Guided Meditation on Expansion

Hello, Space and Planet Enthusiast!

This video is too cool to only experience one time! If you enjoy learning about the planets, looking into space, being in space, and/or "wondering" (both meanings of the word) about the planets and stars... and you enjoy a great meditation (as a way of learning) that can, … well, you decide what watching this video and meditating will do for you. It can help you feel incredibly relaxed, deeply aware, peaceful, and happy, not to mention higher than a kite. No drugs are necessary, just maybe an astronaut's courage, creativity and heart.

Transcript

Shurjo and Narayani:

Jai Guru. Welcome to Tuesday Meditation.

The Chakras and the Planets

Today we're going to meditate on just the concept of space, of expansion, also primarily in the body. I don't know if we've ever talked about it, maybe we've mentioned it during the autobiography class, but you know that each of the chakras actually relates to the planets in our solar system. And that is what astrology really is. In fact, the inner astrology then reflects in those outward celestial bodies at the time that we are born, but they reflect and represent the karmic makeup that we've come in. So, I'd like for us to tune into that visual a little bit. You know, Saturn is at the very base, and Mercury's the closest, just as our solar system, how the planets, and each of them are revolving around the Sun, and this is the son of our spirit. So, we'll tune into that visual. We'll try to open and expand our bodies to feel that we are in space, we are space and see if we can go into a deep meditation through that process. Before we do that, let's sing to that spirit to that all-encompassing, loving, omnipresent power, keeping everything going keeping all those planets somehow in motion. And this is a chant of Swami Kriyananda, simply… Ooja Puuja Mary Chant

What is so lovely about this chant is just how simple it is, I am yours. You are mine. If only we can truly build such a relationship with God, with the universe, with that Infinite Consciousness, everything in our life would be in perfect harmony. I am yours. You are mine.

In today's meditation, let's invite that presence, for words alone can only take us so far. We must experience that unity. We must expand our consciousness to even allow such a unity to take place. So whoever that Prabhu is for you, God, Guru, a Divine Manifestation, whether in form of formless, whether personal or impersonal, whatever that power is in your life, inwardly invite it.

And as you invite it, you feel it taking over your body, your mind. Start to adjust the body accordingly. Sit up straight, with your chest open, with your shoulders relaxed, your chin parallel to the ground, with your gaze inwardly uplifted, feel as if that power is sustaining you to hold this posture in perfect stillness without any tension.

And you realize as we try to invite the Infinite Power, sometimes our bodies and our minds are unfit enough vessels even to receive as our Guru would say, how can the cup hold the entire ocean?

And so, let's work on expanding our cup a little bit. Let's do that first: through the nervous system and our physical energy, through the double inhalation, tense the entire body, all our muscles, all over the body, vibrate and exhale. As you exhale, feel them opening up, feel them relaxing, allowing more energy to enter in. Again, inhale; this time, go a little bit beyond your will, push against that resistance, and then exhale and relax even a little bit deeper. And one last time. This time, squeeze also your mind. Feel that you're pushing out of you any toxins of fear, of worry, of negativity; exhale. Open and relax and assume that posture again and see the difference. See if the body, in fact, feels Lighter, a little more open, a little more energized, more dynamic, in attunement with that power.

Relaxing the Body Through Pranayam and Visualization

And now, let's begin to invite that concept that we started with the concept of space into our body. I want us to feel every cell in our bodies like a star in the universe, vast, infinite, countless trillions upon trillions. Each of those cells is floating within us.

And so, let's begin to invite that open space. Let's start through our legs. I'd like for us to inhale just gently and deeply as we're inhaling, feel your feet. You’re bringing in Prana. You're bringing in space, and with the inhalation, the feet are just expanding, and you feel that your feet are disappearing. And now there's just space there. With every cell, every atom has become a star. And as you exhale, relax into that awareness.

Next, inhale again, and this time inhale into the calves. Feel the calves opening, expanding. Invite space. And feel the calf losing all material form and when you exhale, relax. Take a moment and see if you can feel the difference between your calves and feet and the rest of your body.

Now inhaling into the thighs, feel inwardly the thighs expand. Open up. Expand into space, merging with that space. As you exhale, relax, fust feel your lower half of your body, like the vast sky, littered with twinkling stars, and only the upper half of your body has any substance right now.

Let's breathe now into our hips, into our waist. Feel it open and expand. Fill space entering into every crevice. As you exhale, break open the delusion of flesh, of muscle, of bone.

Inhale into your abdomen and stomach and into all the organs. Feel and expand fill space, entering in opening vast vistas of deeper awareness within and exhale, relax, and feel. You are this space. You are as vast as the Infinite Universe.

Breathe into your chest, into your heart, into your lungs. Expand them out in all directions, open them up, losing all grossness, all weight, all tension. Exhale.

