD to about the year 2000. The avatar or incarnation of the divine in this Age was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The early Christians used the symbol of the fish, the sign of Pisces, in order to recognise each other. The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem had been foretold by the prophets and was heralded by a star in the East, which guided the Three Wise Men to the baby in the stable.
Various predictions about the date of the beginning of the Age of Aquarius have been made. The Adi Sahasrara, the seventh and last chakra, was opened on 5 May 1970. This cosmic phenomenon was witnessed by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and she has described it in one of her lectures. This event has paved the way for the spontaneous awakening of the Kundalini energy so that people en masse can receive their Self-realisation, their connection with the Divine. I believe that this is the date of the beginning of the Aquarian Age.
So what can we expect the Age of Aquarius to be like? Eccentricity, originality, independent thought, love of innovation and contempt for tradition are all strong traits of Aquarius. So we can expect that there will be a shake-up of the old order and a questioning of all ideas about society, religion and relationships. This will lead to a search for new ways of being.
This time of questioning started happening in the late 1960s and ’70s when a lot of old ideas, traditions and indoctrinations were examined and thrown out. It led to the sexual revolution, a lot of experimenting with drugs and experimenting with new religions mostly from India, including ones promulgated by false gurus who saw an opportunity to make money. So it had quite a few negative consequences, but it was necessary for people to move beyond the staid, narrow ways of looking at things that had prevailed for some time and to become “seekers of truth”. Under the influence of Aquarius people will not accept what others tell them and like to learn through their own experimentation and experience.
Aquarius encourages the progress of humanitarian and social causes. So the Aquarian Age is one where pure love and altruism prevail. People work selflessly for the good of the whole, without exploiting or manipulating others.
Unity and integration are themes of the Aquarian Age. We can look forward to a truly multicultural world where individual differences are valued and respected while at the same time we are able to work co-operatively for the good of everyone. The sign opposite Aquarius is Leo which has an ennobling and enriching influence.
Originality and innovation are qualities of Aquarius. So we can expect inventiveness and creativity in all spheres of life.
The truth is another important aspect of Aquarius. All falseness and corruption should disappear. The appearance or exterior will be less important while the essence will be of utmost importance.
We can look forward to an end to “blind faith” in religion and to a time when the mystical knowledge that has been hidden and kept secret will be revealed – a time when people will be their own gurus, and know the truth within themselves, with the rising of their Kundalini.
Now very interesting it is to see that this Kundalini is the one which is called as the Kumbha – in Sanskrit language, means the Aquarius. We call it Aquarius, as one of the signs, and is the same as Kumbha in Sanskrit language. So it is the Age of Aquarius, is the Age of the Kundalini. Secondly is the Age of the Kundalini which will nourish, which is the Mother within you, which will rise, will give you the completeness of it, and which will connect you with your Spirit which ultimately gives you the enlightenment by which you become collectively conscious. (Shri Mataji Nirmal Devi, 1983).
All of these positive changes will not happen if we sit back and do nothing. The time is right for them to happen, but we must desire the change and take steps to bring about the change within ourselves. The first step is to desire to have your Kundalini awakening. The second step is to go through the process of attaining Self-realisation. You can do this by going to the link:
Sahaja Yoga Meditation – Self-realisation
The third step is to meditate regularly, preferably with other Sahaja Yogis as the meditation is easier and more powerful in a collective situation. So that means contacting the nearest Sahaja Yoga centre and attending the beginners’ classes, which are always free. By doing this you will be helping all the positive aspects of the true Aquarian Age to manifest on our earth.
Kay Alford
(Photograph: beyondthelookingglass.org)