Sensations ,
Ordinarily all our contact with God is indirect-through images and
concepts. To be able to grasp Him beyond these thoughts and images is
the privilege of this faculty-a mystical heart. In most of us this
Heart lies dormant and undeveloped. If it is awakened, it would be
straining towards God and, given a chance, would impel the whole of
our being towards Him. Hence, it needs to be developed, it needs to
have the dross that surrounds it removed so that it can be attracted
towards the Eternal MagnetTo be near or discover Eternal Magnet, one
is to find means of silencing the mind. And to silence the mind is an
extremely difficult task. How hard it is to keep the mind away from
thinking, which is producing thoughts in a never-ending stream. But it
is also said that one thorn is removed by another. So you can be wise
to use one thought to rid yourself of all the other thoughts that
crowd into your mind. One thought, one image, one phrase or sentence
or word that your mind can be made to fasten on. For to consciously
attempt to keep the mind in a thoughtless state, in a void, is to
attempt the impossible. The mind must have something to occupy it. The
seemingly disconcerting conclusion is that concentration on your
breathing or body sensations is very good contemplation. The awareness
exercises lead to a deepening of the prayer experiences. Now is the
time to expose yourself to the Divine Sun in SILENCE.
VI. God In My Breath
With closed eyes practice the awareness of body sensations for a
while. Then come to the awareness of your breathing as done before and
stay with this awareness for a few minutes .... Reflect now that this
air that you are breathing is charged with the Power and the PRESENCE
of God. Think of the air as of an Immense OCEAN that surrounds
you .... an ocean heavily coloured with God's presence and God's
being .... While you draw the air into your lungs you are drawing God
in .... Be aware that you are drawing in the Power and Presence of God
each time you breathe in... Stay in this awareness as long as you
can... Notice what you feel when you become conscious that you are
drawing God in with each breath you take ......
ANOTHER REFLECTION
1. While you breathe in, be conscious of God's Spirit coming into
you Fill your lungs with the divine energy he brings with Him ....
2. While you breathe out, imagine you are breathing out all your
impurities .... your fears .... your negative feelings .... Your
shortcomings and weaknesses.
3. Imagine you see your whole body becoming radiant and alive
through this process of breathing in God's life-giving Spirit and
breathing out all your impurities ......
Stay with this awareness as long as you can without distractions.
VII. Breath-Communication With God
Devotional Prayer may here be called as 'PRAYER'; whereas
'Intuitional Prayer' may coincide roughly with CONTEMPLATION. Both
type of prayers lead to union with God. Such of them is more suited to
some Sadhakas than to others. According to time and need suitability
of these Prayers may change.
Any Prayer that limits itself to the thinking mind alone is not
prayer really but! at best, a preparation for prayer. Even among
Sadhakas there is no genuine personal communication that isn't at
least in some small degree heart communication, that does not contain
some small degree of emotion in it. If a communication, a sharing of
thoughts, is entirely and totally devoid of all emotion you can be
sure the intimate, personal dimension is lacking.
Here are some variations of the previous exercise more devotional
than intuitional. As the thought content in prayer is minimal-it will
easily move from the devotional to the intuitional, from the heart to
the heart.
Become aware of your breathing for a while. Now REFLECT presence
of God in the atmosphere all around you.... Reflect His presence in
the air you are breathing-BE CONSCIOUS OF HIS PRESENCE.... Notice what
you feel, when you become conscious of His presence in the air you are
breathing in and out....
Now express yourself to God non-verbally. Frequently, express a
sentiment through a look on a gesture .... Then again by breathing.
Express first of all, a great yearning for Him without using words,
even mentally, say to Him, "MY LORD, I long for You ...." Just by the
way breathe. You may express this by breathing in deeply, by deepening
your inhalation.
Now express another attitude or sentiment: ONE OF TRUST AND
SURRENDER-NO words-just through breath, "My LORD, I surrender myself
entirely to you ...." You may do this by emphasizing your exhalation,
by breathing out each time as if you were sighing deeply. Each time
you breathe out feel yourself letting the whole of yourself go in
God's hand.
Then, after sometime, take up other attitudes before your LORD and
express these through your breathing such as: LOVE.... CLOSENESS... .
and INTIMACY ADORATION... ....... GRATITUDE... ....... PRAISE.... if you
are tired of doing this, return to the beginning of this exercise and
just rest peacefully in the awareness of God all around you and in the
air you are breathing in and out.... Then, if you tend to get
distracted, fall back on second part of the exercise and express
yourself to God non-verbally once more.
VIII. Stillness
Modern man is unfortunately plagued by a nervous tension that
makes it almost impossible for him to be quiet. If he actually wants
to learn to pray he must first learn to be still, to quieten himself.
In fact, this very quietness and stillness frequently becomes prayer
when God manifests Himself in the form of STILLNESS.
Repeat the exercise of becoming aware of sensations in your body-
whole body.
As you become more proficient in this exercise you will,
hopefully, sharpen your awareness to the extent that there will be no
part of your body in which you do not feel several sensations..
It is very important that you do NOT move any part of your body
while doing this Sadhana.
You may feel physical pain, rather severe pain. No matter how
comfortable the position or posture you have adopted, your body is
likely to protest against the stillness by developing aches and pains
in various parts. When this happens, a serious Sadhaka MUST RESIST the
temptation to move limbs or read just posture so as to ease the pain.
Just become keenly aware of the pain.
Your awareness may wholly be absorbed by the acute pain. You may
start sweating, may be profusely.
Every Sadhaka has to experience some types of pains, as indicated
above, until his body becomes accustomed to remaining perfectly still.
Deal with the pain through awareness. A Sadhaka must resist such temptations during awareness
Sadhana.
IX.continue to Body Prayer