Hi,
This is Dhyansi and you are listening to Dhyansi Meditation Podcast.
In this meditation session,
I talk about the three beautiful aspects of being a meditator – Satyam,
Shivam,
Sundaram.
Satyam – the truth.
Shivam – the consciousness.
Sundaram – the beauty.
This session was given in Basel,
Switzerland on 5th of November 2018.
Let's start the meditation session with three chants of Om.
Om Om Shanti Shanti Shanti A very warm welcome to all of you in this meditation session with me,
Dhyansay.
If I ask you,
Are you here for meditation?
Basically your answer would be yes.
But my guess is that you are not here for meditation.
You are here for maybe some inner peace,
For relaxation,
For achieving some spiritual experience,
For some superpower or something like that.
You might be here for achieving something which is out of meditation.
You are not here for meditation.
If you would be here for meditation,
That would be the right way to be here for the next minutes.
So my wish,
My request to all of you is to drop all kinds of expectations that you have from the next minutes,
From what you are going to achieve,
From what you are going to get,
And just flow with this session and let meditation happen.
When you are silent,
When you are aware,
Meditation happens on its own.
And when that happens,
A sudden transformation of your consciousness happens,
Out of which a natural quality arises in your being.
There are three words to describe this aspect where there is a new quality in your being.
And these three words are satyam,
Shivam,
Sundaram.
Very beautiful Sanskrit words.
I'll take a moment to explain these words because this is what will form the basis of today's session.
Satyam.
Satyam in Sanskrit means the truth.
What is the truth?
Truth is not some spiritual,
Philosophical viewpoint.
Truth is when you see things as they are,
Just the way they are.
When you have that clarity in your vision to see things as they are,
That's the truth.
Right now,
When you see things,
Your mind comes in between.
It's like you wear some glasses,
Colored glasses.
Those who are wearing the red glasses would see everything red.
Those who are wearing blue glasses will see everything blue.
Those who are wearing green glasses will see everything green.
Truth is what?
When you have no glasses,
Then you see things as they are.
This is the first quality,
The first fragrance of the being of a meditator,
When meditation flowers in the consciousness of a meditator.
And this is not just experienced by you,
But by everybody around you,
Because this truth is expressed in everything you do,
From your every breath to your every action.
And this starts with the practicality of things,
To it can go to deep spiritual truths as well.
Totally depends upon your practice,
Your sincerity to meditation.
Second word,
Shivam.
In Sanskrit,
Shivam means the consciousness,
Pure consciousness.
If I ask you,
Who are you?
You will say,
Well,
I am Swiss or French or German,
Or you will give me another description,
I am this person,
I am this name,
I am this,
I'm a father,
I'm a mother,
I'm a son.
Or you will give me another kind of description.
All these are descriptions,
But who are you?
You might even say,
I am the body,
I am this body.
Or you might say,
I am this artistic mind or this scientific mind,
Or any other kind of mind.
But who are you?
Are you the body?
Are you the mind?
Or are you something else?
In a meditator's journey,
When in the consciousness,
This blossoming happens of meditation,
Of silence,
Of awareness,
The meditator realizes himself or herself as pure consciousness.
That's what is known as Shivam,
Pure consciousness.
And again,
This is not just realized by you,
But also by others who are around you.
They will feel it,
They will sense it,
They will feel the vibe of you,
Living the truth,
Living pure consciousness.
And the third aspect,
Which is Sundaram.
Sundaram in Sanskrit means beauty,
Beauty or aesthetics.
We have everything in our life,
But if we don't have the aesthetics,
There is something missing.
We are all privileged people with no worries about food,
Shelter,
Survival.
We sum up our life with A plus B plus C.
But the sum of this,
If it's just limited to A plus B plus C,
And there is no aesthetics to it,
It's incomplete.
The experience of life remains incomplete when you have no aesthetics,
No beauty in your life.
Just like when you go out in the nature and you see a mountain,
Or you see the sky,
Or you see stars,
Or a sunrise.
What is so beautiful about it?
Is it the shape?
What is it that is so beautiful about nature,
Which we all enjoy?
When we see something like that,
We say,
Wow,
That's so beautiful,
That's so aesthetic.
What is it about that nature that we call as beautiful?
The same character,
The same aspect is there in all our beings.
Apart from how physically beautiful we are,
Or we are not,
There is a certain beauty of the being,
Of the presence,
Of the vibe.
When you come across somebody who is maybe not physically so beautiful,
But you realize the way that person is speaking,
The way that person is there,
Their presence,
Their just way of being is so beautiful that you like to be around that person and then you say,
Ah,
This person has a very beautiful vibe,
A very positive vibe.
