Meditation
Everyone wants less stress. And every week, all over Australia (and worldwide), people are learning how to meditate with us. Sahaja Yoga meditation, founded by Shri Mataji, is very easy to learn and is free of charge. You’re welcome to join us to experience the peace it can offer.
We asked people from one of the Sydney, Australia, meetings why they enjoy coming along each week. Here are their replies:
• Frank (attending 1 year)
“This style of meditation has really helped me to find that sense of balance that we all look for. It provides refreshing and interesting ideas about finding new pathways around old problems. I really look forward to the meetings each week. I especially recommend the footsoaking if you have trouble sleeping!”
• Sunny (1 month)
“My first experience about Sahaja Yoga weekly meetings is the pleasant feeling of rest and encouragement. The instruction is easy to understand and you simply flow along without any pressure. You do not even notice the time is ticking away.
The profound words of Shri Mataji make so much sense about life itself and strengthen many private thoughts you have wanted confirmed.
The teachers are genuinely dedicated individuals with the deep sense of commitment to impart the technique to the path of peace and happiness. It is great to share the wonderful sentiment that you are in the right place to achieve spiritual wellbeing.”
• Julie S (6 months)
“The first meeting I went to, I was unsure what was going to happen. Any hesitations I may have had faded as soon the program started. During meditation I felt my heart open and fill up with this most divine love. And I knew – I had finally found it! My true self. Since then when I go to weekly meetings, I feel elevated as soon as I walk into the room. The sense of peace engulfs me and I feel completely contented. I am empowered.”
• SW was inspired to write this poem after her first night:
FOOTPRINTS
Raindrops gave chase to the sultry evening
Incense turned into white smoke
Danced upwards to heaven
Sandalwood lingered with each breath
Candle light lay waiting at the seventh path
Ended the pilgrimage of restless searching
Accessible and so far away
Kundalini be my guide
I forgive everyone
I absolve my wrongs
I am not guilty
Heavy heart lifting
I’m my own master
Smile perpetuated with each affirmation
With pure knowledge, thoughtless and free
Forgotten calmness transcends
Insolence dissolved into nothingness
No longer in abeyance, a spirit awakened
Journey of awareness began
Buoyant footprints, dependable
Followed where peace and enlightenment dwell
SW, Feb 2007
Interested to attend?
Their responses say it all. If you would also like to learn how to enjoy the peace that true meditation can offer, come along. Beginners are also welcome – Sahaja Yoga is very easy to learn and everything is explained. Depending on locations, our weekly meditation meetings may be about 1 to 1.5 hours long, and might include practical sessions, recorded talks by Shri Mataji and guided meditations. Sahaja Yoga classes are offered free of charge throughout Australia (and worldwide). It is meditation based, not exercise yoga – no special clothing is required and chairs are provided. We look forward to meeting you!
• List of our free weekly meetings (Australia & international)
Kind regards from Sahaja Yoga Australia
We can all do with less stress in our lives. Sahaja Yoga meditation is very easy to learn and is offered free of charge. You’re welcome to join us to experience the peace it can offer.
What is Meditation? Meditation is best understood as a state of “mental silence” in which one is fully alert and aware but free from the unnecessary thoughts or worries that lead to many of life’s daily stresses. This state of silence occurs spontaneously when one learns how to focus on the experience of the present moment, leading to a state of peace and calm. Through a simple process, known as Self-realisation (Kundalini awakening) this meditation state can be quickly established, maintained and, most importantly, enjoyed!
About Sahaja Yoga Meditation: Sahaja Yoga is a method of meditation which brings a breakthrough in showing how to achieve “thoughtless awareness”. It was founded by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi in 1970 and has now spread worldwide. As the potential to find peace inside and experience the true Self is innate in every human being, it cannot become the commodity of any business and cannot be paid for. Shri Mataji states “We cannot pay for our spiritual evolution.” Sahaja Yoga classes are free.
“Man in his search for joy and happiness is running away from the Self, which is the real source of joy… now a method has been found to tap the Divine power.”
