Gurumayi’s teaching reminds me that the energy of the mind is amazing, powerful, and free. This creates an important shift for me. Often, in meditation, I am engaged in a subtle wrestling match with my mind. Although I strive to be gentle, I am frequently shushing, ignoring, and dismissing my mind. I have viewed it as an impediment to connecting with the Self. This teaching inspired me to acknowledge the beauty inherent in my mind, creating a profound settling and expansion within myself.
California, United States
In contemplating this teaching, I found myself wondering and trying to understand what Gurumayi means in speaking of the “one thing” that “has the right to be called divine.” This led me to ask, “What makes something divine? What is my own divinity? How do I fulfill Gurumayi’s Message and ‘remain connected’ to it?”
Trying to name what is divinity is like trying to name the nameless. For me it is the most subtle and profound experience. It is those extraordinary moments when I find myself completely present, open, and aware of an inner and outer light connecting through me, in me, and around me. In these moments of stillness I have a sense of the absolute perfectness of my life and the world.
Washington, United States
Today, as I reflected again on this teaching, I thought about how the mind “glides, soars, and plunges.” Earlier this week I received an unexpected bill and my mind went into a deep dive within the space of perhaps a second. Immediately I experienced a surge of fear and my face went very red—a sure sign that I am stressed! Fortunately I was able to manage my anxiety by returning to my breath and making the necessary phone calls to resolve the issue.
But it struck me how very different is the way my mind “glides, soars, and plunges” and the way the pan flute music “glides, soars, and plunges.” The latter is so soothing to my nervous system, so comforting, so enchantingly enigmatic. I understood that it is the
prana, the breath, that holds the key to these two very different phenomena.
Guildford, United Kingdom
This morning, while reading and contemplating Gurumayi’s latest teaching on love, I listened to the audio clip of the pan flute. Then I began to meditate, listening again to the musician with greater attention: the sound of the breath in the flute, the delicate sound of flowing water, the song of a bird. And my whole body tingled with happiness. My whole being recognized the special texture of love in all those sweet, melodious sounds.
I am deeply grateful for this music, which I would describe as divine.
Plougonvelin, France
Last week, as I was contemplating the subject of love, I realized that love and beauty are connected. Somehow, beauty serves as a gate opening out toward love, toward God.
Some years back, during a pause in a Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive, I was admiring the panorama of the old medieval city in which the Intensive was taking place, and I said to myself, “God is not far away!” At that moment, I had the supreme
darshan of Gurumayi within me. I now recognize that
darshan to have been a manifestation of that which is “unequivocally essential to whatever appears most superb.”
Rodez, France
Upon receiving today’s teaching from my beloved Gurumayi, I heard these words arise instantly in my heart and mind: “You are born for a divine destiny. You are born for a divine destiny.”
I recognized that I first read this magnificent affirmation in Gurumayi’s book My Lord Loves a Pure Heart: The Yoga of Divine Virtues, when she quoted from chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad Gita. In that chapter, Lord Krishna identifies the “divine virtues” and ends by saying to Arjuna, “You are born to a divine destiny, Arjuna.”
Gurumayi immediately tells us, “Truly, we too have a divine destiny...” And since I received this teaching, I am more certain than ever that I do have a divine destiny—by the grace of my Guru.
Mexico City, Mexico
As I open myself to Gurumayi’s teachings each morning—by reading them, listening to them being read out loud, and hearing the accompanying music track—her words reach down into the deepest chambers of my heart with precision. They rearrange and often completely dissolve the concepts and ideas of what I thought I knew about love. I find myself, then and there, resting for several seemingly endless minutes in the fullness, in the spaciousness of being in the presence of divine love.
As I welcome this daily practice, I have been noticing that as I go about my day, I am more often and more consciously implementing Gurumayi’s Message for 2024—moment to moment, breath by breath—as I continue to visualize myself “marching toward love.”
New York, United States
I experience that, through my heart’s love, I am able to perceive exquisite, inspiring actions, as well as the beauty of the innner and outer landscape of my life. Through Gurumayi’s grace I experience that it is God’s heart, God’s love that illumine and fill my own heart with love. These experiences on this divine path allow me to have a divine life.
California, United States