2 days ago I had the most oddest dream , a dream I never ever had before.
Recently I have been trying to note down my dreams -That day in the morning when I woke up early I tried to recollect and write my dream but I couldn't recollect anything. So giving up I went back to sleep. But this time I had very light sleep. And I dreamt of being in the backyard of a house etc. Then later I was inside the house/ room ....there is nothing important to mention until here . Suddenly the picture changed - mind you I was aware of the picture changing although I wasn't aware of my body. This awareness during my dream state was new for me as compared to my regular dreams. Next thing I saw on the window in front me turning dark and then just like a movie begins, next I know I was Inside the movie experiencing each and everything . I found myself floating on a summer day on the mountain & I also saw my shadow. I was surprised seeing my shadow and I said to myself “while astral travelling shadows are seen?? Ok maybe thats true!" I was under the impression, I was astral travelling. :) Then I was floating above a person , He didn’t see me. Then I saw one person standing at a grave with flowers. I passed above him & then saw him moving to go away . In a few seconds I was ahead of him and when I looked back, he had disappeared . After the whole thing, I said to myself, "Ok I am now done" and I felt as if the thing was over and I was completely aware of returning back to the body. I actually experienced the movie ending and me returning back to my body. I was aware that “that” thing was over and I immediately opened my eyes as if I was projecting and then I returned back. As I mentioned earlier, this awareness during the dream was completely new for me. What an odd dream?! We had a group meditation session yesterday. It was such wonderful energy, felt peaceful immediately.
For beginners, especially, group meditation is really helpful - not only to meet like minded people but also to stay on the practice of meditation. Some of the re-joiners that come to my class of meditation do not practice regularly at home and come back for the class hoping that it will get them on the practice again. Yes it can, but at the same time, to be consistent, it is good to practice everyday at home for minimum 15-30 minutes, before the next group class, just so that you stay on the consistent course. This is a commitment you need to do for yourself. Meeting people and hearing others experiences, getting small solutions on doubts etc. also helps in getting motivated. The other advantage of group meditation is the group intention of peace, silence etc. which brings in more such energy easily, faster, making us feel peaceful sooner than doing that meditation individually. (But Ofcourse, sitting in meditation alone is also very good.) The other thing I usually share with my meditation friends are things I used personally - using guided meditation videos that are so freely available online (youtube). Meditating with classical instrumental music and guided meditation videos that we like, helps to practice consistently. Time and again I have used it and it really makes my meditation enjoyable. I have read spiritual experiences of others of how they got answers to their questions or overcame fear, illness etc., spoke with spiritual masters that are no longer in the physical body , astral travelled etc. to motivate myself. Other things I use to stay motivated: burn agarbatti (incense) , burn camphor or essential oils while meditating. Also listening to online videos of teachers , reading spiritual books like "Autobiography of a yogi", Apprenticed to a Himalayan master, Living with Himalayan masters - such wonderful autobiographical books etc. So for people like us for whom practicing meditation regularly is more important for its benefits that we receive , using such tools is not blasphemy and they are not crutches. I would definitely go ahead and use it myself. They would become crutches if meditation cannot be done without them. But if motivation is hard to come by, then definitely using these tools is worthwhile. Will write my thoughts on this shortly....
Every person has his/her limit, boundaries. It varies from person to person.
Some people have shorter limits/boundaries in certain areas, while some in other areas. The defining boundaries, must be due to our varied soul journeys, the lessons we have to learn I think, although I am not sure. Also when someone crosses that line/ boundary, we may end up hurting people, sometimes knowingly, purposely and sometimes unknowingly. Although we need to remember at all times, that If a person crosses that/our boundary we can speak, but we should keep our hand on our heart and then speak with love in our heart/mind so that the message of us being displeased goes across honestly and we are not beating around the bush (speaking indirectly), but at the same time the hurt is lowered. A lot of times I realize that when someone crosses our line, we have an upper edge, some kind of power over that person. But at the same time we should not 'misuse' that power! There are only a few trips that have been 'relaxing' and enjoyable. Which is such a rare thing - Usually we need a vacation from a vacation.
