Book details

Genre:body, mind & spirit
Sub-genre:Mindfulness & Meditation
Language:English
Series Title:Wisdom Library of Swami Amar Jyoti
Series Number:2
Pages:160
eBook ISBN:9798350998641
Paperback ISBN:9798350998634

Prayer and Meditation

Wisdom Library of Swami Amar Jyoti

By Swami Amar Jyoti

Overview

The Wisdom Library of Swami Amar Jyoti includes Satsangs (wisdom teachings) given from 1975 until 2000. The chapters in each volume were edited from oral recordings and originally appeared in Light of Consciousness Journal. With simple language and clarity, these are universal teachings apply to any path yet transcend all paths. Volume 2: Prayer & Meditation focuses on the spiritual and scientific meaning of prayer and meditation, how to grow in a peaceful, relaxed way to higher consciousness. Each chapter takes seekers deeper into the silence and stillness of Oneness, Illumination, God-Consciousness, which is the birthright of every human being.

Description

Until you attain Oneness, you will always be seeking, whether spiritually, materially or humanly. Therefore you see that the material world is insatiable. This is not because it is bad but just the very nature of things. You cannot expect perennial satisfaction from changeful material phenomena. We can hope eternally, but it does not satisfy us. Therefore seeking will never end until we become one. Sobriety teaches us to take things appropriately, which is what I call common sense. Some call it renunciation, dispassion or detachment, but it is simply common sense. We cannot be one in the body or in the mind, as they are relative and dualistic by their own nature. What constitutes Oneness is the same substance in all: Spirit, Light, God, Consciousness. In that, we are already One, always were and always will be. Until you attain Oneness, you will always be seeking, whether spiritually, materially or humanly. Therefore you see that the material world is insatiable. This is not because it is bad but just the very nature of things. You cannot expect perennial satisfaction from changeful material phenomena. We can hope eternally, but it does not satisfy us. Therefore seeking will never end until we become one. Sobriety teaches us to take things appropriately, which is what I call common sense. Some call it renunciation, dispassion or detachment, but it is simply common sense. We cannot be one in the body or in the mind, as they are relative and dualistic by their own nature. What constitutes Oneness is the same substance in all: Spirit, Light, God, Consciousness. In that, we are already One, always were and always will be. Falling short of that, we are wallowing in dualistic patterns and relativity, expecting the same results as being one in Consciousness. The joy you seek, the satisfaction you seek, the peace you seek, the love you seek are all attributes of Oneness, not relativity. Those who wisely accept and see this relax and become sober, and common sense is born. "This simple thing I didn't understand for so long. I read all these books. I exercised my legs and arms for all these years. I banged on doors. I searched and asked and did so many rituals, but it is such a simple matter." When you arrive at that understanding, at that relaxed point, it is simple. We do say that truth is simple and God is simple. This is not a great philosophy or a special way of thinking; it is just common sense... Grow in a peaceful, relaxed attitude and raise your consciousness through your spinal column... Not by forcing but with a very peaceful, releasing and relieving attitude. When you reach there the Light shines. In that crowning Realization you will see that everything is One... When that Light travels up the spinal column, Consciousness shines. It is indescribable. They have called it Illumination, Liberation, the thousand-petalled lotus. Not only does it radiate from your body, when you reach there you will see that it is everywhere. The Light, Consciousness, is pervading, within you and around you, in every particle and space. That Consciousness, the Source, is the energy that sustains you. (Excerpted from Chapter 1, The Goal of All Seeking)

About The Author

The spiritual awakening on earth that Gurudeva reveals is the glorious destiny of mankind, once freed from our limited identity of self. Lovingly and ceaselessly, He continues to uplift and purify each of us for this awakening, for His way is the ancient relationship of the Guru to the disciple, the candle lit directly from the burning flame of Truth. Prabhushri constantly reminds us that we are at a breakthrough into a new age, where religions will be transformed into direct awakening and communion with our Highest Source. Like a mother whose love knows no bounds for her child, the Guru guides and nurtures the disciple on his or her own path to perfection, revealing the attainable Reality of God Consciousness. Swami Amar Jyoti was born on May 6, 1928 in a small town in northwestern India, not far from the banks of the Indus River. His parents named Him Rama. His childhood interests were many: science, math, music, writing, cycling, drama and sports, and He brilliantly excelled in all of these. His college education was temporarily interrupted by the crisis of the partition of India in 1947 when He transferred to a college in Mumbai (Bombay). Much beloved by family and professors, He shocked everyone with the decision to leave home a few months before graduation, saying, "I'd like to read an open book of the world for my education." At the age of nineteen, without money or any particular destination, He took the first train He found, eventually arriving in Calcutta. It was 1948. Refugees were pouring over the border of East Bengal (now Bangladesh) into West Bengal by the thousands each day. For some time Prabhushri worked in an aviation company in Calcutta where He was offered a partnership. Instead, He chose to leave the company to become a volunteer for the refugees. Living on a railway platform near the border of India and Bangladesh, He soon headed the entire volunteer corps there, working tirelessly 20 hours or more each day. After about ten months, the flood of refugees subsided, and He returned to Calcutta. There, a Senator who had witnessed His work at the border offered Him a high government position for rehabilitation of refugees, but He turned it down. He lived in Calcutta and later moved to the outskirts of the city in a quiet ashram where He pursued classical music, sitar, religious studies and prayer. It was during this time that visions began awakening in Him. He began to meditate and do yoga and attended puja (traditional worship) at a nearby temple of a well-known saint. In a short while He "knew" His life work. As He described it, He picked up there from where He had left off in the last birth. Very soon, He retired to Himalaya where He lived in silence and meditation for about ten years, one-pointed on the Goal of Liberation. Many places of pilgrimage were visited during those years, walking on foot many miles each day. But a small cave at Gangotri, the temple village near the source of the Ganga River, was the place of His greatest spiritual disciplines, awakenings and, finally, Illumination. The first Ashram Gurudeva founded was Jyoti Ashram, under Ananda Niketan Trust, located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. In 1961 He accepted an offer by a devotee to visit the United States. Again, He traveled unknown, though He soon attracted many who had never seen such a Holy Man. He was eventually persuaded by the sincerity of American disciples to Sacred Mountain Ashram in 1974 and Desert Ashram in 1978. After four decades of traveling, giving Satsang and Retreats, establishing Ashrams and guiding innumerable souls to higher consciousness, Gurudeva took Mahasamadhi—conscious release of the mortal body—on June 13, 2001. His Samadhi Sthal was dedicated in Pune, India, in June 2002.