Episode Transcript
My name is Ken Hanuman and I've been practicing Raja Yoga meditation for over 40 years. In these episodes, I will share the experiences and insights I've gained from meditation and how I've integrated them into my everyday life and all my relationships. Welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. Hello everyone. Welcome. My name is Ken Hanuman and welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. As you know, this series of, classes, it's on learning how to meditate. And, we already spoke about understanding the mind. What is the intellect and how and where the thoughts are emerging from. And that is from your past, from your deep subconscious, from your sanskars or personality traits. and one of the problem with, meditation. That people are not able to concentrate. The, thoughts are too many. They're too, confusing. And they find it very difficult to calm their mind. But a secret to that is really about settling the past. Come to some point of accepting and acknowledging it. So the topic today is settling the past and creating the future with meditation. So when we talk about settling the past. The reason why people are suffering and experiencing lessness and overactive mind stress or anxiety. Is because of the thoughts that they're having. And some people might have difficulty with, let's say, with anger or with guilt or there's certain patterns of thinking that are overwhelming, you know, like negative, negative thinking that is causing a lot of sorrow and they wish they could stop that so that they can experience peace within. So settling the past would be actually about looking at going inwards and understanding what is in the conscious mind. What are some of the feelings and the reactions and the emotions that we have towards what is happening on the outside, and how probably we look at ourself and how we look at others. So there are many things in there that will be spitting up a lot of thoughts when you sit to meditate. The enjoyable part of meditation is not just relaxation, but some people do meditation because they would like to relax. They want to experience peace, peace of mind. Some people would like to have power over their mind. And to really develop the ability, the insight and the understanding, of where they are. And to be able to change, make changes. This is where contemplation and realization and then self transformation takes place. And this is how empowerment, takes place because we're now able to understand ourself at a deeper level. Things that were never really acknowledged or that you haven't, understood. People might call that unfinished, matters. Things that continue to weigh you down in the present. We need to look at these things and be ready to forgive, to let go, and to understand that memory can be changed. Memory can be made into wisdom, can be transformed into wisdom because you can change the past, but you can change the way you look at them, you can see the good, or you can learn from it, or you can, take strength from the fact that you survived. That you, you are the person you are because of that, and that in the present moment, what I need to do is to be able to see some of the thoughts and the opinions and the values that I have. Habits that are, you can say stealing your happiness. So now you would like to change that, right? You want to have the power to change that. And this is where meditation comes in. So the moment we get to the point where we understand what the past is. It doesn't exist anywhere else, but in your consciousness. It doesn't exist in anyone else's awareness. Only you know exactly what is in your past. You know what you can see what is in your memory. And and the thing is that even though it only lives there, it is like a ghost or a shadow that can influence our presence. And this is why meditation becomes difficult because people see these thoughts coming and then they're fighting with it. They would like to, they like it to disappear, but the more you fight with it, it just seem to have more power. So the thing is to be able to withdraw within, to be able to observe and remember that these thoughts, these memories, the past, is not you. This is just information. This is a record of things, that you accumulated in your, from childhood to now, and therefore it is up to you if you want to change it, just detach from it. Just dissociate. Just look at like it happened. Don't, review the past with a feeling of self-incrimination, like you are becoming self-critical, or you're feeling bad about yourself. When these thoughts and these memories come up. You have to say, no. It is there. It is almost like looking at a record of something that happened in the past. It happened. So now it's not the time in meditation, it's about, okay, I know where it came from. I know why. I know where, and then how can I change that? How can I learn from that? What meditation does is that once you can step away from the past, you begin to create a new identity, a spiritual identity. You're not creating it, basically, it's there. It's just that you were not aware of it. It. But as mentioned in the previous classes, the basis of this new identity is that I am a spiritual being in a human body, and I, in time playing my role. My nature is one of peace, love, happiness. There is innate wisdom within the soul. I'm immortal eternal. I am sentient energy, consciousness. There is a part of me that is always peaceful, if I remember it. If