I meditate daily, have done so for 2years. As my surroundings is of no enlightened or even searching people I've learned to keep it to myself but it stil bothers me sometimes.
When spending too much time(as en 8hour shift for example) with people of strong wordly desires I often find myself with no wind at my sails, How can I view these people as god's children, see their spark of godly soul and focus on their Joyfull core and not be distracted and discouraged by their constant worldly desires?
—osnat, Israel
Dear Osnat,
Many greetings. Yours is a question that many yogis have, not only in Israel, but in Europe, America, Asia…
There are two strategies I could suggest. One is to balance these worldly influences with spiritual influences, participating regularly in a meditation group, in spiritual gatherings, also mixing as much as you can with spiritual friends. If you don’t have that kind of environment too, these worldly desires might indeed be taking too much wind out of your spiritual sails. Do you have a spiritual group nearby with which you feel in tune? Do you have spiritual friends? It’s really important.
The second strategy is increasing your own aura and magnetism as much as you can. Yogananda recommends to meditate in the morning to harmonize one’s inner energy, and then consciously radiating it outward, all day long. In this way the flow of energy isn’t so much from the outside in, but from your center out, and you will be less affected.
Do you know Yogananda’s energization exercises? They are designed to increase the inner flow of energy: the stronger that energy, the stronger your magnetism. The stronger your magnetism, the less you will be affected by other people’s energies. You become, to quote Swami Kriyananda, more a cause, and less an effect. The central part of these exercises are called “The 20 body part recharging.” I tell you here how to do it, as it can really help you:
In the morning before meditation (or anytime, also at work, even sitting), stand upright. The eyes look up toward the spiritual eye, but your concentration is on a flow of cosmic energy (you may visualize light) which enters through the medulla oblongata at the base of the skull. From there, with great will, you direct it to the body part you are tensing, recharging it consciously with cosmic power. Always tense each body part low, medium, high, vibrate, then relax medium, low, completely. Here are the 20 body parts:
Left foot, right foot; left calf, right calf; left thigh, right thigh; left buttock, right buttock; abdomen, stomach; left forearm, right forearm; left upper arm, right upper arm; left chest, right chest; left neck, right neck; throat, back of neck. (don’t tense the neck too hard- medium tension is enough).
Really feel you are recharging the body parts from the cosmic source, entering from the medulla oblongata, don’t just tense physically like in sports. This is a spiritual exercise. Yet you need to use all your will.
A further yogic teaching for your situation: when you are with worldly persons, try to stay in your calm center, in your spine, without appearing aloof. Practice in daily life what yogis call “yogas chitta vritti nirodha”: yoga is the cessation of the whirlpools of feeling. Let your heart be calm, strong, undisturbed, loving, giving, positive, stable, as much as possible. This practice gets easier if you practice having a “spiritual bodyguard” with you, visualizing a saint at your side all the time.
God bless you, keep going with courage and love,
Jayadev
