Meditations
Meditations Index:
Reflective Thoughts
by Pam Smith
Nada Yoga by Gordon Smith
Merging Higher Selves by Gordon & Pam Smith
Group Soul by Gordon & Pam Smith
Reflective Thoughts selected by: Pam
Smith
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(any of the following quotations would be appropriate for a yoga
teacher to read to their class at the beginning of a relaxation and/or for their students to
ponder)
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It is faith that steers us through stormy seas, faith that moves
mountains and faith that jumps across the ocean. That
faith
is nothing but a living, wide awake consciousness of God
within. He who has achieved that faith wants nothing.
Bodily
diseased, he is spiritually healthy; physically poor, he rolls
in
spiritual riches.
Mahatma
Gandhi: Young India, 24 th Sep.
1925
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A Man wanted to cross a river. A sage gave
him an amulet and said “This will carry you across.” The man taking it in his hand, began to
walk over the water. Before he had gone half the way, he was seized with curiosity, and opened
the amulet to see what was in it.
Therein he found, written on a piece of paper, the sacred name of
Rama, the Lord. At this the man said depreciatingly, “Is this the whole secret?” No sooner did
this scepticism enter his mind than he sank down. It is faith in the name of the Lord that
works wonders; for faith is life and want of faith is death.
Sayings of Shri Ramakrishna, No.506
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Some nights stay up till dawn. As the moon
sometimes does for the Sun.
Be a full bucket pulled up the dark way of a well, then lifted out into
light.
Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear.
Someone fills the cup in front of us. We taste only sacredness.
Jalal ad-din ar-Rumi. Persian
Mystic.
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The supreme Brahman is
characterised by truth,
knowledge and bliss, and that is the only reality.
The universe is perceived to be real, because it is superimposed upon
Brahman, just as the blue colour
is superimposed on the sky.
Whatever is negated by means of proof needs
to be unreal. But that which is not so disproved
must be real, if it is true at all times.
The animate and the inanimate prove the
existence of Brahman. When one says
“I do not know Brahman” even
that should
be taken as proof of the existence of Brahman.
Shankara; Sharirakabhashya,1, 1, 4
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I call the high and light aspects of my
being Spirit and the dark and heavy aspects soul. Soul is at home in the deep
shaded valleys. Heavy torpid flowers saturated with black grow there. The rivers flow like warm
syrup. They empty into huge oceans of soul.
Spirit is a land of high, white peaks and
Glittering jewel-like lakes and flowers . Life is sparse and sounds travel great distances. There
is soul music, soul food, and soul love. People need to climb the mountain not simply because it is
there but because the soulful divinity needs to be mated with the spirit.
Tenzin Gyatso, fourteenth Dalai Lama of
Tibet
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Four gifts the wise have
declared to bring salvation in this world
and the next: the gift of safety for the frightened, the gift
of
medicine for the sick, the gift of knowledge for those who
want
to learn, and the gift of food for the
hungry.
Subhashitarnava, 30
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That is the whole purpose of human existence
here on earth:
to benefit other people through one’s life, one’s possessions,
one’s thoughts and one’s words.
Bhagavadgata Purana, X, 22, 35
I am endeavouring to see God through
service of humanity,
for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor
down below,
but in everyone,
Mahatma Gandhi: Young India, 4 th Aug.
1927
Aparigraha – Non Hoarding
A visiting Swami to Faith House Yoga Centre requested a tour
of the local area, including the shopping
precinct. After some time
he returned and said “I have had a wonderful
time, looking at all
the things I do not need!”
A true lesson in non acquisitiveness and
aparigraha - non hoarding.
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Those who care for plants and animals
like for themselves
will obtain the highest heaven.
Subhashitarnava, 16
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And he showed me a pure river
of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of
God and of the lamb. In the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, was there
the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The Revelation of
SaintJohn 22:1-1
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Fold your wings my
soul,
those wings you have spread
wide
to soar the terrestrial
peaks
where the light is most
ardent:
it is for you simply to
wait
the descent of the Fire -
supposing it to be willing
to take possession of
you.
Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin
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Nada Yoga, the Yoga of
listening, has been from the earliest times a reference to the mystical or inner sounds, which can be heard during
this form of meditation. These sounds are referred to in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and to quote a few lines from
these early Sutras:
“Yogis who practiced Samadhi (Contemplation)
on those internal sounds experience an
indescribable Joy.”
“The Muni (Sage) should close his ears with
his hands and fix his attention on the
internal sounds until he attains the state of perfect stillness.”
“At the beginning of practice various sounds
are heard, and as practice continues
subtler and higher sounds”
The Pradipika also describes the type of
sounds, which are heard, such as the sounds of the Ocean, small drum, a conch, a bell and a gong.
This type of meditation will appeal to the mystic and is
begun by concentrating on external sounds, then inner sounds, finally selecting only subtle sounds until eventually
the mind gives up all its activity and perfect calm is experienced.
For many people sounds heard within the ears are an unwanted
phenomenon and listed under the medical condition “tinnitus aurium”. It may be that some of these sounds are more
than just a malfunction of the hearing system, as Yogi Dr Ramamurti Mishra, when a guest at Faith House Yoga &
Natural Health Centre, put forward a remarkable theory, that some tinnitus was the result of psychic or higher
levels of consciousness, attempting to make a break through whenever a change of direction was
needed.
Many of these inner sounds or voices are not mystical in
origin, but suppressed thoughts long kept out of sight. By meditating with a still mind many of these thoughts will
rise like bubbles to the surface of a pool. When choosing a subject for meditation you will often hear the sounds
of parents and educators telling you things. Many things you hear you will agree with, and others not. Some things
will be said with great authority, none the less examine them all and say to yourself, do “I really believe these
things”? If so, and they stand the test of your Conscious examination, affirm them, and make them your own, and
keep them close to your heart. If not, throw them out, and by so doing avoid the second death, which will be the
death of all your unrelated ideas. By so doing you will be working to be reborn in this lifetime to all that is
Universally True.
Gordon Smith
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Merging Higher
Selves - a meditation by Pam & Gordon
Smith
There are many levels of
relationship. For some it is confined to the physical with an associated overflow of energy from the emotional
level.
For others a significant
relationship is an exchange of ideas, and for a few exceptional people it is the level of the higher mind, the
level we associate with Universal Truth.
This meditation “Merging the
Higher Selves” is in the spirit of top level relationship with each meditation working for perfect harmony with a
partner. It is at this level that we learn from each other at a subtle level, with a consequent refinement of all
levels.
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Meditation
Sit facing your partner,
fingertips lightly touching.
Enjoy calm peaceful breathing.
Gradually with calm peaceful breathing, with each
in-breath
lift
the image of yourself, still facing your partner,
to a position just over the top of the
head,
at the
level of the Sahasrara chakra.
Make both your visualisations as perfect as you can,
Refining and perfecting the visualisation with each breath
you take.
Finally embrace and enjoy the perfect interchange
Of your topmost energies.
Completion by sitting
firmly on the earth, silent and still.
Pam & Gordon
Smith
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Index
Group Soul - a meditation by Pam & Gordon
Smith
This meditation ‘Group Soul’ is much like the previous meditation ‘Merging Higher Selves’ and
is in the spirit of the Tantric tradition, where the right sort of relationship between spiritually motivated
people makes possible reciprocal feeding at all levels. Forming a circle with a large number of people can be
viewed as a chakra or energy wheel that has a lot of potential for healing and
rebalancing.
When sitting in a circle
you may feel that you are closed and insulated from the mundane energies of everyday life. Encourage this by
feeling that the circle is open to a descent of the higher and more spiritual energies which can promote
healing and development.
Meditation
Sit for meditation in a circle facing
its centre. Energise the circle by
directing all your positive energies inward. We all have strengths
and
weaknesses, let the energies at the highest level fill the
circle.
As the energies in the circle
increase, let in the positive qualities
which you need for health and integration. Do not just be a
receiver
as there must be a
fair exchange, continue to present the higher
aspect of
yourself, raising the level of vibration at the centre.
After several minutes of attunement
and rebalancing, hold hands
And
sit in silence in a spirit of equanimity at one with the group soul,
One spirit of awareness harmonising and balancing the whole
group.
Finally, release hands,and sit in harmony with each
other.
Pam & Gordon
Smith
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