This aspect of consciousness is known as Sundaram,
The beauty,
The aesthetics.
And this is not available in the marketplace.
You cannot buy it.
You can,
In fact,
You cannot buy all the three,
Which I just told you,
You cannot buy Sathya,
The truth.
You cannot buy Shivam,
The consciousness.
You cannot buy Sundaram,
The beauty or aesthetics of life.
And without all these three,
Life can have all kinds of experiences,
But they will remain incomplete.
The sense of inner peace,
The sense of bliss,
The sense of meaning,
The sense of completion,
The sense of centeredness will not be there.
So these three are the qualities of a meditator's consciousness.
When meditation starts blossoming in one's own being,
You could also use this as a parameter of your judgment,
Whether you are going on the right track or not.
A lot of people who start meditating,
They get involved with one or the other systems or concepts and get carried away.
If that happens,
Bring yourself back and ask yourself,
Are you growing in the truth?
Are you growing in your consciousness?
Are you growing in the aesthetics of your life?
Are your energies reorganized to give you this experience of truth,
Consciousness and beauty in every moment of your life or not?
Because meditation is not just about this hour that you spend with me here,
But it's about how you live your entire life in whatever you do,
In the very practical things of your life that you do,
In the very same things that you do every day.
These three aspects come into play and make your life filled with truth,
Consciousness and beauty.
Today's session is dedicated to these three aspects of a meditator's consciousness and we'll meditate upon these three different aspects.
We'll try to integrate this into our breath.
It's a breath meditation,
What we're going to do,
But by integrating these three different qualities consciously for the next 20-25 minutes and see how your experience of this moment,
Of this meditation changes,
Transforms as you bring in these three different qualities and integrate them into your breath.
I'll guide you through this meditation step by step,
But let me just spend two more minutes to explain you how we are going to do this meditation.
You can visualize this as a triangle of three aspects.
On the top is Satyam,
The truth.
On one edge is Shivam,
The consciousness,
And on the other edge is Sundaram,
The beauty,
The aesthetics.
And we are going to move from one edge of the triangle,
From the top to one edge,
To the other,
And back to the top,
And to the edge,
And to the next edge,
And to the top.
We will continue to move from Satyam,
The truth,
To Shivam,
The consciousness,
Sundaram,
The beauty,
The aesthetics,
And we'll make this journey shorter and shorter.
In the beginning,
We'll spend time in Satyam,
The truth,
How to do that when you're breathing,
When you're sitting down and breathing,
What is the truth of breath?
The truth of breath is the breath is coming in and out on its own.
You're not doing it.
You're allowing it to happen.
There is a flow in it.
There's a natural happening of breath in and out.
And you will just observe this fact.
You'll just observe this truth,
This fact that the breath is coming in and out and flowing in and out.
Keep your awareness on this truth.
Then we'll move on to Shivam,
Consciousness.
This is a bit tricky,
Where you will turn your awareness from the breath to who is aware of the breath.
Let me repeat.
In Satyam,
The truth,
You're observing the fact that you're breathing.
In Shivam,
You are turning your awareness towards who is observing,
Who is this who's aware.
You'll give yourself time to be in this realization,
In this awareness,
Who is observing the breath,
Who is this?
Better is to not give any answers.
Don't give logical,
Intellectual,
Immediately coming up to your mind answers to this question.
Let this question remain as a question.
This question is not supposed to be answered.
Use this question to always direct your awareness towards the observer who is observing this breath and everything else.
Third,
Sundaram is simple,
Where in your breath,
There is a certain harmony.
When it's flowing,
There is a rhythm,
There is a harmony.
A lot of people,
When they breathe,
They either contract themselves or they breathe artificially,
They breathe in a certain pattern.
Allow that breath to naturally come into a rhythm and just observe the harmony of that.
How that breath is giving your body,
Your mind,
A certain silence,
A certain harmony,
Certain aesthetics.
How you're sitting in a posture which is relaxed,
Where your body is more at rest,
You're becoming more and more silent and your breath is in harmony.
And we'll move again back to Satyam,
Shivam,
Sundaram,
Truth,
Consciousness,
Beauty or aesthetics.
And we will make this triangle several times,
We'll give enough time for each aspect and then we will try to reduce the time that we are in this triangle.
Why we do that?
Because when we move from one aspect to the other,
It becomes kind of a mantra.
