Namaste,
Today's story is based on true events about an old Baba or Saint.
He lived in a secluded place all by himself.
Most of the time he used to spend meditating.
Scarcely he will come out and meet anybody.
People nearby wondered what he ate,
So they used to call him Pavhari Baba,
Which means ear-eating saint.
Once in the middle of the night,
The Baba was meditating,
When a burglar crept into his cottage.
A few metal parts,
A blanket and several rags were the sole possessions of the Baba.
The thief took the metal parts,
Which were glittering.
He tried to go out as quickly as he could come.
The thief was almost out,
When one of the metal parts banged against the wall of the cottage.
He began to run through the dense undergrowth.
The Baba rose from his seat of meditation.
With the blanket and the few rags in his hands,
He ran after the thief.
After a long chase,
He caught the thief,
Who now was trembling with fear.
But there was to be no beating,
No mating out of justice.
Instead,
The Baba knelt at the feet of the thief.
With folded hands and tears in his eyes,
He said,
Oh love,
You have entered my cottage in the guise of a thief,
But you have left these things behind.
Please be gracious enough to take them with you.
The thief was profoundly moved.
Because of Baba's importunities,
The thief had to accept the gift.
But it was a turning point in his life.
Though he was a criminal,
Yet a saint had seen divinity in him.
The thief took to spiritual practices and became in course of time a saint himself.
Much later,
During his travel through India,
Swami Vivekananda happened to meet this thief turned saint,
Who told him this story.
And from Swami Vivekananda,
This story reached to us.
This old saint is dead now.
He was full of love for everything in the world.
He would have died for an ant.
Wild animals instinctively knew this old man to be their friend.
Snakes and ferocious animals would go into his hold and sleep with him.
They all loved him and never fought in his presence.
He represents a person who has discovered fulfillment within himself.
Now prepare to sleep.
Find a comfortable lying down position.
Lying flat on the bed,
With your head on the pillow,
Body relaxed.
Knees may be slightly bent.
You can keep a small pillow under the back of your knees.
Gently close your eyes.
Place your right hand on your belly as you breathe in and out.
Just feel that movement of the belly along with your breath.
Now we will practice abdominal breath.
A fantastic practice to induce state of relaxation.
Feel as if you are breathing in and out directly through your belly.
Slowly,
Inhale deeply while expanding the belly as much as is comfortable.
Keeping the chest and shoulders relaxed.
Upon exhalation,
Belly comes down towards the spine.
Continue for a few breaths.
Let go of the abdominal breath now.
Relax all the efforts.
And as you lie there,
Just notice how the body feels.
Does it feel heavy or light?
Restless or still?
Does it feel as though body is ready to sleep?
Or there is still a little bit of winding down for it to do?
Now,
Relive the day.
Begin by just thinking back to the very first part of the day.
Go back to the moment when you woke up today.
Relive those moments.
Just mentally go through the things you did till having breakfast.
Then what you had for breakfast.
After that,
Leaving the house,
Going to work.
Meeting people maybe.
Lunch.
And life after that.
Just quickly pausing through moments of the day.
Slowly coming back to the present moment.
As you see yourself getting ready for bed.
Getting into bed and starting with this program.
Take one deep breath in.
And as you exhale,
Begin to feel the body just sinking into the bed.
Now,
We begin body scan.
I will name a body part.
As you just become aware of that body part,
Feel it.
And then just move to the next body part which is named.
Become aware of the right hand.
Right hand thumb.
Fingers of right hand.
Whole right hand.
Whole right arm.
Right shoulder.
Right side of the chest.
Waist.
Hip.
Whole right leg.
Right foot.
The toes.
Now left hand.
Left hand thumb.
Fingers of the left hand.
Whole left hand.
Whole left arm.
Left shoulder.
Left side of the chest.
Waist.
Hip.
Whole left leg.
The left foot.
The toes.
Feel the both legs together.
The buttocks.
Stomach.
Chest.
Back.
Shoulder blades.
Arms.
The neck.
The head.
Forehead.
Eyes.
Nose.
Right cheek.
Left cheek.
Mouth.
Lips.
Chin.
The whole face.
The whole head.
The whole neck.
The whole back.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Again we will go through the whole body.
This time a little more slower and in detail.
Starting with the right hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Fingers and thumb together.
Palm of the hand.
Back of the hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper part of the right arm.
Right shoulder.
Right armpit.
Right side of the torso.
Right side waist.
Hip.
Right thigh.
Kneecap.
Calf muscle.
Ankle.
Heel.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
The whole right side of the body.
From toes to the fingers.
Fingers to the toes.
The whole right side of the body.
Now go to the left hand.
Become aware of the left hand thumb.
First finger of left hand.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Little finger.
Fingers and thumb together.
Palm of the hand.
Back side of the hand.
Wrist.
Forearm.
Elbow.
Upper part of the arm.
Left shoulder.
Left armpit.
Left side of the torso.
Left side waist.
Hip.
Thigh.
Kneecap.
Calf muscle.
Ankle.
Left foot heel.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth.
Whole left foot.
The whole left side of the body.
From toes to the fingers.
Fingers to the toes.
The whole left side of the body.
Now go to the left hand.
The whole left side of the body.
Now to the back.
Become aware of the lower back.
The right buttock.
And the left buttock.
Middle back.
Upper back.
Right shoulder blade.
Left shoulder blade.
Back of the neck.
Back of the head.
The whole back side together.
Now go to the top of the head.
The crown of the head.
Forehead.
Both sides of the head.
Right eyebrow.
Left eyebrow.
The space between two eyebrows.
Right eyelid.
Left eyelid.
Right eye.
Left eye.
Right ear.
Left ear.
Right side cheek.
Left side cheek.
Bridge of the nostrils.
Right nostril.
Left nostril.
Upper lip.
Upper jaw.
Tongue.
Lower jaw.
Lower lip.
Chin.
Throat.
Right collarbone.
Left collarbone.
Chest.
Right part of the chest.
Middle part of the chest.
Left part of the chest.
Upper part of the belly.
Middle part of the belly.
The navel area.
Lower part of the belly.
The whole of the right leg.
The whole of the left leg.
Both legs together.
The whole of the right arm.
The whole of the left arm.
Both arms together.
The whole of the back.
Buttocks.
Spine.
Shoulder blades.
The whole of the front.
Abdomen.
Chest.
The whole of the back and front together.
The whole of the head.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Become aware of your breath now.
Just feel the flow of your breath.
In and out through the body.
The breathing is natural,
Automatic.
The breathing is natural,
Automatic.
We are not trying to change the rhythm of the breath.
We are not doing it.
Just witnessing the breath.
Maintain the awareness of breath.
Dual awareness of breath.
Now,
Keeping the awareness on the breath,
Start mentally counting down your breath from 54.
As the breath comes in,
Count 54.
As it flows out,
54.
Breathe in 53.
Breathe out 53.
Like this,
Continue.
Not trying to fall asleep.
Just counting down the breath.
And knowing that it really doesn't matter too much when the breath comes in.
When the sleep comes.
As you lie there in this way,
Both the body and the mind are getting all the rest that they need.
If you lose track of the countdown,
Come back to 54 and start over.
