Do we really need to meditate, perform heavy penance, and renounce the
world to realize who we truly are? Why shall we forsake everything we have to find out our true identity and that bliss which already resides within us? There have been millions of people who have renounced everything to discover that ultimate truth. But is that really required? The answer to that one question Who am I? has been given by Sages many times in history. However, that experience remains concealed in the hearts of these mystics. Nonetheless, there have been very few individuals who have passed down this experience to others. The process of Self realization is indeed very easy and nothing but the proper guidance is required. To begin this quest for searching our true Self, lets begin by looking at a conversation between an Enlightened person (Dadashri) and a seeker about what really belongs to us and what does not To understand who we are, let's begin by separating I and My Dadashri: At the moment, do you identify with the My? Is the I alone, or is it with My? Questioner: My is always there. Dadashri: What are all the things that fall under My? Questioner: My home and all the things inside my home. Dadashri: Are all of those things yours? To whom does the wife belong? Questioner: She is also mine. Dadashri: And these children? Questioner: They are also mine. Dadashri: And this watch? Questioner: That is also mine. Dadashri: And these hands, whose hands are these? Questioner: They are also mine. Dadashri: Then you will say My head, my body, my feet, my ears, my eyes. All these parts of your body fall under My'. But then who is the person that is saying this word My? Who is the one that says, All these things are mine? Have you ever thought about that? When you say My name is David, (replace your own name with David) and then you turn around and say, I am David do you not think there is a contradiction in this? Questioner: Yes, I think so. Dadashri: You are David right now. In this David there is both I and My. They are like the two railway lines of I and My'; they always run together yet they are always separate. They are always parallel and never become one. Despite this you believe them to be one. This is due to the ignorance or unawareness of your true identity. Having understood this, separate the My. Keep all that comes under My to one side. For example, My heart, keep your heart on one side. What other things do we need to separate from this body? Questioner: The feet and all the sense organs. Dadashri: Yes, the five gnanendriyas (organs of perception) and five karmendriyas (organs of action) and everything else. Furthermore, do you say, My mind, or I am mind? Questioner: We say, My mind. Dadashri: Do you also not say, My intelligence? Questioner: Yes. Dadashri: And My chitt (the component of inner vision and previous knowledge in the mind)? Questioner: Yes. Dadashri: Then do you say, My egoism, or do you say, I am egoism? Questioner: My egoism. - See more at: http://www.dadabhagwan.org/spiritual-media/spiritual-articles/know- thyself-and-experience-it/?gclid=CInTtbfjlr4CFUTHtAodS3sAMA#sthash.9hJ9BXjW.dpuf
ow do we take care of ourselves spiritually? Spiritual self-care is the activity we engage in to find and nurture a sense of connection to a Higher Power and meaning for our lives. Just as it is essential to nurture your body with food, it is necessary to nurture your soul with spirit. There are many spiritual paths and spiritual support systems. Some of us may find that one particular spiritual path feels right and helps us find meaning and understanding for life. Others may find spiritual meaning through an eclectic blend of different spiritual traditions. Still others may blaze their own path. Regardless of where you find spiritual meaning, a certain amount of effort and discipline are necessary for establishing and maintaining spiritual nurturance. Higher Power Perhaps spiritual self-care begins with feeling connected with a greater energy source, with God, a Higher Power, GodSelf, or Universal Oneness. All of us have a vital life force within that animates and brings meaning to life. When we feel this presence, we are connecting to our Higher Power. A Way to the GodSelf Formula helps us experience this connection.
