The Spiritual Dimensions of Meditation

The Real You is not a body but a spirit. Identify with your spirit, and you'll be lifted above the limitations of the world.

- Marianne Williamson


The health benefits of meditation are becoming more and more well known. Through meditation practice we can counteract the unhealthy effects of stress in our lives and learn to be healthier and happier. Recent research has documented the ability of meditation to change our brain functioning. A recent article published by ABC News states, “Several studies suggest that these changes through meditation can make you happier, less stressed -- even nicer to other people. It can help you control your eating habits and even reduce chronic pain, all the while without taking prescription medication.” (http://abcnews.go.com/US/meditation-wiring-brain-happiness/story?id=14180253)

Apparently some MDs are now prescribing meditation for their patients. As such meditation practices are generally removed from the context of any particular spiritual tradition. Instead of a means of enlightenment meditation is seen as a form of psychosomatic hygiene. Health is extremely important to us, of course, but it might not be the be and end all of life. It is certainly not the totality of what meditation practice has to offer.

Spirituality is about coming to recognize the inner aspect of our beings which is beyond the body, beyond the physical dimensions of existence. Meditation practices, whether within the context of Buddhism, Vedanta, Sufism or Contemplative Christianity, are means of developing this recognition. Recognition is different from belief and, in fact, our beliefs often get in the way of our recognition. Meditation is not just about rising above the body but also of stepping outside of our mental structures; our concepts and beliefs. It is only then that we come face to face with reality.

We are not able to function without some conceptual system to go on however. Authentic spiritual tradition is not about indoctrinating us with beliefs but guiding us in the process of realization. There are many invaluable scriptures that we can consult which give us directions and descriptions of the awakened state. The point is not to take these purely on faith but to investigate, practice and realize for ourselves. Otherwise they have a very limited value; maybe as beautiful poetry or academic fodder.

Within the Yoga tradition, for example, there are many practices that appear on the surface to be primarily religious. Chanting mantras, visualizing deities or yantras, studying sacred texts, performing labor in a communal setting, etc. are all aspects of the system. They are means for taking us out of ordinary ego-centric consciousness and bringing us closer to God, or Self. We can dispense with these “religious” aspects but in doing so we may be discarding valuable elements of an integral system of spiritual development. On the other hand, there is legitimate danger in becoming overly attached to and identified with a particular form of practice. As Swami Satyananda has said of his system of yoga, “It is my way, but it is not the only way.”

Each of us is on our own personal path through this life. We have our unique lessons to learn, karma to fulfill, and gifts to offer. We also have our own inner personal connection to Spirit. Meditation is an intensely intimate and personal practice, even when we practice with a group. On the other hand it connects us to the impersonal, nonlocal consciousness which is omnipresent. We might choose to call this God, but in doing so must remember that God is ultimately who we are, not something or someone separate. Don’t take my word for it though. Realize for yourself.

Ultimately we are seeking something beyond mental and physical health. These are important but temporary features of our beings. It is important to grasp the impermanent nature of phenomenal existence. Despite all the advances in medicine, longevity research, etc. we are eventually going to die one way or another. Meditation is a means of taking us beyond our preoccupations with the temporal and initiating us into the eternal aspect of ourselves. As the prayer from the Upanishads goes,

Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrityur ma amamritam gamaya

(Lead me from the unreal to the real
From darkness to light
From death to immortality)


If we accept that spirituality is a legitimate aspect of our beings than we must understand that it is not the exclusive province of any one religion, philosophy of system of practice. These are all ways that have been developed by those before us. What is valuable is only what we can use to further our development, our inner evolution. The spiritual traditions are, however, great resources. Religious traditions represent the collective evolution of humanity. At some point we must go beyond them into the mystery of our own being. At least it seems to be healthy!

What is Love?

All you need is love.

- Lennon and McCartney

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtS4ef0vqhU&feature=channel_video_title

Love like consciousness is ultimately indefinable. It can be recognized, experienced even talked about but not captured conceptually. Like consciousness, it cannot be objectified or measured. Essentially love is consciousness and consciousness is love. Love is the creative force of the universe, which is a drop from the limitless ocean of Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Hatred, fear, apathy, etc. are all attempts to retreat from love, to shield ourselves from its overwhelming force.

