CHICAGO: Several devotees and large crowd of over 1500 gathered to listen Sister Shivani at Jain Temple Bartlett and UIC Center for a spiritual discourse by her on “Condition of Mind…Your key to Happiness”
To accommodate large diverse crowd, the organizers Braham Kumari’s (BK) had to arrange two separate locations. The program was also aired live on ‘You Tube’ worldwide for those who wanted to view it online.
Sister Shivani focused her talk on finding illusive ‘happiness’ in the materialistic world and to learn to increase one’s ability to find contentment and love. The happiness should be long lasting and unlimited. It is a universal feeling and belief that happiness comes from outside, be it from relationship, achievement, material possession etc. Child is conditioned to believe that if parents are unhappy how can he be happy? And this is not true, asserted Sister Shivani. Raja Yoga is key to overcome this belief and myth It is also for resolving insecurities helps laying foundation for overcoming despondency dejection and resulting depression through meditation.
Meditation is the journey inwards, a journey of self-discovery or in fact, re-discovery. Meditation is time taken for quiet reflection and silence, away from the hustle and bustle of daily living. Taking time out enables us to come back to a centered place of being.
In our modern world, the pace of life is growing ever faster and we are losing touch with our true inner peace and power. When we no longer feel grounded, we can experience ourselves pushed and pulled in many different directions. It is at this point that we experience stress and a feeling of being trapped.
Gradually, over time, this feeling leads to illness and disease and our mental, emotional and physical health are thrown out of balance.
Raja Yoga meditation is a form of meditation that is accessible to people of all backgrounds. It is a meditation without rituals or mantras and can be practiced anywhere at any time. Raja Yoga meditation is practiced with ‘open eyes’, which makes this method of meditation versatile, simple and easy to practice. Meditation is a state of being in that place just beyond every day consciousness, which is where spiritual empowerment begins.
Spiritual awareness gives us the power to choose good and positive thoughts over those which are negative and wasteful. We start to respond to situations, rather than just reacting to them. We begin to live with harmony, we create better and happier, healthier relationships and change our lives in a most positive way. Sister Shivani gave various day to day life practical examples to explain the substance of Raja Yoga in daily life to achieve inner infinity of happiness and removes inner negative vibrations.
Brahma Kumaris is a spiritual university, global community of people learning how to increase one’s ability to live with love, ways to feel start feeling great with inner harmony, honesty, friendship and peace.
Suresh Bodiwala
