Fresh take

The run down on the book can wait until later but for now, I'd like to share a novel experience from last evening.

Given my multiple frustrations yesterday, I went home and decided to meditate. So after dinner, I switched on my iPod and turned on the Soham meditation tape my dad sent me from India. Soham is a breathing technique practiced in India since several thousand years and it’s supposed to do a ton of wonderful things for you – remove toxins from the body, promote mental clarity, etc. It’s a 42 minute tape after which you are in a sort of deep trance. So the best thing to do is let yourself be for a few minutes, which is what I did. This is what happened.

At first there was darkness and out of nowhere a speck of bright light came forth. This light became brighter and brighter until it was huge and then it sort of exploded and was now everywhere. Then the light starting showing me some shapes & figures – a bird shape that manifested out of nowhere, then a hill and finally a snow clad mountain. Further, it seemed that this light was now inside me (I don’t know if this makes sense but that’s the feeling I had) and I could feel the vastness of me (not the physical me but beyond that) and that of everyone else. For a split second, I could begin to fathom how huge the universe really is. And this is the most wacky part – I felt as if I was traveling with the light, it was taking me somewhere.

Just as I was about to come out of my trance, something inside me started humming the Upanishad mantra.

Asato ma sat gamaya

Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya

Mrityo ma amrutam gamaya

It means –

Lead me from the unreal to the real

Lead me from darkness to light

Lead me from death to immortality

Curiosity got the better of me this morning and I started hunting for a meaning of my experience and stumbled upon this on an article on the nature of mind.

The purpose of path mahamudra (nature of the mind) is to see the basis mahamudra. We do that by dispelling the darkness of the heart. Each time we meditate we clarify that darkness. The true nature of mind is light and has no darkness. We do not always see that light, but we can see it. So why don't we see it? All the temporary stains obscure it. It is similar to how the clouds obscure the sun. The stains are temporary because they can be dispelled. So that is the purpose of meditation practice, to see that fundamental mind.

I don’t really know why we are here and what our true purpose is but I would like to believe we are here for each other, to share our experiences and propel each other to a higher state of consciousness. Some of us are too distracted to let to our real mind show us the path. Others, myself included, are too frustrated. But if I can say anything from my experience last night, it’s that it doesn’t matter if the universe has a blue print for us or not. As long as we shut out all the other noises and manage to listen to the one voice that matters, we’ll realize that regardless of what life holds for us, it is still beautiful. It exposes us to many different situations and leaves it up to us to make choices that can either harm or make the smallest difference in someone’s life. We choose whether to be happy or sad, frustrated or motivated, helpful or hurtful. A choice made at some point in our lives contributes to the state of mind either now or in the future. We just need to perhaps learn to make better choices.

This entry might seem for some as me showing off but I do this in all humility and with hope that if I can come forth and talk about some of the “insane” experiences I’ve had, more people will think it ok do so too. What do you think?