Guruspeak Sep 2020 LP

Guruspeak Sep 2020 LP

Peace at the centre
Dive deep within to find profound peace at the heart of the soul, says Daaji

In times of universal crisis, we become peace-loving in the face of common adversity. The author and mystic James Allen observed that the sparrows in Trafalgar Square share the meagre food during wintertime, while in summer, they fight over plentiful resources and territories. And there are good reasons for it: 

• Survival requires unified action rather than individual action.

• In a crisis, we engage in the present. The same happens to sportspeople during a game and to musicians during a performance. Likewise, when we meditate well, we are present in the moment. 

Consider the following as a simple formula for creating a peaceful world:
• Can there be joy without peace?

• Can there be peace without harmony?

• Can there be harmony without contemplation?

• Can there be contemplation without focussed thinking?

• Can there be focussed thinking without meditation?

Meditation is the fundamental skill that brings focus, peace, harmony, and joy. Heartfulness meditation, supported by Yogic Transmission, takes us inwards to the first real experience of peace. 

The soul or atman is inactive, yet it contains both movement (ath) and thinking (man). They naturally arise out of peaceful inactivity. The soul incarnates so it can think and act. The interplay of peace, movement, and thinking is the very nature of this incarnation. 

During meditation, we learn to rest in our peaceful centre. Peace triumphs when we are centred in the soul, and peace falters when we turn our back on the soul’s existence. Peace paves the way for love, which, in turn, fuels courage, which leads to decisiveness. Decisiveness is the hallmark of being human. 

In order to find peace and joy, we must nurture the soul. Imagine a scientist researching a COVID-19 vaccine with a mind troubled by personal problems! The mind loses creativity under stress; it needs to relax. Scientific discoveries are made when the discoverer is peaceful. Newton was relaxed when he discovered gravity, Archimedes was relaxing in the bathtub, and Albert Einstein would spend more than an hour in the bath! The mind creates when it is ripple-free.

The ordinary conscious mind is like the ocean surface—disturbed by thought waves. The deeper layers of consciousness are progressively stiller and clearer, like that of the ocean. We don’t need to abandon the surface for the inner spiritual life. We integrate both by developing elasticity of consciousness. In meditation, we dive deep and resurface, again and again. Eventually, we span the whole spectrum of consciousness in the state known as Sahaj Samadhi or Turiyatita. 

When we meditate, the deeper we go, the more profound the peace. In the sea, a diver goes incrementally, acclimatising to various depths to avoid health problems. Similar acclimatisation happens within us; otherwise our consciousness rebels. Just as divers use deep-submergence vehicles for protection, meditators are protected by the Guide. 

I hope that you dive deep to find the peace that is the mother of all that is good.