Spiritual Awakening - Inspiration From The East

Journey alongside the transformative awakenings of mystics and saints from the East — including Rumi, Hafez, the Buddha, Amma, and many others — as they move from loss and longing into states of profound realization. Let their stories and poems inspire your own path, as we explore universal themes like ego, illusion, compassion, and the light deep within us. Through reflection and journaling prompts, you'll be invited to explore your own journey of awakening with greater depth and presence.

The accompanying music soundtrack contains theta wave binaural beats, promoting brain waves that support deep relaxation and creativity. You may wish to bring headphones, a pen, and a journal to this contemplative session.

Music by Chris Collins, indiemusicbox

Transcript

Hello friends,

I'm Aine and I am delighted to share with you this collection of stories and poems related to spiritual awakening from the East.

What can we learn from these stories and poems and how can we grow together throughout this contemplative journey?

There will be places throughout the audio to pause and journal during our time together.

You're welcome to pause the audio and grab a journal and pen for the prompts that we'll be exploring.

You're also welcome to weave in meditation practice as you engage with the content.

The accompanying music soundtrack contains theta wave binaural beats.

These promote brainwaves that support deep relaxation and creativity.

So listening with headphones is recommended.

Let's start our exploration together.

At a time about 700 years ago with the famed Persian mystic poet Rumi.

Rumi started his life as a devout scholar,

Well respected for his intellect.

Then he met with the wild mystic Shams of Tabriz,

Whose presence shattered the borders of Rumi's intellect and heart.

Their bond ran so deep it terrified the social order,

In particular Rumi's close circle of friends and family.

Eventually Shams mysteriously vanished,

Throwing Rumi into anguish.

But rather than collapse,

Rumi's grief bloomed into ecstatic poetry.

In the fire of loss,

He transmuted personal love into a boundless ocean of divine union.

Rumi's verses began to pulse with longing and light.

His teaching shifted from scholarly debate to whirling surrender.

And what type of magic and wisdom did Rumi unearth as a result of his deepening awakening process?

In his own words,

Rumi says,

Those sweet words we shared between us,

The vault of heaven has concealed in its heart.

One day they will pour down like rain and our secrets will germinate in the soil of this universe.

This would be a great opportunity,

Friends,

To pause the audio for our first journaling prompt.

When has loss helped me move beyond ordinary reality to recognizing a deeper truth about myself?

Something that helped me grow and evolve.

See you back here soon.

Our next story of spiritual awakening is perhaps one of the most famous ones from the East.

Siddhartha Gautama,

About 2500 years ago,

Was a prince born to luxury and shielded from suffering.

He had access to everything through wealth.

But something inside him yearned for more.

And so he set outside the palace walls and for the first time experienced for himself how age,

Sickness,

And death impacted humanity and all of life.

Something cracked open inside of him and he renounced his royal life and endured years of extreme asceticism.

But he decided,

As he continued on his journey,

To sit bravely beneath the famed Bodhi tree where for 49 days he battled Mara,

Here representing ego,

Illusion,

And fear.

Until he awakened to the profound interdependence and impermanence of all of life.

From that stillness,

Compassion arose from Buddha,

The awakened one,

Like the dawn.

It's told that on the morning of his great awakening,

He said,

I,

Together with all beings and the great earth,

Simultaneously achieve the way.

All beings,

My friend,

That includes you and me.

That is a statement that transcends space and time.

So here we are with the Buddha simultaneously working towards that ultimate sense of oneness and reality,

Which we all share.

Another great opportunity for us to pause the audio and engage in another journaling prompt.

What are the ways in which I face the forces of Mara?

For example,

Ego,

Illusion,

Or fear in my day to day life?

And what helps me transcend beyond them?

Let's go now,

Friends,

To a beautiful poem by one of the greatest female poets of classical era Japan.

Izumi Shikibu,

About a thousand years ago,

Wrote these words.

Although the wind blows terribly here,

The moonlight also leaks between the roof planks of this ruined house.

Sometimes,

Friends,

We feel like we're just the ruined house,

Especially when things aren't going well in our lives.

But the ultimate reality is that we are the moonlight itself,

Too.

Friends,

This next story is from a contemporary spiritual leader named Amma.

Her story of awakening starts with her as a young girl in a rural village in India.

Even at a young age,

She was drawn to silence,

Prayer,

And tending to the needs of those suffering around her.

She was often found in meditation or singing devotional songs late into the night.

Over time,

Visions and spontaneous trances began for her.

And she experienced a union with what she and many others call the Divine Mother,

Not as an abstract force,

But as a living love for all beings.

She began to hug people spontaneously,

Seeing no boundaries of caste,

Creed,

Or identity.

Her embrace became a portal to peace for millions.

She's sometimes called now the Hugging Saint.

And in Amma's words,

The energy of pure love is within you.

It only needs to awaken.

And friends,

How beautiful to be able to spend this time together in contemplation as that energy awakens more deeply within each of us.