The individual ego has become a structure erected in defense against love. When we identify with the limited body mind vehicle through which consciousness explores this particular level of vibration, we tend to pull back, to contract ourselves. We retreat into “I, me and mine.” Then we set out to seek love, feel lonely and lost and otherwise indulge ourselves in our bittersweet misery. It’s a cosmic game of hide and seek. Unfortunately the game turns horrendous and ugly when we resort to violence, aggression and terror in our misguided searching.

Is love a feeling? Is it emotion and desire? Egoic love is where we start from on our journey back to Self. Eros propels us to reach beyond our boundaries, beyond our self-infatuation. However, if one does not love oneself. If one is tortured by self-loathing then that is simply projected onto the other. If one is narcissistically wounded and nurses beliefs of unworthiness, it becomes very difficult to enter into a loving relationship. True love, true healing means reconnecting with the substratum of loving awareness which is one’s own being.

A healthy loving relationship necessarily includes healthy boundaries, but the boundaries are porous. It requires structure but the structure is flexible, even fluid. It also requires a mutual relatedness to the greater being which includes and surrounds us. Not necessarily society, which is by and large collusion against love, but the greater Self found in meditation, contemplation, prayer, dance, play, work, devotion and true community.

Selfishness, jealousy and antipathy are bound to arise at times as long as we are identified with our human incarnations. Karma influences us only as long as we are identified with the body. Step outside of limiting beliefs and we are free. The show, however, must go on. As ego-clinging begins to loosen there is more room for humor, play and letting things slide. It is when the ego death grip begins to tighten that we are in trouble.

Ultimately the love between two people has to expand its capacity. I’m not talking about “open relationships.” It is not about and not not about sex. It is about bringing the shakti up from the groin to the heart chakra, swadhisthana to anahatha. The heart does not negate the genitals but transcends them. Universal love expresses through all of the chakras from Mooladhara to Sahasrara. At the crown it finds itself in unity, in the perfect union of Shiva and Shakti.

As we develop higher consciousness our ego boundaries expand and our love must expand to become all inclusive. We become love itself; discover that we are fundamentally loving awareness. In Sanskrit there is a beautiful mantra: Aham Prema, “I am love.” Love is our being, our truth and our goal. There is nothing but love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs-Cz0IYWz8&feature=player_embedded

Facing Life

Yoga enables you to face the ups and downs of life.

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati

We all want an easy, pleasant life. We all want to avoid painful experiences and unpleasant situations. This is part of our nature. However, to expect life to always go along with our wishes is, well, wishful thinking.

Yoga is a system of practices grounded in a spiritual philosophy. It is comprised of two primary components: wisdom and devotion. Wisdom tells us that life involves both enjoyment and suffering. We don’t get one without the other. Life is a play of opposites: hot and cold, up and down, good and bad, life and death . . . Without these, things would be extremely monotonous!

Devotion helps us to surrender to a higher wisdom and higher love. Unity, or non-duality, doesn’t mean monotony. Instead it means that there is a unified field of Consciousness within all beings and that all beings are contained within this field. Through devotion and surrender we join our individual awareness with that field which we sometimes refer to as God. At the same time we each need to work out our karma as individual “selves.”

Wisdom and devotion give us a connection to an inner center of calm, blissful awareness from which we can better handle the inevitable crises that life brings. It helps us to “let go and let God.”

The individual ego suffers because it wants things its way. We want to be in control but we are only part of a much greater unfolding reality. Try putting your hand out to stop the waves coming in from the ocean. If you’re not careful you’ll get knocked down. Wisdom helps you to pick yourself up out of the sand. Surrender allows you to ride the surf. Fear, doubt, pride and greed cause us to wipe out.