When you are moving along nicely in your life you don't usually think as much about your Higher Power. Yet, when times become challenging, when you most need support and reassurance, you often lose a sense of connection to God or your Higher Self. It is not uncommon to feel as if you have been cut adrift and you are not sure of how to proceed in life. You may even think that you just cannot go on.Saguaro Cactus flower essence helps you find that the inner wisdom and strength that you seek is located right within yourself, and you can go on for one more breath, one more hour, or one more day. Whether you are in the midst of a life crisis or experiencing a time of peaceful growth, there are a few practices that can help you on your spiritual journey, no matter what the path you are following. Two of them are meditation and contemplation. Meditation One common thing that many folks say is that their key to balance and inner harmony is meditation. If you have a daily meditation practice, even if it is for fifteen minutes a day, it can be amazingly effective. Meditation is so simple that you might think it couldn't possibly help. Every day we clean our teeth, yet how many of us clean out our minds on a regular basis? Meditation is sitting quietly and detaching from your thoughts, even if just for a few minutes or even a few seconds. Meditation can also be body movement with complete focus on the present moment that moves you out of your thoughts. Some people experience this state when they exercise and "get into the zone." Many Olympic athletes do this, and their performances have a quality that entrances those who watch. Meditation is a simple, natural part of life. Scientists have found that children naturally meditate. Every hour or so a child's eyes will glaze over as his or her gaze turns inward for ten to thirty seconds. The child is present, yet detached, and usually will not respond right away if you speak to him or her. This is a natural phenomenon. As we grow up our society teaches us to be more engaged in doing or accomplishing, and we lose this natural tendency. We learn that we should constantly focus on everything outside of ourselves, and we forget how to look within. If we sit in meditation for just fifteen minutes a day, we can recapture the feeling of refreshment and restore a sense of harmony to our lives. Those who meditate on a regular basis say that their lives seem more manageable. After meditating you feel refreshed, you are able to detach from worries and concerns and you are usually restored to a sense of balance.
There are many different challenges to being able to meditate. One flower essence, Rainbow Cactus, can help you if you have difficulty in detaching from what your mind thinks. When you meditate, you do not stop thinking, you just allow your focus to go beyond your thoughts. Rainbow Cactus helps you move from one state of consciousness to another. We have a natural ability to go within ourselves to different levels or planes of consciousness. When we know to what plane of consciousness we want to go, this flower essence helps us arrive there. During normal daily awareness, we listen to our minds and function from this perspective. This is one level of consciousness. When we meditate, we go beyond what our mind thinks. This is another level." The Alchemy of the Desert - Second Edition, page 239
Rainbow Cactus can be an excellent support for moving easily into "observer consciousness", where you detach from what you mind thinks and simply observe. When you allow your thoughts to be background music instead of the main attraction, you slide easily into meditation.
Queen of the Night Cactus is another flower essence that helps with challenges to meditation. This night-blooming flower provides a flower essence that supports you in turning your focus within. Queen of the Night takes you deeply inside, through the inner corridors of darkness, to find that we are connected to all of creation through sensing and feeling. This essence awakens you to feminine qualities of receptivity, subtlety, intuition, psychic impression, and deep feeling. It helps you find a state in which you can easily meditate. It can help you value your inner, intuitive self, especially if you have been taught that rational logic is more important than intuition. When we meditate, some of us may fear losing control. As you let go of focus on your thoughts, you may have a feeling of falling, or of moving to the unknown. Sacred Daturais the essence of choice to help us let go, or surrender, into meditation. It is through letting go that we attain everything. It helps us to feel safe and protected as we let go of the known or familiar. This flower essence helps us to find comfort in formlessness. It supports us in dissolving our ideas about reality so that we can widen our experience of life and ourselves.
Another challenge to meditation is fear. You may find yourself afraid that you will be overpowered or taken over by dark forces or something that you don't know if you meditate. Scorpion Weed is the essence to use for these fears. This great flower essence can help you find that the strength of innocence and direct confrontation overcomes fear and paralysis. It supports the restoration of trust in your essential goodness and light. If you want to begin or renew a meditation practice, you can take four drops of each essence in a glass of water, and then sit for ten minutes. At first you may just hear your mind thinking all of its thoughts. That's normal. When you meditate your mind does not stop thinking, but you learn to go beyond your mind's thoughts, to just observe them and not be engaged by them. Even if you sit and listen to the thoughts in your mind for ten minutes each day, congratulate yourself. This is how the practice begins. After time, the desire to meditate will arise spontaneously. In the beginning it takes effort to commit to sitting, but after some time it will come naturally. It can be helpful, but not essential, to sit for meditation at the same time every day. If you want, you can extend the time you sit to fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, and then half an hour. Don't worry that you will spend too much time meditating. Before you sit for meditation, tell yourself how long you want to sit. You will naturally come back from meditation in precisely that length of time. Within a few days or weeks you will find that you naturally want to sit for meditation. It will become easier to let go of your thoughts, and you may find that as you let go, you begin to experience "nothingness." As you go deeper into the "nothingness", you ultimately experience great bliss and joy.