Dear John,

Sorry for taking such a long time to answer, but here it is now, hope it is helpful and not too confusing…

One of the reasons it took so long is that a simple answer would no do justice to the importance of the question you are asking. The kind of answer that would be helpful to you depends on your “degree of commitment” to this practice, meaning how far you want to take it. You can take it as a simple stres-relief tool, something you do regularly to help you out, but nothing more. That is completely fine, if it works for you. Having said that, for many of us sahaja meditationg has become much more than that, it has become the way we are, and has changed our character, lifestile, beliefs and actions in profound ways. It has completely changed the way we see things, evaluate them and make decisions about who we are and who we are not, and how we will act in any given situation. These are the two ends of the spectrum, of course, there is a whole range of different degrees of commitment between these two ways of practicing sahaja meditation. Depending on where you are right now, and where you want to be eventually, the answer to your question would be different, for it would have to penetrate different layers of depth and complexities involved.

The simple answer is this: honesty and cincerety is always encouraged in Sahaja meditation. There can never be any forcing in Sahaja meditation, mainly for two reasons. Firstly is all depends on your desire in the end, and nothing more. If you have no desire to grow, nobody can make you, and if you do have desire to grow, nobody can stop you. That’s one reason. The other reason is, Sahaja meditation is based on the working of the Kundalini energy, that is the Motherly principle within us. It is Her who does the work, lovingly and caringly, She is extremely patient, and will wait untill we are ready, as long as it takes, because gentleness and respect of our freedom are Her basic qualities. Forcing is not in Her nature – this is why this meditation and this growth is spontaneous, natural.

The danger, or the down side of this, however, is that we might take Her and Her qualities for granted, and just slumber for years and years, not making any progress for a very long time. Sometimes we need something closer to a Father principle to actually tell us when we are wrong, to push us a bit, to guide us in a more active way. For all of us, who conduct Sahaja meditation classes, this balancing between patience and “straightforwardness” when trying to help people who are just starting, is very tricky, it is something we keep working on, trying to grow in our capacity to learn what to say, when and how, so that it is most helpful to others.

The second answer you might find a bit more to the point is this. When we meditate, the goal is eventually to fully realize our Spirit – that joy and purity within us, that has no other interest besides being immerced into the ocean of the divine bliss. The Spirit has nothing to do with sexuality, no interest in it whatsoever. In the old times, when people made a decision to dedicate their lives to spiritual growth, they would renounce everything they had, all their wordly connections, everything that is material and limited, because that was the only way they could reach the subtle and the unlimited. Now, sahaja meditation somehow seems to work withought going into that extreme of penance and renunciation, thatnk to the Motherly principle that is guiding it. And yet, you will notice, that a lot of basic things become unimportant to us. We do eat, but it is not important to us, our attention is not on eating. We do have families and children, but our attention is not on their bodies, or physicalities, but on their spirit. You will never hear Sahaja yogi discussing their sexual life, not because they do not have it, but because it is completely private, what is intimate is meant to remain intimate, and not be public. Our world has become really sad in the way that the innocence of that intimacy is constantly bombarded by images, ideas, thoughts that are dragging out attention into mud and filth. You know already that innosence is the quality of Muladhara chakra, and that is what is the root and gives support to the whole subtle system. The more our attention is polluted by all the over-sexualization that we are living in, the weaker the Muladhara chakra, and that in turn weakens our system in general.

The third answer is the following. We do live in the world, and we have to fully become the Spirit yet. That means, we do have identifications, and we do act. Now, some identifications might be sort of useful (if they bring us closer to becoming Spirit), others might be neutral, and yet others might be harmful. Same with our actions – some of them happen to be in tune, go with the flow of the all-pervading power, and in that case they might strengthen our subtle system, help us get closer to the goal. While other things we do might be going against the flow or the laws of that all-perwading power. Those actions will weaken or damage our subtle system, create obstactles on our way, and slow down or even reverse our growth. If we meditate, and if we have the sincere desire to grow in the right direction, we will easily find out (through the use of vibrations) which actions and identifications are good for us, and which are not, and in the end it is up to each of us to make our choices.

I hope this answer is somewhat helpful, forgive me for remaining vague, but there is a certain level of directness about these private issues that is not possible in a public forum. You are welcome to follow up through private message or through “contact-us” if you would like to have some further clarification.

Sincerely,

Mar’yana

Dear friend,

If you have been meditating for a while, you probably feel vibrations, right? Have you ever tried checking vibrations on this subject?

In the end, if we accept that the vibrations we feel are the instrument of truth, much more powerful than our mental projections, why not give it a try? You might discover that quite a few things you have assumed to be true will not be giving you a flow of cool vibrations, and instead you will feel heat or tingling. Then you will have your answer…

Sincerely,

Mar’yana

Dear friend,

No, this was not what I meant. We do not have “expectations” of catches, and it’s really none of our business to feel the catches of other people unless they are expressly asking us for it, and even then it is not primarily about catches, but about sharing the good vibrations and love.

You have probably heard many times while attending Sahaja meditation meetings, that we have to become our own masters and our own gurus – it is our goal to grow in such a way that our Spirit manifests better and better, and that we are not seeking any source of truth and decision-making outside, rather, through meditation and vibrations we are able to know what is truth and what is the right course of action for us in any given situation.

So what I was referring to, is to meditate, and once you can feel vibrations clearly enough on your hands and/or above your head, to humbly ask a question – any question, and to see how vibrations change. If they increase and become cooler – the universal energy which you are connected to in meditation is giving you a “yes” answer. If they decrease or become more hot or tingly – then it’s a “no” answer. And then, of course there is the whole range of possibilities in-between.
It might be a good idea for you to experiment with this (of course, only if you feel vibrations and if you have already experienced them enough to see how they correlate to what is true and what is good). Also, it does not need to be a question, you can say it as a statement, and see how the vibrations respond to that statement, then you will find out whether it is true and beneficial or not.

The reason I am suggesting that you to try this out is because the questions you are asking in the end cannot be answered by anyone else except your own Spirit within you. I could give you my opinion, but it is neither relevant to what you need to do in your own life, not is it helpful for your growth, especially if you have already made up your mind about it and are not particularly open to questioning what you believe.

Hope it works for you and you find your answer.

Sincerely,
Mar’yana