We ourselves are but waves upon the vast ocean of Being. We imagine ourselves to be separate but we are never so. As the mystic poet Kabir wrote, “I have been thinking of the difference between water and the waves on it./Rising, water's still water, falling back, it is water./Will you give me a hint how to tell them apart?” Meditation connects us with that deeper, vaster Self. It helps us to detach from our suffering and find happiness within. Once we are established in that inner sanctum the outer onslaughts of life have a significantly diminished impact.

The Real Guru

Guru is not a person on whom you can dump all your rubbish.
Guru is a person who inspires you to lead your life in a creative,
efficient and effective way so that there is development of self-awareness
– what I can do, what I can't do, how I can be, how I
can't be, what is the right thing to do, what is the wrong thing to
do, how to understand other people's attitudes and concepts and
how not to impose our own egos and ambitions. This is the basis
of the guru's teaching.

- Swami Niranjan



The term “guru” has come to the West and has been typically mangled, manipulated and misunderstood as to its meaning. We talk about “fashion gurus,” “financial gurus,” etc. It seems to mean someone with suspect authority. The Guru within the Yoga tradition is something much more profound. The Guru is someone who guides us from spiritual darkness to inner illumination. The Guru is an “expert” and a teacher to some extent but, more importantly he or she is able to transmit spiritual energy, shakti, to catalyze the process of awakening within the disciple.

Because we lack an understanding of the tradition and because many of us are gullible in this department, there have been a slew of false or errant gurus who have become popular and notorious. Of course there are many more false and errant followers who misunderstand, misrepresent and misuse the teachings and the power of the Guru. We tend to fail to get that our spiritual progress is our own responsibility. The Guru can charge our batteries, give us inspiration and guidance but the choice and the difficult inner work is up to each of us. As one Swami put it, “The Guru is not a donkey. You can’t just jump on his back for a ride.”

The true Guru is a role model. He or she models nonattachment, emotional stability, inner joy, optimism, creativity and love. He or she is also a human being. Your Guru may make mistakes, be wrong about some things, be tempted by money, sex and power. There is a story of the great Yogi Goraknath and his Guru, Matsyendranath. In this story Matsyendranth sends Goraknath to visit a distant city. When Gorknath arrives he finds his Guru living there already. Not only that but his Guru has fallen for a local lady and has abandoned his spiritual life to become a married householder with seven children. Goraknath, of course, becomes dismayed and his faith in his Guru is shaken. He returns to the ashram to report the Guru's downfall to the others only to find that Matsyendranth is already there again and deep in meditation. The other disciples report that he never left the premises while Goraknath was away.

The story has dream-like inconsistencies of course. These point to the dream-like quality of life itself within which we are trying to awaken. To a large extent the Guru, like life, is a mirror of our projections. We project our inner divinity onto the Guru and also our shadow. In this case Goraknath had a hidden arrogance regarding his own spiritual status. He had certain assumptions and judgments which prevented him from recognizing the underlying reality behind appearances. True Being is disguised within every experience and is winking at us within every form. It is our ego-identification and attachment which keeps us from seeing clearly.

My experiences with my Guru seem to have been all too brief. I spent time with him on three occasions, once in the U.S., and twice in India. However his presence in my life has been precious gift. My faith has waivered considerably and I have not been the exemplary disciple by any means. Still when I sit for meditation I feel the shakti surge within me. My body shakes and I feel bliss arising no matter what crazy stress I may be going through in my life. Even though he has left his physical form I know that he has not abandoned me. Still it is up to me to maintain my practice, cultivate inspiration and continue to follow the path of awakening.

There is a saying in the Yoga tradition, “God, Guru and Self are one.” Once we really get this there is nothing more to realize. Then again perhaps our work has just begun. The Guru will challenge your ego in a number of ways and always catch you off-guard. Once while visiting Denver where I met him for the first time, Swamiji was riding in the car with me. He began to ask me about my glasses. This is a sensitive area for me. I have worn them since age seven and am severely near-sighted. He asked if they had bi-focal lenses. I replied no, that I was near-sighted. He asked if I could see close-up with them. I replied yes. Then he asked if I could see into the distance with them. Again yes. “So they must be bi-focal lenses,” he said. I found myself becoming irritated and defensive of my position. Why?

