I have something I want to share with you all today,
But it requires,
And it's what's called a prayer demand.
It's one of Paramahansa Yogananda's prayer demands,
And it's one that I have used quite often since I first learned it during an Ananda yoga class,
And I just kind of,
It grew on me very quickly.
But the idea of,
So there's a couple things to talk about.
The first is the idea of,
I don't know how you all grew up,
But I grew up,
I was raised in a relatively,
Well,
I guess it was a conservative temple in Judaism,
And the way that we,
I guess as a boy in Hebrew school,
The way that we prayed was not any particular way that spoke to me,
In a sense,
I did it because I was supposed to,
And the references to God in those prayers,
I don't know if it was just me or if you can relate to this experience,
It didn't feel loving,
It didn't feel gentle,
I guess my relationship as a boy was like God was someone who I prayed to when I had a bellyache to help it get better.
And,
You know,
Fast forward a bunch of decades,
And the idea of a prayer demand,
I mean,
It doesn't sit right necessarily,
If we're not familiar with that idea,
But what Paramahansa Yogananda taught us was that the way that we pray as a child of God with an expectation of that prayer being met the same way that a child asks of a mother,
And so that word demand took me a little time to come around to,
But it's as opposed to like begging for something,
We pray with love and also with expectation,
Knowing that we are loved.
So there's that,
The idea of a prayer demand,
Because the first line of this is Divine Mother,
With the language of my soul,
I demand thy presence,
I demand thy presence.
So the other bit was Divine Mother,
This is the other thing just to mention before we try this.
So what I'll do is I'll share it with you,
And then in the end we'll use it a couple times,
Just kind of repeat it a couple times so we can get a sense of it.
But Divine Mother was another bit that was new,
And that takes,
I don't know how that lands on you,
But it was new,
And Divine Mother is a way of referring to the feminine aspect of God,
And that's the way Paramahansa Yogananda always,
Not always,
But that was the primary point of devotion was to the mother aspect,
So Divine Mother.
So that took me,
If it's new for you and it feels a little funny for you,
I can relate,
It was funny for me at first,
And now it's not,
Which is interesting.
Divine Mother is also referred to as the comforter,
And so that just,
Personally,
That just works for me,
The idea of an aspect of God,
Of that aspect of God being comforting.
And here I am in a meditation talking about Divine Mother and talking about God,
And it's you may be here just because you'd like some peace of mind,
You may have logged on here because you're looking for some calmness and to get better focus and concentration,
And all of the proven Western science,
Proven benefits of meditation,
But if you meditate for any period of time,
These questions start coming up,
These aspects of devotion.
So I thought I'd give a little preview to this bit about this prayer demand.
So if you like,
You can close down your eyes,
Gently,
If they're not closed already,
And just drop a breath down into your belly,
Just a little bit of belly breathing as I offer this to you.
You can place your hand on your belly button,
If you'd like some help with the belly breathing,
Place your hand on your belly button and then move it up just a little bit,
And take an inhale into your belly and you'll feel your hand rise.
And then as you exhale,
You'll feel your hand fall.
So on the rhythm of your own breath,
Inhaling and exhaling into the belly.
And once you've got it,
You're welcome to take your hand away.
And so what this,
And I don't know if this prayer demand is in,
Like I said,
I heard it during a yoga class,
It may be in Yogananda's Whispers from Eternity,
His book of prayer demands.
I'm not 100% sure,
But it is.
Divine Mother,
With the language of my soul,
I demand Thy presence.
Thou art the essence of everything,
And I am Thy child.
I'm awake in Thy presence,
For Thou art the light.
Make me see Thee with every fiber of my being,
With every wisp of thought,
Awake in my heart.
I'll give that to you one more time.
Divine Mother,
With the language of my soul,
I demand Thy presence.
Thou art the essence of everything,
And I am Thy child.
I'm awake in Thy presence,
For Thou art the light.
Make me see Thee with every fiber of my being,
With every wisp of thought,
Awake in my heart.
Awake in my heart.
Take a normal inhale and exhale.
Don't need to work with the breath in any way.
Just allow it to flow naturally in and out through your nose.
