Meditation part 5: A Self-chosen Blessing

At sunset, a person holds his hands together in a prayer gesture, in namaskar, with the sun partially visible behind them, leaving behind a peaceful and meditative atmosphere.

It’s the love for Being, for the whole, for life and for humanity, that forms the foundation for a blessed reality.

Meditation is like a wholesome blessing. A blessing, because during meditation you are momentarily freed from all external circumstances. As a result, your inner light regains space, allowing your soul to shine, your heart to radiate, and your essence to reveal itself everywhere. In short, it is a spiritual celebration of your inner truth.

All of this light and radiance is, of course, nothing more than the glory of your soul, of your being, of the essence of life. In meditation you fully allow your essence to touch every part of your being, so that its radiance and value can become tangible within you.

Whenever the glory of being, of life within you, gets the space to be realized in you, to become concrete, to take shape and materialize, the spiritual sun essentially breaks through. Then you will once again realize that you, as a human being, are the foundation upon which the Mystery, the Life, the Universal Being, may, can, and will manifest.

Life does not oblige you to participate in this glory, because you may well remain preoccupied with the willful efforts of your ego. However, if you wish to meet this mystery and are willing to allow it to take shape within you, you will enter the world of meditation and this mystery of true love will become tangible to you within your own human experience.

Sunrise over a calm ocean, with sun rays flowing through the clouds. The sky is a mix of orange, pink and blue tones, which reflect on the wet sand, creating a mirror effect. The horizon has gentle waves hitting the coastline.

So meditation is not about withdrawing from your relationships with others and the world and focusing on yourself. That would be navel-gazing and living in a cocoon, in the narrow and confined space of your ego, causing you to miss the openness of your being. Meditation is never meant to confine you, but always to open and provide space. Any form of limitation that comes from fear or inability, prevents life to flow freely, and you are unable to experience its depth. Meditation, on the other hand, is an invitation to de-velop, to un-fold, to let go of what you have wrapped yourself in, and to open yourself to the gifts of freedom.

Many people do not really live with themselves because of an overly large, outward-looking lifestyle that may have arisen out of suspicion or a need for approval. Meditation therefore asks you to enter into a spiritual relationship with yourself, in addition to all the relationships that life gives you. This means that you are willing to enter into a relationship with yourself, as the one who experiences everything, because you feel the longing to open yourself to its depth.

Meditation is the starting point of this spiritual awakening, the beginning of this relationship, the openness to give space to the essential within you and to let it come closer to you. In meditation you feel yourself, you open yourself to the most essential part of yourself, and you open the door to relate to the substance or value that resides within. Just your willingness to meditate, your openness to this “heaven on earth” can bring about a great shift in how you experience yourself, your surroundings, and life a whole. It softens your ego and immediately opens the door to the more essential and spiritual values of life.

A beach scene with waves gently hitting the coast as the sun sets or rises in the background. Under a partially cloudy sky with radiant blue and white-gold air, several birds fly over the water, creating a serene, spatial atmosphere that feels meditative.

By spiritual, I do not mean some distant, arduous goal or special accomplishment. Rather, spiritual simply means to embrace the freedom to open yourself to your being, your essence, the divine within you, and allow it to become true. Allowing this to happen is simply the result of your willingness to open yourself to the value that comes to you from your essence through the doorway that meditation opens, rather than resting on the ego’s direction and the position it clings to by identifying with everything. In meditation, you open yourself to the depth that flows into you through that “heavenly gate.” You let it become true within. And in doing so, you come into contact with the source and sustenance of everything and experience the ground of being and the love of the whole, of which you are a part.

The value of meditation is not to have unique experiences that are confined to your own cocoon, but to foster your longing to be in a living and ever-changing relationship with your essential nature, so that the essential depth of your being can come to the surface and merge with all that you are. When you allow this merging, this relationship, to happen within you, you will naturally let go of everything you have been holding on to, and you will find, as if by magic, the true meaning of life and the happiness you have been longing for. Happiness then does not mean that you are lucky and have gotten or found what you wanted, but happiness means that you are once again in harmony and alignment with the natural vibration of being, the essence of existence.

* Translated from Dutch using DeepL (AI)

Anandajay dressed in white with white cap, against a green natural background of leaves and purple-colored flowers

Anandajay (which means “blessing from the heart”) has been dedicated to integrating the spiritual essence into daily life for over 50 years. He has developed twelve teachings (spiritual practices), 50 music albums (mantras, pujas and ragas) and twenty books (written in Dutch) to bring you closer to the natural basis of your existence, your spiritual authenticity, and its wholesome, joyful essence, so that it can also be your shining, spiritual guide in your life. He expresses the core value of his work as: The Light of Being.