For some reason, just after meeting me, Swamiji agreed to initiate me into Sannyasa with the spiritual title Swami Turiyananda Saraswati. He asked me if I knew what the name meant and I explained that I had read the definition of the terms involved. He said, “It is a spiritual experience, not an intellectual one. You don’t have that experience yet but one day you will. That is my promise.” To “get” that experience is to step outside of the intellect, of definitions and symbols into the direct experience of Reality. Not the superficial reality of our mental projections but the reality of Being, Consciousness and Bliss. Then you step back into the world and go to work. Om Satyam!

For information regarding Swami Satyananda Saraswati and Satyananda Yoga please visit: http://www.yogavision.net/home.htm

Mother Kundalini

The Kundalini Yogi seeks to obtain both Bhukti and Mukti. He attains liberation in and through the world. Jnana Yoga is the path of asceticism and liberation. Kundalini Yoga is the path of enjoyment and liberation.

- Swami Sivananda


According to Swami Satyananda any form of spiritual discipline will bring about the awakening of kundalini. Kundalini is the latent energy within our bio-psychological beings, which, when activated can bring about a spiritual transformation. This energy, much like electricity, is known indirectly through the phenomenal process it evokes within psyche and soma. Although the term “kundalini” belongs to the Sanskrit Tantric tradition, the phenomenon has been known cross-culturally and world-wide. We can see its unfolding states and stages in Shamanic initiations and in the writings of Christian and Islamic mystics. The ultimate goal of this inner process is the union of the individual with the Universal Consciousness; jivatman with Paramatman. It is the summon bona of human existence as proclaimed by mystic saints throughout the ages, the union of the soul with God.

It seems that many of those who practice yoga asanas, or postures, are unaware that these were originally designed to open the flow of prana, or bio-electromagnetic energy through the channels of the subtle body in order to pave the way for the awakening of kundalini. In the process there is a release of psychological and emotional stress which enhances both physical and psychological health. With the awakening of kundalini, however, one’s consciousness transcends both body and mind. The kundalini experience involves ego death and rebirth. The process often involves intense ecstasy as well as physical and psychological suffering. The ecstasy hooks us into the process while the suffering purifies the physical and energetic bodies.

Sexual energy, experiences and desires are a prominent early stage of the process. The kundalini energy is comprised of libidinal, psychological and spiritual energy. It represents a continuum. All is One. This can be problematic for those who have compartmentalized spirituality as good and sexuality as bad. The process of kundalini awakening can be awakened both through intense sexual pleasure and prayer. It is also dissipated through excessive sensuality and over-intellectualization. The ego has a myriad of strategies for avoiding the point. Active, intentional and dedicated surrender to the Divine is crucial.

The chakras are energy centers within the subtle, or psychic, body through which kundalini passes as it opens. Each center represents a developmental level of consciousness. These levels are based in and rest upon an overall evolutionary process in the universe. Kundalini is the process of universal evolution happening in and through us right here and right now. With the development of human beings the universe begins to become aware of Itself. At this stage we are each responsible to join in and participate in the universal creative process. Meditation on the chakras is a method discovered by the Tantric Masters (Mahasiddhas) for entering into this process.

To reiterate the point that this phenomenon doesn’t belong strictly to the East, I would like to share a poem by Hildegard von Bingen which seems to describe kundalini very well:

Holy Spirit
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart,
from its ancient sleep.


(from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, edited by
Stephen Mitchell)

Some resources:
Kundalini Tantra/2009 Re-print
Kundalini Energy & Christian Spirituality: A Pathway to Growth & Healing
Theories of the Chakras: Bridge to Higher Consciousness
Kundalini : The Energy of the Depths : A Comprehensive Study Based on the Scriptures of Nondualistic Kasmir Saivism (Suny Series in the Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir)
http://satyamyoga.com/teachpro.htm
http://www.kundaliniawakeningsystems1.com/downloads/secret-of-yoga_gopi-krishna_(222pg).pdf
Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening
The Kundalini Experience: Psychosis or Transcendence