Sai Young Adults USA

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Meditation

April Meditation Initiative

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NYC2009 - NYC2009-Meditation

"The Divine Power is there in you; it need not come from somewhere outside you. Only, you have to prepare the ground, so that it may manifest itself".     -Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Meditation allows us to discover and channel the strengths of our tremendous mental energy. Our mind naturally tends towards disorderliness - which causes a drift and dispersion of our energy. Meditation is a tool to confront this directly. It creates a focus of energy, which is the first step towards raising one’s energy level. Swami subtly talks about the need for continuous focus on the divine: “Always meditate on the divine name - not just contemplation, but meditation. That meditation should be with love for God. Without love, your meditation will not achieve the desired result. Your love for God should be continuous through day and night.”

Very often, during silent sitting / meditation we get blown away by the tornadoes of our thoughts and get washed away in the hurricane of surging memories. Swami teaches us how to rise above it and be one with Him in His love.


This month podcasts features a special interview with Mrs. Phyllis Krystal from Germany. She was very gracious to answer the questions submitted by the YAs across the nation. This will be available in two parts. The second part of this interview will be presented in two weeks time. We hope you will all enjoy this humble offering to our divine Lord.

Tips of the month:
Limit meditation to no more than 20 minutes at a time.
Meditate on a light or empty stomach.
If you find yourself feeling sleepy while meditating, meditate in the morning when you are wide awake.


Podcasts
You can subscribe to podcast by clicking the "Podcast - Full Feed" link below. The RSS Feed page will open a new page thereby enabling you to subscribe to this channel. You can only open the below Podcast link in Firefox 2.0 or higher and IE 7 or higher.


Full Feed

Downloads for this month:

Phyllis Krystal Interview- Part 1 of 2

 

 

 

 

February Meditation Initiative

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NYC2009 - NYC2009-Meditation

“Meditation gives concentration and success in all tasks. Observe meditation with innocence, purity and humility. Then, without fail you can attain whatever you strive for.” - Baba

Access to your Safe Deposit in the SSSB:

Looking for the safe deposit box that  holds your most valuable treasure? …. If lies in your heart. The key to open this safe deposit box and is the mind. Turn the key (mind) towards God to unveil this treasure  and enjoy bliss in every moment. Turn the key (mind) towards world, however,  and the treasure is locked up.  

How can we take steps to reach this goal? Here is how one YA persisted and used meditation to unlock the door to bliss:

Reaching meditation has always been a tough thing for me - too few hits, too many misses. Usually what comes to my mind is "Ok, I'm sitting here, what do I do next?" and "How do I know if I'm even going in the right direction?"

After trying many times and feeling as if I was not making any progress, Swami came to the rescue. I met a devotee who had been practicing meditation for some time. We did group meditation but the shallowness of my meditation prevailed with slurry of thoughts and discomfort.

Sensing what I was going through, he said that when starting meditation, a powerful way to calm the mind is to find the top 3 "worries" that are running through, and then come to a resolution for each one. A little to my embarrassment, he made me state out loud and with full conviction a resolution to each one. One by one, I instantly felt my mind calming, my muscles loosening, and after the third resolution, I was gone. The next thing I sensed was the man saying "Now come back to this room."  I realized 30 minutes had passed, and I felt a glowing energy through my body.

This technique of coming to a resolution has served me well ever since, both within and outside of meditation. Thank you Swami.

Offering for the month: Practice Light Meditation at least once a week in a group setting – YA meetings, bhajans etc.  Each time a different YA can lead the meditation.  The goal of the Light Meditation is to feel the divine light flow through us into all the activities that we do, making every thought, word, and deed an offering to Swami.

Tips for the month:

1. Before starting the meditation, think of the top 3 things that are running through the mind (exams, work, quarrel with a family member, etc). Then for each one, come to a resolution. For example, repeat "I have full faith that with every step I take, Swami is guiding me. I have studied for the exam, and I leave the consequences solely up to Him. Thank you Swami."  
2. When the mind wanders, just think and repeat "come back to the present.”
3. Relax the body by stretching and relaxing the muscles before beginning the meditation. Breath in and out deeply for 10 times. This fills the lungs with enough oxygen and regularizes the blood flow helping the mind to calm down.


Podcasts
You can subscribe to podcast by clicking the "Podcast - Full Feed" link below. The RSS Feed page will open a new page thereby enabling you to subscribe to this channel. You can only open the below Podcast link in Firefox 2.0 or higher and IE 7 or higher.


Full Feed

Downloads for this month:

Sai-ence of Meditation as discussed by two young adults - Part 2

 

January Meditation Initiative

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NYC2009 - NYC2009-Meditation
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We would like to share our journey with you on the pre-NYC initiative – daily prayer and  meditation. Each of us was surprised at how the Divine Director brought us together to work on this initiative. Most of us never paid much attention to meditation or sustained the motivation to practice it regularly. We all came to the team assuming that the group was made up of meditation experts. In fact, this is far from true. We too are just beginning on this journey to understanding what exactly meditation is and how we can assimilate it into our daily lives. We had to gear up to direct the journey inwards to tune into Swami’s vision for each of us personally.

 

 

“What do you think is the meaning of meditation? You think it is sitting in a lonely place and contemplating on the Lord's name. Not at all! Contemplate upon the pure thoughts in your mind… Make your mind steady and still for as short a period as eleven seconds. You can attain realization even in such a short period… Just eleven seconds of stillness of mind would be enough” -Sathya Sai Baba, WYC III, 2007

We invite you all to join us in this journey of collective learning and sharing through the series of monthly podcasts. With a variety of views on what meditation is and in an effort to dispel the usual connotation of “meditation,” the podcasts will cover diverse topics like Introduction to meditation, the Saience and science of meditation, music and meditation, guest speakers etc.  The audio files for the guided Light meditation, guided Soham meditation and the technique taught by Phyllis Krystal in her voice are available. Scroll down to see the audio links. Please send in your suggestions, comments, questions and experiences to us at nyc@saiyausa.net. We will try to address them in the following sessions.

Offering for the month: Focus on Swami for 11 seconds after the daily Gayatri chants and pray to Him to purify our thoughts

Tips for the Meditation Initiative can be found under the comprehensive list of all tips for the month, click here

Podcasts
You can subscribe to podcast by clicking the "Podcast - Full Feed" link below. The RSS Feed page will open a new page thereby enabling you to subscribe to this channel. You can only open the below Podcast link in Firefox 2.0 or higher and IE 7 or higher.


Full Feed

If you are having difficulty accessing the Podcast link, you can listen to the mp3 files here.

Download mp3's

Sai-ence of Meditation as discussed by two Young Adults

Light Meditation(long version)

Light Meditation(short version for COD workshop)

Phyllis Krystal Heart Meditation

Guided Soham Meditation