Science of spirituality

What is spirituality?

According to the scholars spirituality means: “intrinsically based beliefs in which personal values are used for guidance in day-to-day living”, “an article of faith; a spiritual the person possesses a right relationship with all that is”, “spirituality is what gives significance and purpose to one’s life”, etc., commonly people look upon the Spirituality as – Meditation, Connectedness, Mindfulness, Authenticity, Inner-health, Oneness, Self-centering, Relaxation, Self-discovery, Finding Purpose, etc.

About Yoga Therapy, our revered Sir Padma Shri Sadashiv Nimbalkar would say that we must know our body, mind, and soul then only any upachar or treatment could be possible. Taking this prime principle, I had the privilege to design the course for Naturopathy, when I was Coordinator. In this article, I wish to explore the finer aspect of human beings, spirituality as a topic for Yoga Therapy.

I was handling the topic ‘Maun’, for the Naturopathy course. I found, ‘Maun as a Tool for meditation’. Here, the techniques followed were to explore Tri-Sharira, Pancha-Kosha, and Chakras to reach the final state of Dhyana.

I feel spirituality is an ‘Anchor’ for the lifeboat that carries on a comfortable, smooth, happy, and safe voyage. Spirituality is the process through which integrates harmoniously the body, mind, intellect, and the soul and is able to connect to the Supreme Body, the Creator. We see, every religion, in one or the other way has advocated its followers to remain connected with the Creator of the universe. 

To be connected with Supreme Soul is known as Meditation. Patanjali has given the Meditation, the Dhyana as a part of Antaranga Yoga. The Ashtanga Yoga is divided into two parts. 1.Bahiranga Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, and Pranayama, and 2. Antaranga Yoga: Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. The connecting link between these two is Pratyahara. 

Pratyahara is the process of severe the mind’s connection with the external world and creating the distracting thoughts. Once, the mind is calm, it can be directed towards the inner self, our soul. Our mind would be now with our living Soul, which is ready to get united with the Supreme Soul. 

This uniting of TWO SOULS would be possible when we are able to fix our mind on the Union of Souls, and this process is called Dharana. When these SOULs remain united in the Blissful domain, is absolute the state of Dhyana, the Meditation. During Dhyana, when we totally assimilate with nature, this state is called Samadhi.

Today, there are many people who work in this area and also there are well-established institutions that are working to establish peace in society through meditation. The importance of meditation as a spiritual activity cannot be over-emphasized. Spirituality is the eternal and everlasting true form of every soul. If we live with clarity of mind, meditation is possible to get us to an awakened state. Meditation is an attitude. We are always with self, in this state, meaning we experience our true self; when we choose to be close to self that is the state of meditation.

How to do the Meditation?

To meditate, first we need to understand our inner resources and strengthen them. This can be done by way of strengthening and purifying the Koshas and the Chakras, the energy centers.

To strengthen Annamaya Kosha, we do physical activities and take nutritious healthy food. The Pranayama and breathing practices help us to empower Prnamaya Kosha. The next one, Manomaya Kosha, is related to the thought process, which is thinking. How to have control over this layer? How make it think positively?

From our toddler days we have been trained in basic necessities of life, like how to talk, how to walk or eat. Later, we had grown, we had a good education to become a qualified doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a caterer, or any skilled professional.

At all the stages of our life we were trained only to live comfortably and successfully in the external world. We were never learned how to look within. To look within we need to think quietly with a calm mind and clear perception. We all know that our thoughts are shaped by the information we get through the sense organs. These thoughts make our understanding; our understanding makes our personality, finally shape our life.

To frame the thoughts, we need to think. It is, therefore, essential to learning to think , and equally it is essential to train our mind to think positively, which Gita does, it teaches us to cultivate a positive thinking process. This positive thought process paves the way to our intellectual sheath, the Vigyanamaya Kosha and the discriminative power of our intellect enable us to open the last and fifth layer, the blissful sheath, the Anandamaya Kosha. Here, we can feel our soul. We can now take the inner journey to reach the Supreme Power and be in a blissful state. This is the main purpose of meditation.

Techniques to get into Meditative State

We have been taught a breathing practice, Prana Dharana means the fixation of the mind on the breath; it is the first step to control the mind as such a step towards Meditation, as we start it, in few minutes we will start feeling changes inside. We will not make any effort to breathe, let it be natural. Just count it. Then feel its touch and go along it to know its path, finally, feel its temperature variations. We will find ourselves deep within our-self. Now, practice Sakshi Bhavana (Witness the emotions/thoughts), a practice to cleanse the mind (catharsis), in few moments we can feel unwanted thoughts and painful emotions are drained out of our mind. This will be the awaken state of our meditative nature. Slowly we will start feeling our life, we will feel energized and getting creative strength. 

At this point, we will concentrate upon Chakras one by one from Mooladhara, Swadisthan, Manipur, Anahat, and Vishuddhi and with yogic practices, these chakras will be cleansed. Finally, we may feel that Anjana (Agya) Chakra has been lighting up and may visualize the flame of Supreme Power there and meditate upon Him Omkara. While silent inner chanting of Om, Now, we may experience the Sahasra Chakra is slowly illuminating (The Brain Cells are empowered).

Science of Meditative State

The Universe is full of vibrations, called cosmic energy and it is spread across and pervaded all over the environment from the surface of the earth to the outermost layer of the Universe. When these vibrations touch our system, our system transforms them into thoughts, therefore, these are called power. We get the power to think and the power to create thoughts. We have not learned to use this power, as we don’t know to think to create power. What we are thinking is not thinking, it is just reflections of on what occurs to our mind.

If we knew how to think and what to think, we could create paradise. The power to think is the power of creation. We are, what we have created by our thoughts, it is this life. These are outcome of our thoughts, our imaginations, and our dreams. Whatever we imagine, we see, or we think, we feel they are the truth. If we consciously know how to use our thoughts, how to use our thinking power, then we would have made our lives as we want it to be.

All matter is energy from cosmic energy, our consciousness is energy, and with all the force it is our consciousness. Strength comes when we connected to cosmic vibrations, we are then positive, and feel healthy; on the other hand, when consciousness is weak, we are destructive, we start feeling different, and feel poor health. 

When our thoughts are healthy, positive, we start feeling strong. When our thoughts are negative, we start feeling weak. When we are sincere, we feel strong; when we are not, we start feeling very weak.

What I learned in Silva Mind Power training is that we get this cosmic energy while we are in deep sleep and this conscious energy is sufficient to carry out our day to day activities like to walk, to see, to eat, to sleep, etc., which is not sufficient to meet the challenges of a present-day hectic life. We can get a good amount of this cosmic energy through Meditation, Yoga Nidra, etc., where we awaken our conscious mind and energized it.

Let’s be Blissful

When we sit for meditation, let’s not do anything, no effort, mere presence, and be quiet with ourselves. Just present, feel the environment, the atmosphere, just enjoy our own company. Finally, let us learn to be with a meditative attitude, through watching the breath and slowly progressing to discover our inner Self, thereby nurture our life into a beautiful garden with lots of colourful flowers and pleasant fragrance. Wish you all a Blissful Meditation.

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* Prof. K S Iyer, Freelance Professor, Yoga teacher, Yoga Therapist & Naturopath. Consultant for Health & Wealth and Yogic Lifestyle.