Guru Gobind Singh’s Birthday
On Christmas Day, 1992, I drove to Pomona for IIGS’s Guru Gobind Singh Birthday Gurdwara. Driving, doing sadhana chants and Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur, was like emerging slowly from thick, heavy darkness to the Light. Literally, fighting sleep, arriving at sunrise.
Inside, I meditated on Guru’s shabad, filling each chakra with the sound, one by one. Energy pooling at my heart chakra pervaded my body with peace and relaxation. My throat opened more as I sang, shifting to the third eye, to the top of my head. In that shift the energy released to an altered state but there was no cosmic lap--simply immersion in Gurbani, lips chanting in nursing mode. The taste was not exactly sweet; can you imagine drinking shiny stainless steel? It was the taste of fearlessness, Guru Gobind Singh’s presence. Wahe Guru!
Several times during Gurdwara, the sangat’s energy surged and broke into a “Bole So Nihaal! Sat Siri Akaal!” like a huge earthquake. Sometimes I felt the energy begin to crack and heave, then subside—the message of Guru Gobind Singh reaching our hearts like a cracking whip, filling us with recognition, understanding, clarity, like a thunderbolt! Then peace falling like rain.
Around noon a young girl went up to the podium between kirtan jathas to read a poem. She was absolute calm, focus, a cohesive power. Her movements expressed the sound of the Punjabi words, about giving your head to the Guru and living from your heart. She was a glimpse of the Guru through human projection.
In the Sikh faith, women are said to be equal in stature to men. Yet in many Gurdwaras it is unusual to see women other than young schoolgirls given the opportunity to represent the Guru. And, today, with such beauty!
The Grace of God Meditation
Today, four days later, immersed in the Grace of God Meditation, the Guru gave me beautiful wings.
The meditation is done while lying on our backs. Women hold the breath all the way in five times and all the way out five times and silently chant, “I am Grace of God,” ten times per each in held and out held breath.
Over the past six months I have been visualizing bringing the mantra to each chakra, working up the spine. But there are seven chakras and ten repetitions. So on eight I send the mantra out the top of my head, and circulate the last two in my arc line and aura. Where do you go from there?
Today I decided to use the extra repetitions to penetrate the shamanic “veil of illusion” over my crown. On the next held breath, I used the mantra to dwell in the upper world, and on following breaths used it as a stepladder to climb into the etheric realm. During this phase, I effortlessly became a white bird with great wings climbing into the light. This light was like the sun, but I felt it to be a divine light, going on forever.
I decided to go beyond it! My wings brought me higher and higher with each silent beat of the mantra, “I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God, I am Grace of God.” With the held breath ending, I soared down to my crown chakra and easily re-entered, retaining golden white light within my consciousness.
In phase two of the meditation, we sit up in easy pose and hold our left hand up as though we are taking an oath, tensing each finger in turn while chanting, “I am Grace of God,” one time out loud.
Each finger represents a planet, whose energies we imbue with grace within ourselves and through our projection:
The little finger is Mercury, enhancing communication.
The ring finger represents the sun, empowering our physical bodies with healing and grace of motion.
The middle finger stands for Saturn. We strengthen virtues of patience and self-discipline.
The index finger is for Jupiter. We enshrine the light of wisdom within us.
The thumb represents the earth, ego, “dragons head and dragons tail.” We bring grace to the ego, so it supports our spirit.
I brought this realization of grace through the beautiful Light that had descended with me, wherein I experienced each finger’s cosmic connection—to the planet Mercury, the shining Sun, ringed Saturn, luminous Jupiter, and lastly, Earth—wherein dragons symbolize the spiraling DNA of creation, all these energies equally a part of my soul.
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