Theory and Practice of Meditation
on the Inner Light and Sound

Theme for Miami Introductory Meeting February 5, 2012
Theme for Sunday, February 19, 2012 — Friday, Feb 24, 2012

Many people all over the world are turning to meditation to help them lead a more peaceful and healthy life-style. Scientific studies have proven that the practice of meditation reduces stress and anxiety as well as decreases the risk of disease. Many doctors recommend meditation to their patients, and those who practice meditation attest to its healing power in their lives. The Masters of Sant Mat who teach meditation on the inner Light and Sound tell us that increased health, concentration, and inner peace are all by-products of meditation. The true purpose of meditation, however, is to experience our true self as soul and to realize God. Meditation on inner Light and Sound requires no difficult yoga postures or asanas, and can be practiced by the young and old alike.

What are the Impediments on the
Spiritual Path and Overcoming Them

Theme for Sunday, February 26, 2012 — Friday, Mar 2, 2012

Within us are riches greater than any we can ever accumulate on earth. We have inside us a source of knowledge from which all other knowledge flows. A love far greater and fulfilling than any we can know in the outer world is waiting to embrace us with open arms within. At our core is a strength and power that can enable us to overcome any fear. Underlying our separateness as individuals is a connectedness and oneness to all life. Awaiting us inside is a bliss and joy so fulfilling that we need no other intoxicants to make us happy. All these gifts lie within us in the empowered soul.

—Sant Rajinder Singh
Empowering Your Soul through Meditation, p. 3

How paradoxical that in spite of this innate divinity, humanity moves through history in a state of unhappiness and conflict. The program discusses the impediments on the spiritual path and how to overcome them, as advised by the Saints of the Sant Mat tradition.

Role of Living Master

Theme for Sunday, March 4, 2012 — Friday, Mar 9, 2012

Fortunately, there are people in the world who have found spiritual fulfilment and can guide us. If we look through history we find that in every generation there have been people who have realized themselves as soul and have realized God. Some of their wisdom and experiences have been recorded in history and, in some cases, a religion has been created from their teachings. Other realized souls have come and gone but have left behind no records because they did not found a religion or leave behind any scriptures. Some of them we know of through references by other people who wrote about them. One thing is clear: these realized souls have the ability to teach us how to realize ourselves. If we find such a being, we can learn how we, too, can discover our soul and its attributes. True knowledge comes from seeing and experiencing on our own. We may read what others write or listen to what others say, but we cannot be fully satisfied until we experience for ourselves.

Note: The West Palm Beach Center will be presenting a First-Run Discourse in place of this themed program.

Positive Mysticism

Theme for Miami Introductory Meeting March 4, 2012
Theme for Sunday, March 11, 2012 — Friday, Mar 16, 2012

When we balance our lives by pursuing our spiritual goals as well as fulfilling our worldly obligations, then we deepen our relationship with the divine while making a positive contribution to society. In fact, the two are not distinct, for what we achieve in the domain of the spirit is expressed in our every day life. The goodness we bring to our outer life contributes to the enrichment of our inner life.

Sant Darshan Singh coined a phrase for this approach to spirituality. He called it “positive mysticism.”

The program explores the meaning of positive mysticism. Specifically, we will learn what the Masters of Sant Mat have to say about three aspects of this topic:

• how we can best lead a life of positive mysticism
• how the Masters of this path exemplify this principle
• the joy we receive when we successfully balance our life of the spirit and our life in the world

Helping Factors in Meditation

Theme for Sunday, March 18, 2012 — Friday, Mar 23, 2012

iThe program focuses on meditation and explores specific and practical ways to improve our practice. As Sant Rajinder Singh has pointed out:

We should go within, see the inner Light of God for ourselves, and hear the inner Music of God for ourselves. We should do our meditation practices diligently so we can rise above body-consciousness and experience our soul and God. We should traverse the inner regions to find out if there really are higher planes. A true Master will even say, “Do not believe in the words of the Master until you see for yourself.”

All the talks and books are useless unless we prove their validity for ourselves. Books and lectures can point the way and give us inspiration, but it is not sufficient unless we see and hear with our own spiritual eyes and ears.

As we sit for meditation, we should not be content with intellectual knowledge that there are higher regions, the soul, and God. We should sit in meditation with full devotion, accuracy, and regularity to experience the inner treasures for ourselves. We should be filled with fire and passion to experience firsthand the truths of what we read about in the scriptures. When we utter something, it should be from our experience and not just parroting what others say. Let us see the spiritual truths for ourselves.

Attaining Lasting Happiness

Theme for Sunday, March 25, 2012 — Friday, Mar 30, 2012

We are all searching for peace and happiness in our lives. When we do so, we unfortunately tend to look outward into the world of things and relationships for happiness. But the saints and mystics of all spiritual traditions tell us that true happiness can only be found by coming into contact with that divine source of all bliss and peace within ourselves. The program explores how meditation and the spiritual life lead to true happiness.

Many of us have read the beautiful stories and accounts from mystics and saints of different religions, as they describe their experiences with God and the divine ecstasy they have found when their soul merges with God. In the Christian faith, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross come to mind. Sant Darshan Singh has given such beautiful accounts of their lives and experiences in his book, Streams of Nectar.

Also Sant Rajinder Singh reminds us that divine ecstasy is not only attainable by those who came in the past. He says, “What they tasted, we can also savor. The secret is to find the sweetness within ourselves.”