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Natural-Path Meditation Group |
The Sahaj Marg system is specially developed for the average householder. It teaches that normalization of all functions leads to saintliness. Every faculty in-built in man has its legitimate function and must be used in the performance of that function. Therefore, celibacy is not prescribed but a normalization of the generative function is essential. It is in the world of family that almost all of man's powers are perfected. Therefore, this system does not recognize differences of race, differences of sex, or indeed any other differences between individuals, and all are qualified to practice it, the sole qualification being willingness to participate in it. (There is no fee charged to practice Sahaj Marg meditation. In order to begin the practice of Sahaj Marg meditation, it is necessary to contact a preceptor to receive the introductory meditation sittings.)
New Entrants
In order to begin the practice of Sahaj Marg meditation, it is necessary to contact a preceptor to receive the introductory meditation sittings.
The practice consists of three steps:
Morning meditation
Evening cleaning
Night prayer meditation.
Sit in meditation for an hour thinking that divine light is present in your heart. Do it in quite a simple and natural way without forcing your mind, never mind if you do not see the light there. Start with a mere supposition, so to say, and sit meditating in one posture with your attention turned towards the heart in a natural way without any effort to concentrate. Try to be unmindful of the thoughts arising at that time.
Meditation means to think continuously about one thing, and we are supposed to take as the object of meditation that which we wish to achieve. And here, because we are involved in realisation, God realisation, Self-realisation, therefore the object has to be of that nature. The goal of Sahaj Marg is an abstract goal called the Ultimate Self. Therefore we cannot have any name or form for meditation. Nor can we have even any qualities or attributes of Divinity. However, Master felt that for most people it would be impossible to meditate on the abstract. So, in Sahaj Marg, our Master has taken as the object of meditation what he thought, what He knows, what he has experienced to be the subtlest thing that we can have for meditation without making it gross or with a form or with a name, and that is: Divine light in the heart. So this has to be very clearly understood that in Sahaj Marg, the object of meditation is Divine light in the heart and nothing else.
Sit for half an hour with a suggestion to yourself that all complexities and impurities including grossness, darkness, etc. are going out of the whole system through the back in the form of smoke or vapour and that in their place the sacred current of the Divine is entering your heart from the Master's heart. Do not meditate on those things which we want to get rid of Simply brush them off.
Now we take up the second thing, which is the evening cleaning process. it is to be done when our whole day's work is over, not before that. During the day's activities and thoughts, we accumulate so many impressions. By doing the cleaning when the day's work is over, we try as far as possible to get rid of that day's impressions. So essentially, the evening cleaning process is to remove the accumulation of impressions gathered during that day. The older and deeper accumulation which is more gross - they are not just impressions, they have become grossness - that has to be dealt with by the Master and the preceptors.
The way of doing your cleaning is to sit comfortably like in the morning meditation, and to imagine that the day's impressions are going out from behind in the form of smoke or vapour, and that in its place the sacred current of the Divine is entering into your heart from the Master's heart. Now the word 'imagine' should not be misunderstood, because it is a very active process in which we are supposed to use our will power. It is therefore a process where we use our will power to remove our own impressions. In the morning meditation there is no use of the will power, please note carefully. The cleaning process involves, very specifically, our will power. It removes the basis which is formed in us in the past, and which manifests as present tendencies. Progressive regulation of the mind helps us in not forming further samskaras (or impressions) by gaining a certain degree of control over that mind ourselves.
Meditation and the cleaning process balance each other, support each other, for our evolution. Meditation in itself, without cleaning, is to my mind useless. It would be like having a powerful car bogged down in slime and mud. And cleaning by itself, is like having a beautiful road with a car on it without any engine. There is a progressive refinement of the motive power in man, which is his mind, which produces his thoughts. And the cleaning removes all the impediments in the way of that progress.
0, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life,
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.
We now come to the third thing: the prayer-meditation at night. It is a simple thing. We are advised to sit on our beds for about 10 minutes, repeat the prayer a few times and meditate on the meaning of the prayer. This prayer-meditation is to be done for 10, 15 or 20 minutes and then you go straight to sleep. It should be the last thing we do before the day is brought to an end.
Now, coming to the use of the prayer. It is to be repeated only once before we start our morning meditation. It has no place in our evening cleaning process. It again finds a place in the night prayer-meditation when it is repeated a few times mentally. It is not to be used like we use mantras when we do meditation, to be repeated again and again throughout the day, as is done in many other systems involving mantra-repetition. Some people ask the question: "If it is so effective what is the harm in repeating it?" Master's answer is that there can be too much even of a good thing, and repetition makes a thing grosser. So, please note, prayer once in the morning before meditation, a few times at bedtime mentally repeated, for making the meaning clear for meditation.
The prayer to put it in ordinary worldly language:
"My beloved , you are the real goal of my life. What is standing between us are my foolish wishes and desires for your powers, your beauty, your wealth. You alone can give me yourself."
This is all that our Mission prayer says, nothing more.