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. Welcome everyone to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. My name is Ken Hanuman, your host. What does it mean to look within? Spiritually speaking, we are actually turning our attention away from what is happening on the outside, what's your sense organs or like your eyes, your ears, your sense organs, you know, bringing in information from the outside, but all that information is about action and movement and sound and, and so much stuff going on on the outside, right? Especially these days with media, you are constantly bombarded by images and sound. And then now with AI you can't even believe the things that you are hearing and seeing. You don't know if they're real or not, if they're created by ai, you know? So I think more and more the outside world is beginning to seem false. So what is real? What is my true self? So this is where this introspection is needed. So another word for looking within can be introspection. I think it'll be, um, it'll be proven or I think, I'm sure actually the new, eventually when people get tired of the falsehood or the things that are just, made up, through AI and the media. All that is on the internet. You know when they realize they can't believe anything or whatever you are looking and seeing, you don't even know what is true or false. It's so confusing. Meditation will then become the new interest or the new fad. Because looking within, observing your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, your reactions, your emotions, your attitude, the that experience, that ability to observe that which is within you. You cannot deny that that is you, that is part of you. Memories are there. The mind never stops. And consciousness, the different levels, the consciousness you have, the conscious mind, you have, you have the intellect, which is that ability to choose, to analyze, to discriminate, to review, to learn. The one part of you of consciousness that has the ability to stop certain thoughts or habitual thinking from overpowering your emotion that overpowers you and take control of your life or your reactions or your behavior is your intellect. But you can't really know that. People basically just go with how they feel. They get angry, they get upset, they feel fair. They can hurt themselves. They can hurt others, and when. When they're back to normal, you ask them why did you do it? Or they ask themself and I don't know. You know, that's who I am. But if you become introspective, you look within, you will actually able to see how thoughts arise in your conscious mind and how they go. You never will stay on one thought all the time, or in one emotion, especially negative emotion. You're not gonna be, you can't stay angry. You cannot stay in fear. You cannot, even when you're dreaming, you'll find that your dreams are always shifting. It's always moving. Memories can be fragile, it can fade, it can change, you know, the things that you did in the past or you experienced. When you try to look back at that memory, it is, it's never exactly what actually happened. 'cause it's with time and with your, whatever your stage is, your emotional stages, you will interpret that differently. So let's say like you're feeling very low and sad, then you would embellish the things that probably went wrong, or somebody said something or something happened in the past, especially things that are traumatic. You'll see that there are things that people will remember about their childhood, even when they're adults, and they can go into this quicksand of emotions and blame and judgment. It's like all kinds of things can happen with, with the mind. So looking within is this ability to, without emotion, to look at thoughts and feelings and so on. The other thing about developing self-awareness. This is why in the beginning we clearly, we emphasize it so much that your real self is the the being that is looking at the thoughts and the feelings and the emotions. Your nature is that of peace, stillness, love, everything that is good and divine. That's what people refer to as a soul. And Christianity may need that. The soul is pure. And, uh, Hinduism or no scriptures, they'll talk of the Atma. The atma is the observer. So when I identify myself with this spiritual energy, this pure consciousness, even though my behavior now, or my emotions or whatever it is, might not be correct. I'm trying to change it, right? I'm not there yet. It does not negate the fact that you do have a divine nature. Or you love peace. Or you love, love you. You appreciate it. You would like to have it, you would like to share it. You wish you had the power and ability to forgive, to let go to empathy, you know, um, you know, so. Don't, don't let go of that. Stick with it. And if you can, you don't have to really master it in the beginning, but if you can identify with that more and more, and then when you look at the thoughts and the feelings and all the things that are arising up into your conscious mind, you will be able to observe it without judging yourself or without blaming anyone or anything. As you observe you you can maybe trace it back to see where did it come from? Who taught you it? Where did you pick it up? Why are you doing it? Why are you becoming angry? Why do you hate, why do you feel fearful about things? Why you so distrustful, um, why you are unhappy? Sometimes you can get some insight. Ego. They say ego, it's like layer, you know, like a, like an onion with layers. So as we get small incremental insight into, into let's say anger or my rage or hate or whatever, you'll realize you can stop part of it. You know, you can, maybe, you can change the way you talk, you, the way you react. You can maybe get the power to stay away from, situations that always seem to push a button. And then as you do that, you begin to understand the emotions and you can actually learn how to change that. So you learn how to regulate your emotions. You learn how to become more in control. What is it about your emotion