October 2018 - Page 3 of 3 - Food for Thoughts

Practising Soul Consciousness | Creating a soul conscious stage

You may wish to read ‘The True Knowledge of Soul (Our Accurate Identity)‘ before this article.

The first lesson that God comes and teaches is ‘You are a soul, not the body’. Hence, creating & maintaining the soul conscious stage is one of our primary practices.

So, let us explore what exactly is meant by a soul conscious stage, how to create it, and it’s signs & benefits.

What is Soul Consciousness & it’s Benefits?

It just means remaining in the awareness of being a soul, and thus in the experience of our original virtues of peace, love, joy, etc

Practising soul consciousness has numerous benefits, some of which are listed below:

Being in the experience of our original virtues makes us feel very full & satisfied, and also heals the mind
When soul conscious, the resulting vibrations reach the body. This helps the body organs work efficiently & in harmony, thereby helping the healing process
Since our mind is light & free from waste, work efficiency increases thereby helping us do more work in less time
When we are in the experience of our original qualities, we start giving rather than taking, accepting instead of expecting. This improves all our relationships

Creating a soul conscious stage (i.e., Practising soul consciousness)

The basis of any sthiti (i.e., stage) is smriti i.e., our thoughts are the foundation of our state of mind.

Here’s how it works:

When we create a thought e.g., I am a Peaceful soul, this thought creates a little feeling of peace. Then, we create another thought, creating another little feeling. As we continue creating a series of associated thoughts, these little feelings continue to accumulate, developing our powerful state of mind.

So, what are the thoughts we could use to create a soul conscious stage?

List of thoughts for practising soul consciousness

The thoughts to create can broadly be divided into 6 categories:

i) Qualities; helps to experience

I am a Pure soul
I am a Peaceful soul
And similarly for the original qualities of love, bliss, happiness, power & knowledge

I am a Being of Energy
I am a Conscient Being
I am very light (weighless)

ii) Related to the body; helps to detach

I am the Master of this body
I am situated in the centre of the forehead
I see through the eyes, listen through the ears, speak through the mouth, act through the body, etc
I am different, this body is different
I have taken many such bodies in my journey

The body is physical, I am subtle
I am eternal & imperishable, the body is temporary

iii) Form; helps to visualise

I am a tiny point of light
I am a sparkling star
I am a shining jewel
I am a source of light

iv) Examples; of the relation between Soul & body

I am the driver / owner, this body is the car
I am the actor, this body is my costume
I am a diamond, this body is a box
I am a deity, this body is the temple
I am the charioteer, this body is the chariot

v) Self respect points; there are many self respect points specifically related to the soul conscious stage

I am the Jewel of the Forehead
I am Master Sun of Knowledge, or Purity
I am the flame of a lamp
I am a victorious jewel, Godly jewel
I am the Ruler over the Self
I am the light of God’s eyes, I am the light of the world

vi) Journey of soul

I am a resident of soul world
I have come down, & taken this human costume to play my part in this world drama
I was originally perfect & complete, full of all virtues, completely pure in Satyuga
I am currently under the direct sustenance of God, who is making me full & perfect once again
I am God’s angel, always light & sharing happiness with all

We could use the above list of thoughts in 2 ways:

We could create all these thoughts, or at least 1 thought from each of the above categories for good soul conscious stage. Create a thought, feel it for a few seconds, then create the next thought, feel it, and so on for a few minutes
Hold one of these thoughts for a longer period e.g., Holding the thought ‘I am a peaceful point of light situated in the centre of the forehead’ for a long period creates a very powerful stage

Also, along with creating the above thoughts:

If we visualise the form of the soul, and we are able to hold that image in our Intellect, experiencing becomes very easy
If we are practising the meditation by specially sitting, try not to use the body at all, i.e.,, let it remain absolutely still, as far as possible. This is the bodyless stage

There are some ways which make it very easy & natural to become soul conscious:

Take drishti from Baba with the awareness that He’s looking at me as a soul. His powerful soul-conscious drishti makes it very easy to experience soul-consciousness
The environment of the Centre is charged with vibrations of meditation & soul consciousness since many years. Creating a soul-conscious stage in such an environment becomes very easy

Signs of soul consciousness

It’s important to be aware of the signs of a soul conscious stage. This helps us check at any time or after meditation whether we are soul conscious, & the extent to which our stage is powerful.