Soften your eyes behind your eyelids.
Relax your eyelids.
Sit up nice and tall.
Draw your shoulder blades together gently.
Chest is lifted slightly.
Lips are closed gently.
Relax your face.
Relax your jaw.
Allow your tongue to fall away from the roof of your mouth.
And begin to tune into your breath.
See if you can notice the air passing in your nostrils.
You may at first just notice your breath mechanically in your belly or your chest.
See if you can tune in to the air passing in your nose.
Find the spot where you can feel the air passing.
And focus on that spot,
Noticing the inhale and noticing the exhale.
And you can begin the Hong Sa mantra,
Accompanying the natural breath,
With this beautiful ancient mantra,
Hong Sa.
When you notice yourself,
Inhale.
Say in your mind,
Without moving tongue,
Lips,
Or teeth,
Hong,
H-O-N-G,
Hong.
And when you notice yourself,
Exhale.
Say just in your mind,
Sa,
S-A-U,
Sa.
Hong on the inhale,
Sa on the exhale.
Hong Sa means,
I am spirit.
Allow your mind to repeat this mantra over and over again,
Along with watching the breath,
Sending a peaceful vibration throughout your consciousness.
Don't use the mantra to control the breath in any way.
Allow the breath to flow naturally in and out through the nose,
And simply accompany the natural breath with the Hong Sa mantra.
Now I'll add the third and final component of this Hong Sa meditation technique.
With hands positioned palms up at the juncture of thighs and abdomen,
When you notice yourself,
Inhale,
And you say in your mind,
Hong,
Gently curl your right index finger towards your palm.
And when you notice yourself,
Exhale,
And you say in your mind,
Sa,
Allow that finger to extend back out.
Hong on the inhale,
Curl the finger.
Sa on the exhale,
Extend that finger back out.
This gives your body something to do,
And assists with concentration.
And as the breath grows more quiet,
The movement of the finger can actually help distinguish between the inhale and the exhale.
If you notice your breath getting softer,
Getting more quiet,
Slowing down,
That's good.
That's a natural result of paying attention to the breath.
It begins to slow down.
Enjoy that slowing down.
As the breath slows down,
The mind can begin to slow down.
As we concentrate on the breath,
It grows more quiet,
And the mind can begin to grow more quiet.
Enjoy that growing sense of quiet.
Behind your closed eyelids,
Gently draw your gaze upward,
Toward the point between your eyebrows.
No straining.
You're not crossing your eyes.
It's just a gentle,
Uplifted gaze toward your spiritual eye,
Your center of peace,
Your center of wisdom,
Your center of higher awareness.
Physiologically,
That's the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
Practice Hong Sau with a gentle,
Uplifted gaze.
You notice your mind wandering off to thoughts of past or future.
Notice,
And then gently but firmly come back to watching your breath,
Repeating the mantra,
Moving the right index finger.
Good.
Now take a normal breath in through the nose,
And exhale through mouth and nose.
Let all the breath out,
And let the breath stay out for as long as it wants to.
When it wants to return,
Allow it to do so.
Let go of the technique.
You don't need to watch the breath anymore,
Or repeat the mantra,
Or move the index finger anymore.
Once again,
Gently uplift the gaze behind your closed eyelids toward the point between your eyebrows.
Allow yourself to tune in and hear the words of this prayer demand again by Paramahansa Yogananda.
Divine Mother,
With the language of my soul,
I demand Thy presence.
Thou art the essence of everything,
And I am Thy child.
I'm awake in Thy presence,
For Thou art the light.
Make me see Thee in every fiber of my being,
In every wisp of thought,
Awake in my heart.
Divine Mother,
With the language of my soul,
I demand Thy presence.
Thou art the essence of everything,
And I am Thy child.
I'm awake in Thy presence,
For Thou art the light.
Make me see Thee in every fiber of my being,
In every wisp of thought,
Awake in my heart.
Awake in my heart.
Gazing gently upward toward the point between the eyebrows,
With relaxation for just a few more moments.
Now,
Take a normal breath in and out.
Prepare to come back to the space where you are.
And when you're ready,
Flutter open your eyes.