Inwardly look at your body now, from the chest below, as if looking at the night sky. Every cell in your body, a twinkling star containing the power of an entire solar system. That is your power. That is the experience of your true consciousness manifested as the universe.

Breathe into your arms now. Feel them opening, relaxing, breaking through the heaviness of muscle, of mass, of bone. Exhale and relax evermore completely, letting go of the thought of your arm.

Yogananda would say the entire universe rests on a thought of God. Wipe that thought away, and all creation crumbles. Our body is such a thought. So convincing. So, binding.

Let's breathe now into our neck into our throat, and shoulders. Open them, and expand them as much as you can. Exhale, relax and break the hold of flesh. Become that space. Invite that space into you.

Breathe in the night sky into your face now, into your nose and eyes, cheeks and joy into your ears. Breathe. Then expand as you exhale, and relax.

Finally, let's breathe into our head into our brain, the Galactic Center. At the very top, feel the Milky Way floating in your head. Exhale and relax. Take a moment just to feel your body or the lack of it. Feel it now purely as space, limitless, vast weightless, formless.

Now let's focus for a minute at the solar center of the spiritual eye. See there the Sun, warm, bright, this ball of fire so powerful that it sustains all the planets. Its presence alone is the focus point for our entire solar system.

Shift your awareness to the moon at the medulla oblongata at the base of your skull in the back of your head. That is the little ego, the personality that depends on the Light of the Sun. For it to manifest, feel it drawing its power from the Sun.

Come up to the throat at the Vishuddha. That's the mercury planet, closest to the Sun. See it orbiting around the Sun at spiritual eye, the point between the eyebrows

Feel the Anahata chakra at the center of your chest. That's Venus. And see its larger orbit go down to the Manipura (chakra) where we have Mars, the fire planet, and it orbiting all around the Sun.

Further to the Svadhisthana. that is Jupiter, a larger cycle the orbit. Feel it leaving your body creating circles, all our chakras revolving around that one power of the Sun.

And finally, at the Muladhara, we've got Saturn, the last of the nine celestial aspects of astrology. It is the last planet that we can see with the naked eye in the sky, and it making the largest of all orbits.

Rest in this image. You have a vast open space. Your chakras as the celestial objects of our solar system - the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. And in this flow is Rahu and Ketu, and the north and south node of the moon representing the Ida and Pingala revolving around the inner astral spine.

Now in order for us to enter the Sun, our energy must rise through Saturn, through Jupiter, through Mars, through Venus, through Mercury, through the Moon.

Let's take this journey now. The vehicle of our journey is our breath which mimics the movement of Rahu and Ketu, that upward and downward flow of energy in the spine.

So become aware of your breath wherever you feel it at whichever of the celestial bodies. Take a moment just to become one with that breath. Perhaps the breath is deep and long, and you feel it lower in your body. Perhaps the breath is shallow and short. You can feel it higher up.

If you can feel it at the nose, that means your breath is at the medulla just behind the physical nose. So as you place your attention there, already feel the breath very close to the Sun, for the body is still, the mind is relaxed. Our awareness already expanded into space.

Relax into the breath as it finds its own natural rhythm, and know the breath to be a reflection of your present state of consciousness. Because our awareness is interiorized, the breath is naturally interiorized as well. But the subtler the breath becomes, the more we need to focus on it. Don't be vaguely aware of the breath. We must become the breath. So let your attention be 100% single-pointedly focused. Nothing else exists right now. You are floating in space. And the only reference point you have in this vast formless space is your breath. Your breath is your space shuttle latch on to it without any intention to control or influence its movement. Observe it until your awareness unites with the breath.

Once the mind is completely hypnotized, and absorbed in the breath, now shift your awareness of the breath from the Moon to the Sun. Shift it to the point between the eyebrows. Don't force it there. Don't create it. Allow the breath to rise. And let the sensitivity of your awareness feel the breath flowing in and out through the Sun. Every little breath, like a solar storm awakening the Sun, increasing its Light, increasing its Power. Watch the inhalation and exhalation in wrapped awe. How can something so insignificant hold the secret of life? How can our breath decide whether we live or die? How much power is trapped in that tiny movement of air? We must release that power.

And so, let us awaken it. Let us unleash that power through the practice of Hong Sau. Next time, as the breath flows in, mentally energize the breath through the vibration of Hong. And as it flows out, Sau, inwardly, mentally, uniting mantra with breath, Hong Sau. Where the breath goes, the mantra follows.

Every time Hong Sau enters into the point between the eyebrows with the breath, see the Sun expand in brilliance. Every time the breath flows out, and Sau flows with it, see that Light becoming one with you. Hong, Sau. Aham Saha. I am that. I am the Sun. I am that Light. I am that Brilliance of Spirit. I am the Sustainer of all life. Aham Saha.

