13 Guided Exercise

This is a soothing and beautiful advaita guided meditation based on chanting recorded in before a live audience. Consider this time an appointment with self that can be used to better understand and appreciate one's own being.

Transcript

Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Om Namasivaya Upanishads teach,

Aham Brahmasmi,

I am Brahman,

I am the limitless,

Meaning that there is no want,

No lack in I.

However,

Because of ignorance and maya,

I entertain quite an opposite opinion about myself,

That I am a limited being,

I am inadequate,

I am needy.

This brings about a dissatisfaction or a non-acceptance of my own self.

Very often,

I reject myself,

Even condemn myself.

I also felt that I have been treated unfairly and therefore a lot of hurt is also accumulated in my mind,

That brings about resentment,

Anger towards those who are in position of authority.

These are some of the obstacles which come in my way of my appreciation of what I truly am.

I can appreciate that I am Ananda,

Provided there is self-acceptance,

When I am comfortable with myself.

Further,

When my mind is free from hurt and guilt,

And the resulting anger and frustration.

The Pratipaksha Bhavana,

Taking an opposite stand,

In keeping with what the Vedanta teaches us,

One is the perception of the ego,

An ignorant hurt guilty ego,

The other is the perception of Vedanta.

The way to neutralize the false notions and reactions arising from those notions is to replace these notions by the perception of Vedanta.

One Vedanta teaches us that there is an order,

That there is a fairness and justice in the scheme of things,

And therefore whatever has happened,

Whatever happens,

And whatever will happen,

All of that is meant for my spiritual growth.

What happens may be judged as unfair from the standpoint of the ego,

Which has its own expectations and needs,

But when,

Just from the standpoint of order,

We will see that whatever is,

Is meant for my spiritual growth,

Including pain and pleasantness,

Including what appears to be dishonor,

Injustice,

Failure.

All this pain also comes to me to help me to grow.

In light of this understanding and further,

Whatever happens is also the result of my past karma.

If I feel that some people have inflicted injury to me,

That is because they have been made instruments for creating situations and experiences,

Which were meant to happen because of my own karma,

And further the pain caused by those situations and people also must have helped me,

Perhaps indirectly,

In a disguise,

To lead me to the path of spiritual growth.

The fact that I am listening to these words,

The fact that I am in this place shows that whatever has happened,

Pleasant or unpleasant,

Had a role to play in leading me to where I am.

And right now I am enjoying a great privilege,

Result of a lot of grace and blessing.

And therefore,

Whatever has happened in the past has been a blessing in disguise.

It may be pushing me to this path of studying and contemplation upon Vedanta.

However,

I can forgive all those who I think have inflicted injury to me,

Who I think have been unfair to me.

I can forgive them because by so doing they have indirectly helped me.

Whatever has happened would have happened anyway because of my karma.

Forgiving,

Accommodation is the pratipaksha bhana to neutralize anger,

Resentment,

And therefore the feeling of hurt.

This is accepting the world around me.

That acceptance means being accommodative,

Forgiving,

Being compassionate.

That is the Vedantic teaching,

Coming to my own self,

Self-acceptance,

Accepting myself,

Respecting myself for what I am,

Recognizing the blessing I am enjoying in my life.

Even what I do not have,

Even what I did not get,

All of that is blessing in disguise because I have no way of knowing that if I got what I wanted,

I would necessarily have been a happier person.

There is no way of knowing.

Therefore,

I may thank Ishvara even for what I do not have,

What I did not get.

I also thank Ishvara for this great gift of the human body.

It is a great privilege to be born a human being.

This beautiful body,

The sense organs,

The mind,

The intellect,

With all their capacities,

Even though the capacities may be limited,

But these capacities are quite adequate to enable me to negotiate in my life so as to reach the ultimate goal of moksha.

I do not have to be the most brilliant person.

I do not have to be the strongest person in the world.

I do not have to be the wealthiest,

The most famous,

The most powerful.

I do not have to be those things.

Maybe they could as well have been obstacles to my pursuit of spiritual growth,

To my pursuit of knowledge.