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Nobel Peace Prize nomination: When Shri Mataji was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Claes Nobel, Chairman of the United Earth Organisation, declared, “Shri Mataji’s discovery brings genuine hope to humanity.”
How can it be free? People who have experienced its benefit show others how to meditate. It’s that simple. Whether in the public, community or business sectors, Sahaja Yoga meditation is available without cost to the general public and to many schools, universities, hospitals, community centres, immigration detention centres and major corporations.
Our weekly meetings show you how to experience true meditation. You will also learn how to meditate at home and how to keep in balance. The techniques are easy to learn and practise. Beginners and experienced meditators are welcome. You can join in at any time – just come along. No prior knowledge is necessary; everything is explained.
What to expect: 1-1½ hr meetings with practical sessions, video talks by Shri Mataji and guided collective meditations to enjoy, in a relaxed atmosphere. It’s meditation based, not “exercise” yoga. No postures or special clothing are required and chairs are provided.
To attend: If you are interested in learning how to enjoy the peace of meditation, come along. Sahaja Yoga weekly meetings are offered free of charge, throughout Australia and the world.
Details:
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Find a list of our free weekly meetings here.
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To be notified of workshops, news and events subscribe here.
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More about Sahaja Yoga meditation (our Australian site)
Best wishes
The Sahaja Yoga Collective of Australia
Jesus Christ
The energy centres or chakras, which are placed along the spine, are at the core of our subtle, spiritual being. And the sixth of these chakras, the Agnya, is situated in the middle of the brain. It is the gateway to the seventh and last energy centre, the Sahasrara Chakra. It is the penultimate step on the journey to our self-realisation, our yoga, our union with Divinity.
It is the Kundalini, the life force within each one of us, rising from its coils in the sacrum bone at the base of the spine, rising up through each of the energy centres and eventually piercing through the fontanelle bone at the top of the head, that brings about our enlightenment, our moksha, our self-realisation. And to our great good fortune, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, has devised a very simple way for us to take this wonderful leap forward in our evolution, this realization of the self, this manifestation of the spirit, this ability to feel the very essence of our being on our central nervous system. It is through self-realisation that we gain sweet meditation, health, well-being, peace and joy – our oneness with the spirit.
The Agnya Chakra is situated at the crossing of the optic thalamus (the pineal and pituitary glands). It influences, and is influenced by, what we see, what we hear, what we think.
The day of the week that the Agnya chakra is associated with is Sunday, its colour is white, its planet is the sun, its element is light, its gemstone is diamond, its place on the hand – where we can feel if the Agnya energy centre is clear – is the ring finger, and the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ is directly related to the opening up of this chakra.
Like all the other chakras, the Agnya has a right, a left and a central aspect. Planning, over-organising, dominating others, can take us further and further into the tensions, anger, even violence, of the right. Memories, conditioning, over-emotionalism, lack of self-confidence can take us further into the depression, insecurity, pain and fear of the left. Self-realisation, meditation and the resulting development of our balance, detachment and knowledge can bring us into the joys of the centre.
The right channel, the channel of action, with its potential for out-looking and on-going demands and activity, eventually ends up in the brain area as the ego – a balloon of out-turning self-centredness. And the left channel, the channel of desire, with its potential for insecurity, fear and self-harm, eventually ends up in the brain area as the superego – a balloon of in-turning self-centredness.
To gain our self-realisation the Kundalini must thread its way between these balloons of ego and superego. It must draw them back into the centre and establish a balance so that it can rise and take the last step to the Crown chakra, the Sahasrara, to attain yoga, the union with Divinity.
Thoughts come from either the left side or the right side – they are concerned with the past or the future. That’s all thoughts are. So, the more we think, the more we are dragged out of the centre into what-has-been or what-is-to-come. A hundred years ago western societies tended to be oriented towards the left. Conditioning ruled attitudes, patriotism was basic to politics, everyone tended to know, and defend, their particular place in the social scheme of things. Nowadays, however, the pressures are very much from the right. We are encouraged to get out and buy. Everybody must purchase things to sustain the nation’s wealth. We must plan for the future. Newspapers want us to think about things, opinionate.