Let the mantra be the most powerful affirmation you have ever done, constantly vibrating through your breath. No words are needed, only vibration, only awareness. See your inner Sun awakening and opening, and every repetition of breath and mantra uniting as One

If the mind wanders, bring it back to the Sun, back to the breath, back to the mantra. Anchor it back in this moment.

There is nothing else that exists outside of you. The vastness of the universe is being experienced within right now, right here. Hong Sau. So, with every breath, not even the tiniest movement escapes your attention.

As the breath begins to get absorbed into the Sun, notice how those moments of rest, of pause between breaths, begin to naturally manifest. Every time the breath feels like it doesn't want to move, use that window of breathlessness to move your consciousness closer into that Sun inch by inch, feel your consciousness entering into that ball of Light. Wait for those pauses so that you can move a step closer. Don't force them, don't create them. Let them come to you as your birthright. We must concentrate on the breath ever more deeply so that it may reveal itself. More importantly, it may reveal what lies beyond the breath.

Let the breath and mantra flow, even if that movement is just a tiny bit but flow with it. Don't let go until there is no breath until the Sun has consumed you entirely. Keep moving into that Light and let its power burn away everything that is not of that Light.

Let’s stay with the technique just for a minute or two, giving us just that final opportunity to enter into it more perfectly and more completely.

And within the next opening between breaths, take that final step into the Sun and be completely and utterly consumed by it. And as you do so, let the technique just drop away. There is no more breath, no more mantra; nothing other than you and your consciousness remain. The purpose of Aham Saha is complete. You are now that Light. You no longer need to affirm it nor pray for it, for its Light is now yours. Prabhu mein tumhara, ho jao mere.

Now guide that Light that has united with your consciousness guided to begin to flood into the entirety of your being. Watch it easing its way in through your brain through the spiritual eye and like liquid gold, let it flow into your body, from your brain to your face, through your neck, your shoulders, guide it, allow it, fill yourself with it. Let the Sun that was centered at the spiritual eye now be centered, in every cell, every atom of your body. Every star expands to become that Sun, and nothing remains in that Light, but bliss, unconditional bliss.

Feel every part of your body now shining, burning away all karma. All your vrittis, all vasanas, and samskaras, all your past lives, all future life, past, present future, all consumed in this moment of eternity.

Begin to let this inner Light shine even more brightly as its rays expand beyond your body. Like a supernova, watch this Light expand and consume everything in its path. Grow this Light into the room that you are in, into your building, uniting with all things, all people igniting with all consciousness that the Light comes in contact with. Grow it beyond your building into your neighborhood, consuming the trees, the roads, the cars, the buildings, people, animals, birds, the soil, the breeze, and the ocean. Where does it end? Only in endlessness. Go as far as your imagination will allow you to become as vast as your body and your mind can currently hold. Push your awareness and your sense of self with that Light in all directions, above or below, in front, behind. Expand until there is no more expansion to be had, until Light is the only reality.

Praying For Others

I'm sure there is at least one person in your life who is in need of this kind of expansion, this space created specially in our hearts. Search for that person in your life that you know is a bit contractive right now. Perhaps that soul is struggling at any level. Perhaps they feel tension, or their minds are not clear to discriminate what's right and what's wrong. Perhaps someone who needs extra care, extra support, or someone who has a very difficult personality, temper, struggling with anger and resentment. Search for that person who will benefit from this meditation from this consciousness of expansion and openness. And once you have identified that person very lovingly without judging them, invite that soul at your point between the eyebrows, and invite the Great Ones, your Guru, the Cosmic Light, the Divine Energy, to bless the soul, to infuse them with greater healing, greater strength and greater sense of wellbeing, so they kind of start relaxing a bit more. And with that relaxation, the expansion comes almost instantly. So, if nothing else, visualize them relaxed, in perfect harmony with themselves at peace, open to be guided by a higher consciousness and, above all, feeling the love and acceptance from you and from God. And with tenderness and assurance in your heart that God will touch their hearts, let's pray together:

Divine Mother, Thou art Omnipresent Present. Thou art in all Your children.

Manifest Your healing Light, Your unconditional Love, and Your peace, in their bodies, in their minds, and in their souls.

Rub our hands together, magnetizing that Light emerging from our heart, from the planet Venus, and allowing that Light to expand out through our arms, through our hands, through the sound AUM.

AUM, AUM, AUM

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Thank you all for joining us. And as much as you're able to stay in this Light, stay in this expansion and see how that might perhaps reflect in all your actions and interactions that you have tonight, and in the following day.

Until we see you again.

God bless you. Jai Guru