Let's now turn our attention to 14th century Kashmir,

Where a poet named Lala left everything behind to become a mystic and wandering visionary,

So immersed in a sense of oneness between God and the phenomenal world.

In Lala's own words,

I was passionate,

Filled with longing.

I searched far and wide.

But the day that the truthful one found me,

I was at home.

Home,

Friends.

Home being that place deep within us,

Where we recognize the depth of beauty and love surrounding us in the present moment.

This would be a wonderful opportunity for another pause to the audio as we engage in another journaling prompt.

What helps me feel that deeper sense of connection of being at home?

Where or when do I find myself most connected to the divine?

Now,

Friends,

Let's roll back time about 1200 years to Basra and the poet Rabia,

Who is one of the earliest of the Sufi woman saints.

Orphaned on the streets of Basra and taken into slavery,

She was released because the visible power of her spiritual practice In her words,

Oh,

My Lord,

The stars glitter and the eyes of men are closed.

Kings have locked their doors and each lover is alone with his love.

Here I am alone with you.

And friends,

That type of being alone where we are one with the universe is not at all a lonely type of human being alone.

It is actually being one with all that is and being able to appreciate the beauty of it.

Let's turn now to the mid to late 1300s and another famous Persian mystic poet,

Hafez of Shiraz.

Hafez started his life as a baker's apprentice,

But he fell in love and was spellbound by the beauty of a woman who was out of his reach.

His love for her drove him to intense devotional practices.

And when he remembered that there was the nearby tomb of a Sufi saint and it was told that a 40 day vigil at this tomb would grant several gifts,

Poetry,

Immortality and one wish of deepest longing.

He decided that was it.

He was going to stay sleepless at that tomb for 40 days until he reached his deepest desire.

There at the tomb in silence and longing,

Something did awaken within him.

The story goes that Hafez was actually visited by an angel at the tomb.

He was granted the gift of poetry,

Which of course,

Since we still read his poems today,

Granted him a sense of immortality.

But when he was asked what the wish was,

He wanted more than anything else.

He looked at the angel and its phenomenal beauty,

And he realized that his desire and love was not for a woman,

But for the divine.

And that's what he asked for,

Was that divine connection and union.

His poetry transformed as a result.

And beyond singing of human desire,

He began to invoke the beloved,

A veiled metaphor for God in every line and every verse.

And as Hafez says in his own words,

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness,

The astonishing light of your own being.

He's talking to you,

My friend.

He's talking to all of us.

What are the ways in which we ask for what we most deeply yearn for?

This is a great opportunity to pause the audio again for another journaling prompt.

What deeper yearning exists beneath the surface level of what I desire in life?

And how else can I access that?

For example,

If I wish I had more money,

Is that a desire for safety and security?

And if so,

What helps me feel safe and secure beyond my assumptions about money?

Is it community?

Is it my loved ones?

What is it?

So again,

That journaling prompt for us is what deeper yearning exists beneath the surface level of what I desire in life?

And how else may I access that?

All right,

Friends,

Another story of spiritual awakening.

That's also contemporary from a modern day spiritual leader known as Sadhguru.

He was a thrill seeking motorcyclist and businessman at some point in his life.

But one afternoon he rode up a beautiful hill,

Sat on a rock and just slipped into a state of profound stillness.

Time dissolved and he couldn't say if it had been a few minutes or hours.

And for the next few weeks,

The state would continue to return,

Expanding until it shook him to the core.

Eventually,

He abandoned his business life and spent months in silence,

Integrating the awakening.

And out of that silence,

A foundation was born,

Dedicated to helping others touch the boundless within.

In Sadhguru's own words,

What you call myself is just a heap of impressions.

Spiritual process means you become like an empty space,

Untouched.

Friends,

Now let's go about 1300 years ago and sit with Li Po in China,

Reading a short poem about Zazen on Qingtai Mountain.

The birds have vanished down the sky.

Now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together,

The mountain and me,

Until only the mountain remains.

This is an opportunity for our final journaling prompt.

What defines my sense of self?

Where do I end and where does the universe begin?

What are the times when I feel the deepest sense of interconnectedness with the rest of life?

And how can I deepen and cultivate that practice?

You can take these questions in any order,

Whether one or all of them.

And I'll see you back here shortly,

Friends.

All right,

Friends,

One last piece to share.

This one I published earlier this year in 2025,

And it's called appropriately Spiritual Awakening.

It is loosening.

This space around the shell I hold is my identity.

My own hands have pried open these last layers like broken eggshells ready to be peeled from what was,

From what is,

From what's coming.

For what's new,

For what's finally here.

How strange to experience my own birth in this way.

Friends,

It has been beautiful to sit with you in contemplation for these last minutes.

I hope that you've enjoyed the session and gained some insight in your own unfolding journey.

I look forward to seeing you at the next one.

Reviews

Thank you for this beautiful offering and reflection
I'm definitely saving this to listen again
Love and blessings to you Ayneh