Goa you really surprised me !! The last time I visited Goa was as a 12-13 year old. That trip was forgettable. Sightseeing at the beaches in the heat (terrible) , the n-number of temples which I hardly remember. But this time around it was completely different. I wanted my parents to enjoy this relaxing trip along with me. And it was a memorable trip for all of us. It started with a wonderful hotel that was so close to Siquerim beach (one end of Goa), a wonderfully clean , sparsely populated beach. The time we reached was early evening, so me and mom sat at the beach with the wind blowing in our face and it was so refreshing.This time we planned not to visit all the beaches , especially in the hot afternoon sun. And it was a good decision. The beaches of Goa are so clean, such a far cry from Mumbai. Miramar beach which was in the center of Panjim city was clean too. We sat and enjoyed the sunset there. Can never think of sitting at Juhu Beach in Mumbai especially because of the garbage. Sad! Or else would never have to visit Goa. Wish things change soon and we could sun-tan on Juhu beach. Well, not really sun-tan but atleast enjoy the fresh breeze. :)) The walk at Fort Aguada was a peaceful walk during early evening, sans the heat. And to come back and enjoy evening tea sitting at our open hotel space facing the beach, with the Arabian sea waves gushing (it was high tide then) and the wind blowing , it was absolutely heaven. Nature showing off its beauty! This time we planned to visit only the two main temples and only that one famous church, It was a good decision since we didnt want to rush and sight see each and every tourist spot, we wanted to make this trip exclusive. Mom was happy visiting the Mangeshi and ShantaDurga temples :) and then off we went to St. Francis church, The temples are well known family deities of the GSB community. At The Basilica of Bom Jesus Church, although we didn't get to see the famous St. Francis body (it is put out for display only once a year, I think, and a large number of people throng to see it) that has stayed without much deterioration, the pictures that they had put up of the body on display, made me wonder that although it was amazing that the body has stayed in that un-deteriorated state for so long, but was it really worthwhile? Oh, well! The spice garden and the walk in those "woods" was also fun, especially seeing all the spices that we use in our cooking "live". Although the entrance fee is a little steep, I did enjoy visiting it. Its like if you decide to enjoy a place, you will, no matter what. And then how can I forget the cashews with the skin on them. Just love the Goa cashews. The boat ride on Mandvi river with loud music in the background was forgettable though. Overall, it was a trip with loads of fun, relaxation and family time. Next trip that I would like to make is to a place like Dive-agar (beach village) or so and stay at a local's house and eat the local food. Although I have been there earlier, visiting it again, would be fun. Goa, you have hooked me on to beaches, Funny, me who never enjoyed beaches! :)) Now I know why people enjoy Goa so much. I have hardly read or heard of normal people seeing or speaking with Ascended masters. It is said that it is difficult for a master who has ascended to 'descend' to our level energetically. But then how did Yogananda meet and speak with Babaji, Yukteshwar Giri. Also people have met Mahavtar Babaji. How did that happen?
Also why cant we speak and see our loved ones who have crossed over? Is it because they dont know how to materialize? I have wondered the authenticity if seeing "feathers" so often around me really mean that spirit is especially around, helping and does it mean anything??
I am reading this book - 'Three "Only" Things' by Robert Moss who teaches about dreams and how to track them and understand them to be messages from our higher soul or ascended masters, etc. and how to use them as guidance in our daily life. In this , he mentions about how recurring symbols and recurring coincidences can be tracked as meaning "something". I can relate then that its not about just seeing a feather once in a while, but the recurring feathers could be symbols of spirit strongly around certain times, encouraging .... symbolically as spirit cannot display to the eyes directly. Just read an experience of someone who had a great experience with the divine masters. Also how a soul plan works. Ofcourse for us who are in the "dark" and cant really "see" this happening , its so amazing to read. its a motivating factor.
