Sound is innocent...

Sound is innocent. In and of itself, sound is neutral and it has no meaning. Whatever its quality or level of intensity - if there isn't someone listening, taking it in and giving it meaning - sound is innocuous. It takes the presence of a witness hearing the sound, giving it meaning or having an opinion about it, for the sound to become "something". As an example, a dog can bark its heart out all night; if I am not next door getting irritated because the noise keeps me awake, the sound of the dog's barking is innocent and harmless. In the same vein, someone can say mean words all day long; if there is nobody listening, making meaning and taking the words personally, they will leave no trace.

It is safe to say that we only react to sound, if there is a meaning associated with it. Only then does sound become real, for with the giving of meaning, we ascribe qualifications and quantifications to it. The sound will then be deemed beautiful or not, soothing or a nuisance. We like it - or we don't.

For sound to have meaning, the presence of an individual mind perceiving it is necessary. This is how subject, object and the relation between the two come into play. The subject - I, is witnessing an object - the sound. The mind perceiving the sound is the meaning-making machine between the two. That's how innocent sound becomes something we either like or dislike. In other words, what was one field of vibration has become two. This is a simple way of illustrating how indivisible Oneness appears to become duality.

The human mind gives meaning to sound that is inherently neutral and undivided, since it is designed to interpret and have opinions about what it perceives. All sensory perceptions are processed and made sense of through the mind. Living life as a human being creates constant repetition of these perceptions, until they form into a story which appears to be real. Eventually, the individual mind will call this story "my life" and believe it to be the reality. Of course there is nothing wrong with this mechanism. It allows us to navigate our human lives, to perceive beauty and to differentiate between what serves us and what doesn't. The mind's only shortcoming is the fact that it is limited to perceiving separation. It makes us forget the underlying Oneness and innocence of Life itself.

If we want to live life fully, in awareness and realization of our True Nature as Oneness, we need to engage in a practice that allows us to go beyond the deficient perceptions of the mind. That is why Meditation is such a gift. It offers the possibility to dissolve the sense of separation and to experience the Reality of Oneness in our own being. A regular practice of Meditation will open our vision and allow us to remember our Nature as Oneness, even when our eyes perceive separate forms and our ears hear sound as separate. We will be able to hear the dog barking, without becoming victimized by our mind's opinion about it. We will register someone's unkind words without making meaning or taking them personally. A beloved Sage once said: I always know who is insulting me, but I am never insulted...

Through a regular Meditation practice we get established in a space where we perceive fully and live freely - in the knowledge that all is One.

Sampriya is happy to help you build or deepen your Meditation Practice. Send an e-mail for a FREE half hour consult to find out if this work is for you. #meditation #meditationpractice #meditationteacher #meditationmentoring #onlinemeditationtraining

Gratitude is more than an attitude...

Our friends in the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving this coming Thursday. The Holiday of Thanksgiving is traditionally a time when people count their blessings. Engaging in gratitude is also a recommended practice in many ancient and more recent spiritual traditions.

As for how to practice gratitude, it is commonly understood as focusing on the good things and the blessings we have in our lives. Often it means paying attention to the things we take for granted: the wonderful people, the material goods and security that life has gifted us with. For many it is a way to channel the attention away from the negative aspects of their circumstances - away from all the places the mind gravitates towards when it goes unchecked.

Giving the mind a direction, a focus that yields positive feelings and appreciation, is a valuable practice in and of itself. With this practice, our attention is lead to a higher and happier vibration. It influences our mood and creates contentment, which in turn transforms our whole experience of life. Still, there is much more to gratitude than a positive attitude that creates a nice space for us and others.

Gratitude is in fact the language of the Self. Expressing gratitude - at its deepest level - means to be tuned in to the fact that all we see, know and are is a manifestation of the Divine Self. Everything in existence is a direct expression of that Divinity manifesting as people, animals and plants, rather as the whole universe. When we express true gratitude, we acknowledge the Divine Life that animates all the forms as our very own Source. In other words: expressing gratitude from a place of awareness brings us to know and experience the inherent Oneness of all.

Best wishes for a wonderful Holiday season! Hopefully this will encourage you to make your own experiment with gratitude that is more than an attitude. It will lead you to embody Oneness by expressing gratitude not only for the things in life, but for the Life in things ❤️

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In Meditation we see beyond the human experience...

Great Wisdom is sometimes found in the most unlikely places. A friend was recently driving from Vermont to Illinois when she stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant along the highway. To her surprise and delight she found the unexpectedly profound quote on the photo below in a fortune cookie. When we are tuned in to the invisible Life-force and its Source, we find signs of it everywhere...

This beautiful quote addresses the fact that what we see with our eyes is but a shadow of who we truly are. We can see forms, people and the world around us, but our True Nature is invisible to the eyes. Actually, our senses and mind are not equipped to know anything other than forms. The Life that animates the forms, the Source of manifestation, remains unknowable to the perception of the human senses.

The human existence happens exclusively between three specific states of consciousness: We are either in deep sleep, we are dreaming or we live in the waking state. All our human experiences are limited to the confines of these three states - and none of them allow us to see beyond the forms. In order to enter the vastness of our True Nature we need a bridge, a connector that allows us to step outside of the limitations of the human perceptions.

Meditation is the gateway to the dimension beyond human experience. When we close our eyes to meditate, we enter a unique dimension that is “outside” of the three human states of consciousness. We are not asleep, we are not dreaming and we are also not living in the waking state. Meditation allows us to enter the fourth state of consciousness - the state of Freedom of the Source. At first we may not notice the shift since our attention is likely still with the movement of the thoughts. If we are able to stay alert and continue to sit and watch, we will notice that the thoughts, the sense of I and all other perceptions appear and disappear - they come and go in the infinite Space that seems to be the backdrop of anything we observe behind our closed eyes. Eventually all movement or sense of physical presence will dissolve - and yet we still exist; not as an individual person, but as the Eternal Presence, Pure Free and Forever. We exist as That which the eyes can’t see and we realize that we are One with That: we realize that That is our True Nature.

If you are ready to see beyond the human experience and would like some guidance, contact Sampriya for a FREE half hour consult that will allow you to ask questions and explore the ways in which you can reconnect with your True Nature. #meditation #onlinemeditationmentoring #onlinemeditationtraining #onlinemeditationteachertraining