that is so powerful? So we have to, we have to learn how to, to manage that. And once we take care of that, you're getting closer and closer to the calm self. To the self where the thoughts and the, the overthinking. And all this negative loop or let's say for instance, somebody with anxiety and depression. They're constantly, or very frequently, they get taken over by this negative thinking and it drags them down into this feeling of depression where even their body get affected and their behavior interaction with human beings are affected. They find it very hard to get out of it, and that's how powerful emotions are. So when we look within, we are focusing on the self being good and elevated. You have to start there. You're the soul, and then you're looking at the mind. Don't try to fight it. Just observe. If you find that you're getting caught up and you drag back into the scene. Um, the memory, the nostalgia, whatever, anything that is negative, then step away. Maybe even change it, change what you're thinking. Think of something else that will have a better feeling, a more positive, uplifting feeling. So looking within is a power by itself is the power to withdraw. Like a turtle when it. It feels threatened or it wants to rest, it'll pull its limbs within its shell and it feels protected and that's their best protection. They can't run fast, so that's their protection. And the same thing goes in spirituality. Always recognize there are two, there's an outside world that is perceived by the senses. And if you don't wanna see something there. Two ways to protect yourself. One, you can close your eye. Two, you can move away from the scene, but it's also another way. Whenever information come, you don't have to engage at all the time. You can learn, you can practice, you can train yourself how to see things but not have a judgment or feel affected or influence. But that comes with a lot of training and meditation. You, you develop that. So more and more you are developing that shell, if you wanna say this, this inner a world becomes your sanctuary. Your reservoir, where you don't lose your sanity, where you're able to find solutions, you're able to discover that almost everything, every problem that you face, there is a solution. And to recognize that which is, that is not, you have no control over and you can, uh, not let it worry you, because what can you do, right? You might be looking for directions for your life, and this is where you need to come back to your true self. You wanna come back and get back in touch with your heart and see. Things that really do have value for you that will serve you well throughout your life. And like one thing I realized, relationships are really more really important, very important. And I know it's getting more difficult to have enduring relationship or relationship based and good values. Everything, all relationship seems to be. Like transactional you do for me than I do for you, you know? Or it doesn't last. It's good for a while. And then it, people change. They have their own, they have so many things that are pulling them a different direction. You might expect one thing, but they're not able to deliver that. And you see this happening even with coupled marriages. So you, you have to work hard, but you can't work hard at anything if you don't have this introspection, this ability to enjoy solitude and to be with your thoughts and your feelings, to be able to review your life, to be able to review the past, yesterday, and learn from it, and to, to, to have the ability to put, to put a full stop to the past and to be in the present fully so that you can be, you can feel light. You can feel you have some freedom to make decisions that is important now that you can do the right action or say the right thing or think the right thing or feel the right thing. You will plant the right seed, that will do, that will make your future brighter. So these are some of the things that comes the fruit of looking within, of introspection. Meditation. People you might see, they close their eyes or they open, slightly open their eyes. They're not looking outside the things that they hear, they're not really engaging them. They're going within and they're totally there. I'm a soul. And then the thoughts, and then, and then you're creating thoughts. You don't just watch and observe thoughts. Many of those thoughts might still be associated with things that you've experienced or whatever's going on on the outside. You don't want to live in that. You're already getting enough of it, right? So you're coming inside and you're creating thoughts of your true nature, true self, because every time you think of yourself as being good at having compassion or peace or love, or being a child of the Supreme, being a brother to everyone. Having love for nature. Feeling like you have something to give in terms of thoughts and feelings, and you can share all of these things. You look at it even though there's a voice and might say, Hey, you are not this. You're not like that. Don't fool yourself and whatever. Don't do that. Meditation, everything that you personally think you are. Say you think you're an angry person. You actually from childhood somewhere along the line. As you grow up, you spent years getting good at that advice. In the same way, you need to practice being peaceful, loving it, enjoying it, learning more and more, and practicing it to the point where it become real and it becomes your nature and it becomes your personal trait. So this is the power that comes from looking within. And this is introspection. This is enjoying solitude. It's not loneliness, it is solitude. This is where you grow. This is the inner journey where your best friend is God. So with that, I will close. Thank you for listening. And I just wanna remind you that there are links in the description that. Can give you access to free online classes on meditation and also free meditation commentary. So thanks again and goodbye. When you walk into a room, life gets little, you. You.
