Chapter excerpt from the book: Empowering Your Soul through Meditation
By Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
(Photo courtesy: www.sos.org)
Within us are riches greater than any we can ever accumulate on earth. We have inside us a source of knowledge from which all other knowledge flows.
A love far greater and fulfilling than any we can know in the outer world is waiting to embrace us with open arms within. At our core is a strength and power that can enable us to overcome any fear. Underlying our separateness as individuals is a connectedness and oneness to all life. Awaiting us inside is a bliss and joy so fulfilling that we need no other outer intoxicants to make us happy. All these gifts lie within us in the empowered soul.
The soul is a source of tremendous wisdom, love, and power, yet we remain ignorant of its treasures when we allow it to be overpowered by the mind, the senses, and the physical body. When the mind and body assert power over the soul, the soul forgets itself. But the empowered soul is our true nature, and it is time we reclaim the soul so that its gifts can enrich our lives.
There are two ways through which to view ourselves with regard to the soul.
The first is to view ourselves primarily as a body and mind. When we see ourselves in this manner, we say that we are a mind and body that “have a soul.”
The second is to see ourselves primarily as a soul. When we change perspective and identify with the soul, we say that we are a soul who “has or wears a mind and body.” To assess how we look at ourselves is one of our goals. If we think we are a mind and body, then ours is a journey to find the soul. If we realize that we are the soul, which has been given a mind and body to maneuver through the physical world, then our goal is to further empower the soul. By empowering the soul, we recover its natural control over the mind and senses.
The aim of Empowering Your Soul through Meditation is to help reacquaint us with the qualities of the soul and provide direction for its empowerment.
The soul’s power has been forgotten. The mind, the senses, the body, and the pulls of the physical world have placed the soul in a state of forgetfulness from which we must awaken. When we empower our soul, its wisdom, immortality, love, fearlessness, connectedness, and bliss add a new dimension to our life.
Many people live and die without ever realizing the full power and potential of their souls. At some time in their life, they may begin to wonder about the soul, about God, and about the purpose of their existence. This search for meaning and purpose—the spiritual quest—is one that people pursue in individual ways. Some seek answers in scripture while others search in places of worship. Some go beyond their own religion to find the answers offered in other faiths. Whichever method one adopts, the direction one follows to find the answers to life’s questions is known as the spiritual path. It is the spiritual path that leads us to the realization of our inner self, to the soul.
Many people pass through life never realizing who they are and never certain about the purpose of their existence. In times of trouble or in the face of death, they may raise these questions but may not follow them through to a fulfilling conclusion or else may abandon the process when the bad times pass. But those who have a burning desire to find the answers to the mysteries of life can find them.
Fortunately, there are people in the world who have found spiritual fulfillment and can guide us. If we look through history, we find that in every generation there have been people who have realized themselves as soul and have realized God. Some of their wisdom and experiences have been recorded in history, and, in some cases, a religion has been created from their teachings. Other realized souls have come and gone but have left behind no records because they did not found a religion or leave behind any scriptures.
Some of them we know of through references by other people who wrote about them. One thing is clear: these realized souls have the ability to teach us how to realize ourselves. If we find such a being, we can learn how we, too, can discover our soul and its attributes. True knowledge comes from seeing and experiencing on our own. We may read what others write or listen to what others say, but we cannot be fully satisfied until we experience it for ourselves.
This book touches on the two aspects of spiritual knowledge that can help us realize our soul: the theoretical knowledge and the personal or practical knowledge. The theoretical side consists of what other realized people have said about the soul (such as what are some of the qualities—wisdom, immortality, fearlessness, love, connectedness, and bliss). The personal or practical side consists of a technique that I learned from a fully realized being. I wish to share this technique to help others realize their soul on their own.
On the theoretical side, a basic agreement among enlightened souls is that we are not just a physical body, but we are also the soul or spirit behind the body. It is the soul that gives us life. When the soul is in the body, we are physically alive. When the soul leaves the body at the time of death, the body ceases to exist. The body may perish, but the soul that inhabits it is immortal.
The soul continues to exist after our physical death.
We are aware of our physical body because we can look at it, feel it, and listen to sounds coming from it. However, where and what is the soul? How can we recognize it? What are its characteristics and qualities? This book provides a way for us to accomplish two tasks: the theoretical understanding of our true selves as soul; and the practical technique for the realization of our souls and the empowering of it to guide our lives.
Some of us may spend our lives searching for knowledge in the world outside.
Little do we know that the source of all answers, the universal wisdom, lies within us. Some of us may find that at times our life is thwarted by fear and anxiety, hopelessness and depression, yet we have a source of fearlessness within us that can help us overcome any inner turmoil. We fear our own death and the passing away of our loved ones. We are petrified of the unknown and what awaits us beyond this life. But we do not realize that immortality is ours. We crave love and seek it in many places. But there is an unconditional love that is ours awaiting us with open arms. We need only turn in the right direction to find it. We feel alone and unconnected in this world. But there is a place of unity and connectedness within us. If we could but only tap it we would find the richness of relationships with others, with nature, and with all life.
Exploration within will help us discover our own potential. Once we learn to tap into our inner resources, we experience a profound transformation that will enrich all areas of our life—from personal relations, to physical, mental and emotional health, to our work, to our spiritual growth, and the attainment of our life’s goals. This transformation can bring peace and joy into our lives and can contribute to a peaceful, loving world. The Empowered Soul is a manual for daily living and personal discovery.
From the outset, we should define certain terminology to ensure that there is no confusion in how words are being used throughout the book. The term “soul” is defined as our true essence or spiritual side—the part of us that lives beyond the death of our physical body. The soul exists whether it has a body or a mind. When it enters this world, it is given a body and mind. As human beings, we are thus “embodied souls” or souls with a body and mind.
The terms “we” or “us” refer to us as human beings or embodied souls. The process of finding the soul is referred to as “tapping into” or “discovering our soul within us.” When we finally do discover our soul and identify with it as being our true nature, then the soul is referred to as the “empowered soul,” a soul that has recognized itself and is aware that it is the essence of who we really are, that it is the guiding power behind the body and mind.
True joy is not as elusive as we think. We can find lasting happiness if we only look in the right place. Within us lies the unlimited power and energy of the empowered soul. Its rich qualities include wisdom, fearlessness, immortality, unconditional love, connectedness, and bliss. Tapping into the soul and its power can enrich and transform our lives.
We remain ignorant of these inner gifts because blockages keep us from tapping into them. How can we remove these blockages? What process do we need to employ to discover all that we seek?
There are simple techniques for accessing the riches of our soul. We need not search the four corners of the earth. We need not travel into outer space.
These techniques can be practiced in the comfort of our home.
Once we learn to tap into our inner resources, we can experience a profound transformation that can enrich all areas of our life—personal relations, physical, mental, and emotional health; professional work; spiritual growth; and the attainment of our life’s goals. This transformation cannot only bring peace and joy to our lives but can also contribute to a peaceful, loving world.
The book aims to provide a means by which we can re-identify with the soul (i.e., realize that the mind and body are merely our soul’s outer coverings through which it can live and work in this physical world) and to empower the soul to guide our life.
