AUM
Sit comfortably.
Focus on your breath.
Focus on AUM.
shukla-āmbara-dharam vishṇum
shashi-varṇam chathur-bhujam |
prasanna-vadhanam dhyāyēt
sarva-vighno upashāntayē ||
I meditate upon Lord Ganesha, who is clad in white garment,
Who is all pervading, who is as bright coloured as the moon,
Who has a pleasant face, Having four arms,
Who removes all of our obstacles.
vakratunda mahakāya suryakoti samaprabha।
nirvighnam kuru me deva sarva-kāryeshu sarvada॥
The Lord with the curved trunk and mighty body,
who has the magnificence of a million suns.
I pray to you, Oh Lord,
please remove the obstacles from all my endeavors.
MEDITATION STEP 1.We start our prayers with Ganapathi meditation. Ganapathi has elephant head, huge body with bulky overhanging belly. Elephant head represents the sacred mantra AUM. Mythological stories in our Hindu puraṇas say that the whole cosmos with multiple universes all contained within his fat belly. So, when we meditate, we meditate upon the whole world as the embodiment of the God. This cosmic form of the God we mediate as the world is called virāta purusha. The Almighty God is all pervasive, within this world, with this world and beyond this world. Ganapathi is meditated as such beyond all the universes and having them within him and with him.
MEDITATION STEP 2. Next shift the focus on this world, constituted by eight components – earth, water, fire, air, ether, sun(s), moon(s) and infinite number of living beings. Invisible and imperceptible God is expressed as these eight forms in the nature for our grasp. This graspable form of the God is called Ashta murtam. Ashta means eight. Now we meditate the universe as God in Ashta murta form.
MEDITATION STEP 3. Among the eight expressions of the God, he is present within the spirit soul of each and every living being as the Lord of the soul. He is never ever separate from the individual soul(s). Now we meditate upon the God who is ever present inseparably in each and every living being.
MEDITATION STEP 4. Now we meditate upon the same God within our soul. For this we need to focus within ourselves unto our soul. As the God is all pervasive in this universe, with it and beyond it, our soul is also all pervasive in our body, with our body and beyond it too. As the invisible, imperceptible God is expressed in eight places for our grasp, our soul is expressed in five places in our body through its actions. These are mulādāra (perineum), naval, hrutaya (mid-chest), throat and mid-brow. Our soul is stationed at mid-brow when we are awake. It is stationed at throat when we dream in sleep. It is stationed at mid-chest in deep sleep. It is at the naval in the fourth state beyond sleep called durya. It is stationed at mulādāra (perineum) in the fifth state beyond durya. Among these five stations, we meditate the soul at hrutaya, our mid-chest as a lotus. The root word hru means soul or conscious. From this came the word heart. This is not the anatomical heart which is pumping blood. It is the spiritual heart, the spirit soul. We mediate upon our soul as this spiritual heart at our mid chest as a lotus bud bending towards the right. When we mediate on this, it becomes straight and blossom at the centre of our chest. We mediate upon this heart our spirit soul and the God as a spark or crystal or lingam on it. You can even mediate as Nadarajah dancing on it. His dance is the five cosmic operations of creation, sustenance, dissolution, obscuration and grace. Our soul is the stage for his dance (chittampalam). It is the space for his dance (Chidmaparam). The same Lord of the universe is dancing there as the Lord of our spirit soul. Let’s feel the rhythm of his dance.
MEDITATION STEP 4. Meditate to synchronize all these forms of God – The form beyond the cosmos, the cosmic form, ashta murtam, spirit souls and in our heart. Harmonize ourselves with nature and living beings as everything as His presence. Feel the omnipresence of this rhythm and dissolves unto it.