We thank all of you for coming, nice to see you. We had a couple of lectures last week, just out of curiosity, who came to some of our lectures last week? Oh, great! Thanks for coming back and thank you for coming for the first time. Because some points that I make in all the lectures are quite important, I will make them again tonight. If you were here previously, you will hear them again, believe me, you haven’t heard them as many times as I have. It’s a good thing to hear this transcendental knowledge more than once.
Before I begin I always offer my respects to the great masters, or spiritual teachers, who bring this knowledge to us.
We are going to be speaking about yoga tonight. There are different yoga systems but in all the different systems, meditation is one of the main activities. That is how we’ll begin our program tonight – with a very easy meditation.
The reasons are: number one, this meditation will help us to relax. Probably we’ve been quite busy today, going here, going there, and doing whatever we do, so this will help us to settle down. Number two, this meditation will make it easier to understand the subject matter as it is presented. And number three, you will learn this meditation and you can take it home with you.
In the package you received there were many pieces of paper, weren’t there? Two of those are mantra cards; this is the type of meditation we will be doing – mantra meditation.
Mantras are transcendental sounds; they originate in the spiritual realm and they descend into the material realm. As they come from the spiritual realm, they bring with them spiritual power, when we come into contact with this spiritual or transcendental sound vibration, we automatically receive great spiritual benefit.
The mantra that we will be using tonight is on one of the cards. On the card there is the mantra GAURANGA NITAI-GAUR. This is a two word mantra but we are just going to use the first part, GAURANGA, and you will observe Gauranga is divided into four syllables: GAU–RA–ANG–GA.
To make sure we have our pronunciation correct we’re going to practice saying that now. First I will say the mantra, and then everyone can respond.
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
Our technique of meditation is very easy. This is a deep breathing technique; sometimes we call this GAURANGA breathing.
We begin by breathing in through our nose, very slowly and gently, but also very deeply. You want to take the air all the way down to the lower abdomen and as we inhale, silently in the mind we will chant GAU–RA–ANG–GA. When our body fills with air, we begin to exhale and on the outgoing breath out loud we will chant: GAU–RA–ANG–GA. Then we will repeat this several times.
Before we begin the meditation, we want to listen very closely to the sound, prior to that, we want to relax. To help us relax, we’re going to take a big breath and let it out. With the outgoing breath, let the tension, the anxiety, the frustration go away. Then, while we chant the mantra, listen very closely to the sound and put the mind on the sound. In other words, meditate on the sound; this becomes the object of meditation. It is a transcendental sound.
I will give you a little demonstration to show you exactly how it works and then we can all do this together. Before I begin, I’m going to take a big breath and relax. And now very slowly, gently and deeply I inhale and chant Gauranga in the mind.
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
It’s just that easy, so let’s all do that now. It is good to sit erect in your seat as this helps us to breathe; feet flat on the floor is the best. Remember to relax, meditate on the sound and when we are finished just sit quietly for a couple of moments.
All you have to do is just follow my guidance. Everybody take a big breath, let it out and relax. Now very slowly, gently and deeply, inhale and chant GAURANGA in the mind.
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
GAU–RA–ANG–GA
…
Just sit quietly.
HARIBOL. You can see this is a very easy meditation to do, maybe you also found this very relaxing.
It is an excellent way to begin your day, and also an excellent way to end the day just before you go to sleep at night. But, of course, you can do it anytime. So take your cards home with you and you can practice on your own.