I learned about meditation over 20 years ago by noticing a flyer on a pole and deciding to go to the talk. I was fascinated, and started learning hatha yoga almost immediately after. Hatha yoga improved my health, posture, body stability, flexibility, concentration and focus. The main focus of hatha yoga was on improving ones health and flexibility.
The hatha yoga path I was on was somewhat austere. Many people on this path eventually took a vow of celibacy, much like a priest, and outwardly renounced the physical “enjoyments” in this world such as money, clothes, fancy cars and families. I didn’t want to renounce outward so I began searching for another yogic path, I felt more comfortable with. I found Surat Shabd Yoga, a path of inward renunciation. It was a path that I came to realize was teaching me how to truly “Love.”
The nickname for Surat Shabd Yoga or yoga on the Inner Sound and Light was “The Royal Path.” It did not include any difficult postures, austerities or outward renunciation. In the olden days, Royalty who wanted to study spirituality, would travel the Royal Path and retain their kingdoms. An exception, to this was Buddha who decide to renounce his kingdom, and study spirituality only.
The Inner Sound and Light we focus on when we practice Surat Shabd Yoga is natural and is within everything. It is at a very high vibration in human beings. It is part of who we are. It is a part of us and we are a part of it. Many people call it Consciousness.
Any practice of Yoga requires one to conquer the mind. This is not the easiest thing to do. The individual mind is part of the ego and it wants to remain in control. The mind for most of us, controls our Soul. The goal is to have the Soul be in control and have the mind follow it, not the other way around. Surat Shabd Yoga give us a natural way to give the mind something to do, by focusing it on the Inner Sound and Light.
Slowing down the mind is like slowing dow a speeding train. Difficult but not impossible. As we practice, Surat Shabd Yoga gradually we get more and more control over it until one day, it becomes the servant to our Soul it was always meant to be.
There are a couple different ways you can practice Surat Shabd Yoga. The first way is to close your eyes and give yourself some words, a mantra, to repeat. They could be any words you choose and feel comfortable with. You can choose love, love, love or peace, peace, peace. You can repeat whatever you want. The second is to focus totally on the Sound and Light within.
We have to give the mind something to do or as usual it will take over. When we are repeating and a thought comes in, we should not beat up the mind and get angry at it. We should lovingly bring it back to the repetition. Eventually it becomes more and more one-pointed.
Meditation is a reprieve from normal life. It is a haven, an oasis, and a break from daily life. It gives you a chance to feel love, warmth and beauty from within. In the beginning the mind struggles but over time it begins to purr like a kitten.
We feel Love when we meditate because we come in contact with the source of Love, within us. There is a fountain of Love inside of everyone. We tap into it when we meditate. As we get deeper into our meditation, we start recognizing this same fountain of Love within everyone else. Once this happens, we start understanding that the real meaning of “Love” is total identification with that fountain of Love within all living things.