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Category: Meditation

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May 4
2012

Link between physical and spiritual aspects of meditation

Peter
USA

Question

Can you flesh out and explain further the link between the physical act of meditation (focusing on the breath, etc.) and the spiritual benefit it provides? Is it that you turn off all the other senses and are just left with what can be defined as your true self/soul? How does meditation on a physical level help you come closer to merging your soul with the infinite?

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Peter,

God cannot be perceived or contacted easily when our minds are stirred up by constant thoughts — thoughts primarily generated by our egoic desires.

Thus it is necessary to find a way to quiet the restless mind, leaving the doors open for direct perception of God and our own God-Self or Divine Reality (the soul).

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April 30
2012

Is the Spiritual Eye Real?

Luiz Olavo
Brazil

Question

Dear friends.

I have a doubt about spiritual eye.

The spiritual eye really appears between the eyebrows (obviously It depends on the spiritual development) or is it imagined (visualization) and due to great concentration during meditation it appears in our mind?

Jai Guru!

Olavo

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Olavo,

The spiritual eye is very real and definitely does appear, sooner or later, to everyone who sincerely meditates.

For some people it takes a while, maybe many years. For some, it is immediate; and for others, it appears once or twice in the beginning and then is not seen again for a long time after that.

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April 24
2012

Creating Order in Your World

Bhushan
India

Question

I have read somewhere that Swamiji says that when someone is sitting in meditation in his subconscious mind he had doubts the door is locked or not? Also ensure first that things are in order may be like health, money, relation, family etc. and he states that this is not correct. When you meditate just forget everything and surrender to GOD. My question is: Is it not so the entire universe is operating in order say day & nights, seasons, human anatomy, etc. than why one should not ensure as above asked?

Nayaswami Anandi

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Bhushan,

Thank you for your question. I hope I understand it correctly.

There is definitely a value in trying to handle our lives appropriately — to bring energy, focus, organization, and simplicity into our outward life. We have many hours a day to work on these things.

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April 24
2012

Challenges with the Hong-sau Technique

deepak pradhan
india

Question

When I am practicing Hong Sau, my breath starts becoming restless and its frequency increases. Please guide me.

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Deepak,

What you are experiencing is not unusual. There can be a number of reasons for restless breathing or for your feeling of needing to breathe more frequently. I'll mention a few possibilities and offer solutions.

You may be trying too hard. You need to be very relaxed and not really TRY to do this technique in an active way. It is more like observing whatever your breath wants to do, with no attachment at all. Sort of like watching another person breathe, or watching ocean waves gently come and go.

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April 18
2012

What Meditation Can Do

goswami
india

Question

Can meditation heal every disease? Can we gain God attention by meditation? What are powers of meditation?

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Goswami,

It would not be realistic to say that meditation offers healing for every possible disease, for everyone who meditates. Certainly God can heal every disease and the goals of meditation is God-realization — but it generally takes time to achieve that goal.

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April 13
2012

Tunnels, Glitters, Pressure, and Tingling

hariom sharan
india

Question

I have been meditating 1 hour daily for 5 months. One month before I started feel tingling, pressure, and like heartbeat on my forehead. I can feel it 24 hours especialy concentrating on any thing. But it is not painful. One week before, during meditation, I felt a journey through a dark long tunnel, in the way I saw glitters. But I couldn’t see its other end. After that day I see glitters daily during meditation. Please explain, is all things ok ?

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Hariom,

It is wonderful to hear of your commitment to daily meditation. Are you following Yogananda’s techniques of Kriya Yoga as part of your meditations? It would be easier for me to answer your questions more specifically, if I understood what form of meditation techniques you are using.

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March 2
2012

Restlessness During the AUM Technique

Barry DeStein
USA

Question

My problem is with the OM technique. I’ve been practicing regular for months now I can’t seem to to get away from my restlessness, my other practice of energizing excercise, and hong sau are going well. I feel great benefit through their practice, but the practice of the OM just leaves me frustrated. I don’t know what my problem is.

Nayaswami Savitri

Ananda Village

Answer

Dear Barry,

Frustration with any meditation technique is not uncommon. Often people really resonate with one technique, while another technique doesn’t seem to suit them well. Perhaps this is why we have more than one technique!

But the truth is that on Yogananda’s path of Kriya Yoga, each technique holds a special and unique function — together they make an extremely efficient and scientific approach to self-realization. Each one helps the other ones:

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March 2
2012

Facing Evil Presences in Meditation

Marisa
United States

Question

Hello, i was going through a guided meditation today and was a little less than halfway through when something started feeling wrong. I was supposed to be traveling to a beautiful place but instead found myself in a place with dark shadows and what felt like evil presences. It was absolutely terrifying, and it’s never happened before. I couldn’t get through it and had to end the meditation. If anyone has ideas as to why this happened, any input would be much appreciated!

Tyagi Jayadev

Ananda Assisi, Italy

Answer

Dear Marisa,

Sorry for the late reply; I just returned tonight from India, where I didn’t check my emails.

First of all I hope this experience hasn’t discouraged you from meditating. You were faced with the power of darkness. The best answer is to put out a strong call to God, filling your meditation with His Light.

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