What is life about? Is it just about eating, sleeping and evacuating? If you believe that it is true, then you need to go no further. If you believe that there is more to life than seeking pleasure and fulfilling your base biological needs, then join me on this journey to find out more. On the journey of getting closer to God.
The Pursuit of Lasting Joy
Do you find joy in this life? Is eating, sleeping, procreating, and evacuating are all there is? Where is infinite joy? How can we experience real lasting joy? One of the reasons we persist in this life is to find happiness. The things in this life give temporary happiness. We keep searching for joy in the stuff we do. For instance, we turn to food to gratify us, we try different kinds of food to make it exciting and enjoyable. Eventually, we lose interest or get bored.
The same thing happens with other things as well, whether it is entertainment, thrill seeking experiences, etc., eventually we realise that these activities do not give us what we yearn for. If the circumstances of our Samskara (the sum total of our accumulated memories) point to an experience of happiness, then we want to experience that high again and again until we realise all is not as it seems. In the pursuit of that high we turn to drugs, alcohol or cigarettes, where we can get addicted and ruin our lives.
How can we get closer to God?
In time you will be drawn away from the fleeting, the temporary, and seek something more. You will begin to have experiences that are spiritual in nature. These glimpses allow you to experience limitless joy and discover that God exists. Then, there is a desire to get closer to God.
Meditation
We can get closer to God through the power of meditation. What is meditation? Meditation is communion with God.
How to meditate?
Sit quietly and calmly on the bed, ground or chair keeping your spine relaxed and straight. Place one hand on top of the other, both palms facing upwards, this hand posture is also known as the Dhyana mudra. Become aware of your breath and focus your mind with a mantra or image of the form of God that you resonate with.
This will help you first to quieten your mind and later commune with the God-Self. It takes lot of practice and patience. Don’t expect to get results straight away, it will take time. As your mind calms, you will hear the guidance from the Source(God). You will learn to use your thoughts to express your questions and get answers from God.
A Personal Meditation Journey
In the beginning, the inner voice tricked me into doing an exercise which focused my mind. I asked the Self within (who i also refer to as Source or God); how could I see my aura. Source guided me to look at the edges my hands with my eyes slightly out of focus and see the light coming off my hands. I did this practice for over three years. Then, I was guided to look at people walking in the streets below my window (I lived in a 3rd floor flat) at sunset. Slowly over a period of time, I could see that people were enclosed in a bubble of light and what looked like coloured lightning bolts were inside the enclosed light.
I wanted more experiences and asked how I could have an out-of-body experience (OBE). I was told to lie down on the bed and focus on my feet and say that my feet were relaxed and then focus on my calves and say my calves were relaxed and work my way slowly up my thighs, body, arms and head. Focussing on each part of the body and saying that each part was relaxed. Then back to the feet and repeat it all again until I fell asleep. After about six months, I had an experience where I felt I was coming out of my body. The next day, I was told to do formal meditation.
The Kundalini
The next day about ten in the evening I sat in a chair, and closed my eyes. After a while, I could see a red colour in my mind’s eye. I stayed till I got tired and went to bed about midnight. The next day again at ten in the evening, I sat in the chair and after some time I saw a yellow colour fill my mind’s eye and I sat there till I got tired and went to sleep about midnight. On the third day, again I sat for meditation at ten in the evening. This time, I saw a white light like the rising sun. Then the Kundalini came up.
The Kundalini represents the power of God latent (lying dormant) in every human being. When the being is ready, this power begins to rise-up through the chakras (gateways and vortexes of energy in the subtle body), purifying the body and mind and transmuting the consciousness of the person so that they are ready to experience cosmic consciousness. That story is for another time.
Years later, I was guided to chant the “Sohum” mantra silently during my meditations. “So”, meaning the source, or God and “hum”, meaning me. So, saying “Thou art me”, to become one with God.
Food and Its Impact on Vibrational Frequency
After the Kundalini awakened, the “kriyas” started. Kriyas are involuntary movements of the body to help change the frequency of the body and sometimes it can be painful. A transformation was also taking place in my mind. The body and mind have to adapt to the changes in consciousness. I felt a disgust for meat after my first kundalini experience and became a vegetarian. I also avoided onions and garlic for the first ten years. They don’t help in the process of purification. Later, I found that when you eat meat you also absorb the animal’s quality, which further brings down your frequency (vibration). Eating meat makes one an accomplice to the murder of the animal and thus you inherit the samskara for the death of an innocent being.
It’s a choice to eat meat. It is an addiction to taste. When the frequency of your body is low, you will like the taste of flesh. When you are aware and awake, you will realise it’s like excrement. A lot of animals like to eat excrement, as they are unaware and enjoy the taste. At first your consciousness is moving from the animal kingdom to humanity. To get into divinity which is the final rung of evolution, you become free from the desire to taste animal flesh.
Service: Love in Action
I learnt that the Source (God) has Its own agenda, everything it does is for your good. I was unhappy at work and wanted another job. The Source told me that I needed experience in the job I wanted. I wanted to go into social services. Source (God within) guided me to do voluntary work for my experiences. I ended up helping a care home with its residents. The person selected for me had learning difficulties and stuttered a lot. Every Saturday, for two years I took this individual to bingo which he loved. During those times when he stuttered, I was guided to visualise a blue ball of light on his throat. As soon as I did this, his stutter would stop and so would his frustration. Later, I realised that I was working on (healing) his vishudha chakra.
When we serve or help others, we naturally draw experiences of God into our lives.
Deepening Devotion Through Bhajans
To help the body adapt to the change in consciousness and ease the pain I felt. I was advised by Source to sing bhajans (devotional songs in Sanskrit). The bhajans helped the acclimatise to the higher vibration and also brought me closer to God. The love for God started to get intense as I sang. Sometimes, I would shed tears and strangely I also felt good when that happened.
The act of devotional singing eased the process of spiritual transformation and nurtured a deeper connection with God.
Conclusion
The journey of getting closer to God takes patience and faith. This path is supported by practices such as meditation, conscientious eating, service to others, and devotion. By integrating these practices into our lives, you can elevate our consciousness and experience the profound joy of connecting with God – the Source of all THAT IS.
Love and Blessings, Eddie
Eddie Appoo is a spiritual teacher and author dedicated to guiding others on their journey of Self-Realisation. He embarked on a journey of spiritual exploration from a young age and had his first glimpse of Self-Realisation in the early 1980s. In 1992, Eddie experienced himself as Atma (One with God) guided by his spiritual master Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Alongside his wife, he co-created LiberatingTouch®, a spiritual development system. Eddie’s teachings and writings, including “Detachment: The Secret to Infinite Peace,” reflect his dedication to sharing joy and facilitating spiritual progression.