Welcome to a contemplative meditation exploration.
My name is Tiago Prem and this is one of the meditation techniques that has really served me on my healing journey.
And I've done this with works from multiple traditions.
I've written a book on Japji Sahib,
The prayer of Guru Nanak in the Sikh tradition.
I have a,
I call them trans creations.
They come out of contemplative explorations and meditation on the yoga sutras which will be available soon.
You can check out tiagaprem.
Com and look at all my work.
But I wanted to share a contemplate of exploration meditation on the 95th Psalm from the Old Testament of the Bible.
And I just want to give a precursor here that it's not necessary to subscribe to any specific religion and at the same time would like to honor the traditions,
The Abrahamic traditions that connect with this,
Whether the Christians or the Judaism or Islam.
I am a devout student and disciple of Yeshua,
Commonly called Jesus in the West.
And I'm also a yogi,
Practitioner of yoga and meditation.
And I've been profoundly moved by many spiritual traditions,
Buddhist traditions.
And I think there's something to being able to sit with these wisdom pieces,
Whether you view them as poetry or scripture or however you relate to them.
I'm interested in the frequency or the state of expanded awareness that these were delivered into our world via a human being.
And I'm interested in tapping into that,
Like whether it's sitting in the church and listening to the gospel music deeply or listening,
You know,
Being in a dharam sala and listening to the Tibetan monks chanting and really opening myself up to experiencing the frequency of devotion or being in Amritsar at the Harimandar Sahib or the Golden Temple and listening to one of my yoga teachers chanting from the Vedic tradition or whatever it is.
Just for a moment suspending my need to be right or belong to this group and seeing if I can set some of that aside.
And there is identity pieces and aspects of the traditions that are very important to me.
But I work in meditation on going beneath the surface of the intellect because I view meditation as an experience of expanded awareness.
And so I wanted to invite you into this experience of the 95th Psalm and it won't take very long.
And the last thing I'll say before we dive into it is that what I do is I spend time with something like a poem by Rumi or Hafiz or the Psalms or the gospel.
Depends what study I'm feeling called to the Dhammapada or the Bhagavad Gita.
And I immerse myself in it like a yoga practice,
You know,
Like five aspects of yoga.
Bhakti to connect with the emotion and the devotion.
Jnana yoga to connect with the intellect,
The knowledge of the the tradition that I'm studying.
The hatha yoga,
The physical,
Maybe there's a physical element,
You know,
Like I find if I stretch a little bit and before I go deep into this and twist a bit and then I'm a little more open and not thinking about the pain in my back or my knees or my some bringing a physical component to the experience is really key.
Energetic,
Maybe there's an energetic experience.
Some kind of vibrational sensation or electricity when I tune into it.
And then the karma or the action piece which even just like going on to the insight timer so that you can listen to that is a form of action.
And so I get into this integrated experience and it's been profound what comes out of these explorations in expanded awareness.
So the way that we'll do this is you just sit comfortably where you are.
You're in a chair,
Put your feet on the floor.
If you're cross-legged sit with your back straight.
And I'm just gonna say a little offering,
A setting of intention at the start and then I'll read what I call a transcreation.
So when I immerse myself in the study of these inspiring pieces from wisdom traditions,
What I do is I call it transcreation because I was talking to a professor in Texas of the Sikh tradition and he said if you're looking for scholars of linguistics then call it a translation when I did the Japji Saab.
But if you're looking for people to connect with the devotional aspect of this or the creative aspect like you know you're painting a picture that was inspired by Guru Nanak or singing a song that was inspired by Guru Nanak as opposed to what is this word where does it come from you know a little more rigid then I would recommend that you call your work a transcreation because it's passing through you and then you're creating based on your experience and your study of all these different translations and I thought oh yeah that's brilliant.
So I've read the 95th Psalm and you know the King James and the New International Version of the Bible and the New Living Translation and the message and then I contemplated on it and I meditated on it and I looked at the aspects of the language that really spoke to me and then I looked at my own experience and I took this sort of 360 degree inside and outside view of this Psalm and then over time I write it out in a way that makes sense to me and speaks to me and then I share it as an experience like this.
So these are the words of the 95th Psalm transcreation by Thiago Prem as a meditation.
Sit comfortably.
Eyes can be opened or closed at whatever serves you and to begin we'll just notice that we're breathing.
Feel the breath in your nostrils.
Inner knower,
Divine guide,
Reveal to us in this practice the medicine of these words,
The inspiration.
May it speak to us.
Guide me to share from an open mind and an open heart and may we all experience this exploration and meditation with open minds and open hearts and so it is.
Come let us sing to our beloved.
Let us shout joyfully to the source of our salvation.
Let us be present with the presence of the one.
May our hearts overflow with gratitude.
Let us sing Psalms of praise and wonder for our beloved is beyond great,
Beyond any authority,
Beyond royal.
Our beloved holds our whole planet in balanced harmony from the depths of the seas to the peaks of the mountains.
All of life moving and changing form in the presence of the one.
Come let us worship and bow our heads with reverence.
Let us kneel and raise our hands in the presence of our Redeemer.
We are the children of the one.
We are loved and supported by the tender loving kindness and original blessing of our eternal beloved.
Listen deeply for the calling of the one.
Keep your heart open and your mind clear.
May we learn from our spiritual and blood ancestors whose hearts became hard at some point in each and every one of their lives.
At some point when they were lost in the wilderness.
Even though the presence was never absent.
There were miracles and wonders and there will be again.
And still we lose patience and fall into doubt.
In doubt we lose the peace of the eternal that is in every step.
And we are being called once again to trust our beloved.
To trust our inner knower who has always been here in the eternal now.
May we return to trust our beloved with our whole heart.
The presence that is never in absence.
And so it is.
And now just be in this space.
Whatever is coming up for you.
Watching.
Listening.
Once again notice that you're breathing.
And if you have time you could put pen to paper and write about your experience.
If you're moved by this particular contemplation,
Exploration,
Meditation.
Look for more from multiple traditions right here on the Insight Timer.