Often our thinking pattern itself moves from right to left, even back again. We remember something from the left, move into the right to plan some action to change the situation, then move back into the left to worry about it.
With this thinking pattern there is a tiny gap between each thought and the next, a quiet split-of-a-second thoughtlessness – not of the past, not of the future, but of the here and now. And it is in this silence between thoughts that the spirit speaks to us. This is where creativity is at its most vital and revealing. This is where peace and joy exist.
Through meditation we can lengthen this split-of-a-second thoughtlessness into an ever-present now, and through this meditation, gain the balance of knowledge, perception, detachment, love.
How? How do we clear the distractions of left and right out of our Agnya and gain this valuable meditative state? Well, we can light a candle and place it on something so that it is behind the head during meditation. This helps to burn away the mental garbage. We also have – as Shri Mataji has told us – a very useful mantra: the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father,
Who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Among the most important sections of this prayer is, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” If we say that, from the depths of our being, we have to humble down and see ourselves as we are, a part of God’s creation. Another very important section is, “we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness clears away all the resentment, jealousy and hate that can so harm us. Forgiveness is another very valuable means of clearing out the Agnya Chakra.
So, saying the Lord’s Prayer helps us to gain the humility and the freedom from obsessions which allows us to clear the “gunk” out of the Agnya Chakra and open ourselves up to the spirit.
So, by using the light of a candle, by saying the mantra of the Lord’s Prayer and by forgiving, we can gain compassion and love, which are the main qualities of the Agnya Chakra. From the balance of the centre, we can draw appropriate action and dynamism from the right side, and memory and emotion from the left, allowing the Kundalini to flow freely and grant us oneness with the spirit.
Brian Bell
(Illustration: en.wikipedia.org)
The reason why many turn to substance abuse is that they are unable to d
eal with life’s problems. Depression and anger, sadness and frustration are further fuelled by drug-dependency, alcoholism or both.
Daniel Goleman in a book entitled Emotional Intelligence says that it is the lack of application of intelligence to emotions that makes one lonely, depressed, angry, unruly, prone to worry, impulsive and aggressive.
A scientific assessment of the emotional and spiritual mind has emerged in an attempt to understand why we can be reasonable one moment and irrational the very next moment. Goleman attributed it to two minds, one emotional and the other rational; one that feels and one that thinks. The rational mind is prominent in analytical approach while the other one can be impulsive, powerful and at times illogical. He argues that the emotional mind is far quicker than the rational mind at making split-second decisions without analytical reflection about the potential consequences. This can be bewildering to the analytically inclined rational mind.
Spiritual teachers such as Buddha and Jesus touched their disciples’ hearts by speaking the language of emotions. This is why their teachings are so effective.
Why is improving the emotional quotient (EQ) or imbibing spiritual intelligence important? Because it helps us deal with problems in a constructive manner, and stops us getting addicted to harmful habits like substance abuse.
Family members can take an interest in improving the EQ and spiritual quotient (SQ) of their near and dear ones as an effective way to combat drug abuse. One method is practising yoga and meditation to enhance emotional intelligence and manage stress. To manage stress, we need to leverage intelligence without having to make drastic changes in lifestyle. Not everyone can retreat to the Himalayas or engage in difficult Hatha Yoga.
Sahaja Yoga, founded by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, is a method which helps achieve self-realisation in a simple and practical manner. Sahaja Yoga is based on the principle that enlightenment and good health require proper balance within the seven major chakras.
Shri Mataji says, “En masse inner transformation by self-realization is the reality now. Sahaja Yoga is the spontaneous union of individual consciousness with the all-pervading power through the awakening of the residual power of the Kundalini.
“Just as an egg gets transformed into a bird or a seed into a plant, Sahaja Yoga helps transformation of a person to a higher awareness level. The awakening of the inherent dormant energy can be accomplished in a practical and simple manner.”
Adapted from India Times