Spirit Language

How do you know have the right kind of friends? It is a question that I have been thinking of quite a bit more recently. I had a very well intentioned friend that kept telling me all of my issues to correct so that I could properly fit into “Society.” Even further, he was telling me how to act so that I could get married possibly. He also felt bad that I was being made fun of by others when I do certain things. So he wanted to let me know all of these things to change so I could “fit in.” It was a huge dilemma to me, because I do not care what anyone thinks of me as long as I am being pure to my own self. As the above lines state - the primal state is to have kindness and compassion in ones heart. When one has that - they are living by the purity of their soul.

It was also shocking that these friends liked spending their time calling individuals derogatory names in their stories. It is very sad when we can not see that we are all the same. We have to start loving the spirit within us, and therefore love the spirit within everyone else.  Just as a mother can never hate their child, even if they have done so much wrong, in the same way we must look at society.  We have to see society as an expansion of us, and therefore give them the same kindness and compassion.

I feel also it is important to point out that we should strive to see the good in all individuals.  For example, I have a friend who does not fit the model that everyone chooses for him, and therefore his parents kicked him out, and many individuals do not want to be his friend.  But, internally he is one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met.  He has is humble, caring, honest, integrity, kindness and compassion, to say the least.  He has taught me so much about myself, and I continue to learn.

So I ask that we strive to see the love that comes from the spirit within all beings, and relate to all on that level.  By doing so, do we allow ourselves to merge with that ultimate spirit and have the ultimate experience of life.

So when do you meditate? This is the pivitol question. We understand that we both need to meditate and what we need to do to meditate on. But when should we meditate? In the first line Guru jee says simply

What Guru jee is saying is that the best time to meditate is early in the morning. Why? This is the time where our minds are still clear. All the worries, thoughts, and frustrations have yet to hit us for that day. So it allows one the best time to refocus the consciousness towards to their spirit. In essence, we are clearing out the register of all the actions, thoughts and pains and getting our consciousness to view the larger picture of life.

Meditation needs to occur all the time, but we need to realign our spirit, body, and mind in the early morning.  Then the rest of the day we need to live in the state of love.  Instead, we live in this state of utter confusion and this longing of love.  Unfortunately, we are looking for love in sex, television, famous events - all in this attempt to be cool and in the hopes of having love and being accepted.  Unfortunately, it is all temporary and lasts for such a short amount of time.  The other troubling issue is that we are competing with others, either intentionally or subconsciously.  We compete on the things that we do and the money we make.  We make the large mistake to equate material possessions and money with happiness.  Happiness is based by what is going on internally within us.  It is what happens within our heart, our soul, our spirit.  Money and material possessions which we only need to sustain ourselves, but if we want it can also give us a temporary fix.  We can tell ourselves because of these “Things” we are going to feel much better after we get this or that.  Happiness is only and will always only be internally within the spirit.  It has nothing to do with external fixations.  Life is really only about the experience - the experience of love.

The experience is difficult to understand during the day - when we have the issues.  The people who you felt treated you badly but want you to do them a favor.  You think to yourself - why should I?  They treat not only me badly, but everybody else.  But the truth of the matter is that all human beings need love.  Their is a beautiful line of Gurbani in which Guru Arjan Dev jee says that the world is the body of our Spirit.  Just as if each and every person and thing was a body part.  So we as human beings have to think - if my leg stopped working as well would I just cut it off and say - no issues I will walk with 1 leg?  If my one eye started acting lazy would I say - just take it out, because I can see with one eye fine!  So during the day read this following shabad and meditate on it.  It will really help focus us and have us understand that we need to be appreciative of what we have and give kindness and compassion to the those around us.  Start to free yourself of the burdens put on us and live a life full of love and lightness!

sgl smgRI jw kw qnw ]

sugul sumugree jaa kaa thunaa The world is the body of the Spirit.

So now we understand that we should meditate in the morning.  What is the purpose of this meditation?  We are washing ourselves with immortal water, so that we can open up our consciousness to the reality that life is much larger then our own existence.  Living life through our mind occurs very easily, as there is so much to distract us including our physical body & mind.  This is the reason one needs to understand how to speak the language of their spirit.  It is unfortunate that individuals believe that the spoken language is the way to communicate, but it is far deeper.  For one to really communicate and truly live their life they must communicate with their spirit.  The concept of miscommunication occurs because one is speaking from their mind and/or body, but not their spirit.  So now that we understand why we need to meditate - how do we do it?

We need to chant the Name of the Spirit - when we are doing this we are calling on our spirit to come forth.  We are asking for the virtues of spirit to come through, so that we have spirit consciousness.  This consciousness allows us to really see this world in an entirely new light, and thus all the stuff that our mind waste time thinking about is gone.  We finally need to come to understand that this life will end.  If we begin to live everyday as though it were our last, we would change what we do.  We would be more conscious of what we do, and make sure that there was feeling in everything.  We would soak up everything that is around us, and allow ourselves to be happy.  Do you think you are ready to make every single experience in life a positive one or are you to used to complaining and being upset?  We generally do what everybody tells us that we should be.  It is referred to in psychology as self fulfilling prophecy.  If enough people tell you should be acting a certain way, you being to start doing that.  In this case people will start saying “You should be upset, that shouldn’t have happened to you!” or “You have the right to be upset, I would be upset as well!”  If today was your last day, would you like to spend it being upset and angry?  I did not think so.  Try to experience the love around you, the love from the spirit which is in every individual, and the spirit within you.  When something changes from your expectation be ready to stay in control, and start to ride it.  Begin then to meditate.  So when can you meditate, and how can you meditate during the day?  Those two questions will be the focus of Meditation Part III.

Until next time - stay in high spirits (Chardi Kalla) and please post questions/comments/concerns!