Dissolve in Loveful Trance through Sufi Meditation

 

You have to accept the calling of a path that is receptive to life, love and peaceful living. Sufism is calling attention to the inherent unity under different caste, class, creed and religions. It unearths love, which in turn melts pride, prejudices and ignorance, the breeding grounds of hate and jealousy.

My father named or nicknamed me as Sufi. As a Hindu, I rate it as a great syncretic sentiment. And why not, probably I am the only Hindu in Haryana who is called Sufi.

Coming to Sufism, it’s the best mystical offering by Islam to the overall humanity. The strands of unity, oneness, universal brotherhood and love for all waft around from the esoteric incense of Sufism. So, I am happy to be called Sufi.

Music plays a big part in Sufi meditations. Meditation is nothing but being vigilant and aware of your loving self in a totally relaxed body. No wonder it is the best exercise for the soul. Play some soulful Sufi music on a higher volume so that it swathes you in its gripping, haunting pools of melodious surrender to the ultimate. I am going to explain the steps of a simple Sufi meditation technique. This meditation is best done in a spacious room or hall because it involves swirling around.

Listen to the initial notes and you will feel some spiritual haunts spreading from the central Asian lands. It is about connecting to mother earth, and from her to the solar system, galaxy and the ultimate. So perform it on naked feet, or be in socks at the most if the climate in your part is too harsh.

Stand still as you listen to the build up of the Sufi melody. Just relax and look within, taking the enchanting trilling of the music seep into you. Now spread your right arm by your side, raise the arm to the level of your shoulder, elbow turned at an angle and the hand raised up, palm facing upwards . Your elbow shoulder and chest being in a line. Spread the left arm to the other side, keep it comfortably straight, without putting strain to straighten it. The palm spread out and pointing to the ground. The hand dangling at an angle from the horizontal.

And start swirling, go round and round on your feet in anticlockwise direction. Just slowly build up the momentum. There is a difference between exercise and meditation. In the latter, your spirit is involved. The body is just the starting point. Keeping the hands as mentioned above, as you start swinging, swirling, allow the divine forces to take control of your body. If you really do it, believe me you won’t fall, because there are balancing forces all around you.

When we stand, we think we are in control of our body and only we are managing its position. Little do we realise that our apparent control is just an illusion. The all-balancing forces of eternity are what which maintain our standing. And look at the eternity’s grace, it allows us to think that we are solely responsible for maintaining our posture.

Your body will be swinging in circles, like a swinging top, but that is just the outer periphery of your being. After a time, you will realize that just the matter or food body is going in circles. The real you, the axis of your being, the consciousness, remains immovable. Just like a swinging top swirls around a central nail, you will go within to the immovable point of your being. The externalities will be swung out by the centrifugal forces of divine realization. The centripetal forces will suck you into the core of your being. And the apparent objectives around you—and so will the illusions—will just merge into an all-pervading continuum, one layer of energy, which even quantum physics has verified.

The differences will melt. Going in circles around the point of your consciousness, you will realise it is all just one energy, spreading, transforming, altering, from here to there. If you maintain that equipoise of spirit, soul and matter, you can build up the momentum to continue forever! Well, you need not do that of course. Haa Haa.

So continue as long as you enjoy the deep sips of solace. After that lie down on your stomach. Surrender to mother earth and grandmother eternity. Just lie like a child. You will have glimpses of that cosmic security and protection when your mother carried you in her womb. Remain like this till the momentum of mystical oblivion embraces you.

Open your eyes later. Take a turn to lie on your back. But move very gently, without giving any jerk to the body. Be so soft as if you want to preserve the softest things in you. Rub your hands. Place them gently on your face, smile, be thankful to the eternal law for the moments of peace.