Chapter 22

Meditation on the Heart Chakra

Love is the highest state and final goal of spiritual realization. It therefore makes sense that you have to open your heart, as well as focus your mind, during meditation. Without love and devotion, your meditation practice would become mechanical, dry and of little worth. Practising meditation with love and devotion can lead the mind beyond mere intellectual knowledge to an experience of the blissful Self, which constitutes true knowledge. Love is the Divine within you. Love is your inner source and potential. Love is your true nature.

Just as you can only see the moon by reflected rays of light from the sun, similarly you can only see the Divine through the rays of love. By opening your heart and cultivating Divine Love within you, the dark clouds disperse. Then you will recognize that the same divinity resides in others as in yourself.

Method

Sit in a comfortable meditation posture with the head, neck and spine upright. To relax completely, first inhale deeply and hold the breath, then tense all the muscles in your body. Then, with a deep exhalation, completely relax your whole body. Repeat this exercise three times.

Close your eyes and with a steady inner gaze, concentrate at the midpoint between the eyebrows, at the Spiritual Eye. Then become aware of your natural breath, do not try to control it in any way but just be aware of each breath as it flows in and out. Be still, and remain calmly centred within as you continue to gaze into the Spiritual Eye while being aware of your breath.

Now, with your eyes closed, place your attention on your heart centre, and feel the greatest love that you ever felt for another person. Feel that love permeate every cell and atom of your being . . . Now expand that feeling of unconditional love . . . radiate waves of love like an encircling sphere, embracing your family, friends and all your loved ones . . . Feel God’s unlimited love being channelled through you, consciously filling your heart and increasing your love to share with your family, friends and all your loved ones . . . continue to expand that love by including all the people in your neighbourhood . . . your city . . . your country . . . the world . . . Your love expands into our solar system, and beyond into the universe. Love has no boundaries, it encompasses everything. God’s love is infinite . . . Feel the door of your heart open wide and let God’s universal love flow continuously through you . . . Feel the infinite joy and blessing of being the instrument of God’s love.

Affirmations

‘As I radiate God’s peace, light and love to others, I open the channel for God’s love to flow through me.’

 

‘I am ever-present, expressing myself in my eternal Divine nature. I am a creation of the Infinite Life which is Love, My heart and mind rest calmly in the realization of the omnipresent Love of God that permeates every single particle of substance that exists in the universe.’

 

Through all the dance of life and death, know that God is love. The only purpose of life should be to find that love. Once the love of all human beings, and, indeed, of all things living, is included in your heart’s feeling, your heart will merge with and become one with the Heart of God.

Paramhansa Yogananda

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