How can I find the guru in meditation, and how can I speak with him/her?
—Dharini, india
Dear Dharini,
Yogananda told his disciples: “To this who think me near, I will be near.” Try it in your meditation. It works with any true Guru.
You may imagine him/her sitting next to you, watching you. Ask, “Am I practicing my meditative techniques correctly?”
Or visualize the Guru inside your body, practicing the technique through you.
Or else mentally make him/ her sit in front of you.
You may even visualise him in miniature form on top of your head: a technique Swami Kriyananda used to practice, feeling the divine blessing descending into him in that way.
Another technique taught by Swami Kriyananda is to feel the spirit of the Guru above you, visualizing it to enter into you through the medulla oblongata (back of the neck), becoming you.
The most important ingredient in such techniques, if you want to find the Guru, is devotion. God answers to the heart, and so does the Guru. So pray to him/her with love, pray for guidance, understanding, samadhi, for his closeness.
How to talk to the Guru? The best time is in the last period of meditation, after you have practiced your techniques. It is an intuitive dialogue, very silent, and requires inner closeness and attunement. You may practice the following instructions, given by Yogananda (from The Essence of Self-Realization, a book I’d recommend to you):
“To tune in to the guru’s consciousness, visualize him in the spiritual eye. Mentally call to him there. Imagine his eyes, especially, gazing at you. Invite his consciousness to inspire your own. Then, after calling to him for some time, try to feel his response in your heart. The heart is the center of intuition in the body. It is your ‘radio-receiver.’ Your ‘broadcasting station’ is situated in the Christ center between the eyebrows. It is from this center that your will broadcasts into the universe your thoughts and ideas. Once you feel an answer in the heart, call to the guru deeply, ‘Introduce me to God.'”
You may also ask him any clear question at the spiritual eye, and afterwards try to feel his answer in your heart chakra. Again, it’s an intuitive, subtle, silent dialogue. Love to the Guru brings you closer to him, and will help you to have that dialogue.
Yogananda said, “I do walkie-talkie with my disciples.” So all the best in your inner walkie-talkie with your Guru!
In divine friendship, Jayadev