And therefore,

Whatever I have and whatever I am is the most appropriate for what I need to do.

In fact,

Limitlessness is my nature.

I am what I am seeking to be.

It is all a matter of owning up what I am rather than becoming what I am not.

And I can own up what I am when my mind becomes free from the dissatisfaction,

When the mind recognizes that I am a very fortunate,

Blessed person,

In spite of all the limitations in the body.

I accept,

I lovingly accept my body,

Which is a great gift,

A great privilege to have,

In spite of its limitations.

I accept my sense organs of perception,

Sense organs of action,

A great gift.

I know that my sense organs have limitations.

I lovingly accept my organs of perception,

My organs of action.

I lovingly accept them.

It is a great gift and privilege to have them.

I accept my mind with its emotions,

Even with its problems,

Knowing that all the problems are due to ignorance,

Due to a wrong perception of myself,

Knowing that all the difficulties of the mind can be resolved when I bring into practice the perception that Vedanta gives me about myself.

The anger,

The jealousy,

The frustrations,

The fears,

Insecurities,

Greed,

Whatever there is in my mind,

All of that is product of ignorance and avirekha,

Non-discrimination because of the unintelligence of the ego.

Now when I bring in the intelligence provided to me by Vedanta,

All these products of ignorance have to go.

There is no reason to feel desperate.

There is no reason for frustration.

There is no reason to accept my mind,

Even with its problems.

May I be sympathetic,

Accommodative,

Compassionate towards my own mind.

Even the ego also is accepted with its complexes,

With its difficulties,

Knowing that all the complexes are born of ignorance and the resulting wrong perception about myself.

Vedanta teaches me the true nature of ego is limitlessness.

I can therefore take all the comforts from the vision that Vedanta gives me and make my best efforts to bring into operation this vision of Vedanta about the mind,

About the ego,

About the self,

About the world,

About Ishwara.

Vedanta provides me a clear insight into all of this.

There is all the reason for me to be happy,

Accepting myself as I am,

Respecting myself,

In fact loving myself as I am,

Loving the world as it is,

Loving the self as I am.

What it means is I let go of the demands from the world,

Expectations from the world and give the world the freedom to be what it is.

I can do what I can for the world and leave the rest to Ishwara.

I accept myself,

Meaning that I give up demands from my own self,

Give up demands to be different from what I am,

Give up demands that the world should be different from what it is,

An accepting mind is a mind free from demands.

Vedanta teaches that everything is in order,

Whatever is,

Is in order.

And therefore,

In light of that teaching,

I can let go of the demands from the world,

From myself.

And when I let go of demands,

I can enjoy what is.

It is the demands in my mind that deprives me of enjoying what is.

A mind that gracefully accepts the world as well as the self is a non-demanding mind.

When the mind becomes free from demand,

It becomes quiet,

Free from agitation.

This is the Vedantic way of achieving the same result that Yoga Shastra seeks to achieve by the method of controlling the mind,

A non-demanding mind,

An accepting,

Accommodating,

Loving mind.

In light of the teaching of Vedanta,

Which teaches me that everything is in order,

Everything is alright as it is.

When the mind is non-demanding,

When it is quiet,

I can see that,

That quiet,

That silence is indeed my nature.

My true nature becomes manifest when the mind becomes silent,

When it becomes non-demanding,

When it becomes satisfied with what is.

Then I can see this fact that what is,

Is in order.

What is,

Is beautiful.

What is,

Is Brahman.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

I am Shiva,

The auspicious,

The tranquil,

The ever joyful,

The ever free,

The ever silent,

That Shiva I am.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

Jee dhanan deroopah shivoham,

Shivoham.

Om pula madha,

Pula midham,

Pula,

Pula mudhacchate,

Pula nasyapulna madhaya,

Pula meva vashishtade.

Om shanti,

Shanti,

Shanti.

Reviews

🙏🏼

Vedanta is absolutely a scientific way of living. This was postulated by the ancient sages of India. Swamiji breaks Vedanta concepts into bite size meditations. Delightful & Wonderful meditation

Thank you so very much!

Wonderful talk thank you so much