Divya Jyoti—The Divine Light
Verse 1 of Jyota se Jyota Jagao

For the past few days I have been reflecting about what Jyota se Jyota Jagao means to me and how I experience it when my Guru “lights my lamp” from hers.

When I received shaktipat diksha, or initiation, my Guru lit a tremendous light within me. This light slowly and gradually began to illuminate my beliefs, inner attitudes, thoughts, feelings—everything in me and my life. I was invited to work on one issue after another until I was able to find inner peace with it. This did not happen without crises and working on myself. But after each crisis I felt lighter and freer and my life became easier and more pleasant.

In that sense, it seems to me that my lamp was not lit all at once; for me the unfolding of the gift of shaktipat is a constant process that only works when I actively participate in it and open myself to the grace of my beloved Guru.
 

Many years ago, I was invited by a friend to attend “An Introduction to Siddha Yoga.” As I biked to the event, an unexplained excitement began to build inside me.
 
When I arrived, we all sat cross-legged on the floor of an old church. The satsang began with the singing of Jyota se Jyota Jagao. As the music rang out, a force pushed my head to the floor, where it remained for almost the whole event. Just once, I looked up briefly, and noticed a woman swinging something around her head. The next minute a drop of perfume hit me square in the forehead. As this intoxicating perfume reached my nose, my mind stopped and I was filled with an incredible sense of bliss. Then my head went back on the floor and I remained like that for the rest of the satsang.
 
Afterwards, I could feel that something was different inside of me. When I looked at the people around me, they felt like members of my own family and I realized that in some way that I couldn’t yet understand, I had found my home. 
 

Yesterday I had a direct experience of divya jyoti, the divine light.
 
I was enjoying the sunny atmosphere of the marketplace with its profusion of spring fruits and vegetables when the inner light of the Self began to shine in my eyes. At the same time, my body was filling with prana-shakti and my mind became focused on repeating the mantra Om Namah Shivaya. I felt I was bathing in the divine light, a light much brighter than the light of the sun, and the spectacle of the world around me became insignificant in comparison to the inner world I was savoring. It was like I was visiting Earth with the eyes of God.
 
While I was shopping, I saw myself smiling naturally in my conversations and sharing good humor with everyone around me. I viewed the mango I had just bought as one that Baba had transformed into an inner mango with immeasurable delights, while my soul was illuminated by divya jyoti, the divine light.
 

Upon reading about the divine light that is evoked in Jyota se Jyota Jagao, my breathing immediately released; I closed my eyes and experienced the light that fills my whole body. In an instant I went from inner tension to inner bliss. 
 
How great is this path of the Siddhas! I am so grateful to Gurumayi for showing me the way, again and again.
 

Once, in the 1970s, my father was passing through a street when all of sudden he heard the sound of the most melodious prayer he had ever heard, coming out of a house which was then a Siddha Yoga meditation center. For a while he listened to it and remained awestruck. The magnetic power of the prayer pulled him inside to inquire about what was taking place. So he visited the Center and thus found the path to the heart—the Siddha Yoga path.
 

Today, as I opened the Siddha Yoga path website, I found myself in front of this powerful prayer, which I love. It took me immediately back to the first Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive with Gurumayi that I had the honor to participate in, in August 1996. During those two days I experienced several emotions and didn’t know exactly what was going on inside myself. I felt my heart moving!
 
The precious gift arrived at the end of the Intensive, as one of the Swamis invited all of us to stand up to sing Jyota se Jyota Jagao, which I had never heard before. As soon as the singing began, my heart exploded, as I wept with profound joy and deep love. 
 

Whenever I would hear Jyota se Jyota Jagao, the sweet prayer we would sing at the end of satsangs and Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensives, I would feel all darkness, fears, and worries disappear from my heart as we all sang in unison. My heart would be filled with joy, hope, and love.
 

On the Siddha Yoga path, my experience is that, when I sing the prayers or hymns or aratis like Jyota se Jyota Jagao, it is God who listens to it with rapt attention. Each prayer, hymn, and arati enables me to recognize my own inner divinity. They are the sacred river which purifies my speech, actions, mind, heart, and whole being.
 

Every time I hear or sing Jyota se Jyota Jagao, it brings me into the inner temple—opening my heart to the never-ending grace of the Siddhas.
 

I still remember how the refrain of this beautifully worded arati had instantly touched my heart, spreading warmth and love in my being, when I first sang it at my very first satsang at the local Siddha Yoga meditation center. This feeling always arises and connects me to myself every time I sing it—for now and forever.
 

As I listened to the refrain of Jyota se Jyota Jagao this morning, I paid more heed than usual to the translation. One part of this refrain, which I have been singing for years, means “Light my lamp from your lamp, O Sadguru.” How beautiful to keep this meaning in mind as I sing this arati to the Guru! Now my mind is aware of what my heart feels, and my devotion when I sing this prayer has been strengthened.