I get in touch with that and as I see thoughts come up, I realize that my mind is really not me. It's just a record. It's like a film being replayed, a three dimensional film being replayed. So when I get to that point, I'm beginning to take out the emotions from it, the self-incrimination, you know, the feeling like, I was bad, I was wrong. This one was wrong. That shouldn't have happened. I should have known better. When you get past that emotional part of it, you can now sort of renegotiate everything. And right away as you're able to let go, you become lighter. As you get lighter in the present. The, if I want to, you can come to the present, like there's a power in the presence and that power is to be able to make changes. Now, the future hasn't come yet, but the beautiful thing about karma philosophy is that whatever seed is planted in the present, that's what you harvest in the future. Meaning if you develop a new way of thinking, a new perception, a new understanding, if you start a new personality trait, if you educate yourself along the lines of,, let's say for instance, learning to accept yourself, learning to maybe. Try to see the good in yourself to the point where you like being with yourself. You are developing a positive self-image. And this is the secret to enjoying meditation. So when I think of myself as a soul with these divine qualities. And then I learned from the past, and then I evaluate where I am, see whatever skills and whatever abilities and understanding and opportunities that I have in the present, I can now use that. I need to have that freedom. I need to be light in the present to be able to make new decisions, to challenge all that was not helpful. Many of us grew up with certain values and traditions and cultures and belief systems that actually might be causing some of the guilt and some of the shame or not feeling worthy, and we are not able to continue to live with that burden of guilt. So sometimes people even lose faith in, in a higher power because of what we construed to be right or wrong. The thing about spirituality is that you need to be true to yourself, you should be able to understand and experience that when my thoughts are peaceful and positive, I feel calm inside when I am happy or I have love and gratitude and compassion, there's humility. There's simplicity in there. There is a different energy that is coming from consciousness that is influencing the body and that I am sending out to the world. That should be your religion. The religion is peace, light, and a feeling of benevolence and compassion. This is the secret. To empowering yourself and meditation is the art of going inwards and thinking of yourself as the soul. Connecting with a being that is the ocean of love and peace and happiness, and knowing that being or that higher power is always available and that you have a relationship, you have a conversation with. When this inner world is being developed, like you're feeling safe there, you're feeling, like you've stepped away from this whole world. In this new environment, this internal environment this world that is now, that's your safe place. No one can take that away from you. You learn to trust yourself. You learn to trust your choices because peace is your guidance, right? Love is the goal. And you can now change your habits and, your reaction. Now, the future then will not be a reaction to things. It'll be that I am creating something good where my future will be good. Because once you develop good habits and good clear understanding of the relationship between past, present, and future, the present is always available to me and my choices. I have the free will to make choices. If you have a relationship with a higher being then that being is there to empower you and to help you achieve, this transformation. So as you can see, there is a role for knowledge of the soul, the knowledge of karma philosophy, the effect of the past on the present and the present on the future. There is a role for the relationship with, with a positive force, a higher being God. And the moment you can separate from the old world, don't give it too much thought. Don't feel like life is just happening. You have no choice. No. You're beginning to live again. You become alive. You are in control, and this is what is referred to as self sovreignity or moving into a state of soul consciousness. The goal in meditation is to get back to your highest potential or self-actualization, and that is a state in which you are very independent inside. You totally in tune with your nature of compassion and empathy. And, you can control the mind, meaning like the mind is now your servant or it will support you. It's not gonna fight you. It's not gonna bring up old stuff. And you feel as if like you have no control, but you have to follow that. Now, every moment. At a very creative moment, and this is the, this is where happiness comes because you feel like you have the free will and the ability to control the present and therefore your future. So with that, I'll close and the next, episode will be on taking responsibility, which is another aspect of karma, but going a little deeper. So with that. Thank you for listening and for those who are interested in online classes and free meditation commentary, the links are found, can be found in a description below so you can, find that there. With that, thank you for listening. Goodbye. When you walk into a room, life gets little, you. You.
