When you feel the need to, try this simple relaxing meditation. I have no qualifications to prescribe this as a
"medicine" or "treatment" for anyone and I am no expert in meditation techniques either. So please just relax and think of me as a friend speaking to you casually here. Follow the steps only if you feel its okay to.
They say the soul is encased in five sheaths (koshas) and therefore, these sheaths need to fall off (transcended in some way) for the practitioner to get in tune with the soul, which is itself supposed to be an individualized ray of the universal, one, "spirit". The story of the "lokas" (seven swargas and seven patalas) is similar. As the practioner advances, these successively finer and higher dimensions - the seven swargas - start opening up for him/her, it is said. For the meditation, let's just try to recognize the koshas.
The outermost kosha of the soul is called the Annamaya kosha, the sheath of the outer body, called thus because it is made from "food". This is easy to recognize. Recognize it and know that to be the annamaya kosha.
The next is called Praanamaya kosha, or the energy body. We know this too. Recognize it as your energy body. A deep knowledge of this kosha could give the aspirant various powers to work with the energies of the body, but that's quite a different meditation. For relaxing, just forget about those powers for now.
The next is Manomaya kosha, or the sheath of the mind (sense organs). We know we have sense organs and the mind is often pursuing the objects of the senses. Recognize this to be the next covering of the soul.
The next is called Jnanamaya kosha, or the sheath of knowledge/intelligence. This is the part of us which can
discriminate between right and wrong. Understand this to be another covering of the soul.
The final one - the foremost and the closest to the soul, if one may say so - is the Anandamaya kosha, or the covering of joy. This joy is higher than the pleasure of the senses, but recognize this joy to also be a covering
of the real.
So who or what is the soul? Is it the child of God or His reflection? Or is it unborn and one with the universal
spirit? That is the part which is difficult to describe. Volume after volume has been written on this ultimate witness of human activity (Upanishad after Upanishad). All speak of it in different ways and yet all agree that it is difficult to put it in words and "indescribable". It is said that this is who we really are.
Whether or not you agree to that, a whole lot of us will agree, however, that if we want to do something, even if it gives us a good feeling deep within, it is good to try to understand if the action is right or wrong. To
understand that, we might need to know who and what gets affected by the potential action. We need to collect this information using whatever tools we have, and pass the information back on to intelligence to process right or wrong. An action that passes this test will most probably give us deep satisfaction.
The soul can probably stay its old, loving self in all situations, witnessing everything with the same understanding all the time. That's because all these are tools of the soul - the soul is not a tool of these others. This understanding is the source of joy and will bring about the required relaxation everywhere.
Sadanand Tutakne
"medicine" or "treatment" for anyone and I am no expert in meditation techniques either. So please just relax and think of me as a friend speaking to you casually here. Follow the steps only if you feel its okay to.
They say the soul is encased in five sheaths (koshas) and therefore, these sheaths need to fall off (transcended in some way) for the practitioner to get in tune with the soul, which is itself supposed to be an individualized ray of the universal, one, "spirit". The story of the "lokas" (seven swargas and seven patalas) is similar. As the practioner advances, these successively finer and higher dimensions - the seven swargas - start opening up for him/her, it is said. For the meditation, let's just try to recognize the koshas.
The outermost kosha of the soul is called the Annamaya kosha, the sheath of the outer body, called thus because it is made from "food". This is easy to recognize. Recognize it and know that to be the annamaya kosha.
The next is called Praanamaya kosha, or the energy body. We know this too. Recognize it as your energy body. A deep knowledge of this kosha could give the aspirant various powers to work with the energies of the body, but that's quite a different meditation. For relaxing, just forget about those powers for now.
The next is Manomaya kosha, or the sheath of the mind (sense organs). We know we have sense organs and the mind is often pursuing the objects of the senses. Recognize this to be the next covering of the soul.
The next is called Jnanamaya kosha, or the sheath of knowledge/intelligence. This is the part of us which can
discriminate between right and wrong. Understand this to be another covering of the soul.
The final one - the foremost and the closest to the soul, if one may say so - is the Anandamaya kosha, or the covering of joy. This joy is higher than the pleasure of the senses, but recognize this joy to also be a covering
of the real.
So who or what is the soul? Is it the child of God or His reflection? Or is it unborn and one with the universal
spirit? That is the part which is difficult to describe. Volume after volume has been written on this ultimate witness of human activity (Upanishad after Upanishad). All speak of it in different ways and yet all agree that it is difficult to put it in words and "indescribable". It is said that this is who we really are.
Whether or not you agree to that, a whole lot of us will agree, however, that if we want to do something, even if it gives us a good feeling deep within, it is good to try to understand if the action is right or wrong. To
understand that, we might need to know who and what gets affected by the potential action. We need to collect this information using whatever tools we have, and pass the information back on to intelligence to process right or wrong. An action that passes this test will most probably give us deep satisfaction.
The soul can probably stay its old, loving self in all situations, witnessing everything with the same understanding all the time. That's because all these are tools of the soul - the soul is not a tool of these others. This understanding is the source of joy and will bring about the required relaxation everywhere.
Sadanand Tutakne
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