When we are soul conscious:

A) External Signs

Our words are soft, slow, sweet & less
We experience a feeling a lightness around us & in our actions
Our eyes are soft, cool
Our face looks light, happy

B) Internal Signs

Our thoughts are slow, focused, peaceful, light
We are able to quickly put a full stop to past, whether the past goes back to few years, days or even minutes
We worry less about the future
Our discerning & decision making capacity becomes efficient & quick; we are able to resolve & finish issues quickly

C) Interactions, Memories etc

We are easily able to experience others as souls too, & are able to see their specialities
It becomes easy to create thoughts of good wishes & pure feelings for everyone around us
We are able to easily remember our silence home, our Father the Supreme soul, our perfect stage, etc

D) Other

Because thoughts remain slow & free from issues, sleep becomes better. We are able to sleep quickly & sleep is of better quality i.e., less quantity or hours needed
The power of vices & weaknesses reduces

Best Practices

To be able to create and maintain the soul conscious stage throughout the day, there’re some best practices, which are as follows:

a) On waking up

When we wake up, particularly early in the morning, the mind is absolutely fresh. Hence, whatever we listen read or experience at this time goes straight in, thereby easily continuing for the rest of the day. Thus, creating the soul conscious stage at this time & then also connecting with the 100% soul conscious being God, makes it easy to remain soul conscious for the rest of the day.

b) Listening to the Murli

To become a doctor, we need to study from a doctor. Similarly to become soul-conscious, we need to study from the 100% soul conscious being God. Hence, daily listening to God’s direct elevated versions (i.e., Murli) is very important for good soul consciousness.

In addition, before Murli class, it’s a very good practice to create the soul conscious stage, & then try to maintain it during Murli class. It’s easy to maintain during this time, since we are listening from the 100% soul conscious being, who is also seeing us as souls. It then becomes easy to remain in that stage later during the day too.

c) Throughout the day

Attention on thoughts throughout the day, to ensure we don’t go too much towards waste (about past or other people) or negative. This prevents us from getting unnecessarily pulled into body-consciousness.

d) Breaks (Traffic Control)

Sometimes, when involved in a lot of actions, we may lose attention on the self. Hence, taking regular breaks (e.g., Traffic Control, whether the regular 3 minute breaks or 1 minute every hour) helps a lot as we can recreate the soul conscious stage during that time. This effect then remains for a long time, after which it might be time to take another break. Hence in this manner, we can maintain an elevated stage throughout the day.

e) Before sleeping

Before sleeping, it’s important to do a quick audit or check of our state of mind over the day, and resolve any pending issues. Then, create the soul-conscious stage for a few minutes & then go to sleep. This ensures an elevated stage throughout sleep, thereby improving sleep quality & also making it natural to wake up early.

Continuing Ahead

The nature of the mind is it requires newness. Hence, if we create the same thoughts daily in meditation, it will get bored. Hence, although I have given a list of thoughts above, it’s very important to have access to a source from which we regularly get new thoughts to create in meditation.

The main sources are:

Murli. In it, God not only reminds us we’re a soul, but does so in various different ways & methods. This gives us different methods & approaches for practising soul consciousness. E.g., He uses many different phrases for soul consciousness, such as:
- Bodyless stage; means I sit & become completely detached from the body i.e., not using the body at all
- Dehi abhimani stage; here in actions we remember we are doing actions through the body, seeing through the eyes, etc
- Atma abhimani stage; where we are in the experience & awareness of our original qualities of peace, love & joy
Churning; the more we contemplate & churn on knowledge of soul, we get new thoughts which can be created in meditation. For example, Thinking over the point ‘I am Master Sun of Purity’, we get the following points:
- Like the Sun, I am full of all powers
- My rays & vibrations are finishing all weakness around me
- Everyone around me are getting benefited from my vibrations of purity
- I am child of the Sun of Purity, He gives powerful vibrations of purity to all, I am also His child, I am like Him, and will become like Him
- etc
Classes; listening to classes on soul consciousness by senior experienced souls also gives us new approaches of practising soul consciousness

Other Benefits

Our spiritual progress is based on the soul conscious stage:

Being soul conscious helps us to understand Gyan easily, deeply & in a simple natural manner
When we are soul conscious, it becomes easy to remember the Supreme Soul, our Supreme father. Hence, practising soul consciousness is the basis of Rajyoga meditation
Soul consciousness is the basis of our Dharna i.e., all divine virtues like simplicity, patience, cheerfulness, smiling face, sweetness, tolerance, etc
When we are soul conscious; pure vibrations spread around, our words touch people’s hearts, our actions inspire all; hence it’s the basis of Seva; whether through thoughts, words or actions

Here are some thoughts to increase our determination for creating & maintaining the soul-conscious stage:

My efforts of practising soul consciousness in this 1 little birth will last effortlessly for 21 births
As per the drama, we remain body-conscious for half a cycle. If even now we remain body-conscious, then what’s the benefit?

Om Shanti!

A version of this article ‘Practising Soul Consciousness | Creating a soul conscious stage’ was published in ‘The World Renewal’ magazine (Feb 2016 issue)

Thanks for reading this article on ‘Practising Soul Consciousness | Creating a soul conscious stage’

Month: October 2018

‘Spiritual Significance of Navratri’ series

List of Topics (‘Spiritual Significance of Navratri’ series)

Spiritual Significance of Shradh | True Meaning of Shradh | What is Shradh in English

Practising Soul Consciousness | Creating a soul conscious stage