How spiritual masters help, work in the astral planes is amazing. Some of such stories are there in books like "Many lives, Many masters" by Dr. Brian Weiss or even Dolores Cannon's books and maybe others. Love reading such thing. Do share your amazing spiritual experiences if any. would love to read them. Meditation for me has been different on certain days.
Some days If I sit in meditation after work hours then it could be more work related thoughts. Not to mention , work related insights may be received. I may get a better solution to a small problem. It has happened so one time, which I remember vividly. A thought suddenly stood out , out of all the zipping thoughts. And it helped me resolve a problem more creatively. On certain days I am with my breath immediately, those are the days of deep, peaceful meditation. Less thoughts and 'qualitative' meditation. Less thoughts , more breath for longer time. I want to iterate here that there is no such as a "good" or "bad" meditation. Whatever is, just "is". But yes, I am curious too, to know of what happens when we are completely thoughtless. If it's even possible to do so while we are in a "physical life". On some days, my body has ached and all the dormant body pains have suddenly become "active". Since while sitting in meditation - there is nothing in between the body and my mind and the focus is now purely on the body or breath and at that time those things that were not "visible" earlier, which in this case probably an overworked body, has suddenly come in focus. This in turn has also helped me become more mindful of my body and eventually I have stopped before crossing the line and overworking my body during waking hours. e.g. typing on computer or talking too fast. At times, my body is very restless. In such cases, it takes time to calm myself down, before I can even observe my own breath. In such cases what I have learnt over a period of time and done is, let whatever Is happening "just be" rather than fighting it. Also at times I have tried to just relax each body part. On certain times, I especially remember this happening during the early days of meditation, when I could not "find' my breath. At such time I read somewhere that we can observe the moving stomach. This worked for me when I was fighting to find my breath and keep focus, by observing the stomach area I was easily able to release the tension sooner. Once the body relaxes, it is much easier to be with the breath. Also one thing that hits first when the body is relaxed is "falling asleep" during meditation. Which has eventually lead to feeling fresh with calmer thoughts. Sleeping during meditation is not bad . Not that it is "the ultimate" thing because the longer you can be in an awake state during meditation (albeit not fighting when sleep comes in) that would be good. I have found that I have been able to sit for maximum 1.5 hours when I am at home, before I start getting restless or remember to do pending chores or get bored (the mind playing tricks). One time when I was in Bangalore Pyramid Valley for a 4 day long meditation where I planned to meditate longer hours, I was able to sit for 2 hours at a stretch and it came so easily. I had no feeling of boredom. I had no pressing matters to attend to and such thoughts didn’t bother me or make me restless. I vividly remember while I was meditating once in the pyramid , suddenly one thought popped in my mind - Upasani Maharaj. This was quite odd. Because I had never heard this name before in my life. I cannot recollect , for the life of me, if I had read about this Indian saint before and If I really did read about him or heard of him I was unable to recollect that then or even now. I had to google search him after meditation to know who he even was. I mean it could be that I had read of him while surfing the internet earlier in my life and forgotten about it, for it to suddenly come up during meditation. More and more we calm our mind, a lot of forgotten things are remembered during meditation. Memory really improves due to meditation, it's true. Someone suggested to me when I narrated this incident later , that it could have been that this saint was around me during that time his name popped up in my mind during meditation. obviously in the astral dimension. But then who knows. At times when I meditate using Indian classical instrumental music, I have used music to calm myself down. During meditation if my mind wanders a lot i.e. there are too many thoughts, I listen and enjoy the music instead of thinking, this helps me relax and focus on my breath sooner. Also when I am not observing the breath I enjoy the music which anyway is soothing. This way I use music to help me go deeper in meditation. Today I had a very satisfying meditation class.
One person asked several questions that were basic but pertinent. His observations of his own self were good but something that most of us experience. It also gave me a chance to go back and recollect the solutions that I discovered and ofcourse re-affirm them to myself. His major concern was how to maintain freshness of mind and present moment awareness. I'm glad I could help. |
AuthorThis is a blog about my thoughts, my journey in life, insights I have had, help that I have received spiritually or otherwise, pretty much anything... Archives
November 2021
|