So this is a very beautiful practice of integrating breath meditation into qualities,
Into a mantra,
Kind of a mantra,
Where you are engaged in Satyam,
Shivam,
Sundaram,
Satyam,
Shivam,
Sundaram.
When you're engaged in three aspects,
What happens is your consciousness starts to come together in the middle of all these three things.
What is there in the middle?
Is silence.
Is only awareness.
Is pure silent awareness,
Pure being.
So we will do this for 15 minutes or so and we will simply sit in silence,
In absolute silence and awareness and leave all these three aspects after we have spent enough time on each of these three aspects.
Before we start,
Any questions how we are going to do this meditation?
Is it clear?
Those who are here for the first time,
I would like to maybe just give you a simple tip to have the next 20 minutes,
Not in pain,
But in more rest.
If you want to not sit cross-legged,
You can sit next to the wall and keep yourself,
Keep your body in a posture,
Which is most restful for you.
So there is no necessity to sit cross-legged.
There is no necessity to put hands in a certain posture like this or like this or like this.
Put them as you feel comfortable.
The idea is next 20 minutes,
You are as comfortable as you can,
And you could focus in your inner space,
In your inner world and be guided into inner experiences of meditation.
Close your eyes.
Take a nice deep breath in.
Inhale from the nose and also exhale from the nose.
Another deep breath inhale from the nose and exhale from the nose.
Keep your back straight,
Shoulders down,
Neck straight,
And no tension on your face,
On your head.
Allow your body to settle in a posture,
Which is comfortable to you.
Keep on breathing as naturally and normally as you always do.
And for the next minutes,
Turn your awareness inwards towards your breath.
Allow everything else in your life to be at rest,
To be secondary,
And give yourself the next 20 minutes for yourself,
For this breath meditation,
For simply observing your breath.
Satyam,
The truth.
You observe the fact that your breath is flowing in and out.
Just observe the rise and falling of your breath.
Nothing else has to be done.
This observation of the breath does not require you to think.
Allow your mind to come to rest as you simply observe your breath rising and falling.
If you ever get distracted,
Simply bring your awareness back to your breath.
Keep your awareness at the rising and falling of your breath.
Allow your body to settle,
Your mind to settle,
And your awareness free to observe your breath.
As your body settles,
Forget about the body for the next minutes.
Forget about the mind for the next minutes.
And bring all your energy into awareness,
Into observing your breath.
Second aspect,
Shivam,
Consciousness.
Shift your awareness to who is observing.
Remain aware of the observer.
First,
Bring all your energy in becoming aware of the observer.
Now move to the third aspect,
Sundaram,
Beauty,
Harmony,
Aesthetics.
Feel how every inhalation and exhalation is bringing harmony,
Silence to your body,
To your mind,
To your being.
Allow your breath to flow,
To flow in harmony.
Your body is relaxed,
Your mind is relaxed,
And you're simply feeling the harmony of your breath going in and out.
Allow your entire being to feel this harmony of your breath.
Satyam,
The truth.
Become aware of the flow of your breath,
Just the fact that breath is coming in and out.
Silently flowing in and out.
Shivam,
Become aware of who is observing the breath.
Sundaram,
Feel the harmony of your breath.
Feel the flow of your breath.
Feel the peace arising out of this harmony.
Satyam,
Observe the fact that the breath is flowing in and out.
Shivam.
Shivam.
Who is observing this breath?
Sundaram.
Flow with the flow of your breath.
Remain fully connected with the flow of your breath.
Satyam,
Observe your breath.
Shivam,
Observe the observer.
Sundaram,
Taste the harmony of your breath as it flows in and out.
All by itself.
Feel the silence of this moment,
The silence that is there inside of you.
The stillness.
I'm here for this.
For this silence.
For this stillness.
Stay in this silence for the next minutes.
Nowhere to go,
Simply remaining silent and aware here.
Let go of everything and remain silent.
Fall deep into this silence and remain aware.
Let go of everything.
Stay like this.
Shivam.
Don't touch anything,
Remain silent.
Shivam.
Shivam.
Now gently bring your awareness back to your breath.
Satyam.
Shivam.
Sundaram.
The truth that the breath is flowing in and out.
To the observer that is observing the breath and the harmony of your breath.
Satyam.
Shivam.
Sundaram.
Very slowly and gently you may open your eyes.
If you have the urge to stretch your body,
Stretch your legs,
Give yourself this moment.
Shivam.
These last moments of the session are for you to share anything from the session that came up during the meditation.
Anything to clarify?
Any questions?
A few minutes for you to speak up and share.
Or would you simply enjoy the silence for a few more minutes?
