The focus for this September on the Siddha Yoga path is assimilation of Gurumayi’s Message for 2016:
Move with steadfastness
toward becoming
anchored
in Supreme Joy
Assimilation is the process of absorbing the Guru’s teachings so they become the foundation for how we, as Siddha Yoga students, think, feel, speak, and act in our lives.
In his exposition on assimilation, “Imbibing the Guru’s Teachings,” Swami Apoorvananda explains:
Assimilation requires our steady engagement with the other three aspects of studentship—study, practice, and implementation. The process of imbibing the teachings takes place over time—for example while we offer seva or as we strive to understand a passage from the scriptures. In returning to the teachings again and again, our understanding deepens and begins to take root.
Throughout this year, you have studied, practiced, and implemented Gurumayi’s Message in many ways. You have, for example, engaged with various teachings related to Gurumayi’s Message on the Siddha Yoga path website. You have participated, again and again, in teaching and learning events such as A Sweet Surprise and Pathways to the Madhya, the Source of Bliss: Meditation Sessions via Live Audio Stream 2016. And, many of you have shared on the Siddha Yoga path website how you’ve been implementing what you have learned in your day-to-day interactions with family, friends, colleagues, animals, and nature.
Now it is time to recognize the inner transformation that has been taking place as you’ve engaged with Gurumayi’s Message throughout this year—and to further assimilate Gurumayi’s teachings, at a deeper level of your being.
This series of audio-recorded exercises will support you in your efforts. The exercises are based on the four wheels of the Shaktipat Intensive—posture, breath, mantra, and meditation. The four wheels of the Shaktipat Intensive constitute one of Baba Muktananda’s seminal teachings. Baba returned to this teaching many times when guiding seekers to practice Siddha Yoga meditation.
These four wheels also serve as a powerful tool to assimilate Gurumayi’s Message. They guide us to enter the stillness of our own inner Self and to experience—in that still space—how Gurumayi’s Message permeates our being. They support us to access the infinite wisdom available to us within, so that we may expand our understanding of the Guru’s teaching.
Each of the four wheels of the Shaktipat Intensive can be practiced on its own as a means to assimilate Gurumayi’s Message. The four wheels can also be practiced sequentially, each leading to and building on the others.
A comfortable and steady posture supports the body to stay alert, present, and balanced, and allows the breath to flow freely. Easeful breathing calms the mind and supports it to focus on the Self. Repetition of mantra attunes our being to the spanda, the subtle vibration of the Self. And meditation enables us to rest our awareness in the stillness of our true nature. Thus, all four wheels, in distinct and complementary ways, support us to turn within and experience our own Self.
I will lead you step-by-step in these exercises. You will need to set aside about ten minutes for each of them. Find a space that is quiet and comfortable, and have a pen and journal with you to record your experiences.
Click on the links below to practice
Assimilation through the Four Wheels of the Shaktipat Intensive:
Posture
Breath
Mantra
Meditation
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