So what gets an agnostic meditating? In my case, it was principally a strong desire to be like James Bond. Funny how you sometimes do all the right thing for all the wrong reasons. :)
So when I was introduced to Sahaj Marg during a conversation with a co-worker, with all the maturity of the 21 year-old that I was, I though: "The ladies'd love a guy who's deep and into all this spiritual stuff". Boy, was I deep!
A little bit on the co-worker who introduced me to Sahaj Marg - Let's just call him Icicle (Not his real name): A graduate of a top engineering college, this dude seemed to have ice water coursing through his veins. Nothing ever perturbed him. He worked for the toughest boss in my company. Everyone in his group seemed to be cultivating thriving ulcers staying out of trouble with this boss. Yet, Icicle would be cooler than a wind-lashed mountain top in an arctic winter - You get the picture! NOTHING bothered him. What's more, he did really well at his job
Contrast that with me - A graduate of a crappy private college who'd been hired only because his Dad worked there once, I seemed to be perennially struggling to not have my behind handed to me on a daily basis. So the achievements of my buddy , Icicle were impressive as hell. I asked him what's the secret sauce in his all-weather calmness. He old me all about Sahaj Marg meditation and the Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Now Icicle (still not his real name) is no adrenaline-injecting sales pitchman. Yet, he did get even shallow 'ol me very very enthused by the idea of meditation. He'd been meditating for just maybe three years when I met him. Yet, when you stood next to him, you sensed an inner calmness and equanimity that was enviable in a rough & tumble workplace like ours.
Further contemplation after our talk brought thoughts of the additional benefits outlined above. Sure, there were spiritual benefits of being finally able to get closer to my creator. But way more important in my 21-year old mind were the benefits of becoming this James Bond-like fearless dude who makes cool wise cracks in the face of danger where mere mortals are running to their Mommies! The thought of it all was exhilarating to this tiny mind of mine!
Read on about how things turned out!
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2 comments:
Icicle!!! That's what I call a "Cool Guy", no pun intended. I observed the same, that there is no sales pitch when SRCM, Sahaj Marg was presented to me. As a matter of fact, I would not have joined had somebody tried to sell me any meditation practice. I wish to hear more of your experiences with this system of SRCM, Sahaj Marg meditation practice. I really like some of the quotes that come in their websites, www.srcm.org which is called as Daily Reflections. I am trying to maintain a dairy style blog at daily-srcm blog-site and try to maintain comments on those reflections.
I remember that many years ago when I went through graduate school, I noticed that my reaction to the stress was very different than most everyone else's. I had already been an abhyasi a number of years by then. Not only does abhyas moderate your system thereby calming you down, it also changes your perspective into one that is more natural. Things like jobs and tests and so on do not loom so large when your eyes are increasingly on the real prize of life.
I wish you well with your blog and your abhyas.
Leslie
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