India is a sacred land that has produced many Rishi-Munis and Enlightened Masters, who have led us, and guided us and also the entire world towards spiritual progress. Our ancient culture has been enriched by the spiritual, moral, and patriotic teachings of these shining ideals who have reached heights of success and glory in their respective fields. No matter how hard you try, it will be difficult for you to find any other country that has produced so many enlightened beings, or authorities on multiple varieties of subjects like India has produced.

We are fortunate to have been born in this sacred land. And are blessed to have the opportunity to learn methods and techniques imparted by our Rishi-Munis, for spiritual evolution, individually and collectively. For those of you who have been attracted to the spiritual path, but have been delaying your spiritual journey, it is time to chalk out a Spiritual Plan. To begin your spiritual journey with love and devotion in your hearts, and with sincerity and perseverance in your efforts. Each of you must choose your methods and techniques according to your own capacities, experiences and vasanas. All spiritual practices are actually methods to train the mind. Find out the method that is best to your temperament, and adhere to it with sincerity, discipline and reverence. Chalk out a suitable plan of action and start your journey.

Our ashram follows the Himalayan tradition where every sadhaka must strive hard to attain realisation through self-effort. There are no short-cuts to Self-realisation. At our ashram, sadhakas have been practising different methods and techniques for enabling their spiritual progress. Each of them adopts the method most suitable to him or her for achieving the required benefit, though the main importance is on meditation. People of all ages and gender should start their meditation practice now. Meditation can be done at any convenient time, during the day though the best time is during the brahma-muhurta. Make it a life-time practice and avail the various benefits that you get from it.

Meditation helps you to experience peace and serenity in your day-to-day life. It gives you improved health, improves your relationships and interactions with people. It also helps you to improve your worldly skills. Chalk out a systematic plan for the conduct of your spiritual practices. Meditate daily for a specified period of time, according to your ability and convenience. It is the most superior method of connecting to the divine. Existence consists of pure consciousness, Shakti (the active element) and Shiva (the inactive element). Meditation leads you to the centre of consciousness, and to its very source.).

Begin your journey by bringing awareness into your life. No matter what activity you are engaged in, be aware of your action from moment to moment. This is a continuous process of being in meditation. It is a fact that when awareness is present then ego cannot exist, and vice versa, when ego is present then awareness cannot exist. Meditation is actually, just being or existing, sitting by oneself. It is actually, experiencing the present moment without any resistance. Before you sit for meditation, prepare yourself by doing some stretching exercises for about five minutes each.That is, forward, backward and sideway bends, simple yogasanas, one set of surya-namaskar, deep breathing, pranayama, anulom-vilom, kapalbhati. This will help you to have a flexible body that is conducive to meditation.

Sit in the same place for meditation every day. Observe your thinking process, look within, introspect – so as to understand yourself at all levels. For eg.: when a desire gets fulfilled, observe whether it makes you proud… or when it is not fulfilled, observe whether it makes you angry. Be a witness to all your reactions. Even when you are attending to other activities, keep witnessing your emotions and reactions. Try and spend more time with yourself, in silence. As you meditate, you will observe that harmful and frightening dreams that strain and trouble the mind, automatically get resolved. As you continue, you will begin to feel refreshed and energetic and also, you will find yourself growing spiritually.

The technique of Yoganidra, is said to be a superior form of meditation. It is effective in automatically resolving all the desires and conflicts that may be troubling the mind. It helps in purifying the samskaras that one has gathered over many lifetimes. It is the deepest of all meditations, where the awareness is guided through many levels of mental process. Normally the mind has insufficient capacity, as only a small part of the mind is cultivated. But during yoganidra your mind goes beyond the waking, dreaming, and sleeping states. In this state, you gain complete rest and appear to be sleeping, but yet remain fully awake.

Beeja mantra chanting is another technique that is suited for the cleansing of the chakras – energy centres that lie along the sushumna nadi in the spinal cord region. This in turn helps in clearing the accumulated samskaras of past lifetimes. These are sounds that activate the energy of the chakras and purify them. The mantras also bring about a balance between the mind and the body. Continuous chanting of the beeja mantras helps in cleaning the accumulated samskaras of the respective chakras. Chanting of the beeja mantras for a longer period of time, automatically takes you to meditation.

Bless you all. May you all, without any delay, chalk out your path to Self-realisation.