Why do we do Akaal Pooja* daily? Why do we also do it in our school on Tuesday prayer time, before lessons begin? The purpose is to train ourselves, to refine ourselves, and to perfect ourselves. Our body and our posture are critical to our state of mind, and they have a direct and immediate effect on our meditation. This will naturally then have an added effect on the quality of our prayer.
To demonstrate, let us take this example. Have you tried to fill a bottle of water under a running tap, especially one with a narrow neck? How much water will you get into it if your hand is unsteady and the bottle is shifting about? What if the bottle is being held by the untrained hand of a child versus the trained hand of an adult? If the hand is steady and holds the bottle perfectly straight and still under the water, it fills up just like magic. The water will flow smoothly through the neck in a neat straight line right to the bottom. There will be no splashing and no spillage. Every drop of water will be caught! So that is why we practice hard to perfect our stance, to bring symmetry to our posture, to enable it to become stable and steady. You will immediately see the reason why we have to train ourselves and our kids, right from when they are young to sit correctly, to sit in silence and stillness!
It is not the mind but the body that is the starting point of meditation. If we can control the body, if we can still the body and hold it in perfect symmetry, the mind will start to behave itself, to align itself, to connect itself to what the body wants. It will understand what the body wants to achieve and it will start to comply. It will start to engage in the “activity” of mainting the perfect posture which will stop it from wandering. It cannot wander and work on mainting total body stillness at the same time. Since the body has locked itself to become totally immobile, the mind now has to stop everything else and observe the body, to ensure its symmetry and stillness. This brings body and mind into equilibrium. Now we are ready for work at the heart and soul level.
Meditation involves the chanting of mantras, power words or sounds that trigger responses at the heart and soul level. Chanting taps the upper palate. The wider we open our mouth to chant, the higher energy is created by each tap of the tongue against the upper wall. This stimulates the pineal and pituitary glands to activate and secrete. The pineal is the spiritual gland of the body.
Notice how much ‘tapping’ takes place on the upper palate of the mouth when we read a banee like Jaap Sahib. That is why Sikhs of old had so much energy. They were perpetually chanting all the time. Tapping stimulates the pineal gland and activates it. This in turn activates and stimulates the centres in the brain associated with feeling at peace, feelings of blissfulness, feelings of being one with one self. Doing this often enough, one begins to become more and more consciously consciousness of one’s consciousness, a term constantly used by Yogi Ji. The stability created by this equilibrium of mind body and spirit then leads to healing of the mind, body and spirit (karmas). The Trainers of Tomorrow must understand this. They must themselves work hard at their own postures of stillness.
Akaal Pooja is the perfect ‘one stop’ practice to develop yourself to become a trainer. Just one simple kriya, one simple exercise. It consists of 2 powerful mantra’s – Mool Mantra The Primal or Primary Mantra of Sikh dharma, the first mantra. This is the first mantra revealed by Holy Baba Nanak. It is the root mantra for anyone on a journey of Sikhi.
Second is the Guru Dev Mantra, a powerful and all – complete mantra for those who seek both blessings and protection. This is followed by silence and stillness for a minimum of 1 minute where you remain totally still. Here, you will practice the above mentioned routine, engaging the mind to achieve stillness of body, while the soul enjoys the blissful experience brought about by the secretions of the pineal gland. One will soon start to enjoy a tingling sensation at the third eye point, above the bridge of the nose and between the two eye brows. At the end of the meditation, we chant ‘Satnaam Sri Waheguru’ three times to end the pooja, and to give our mind the ‘space’ to gently return to the physical world of the 5 senses.
All are humbly requested to start sharing the practice of Akaal Pooja with as many of their friends, relatives and colleagues. Perfect your posture. Be able to hold it impeccably for the duration of the Pooja. Symmetry must be perfect, whether seated or standing. Gently encourage others to follow you. Satnaam
*Akaal Pooja refers to a specific technique of chanting 5 Mool Mantra’s followed by Gurudev Mantra. Details and CD’s are available
Sikhs With A Mission
