Temple of the Spirit (1.c)

I place myself in the presence of the Lord, and take a few moments to “feel” his presence; the aura of the Lord’s presence surrounding me. I sit comfortably in a position which I feel at ease with, and now become conscious of my body, the different parts which make it. Let me pay attention to the different parts which are tensed, and I relax them. I call on the particular part and ask it to relax… my right shoulder, relax! I loosen the muscles, and can feel the entire body becoming light, almost weightless. When I feel comfortable, then I bring to my mind that this body which I behold here and now is not only a fragile God’s creation, but is also a temple of the Spirit; it is here that God deigns to dwell. Therefore it is holy and sacred!

God has sanctified my body by breathing into me his own life spirit, and the air I breathe in is but his breath… it is his breath which nourishes me. Let me therefore turn my attention to my breathing, the cool air entering into my body, filling my lungs and come out with the impurities, warm! Close my eyes and feel the breath, become conscious of the air entering in and getting out. I will also focus on the heaving of my chest, the gradual filling of my lungs, and how it feels on the nostrils. Let me stay with my breathing as long as I can, because it is the life spirit of God that has been given to me, and this spirit makes my body holy and sacred. God is not only a passive craftsman, but he has shared part of his Self by breathing into me.

I also become aware of the different ways how this body is made to indulge in things unholy, contrary to his divine plan; the eyes which see evil, the ears which listens to gossip, the mouth which curses and abuses others verbally, gluttony through which I eat more than I really need, hands through which I harm others, my sexual organs which are sometimes subjected to unholy acts of self gratification, my flesh, about which sometimes I am too fastidious… My body is by itself holy and sacred and it is only the conscious I who subject it to sinful tendencies. I shall move from the top considering how different parts of my body become vehicles of defaming the creator who made me.

The human body has immense potentiality, and today I would like to become conscious of it. I recall to mind some of the most outstanding works that I was able to do during the past few years, and the body had been always the vehicle through which I was able to carry out these noble, beautiful works. It is like Alladin’s magic lamp, you rub it and the genie appears, ‘Your wish, my command!’ The body is there always to do what I wish it to do. I receive this immense potentiality and creativity from the creator, the omnipotent God. Let me also remember some of the achievements people around me had made using their bodies. The human body is capable of achieving far more things than the best computers can.

If my body is the temple of the Spirit, the house where the Lord of the universe dwells, then it is only proper that I keep it neat and tidy. Today I pause for a moment to recall the moments when I had abused my body, or different parts of it! I remember the moments when I had not cared for this body sufficiently, failed to listen to what the hands or legs had to tell me when I forced them to the point of collapsing, or moments when I had forced to cover the natural beauty with artificial materials, when I had not given opportunity for nature to cure the commonplace ailments but rushed to artificial means of arresting them, when I had not given enough rest to my body, but made it work for days without sufficient rest… Let me for a while listen to my body, what is it telling me now!

E/Affecting Changes

If there is one thing which is so very peculiar to the human race is that it is never contended with the way things are. Unlike most other primates, the human beings are constantly in search of change; everything that is new becomes out of date (or out of style, as is in vogue today)within no time; if one looks at the fashion world, we would be puzzled to realize that even before a fashion commodity reaches the market, it is declared out of fashion. Things are changing at break-neck speed, and it is quite impossible to keep pace with them. But the moot question is: should we keep pace with changes and adapt ourselves ever so often?

New Year celebrations bring along a bagful of promises to change; we want changes to take place as the clock strikes 12 on the new year eve. It is as if we all have the Alladin's magic lamp, which can change and transform us at the fraction of a second! We all wish to hear the whisper of the genie, Your wish is my command! We hear a thousand and one promises for change that people assure us of: giving up smoking, drinks, some vital bad habits! There are also others who promise positive things - to call up parents at least once a week, to do household chores with the wife, etc. But how long do the changes work?

Unfortunately changes as we desire do not take place; even before we take note of what we had promised, we had broken the promises, and we are back to square one. We see ourselves just as we were before the new year! We often fail to ask ourselves this simple question: can a new year (which by the way, is just an imaginary concept) change the way how we relate to people, behave, and act in our personal and social lives? Are we not asking for too much from a concept, which is just incapable of ushing in changes in us? But then, are changes impossible in our lives? Can't we break out of our unhealthy habits and soar to newer heights?

Of course it is possible, and there is a simple way to do that! Paradoxically, the more we try to change ourselves, the more we fail, and therefore in order to change something in ous, the best thing to do is to become conscious of what we want to change, and stop at that. That is where the trick is: to stop with becoming conscious of what we want to change; if we force ourselves to change, then it would end up in a disaster. One may ask, then how will a change take place? The universe will take care of it; our body-mind-spirit will take care of the change that is to be effected. Mind you, the change that will take place will not be dramatic, nor spectacular, but would be lasting.

There is a simple way to test this theory: look at the lasting changes which have taken place in ourselves, and we would notice that these changes took place without our realization. Look at the way trees and plants grow; the change or transformation is imperceptible to our naked eyes, and yet it is real and lasting. We need to trust in the transformative power of the universe and the body-mind-spirit complex, because there is nothing which is beyond the power of these two vital poles which determine what we are! We might call them the divine powers, because they have so much of creative potentiality, if only we surrender to be moulded and shaped! To be transformed and be changed!