ith great respect and love, I welcome you with all my heart. Do people have to suffer greatly making major human mistakes in life decisions creating negative karma in the process such as physical, mental or emotional imbalances, hitting rock bottom from addictions or other self inflicted diseases, before waking up to the truth or realization of what is most important in life or what they really are looking for or who they really are or where they are going?

The above enlightened philosophical question needs an innovative explanation from an eastern philosophical perspective that will end or lighten most people's suffering especially from ego's addictions. What is the connection of the subject of Qi meditation with this question? One answer is found through understanding the reason in practicing Qi meditation where we will realize, know or experience the loving sensation of self which liberates us from suffering and frees us from ego.

What does true love have to do with our path to freedom from suffering? Because love is our very own spiritual nature, everyone instinctively wants and needs to love and be loved. There are many ways to experience and express romantic and true love. Poets hint of love in their poems. Singers sing of love in their songs. Writers romanticize love in their stories. Artists express love of nature through their artwork such as paintings, sculpture or other creative designs. Computer Programmers/Analysts get their creativity and energy to design computer programs by connecting with The All There Is. Musicians express or evoke love of harmony through their music. Pranic healers heal their clients through the power of love passing through them. Siddha and arhat masters awaken and sponsor inner love through teaching Qi meditation or pranic healing to their students. The Qi meditation masters teach that the true source of true love is within us which is also the unlimited source of healing, wisdom and inspiration for Qi meditation masters, musicians, writers, artists, songwriters, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, physicians, healers and poets.

The following statements (in bold letters) are derived from Swami Muktananda's book The Perfect Relationship which on the whole deals with general suffering through Qi meditation principles from great Qi meditation masters such as Lord Buddha, Khrisna, Narada, Jnaneswar Maharaj, Kabir, Sunderdas, Jesus, Baba Muktananda, and my living teachers Siddha Gurumayi, Master Miguel Nator, Arhat Master Choa Kok Sui, Master Ou Wen Wei and Alton Kamadon of the Alpha, Omega Order of Melchizedek:

Lord Buddha's story will shed light on his reason for following his meditation path to freedom of enlightenment which have been giving his devotees their own path to salvation from internal suffering which everyone of us shares no matter what station in life anybody is in.

When Lord Buddha saw the suffering of the world, he said, "All that I see in this world is birth and death. Death follows birth, disease follows health, old age follows youth. As one watches this pain and constant suffering, one ultimately sees that there are only faults in the world and becomes afraid of it." The Bhagavad Gita describes this understanding as "perception of the evil of birth, death, old age, sickness and pain." To have this perception is the greatest of all worldly attainments. When Lord Buddha began to see the world in this way, he decided to relinquish his kingdom; he was convinced that there could not be any more suffering in the forest than on the throne. With this understanding, he left his palace accompanied by Channa, the keeper of the royal stables, who was an ordinary man of the world. When they reached the forest, Lord Buddha ordered Channa to leave. Channa pleaded, "O prince, do not do this. You are still a young man. You have had no experience of life. Do not run away out of fear of the world. Do not give up your kingdom. There is so much joy in life! You are the prince--you have elephants, horses, wealth! Where will you go after giving these up? Even a poor, small man like me is not ready to leave this life, and you are a sovereign. Turn around and look at your kingdom! What do you lack?"

Lord Buddha looked back and then said to Channa, "I see nothing there except pain and intrigue. I have thoroughly experienced the palace life and the activities of the kingdom which appear to be joyful to you. To you they are a show, but to me they are a source of pain. That which seems pleasurable to you has brought only sorrow to me. Suffering is hidden behind the face of pleasure. Channa return!"

There is pain in a poor man's life; his poverty is the means by which he hides the true source of his suffering. Similarly, anguish lies beneath the ostentatious wealth of a rich man, who displays riches in order to disguise his pain. In the course of their lives people often greet pain in silence. One person conceals his torment in a hut and another in a palace (princess Di); one hides it in a solitary place and another among people. But suffering is the same everywhere.

What is the source of this pain? We experience it because we beg for happiness where it does not exist; instead of wanting that which is right for us, we seek that which we can never attain. We desire to make the impossible possible. This world is like a boarding house or a Hilton Hotel in which we are temporary guests. Trying to find eternity here is like trying to stop a river whose very nature is to flow. We seek outer love, which is transitory. We want that love to be undying, but how can we attain undying love from something ephemeral? In fact, if we consider this matter with understanding, we will realize that we experience our greatest suffering in the name of love. "God dwells in the heart." But although God, the embodiment of love, resides within us, most people are so unfortunate that they do not see love even in their dreams. Even a person who has labored all his life to attain love is unhappy; in the name of love, he experiences only pain. Without true love, everyone suffers--renunciants, sensualists, those who have great wealth, and those who have nothing. A poor person suffers because he has no wealth. A rich person suffers because he has too much wealth. You may look for a truly happy person, but you will never find one.

You will attain happiness only if you stand firmly in the face of the anguish that you encounter. Do not run from it. Look pain squarely in the face; then you will understand it. Know that without knowledge or meditation, without discovering the inspiration of the Self, you will experience only heartache and the misery of living without love for God. Without meditation, life is filled with sorrow. Without the bliss of the Self, there is unquestionably nothing but suffering.

Lord Buddha said, "A life without knowledge is painful." Old age and death are miserable when one lacks knowledge of the Self. In fact, without this knowledge, all of life--from one corner to the other, from east to west, from north to south, above and below--is filled with anguish.

The following teachings from Kashmir Shaivism also sheds light on the necessity of the practice of Qi meditation to help people find peace, love, happiness from within themselves rather than focus their dependency from outside.

The sages and saints have said that to end suffering and attain happiness, one must have knowledge of the Self, which is the true source of joy. "Knowledge is the supreme state." The bliss of the Self is attained only through knowledge. In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord says, "In the world, there is nothing as pure as knowledge."

"God exists in one's feeling." There is great power in a person's feeling. Through it he can make God manifest. Because his feeling is the result of his understanding, right understanding is the source of all attainments, mundane as well as spiritual. "The supreme state comes only from knowledge." Through knowlege a wise person turns poison into nectar: Mirabai drank poison, considering it God's nectar, and was unaffected by it. But through his nonawareness, an ignorant person turns nectar into poison. The truth is that there is neither nectar nor poison in poison. Everything depends on one's attitude and understanding. For a person who has the supreme knowledge of God's all-pervasiveness, even a dark forest is a celestial garden and even a prison is a wide-open space. But for one who does not know his own Self, who does not regard others as himself, even a celestial garden is like a prison.

That is why it does not matter where you are or where you live, but rather who you are and what your inner state happens to be. The problem lies in your ignorance of your own essential nature. You will gain nothing by changing your country, town, or home; since you take your own destiny with you, you will only be welcoming pain again. It is very good to want freedom, but instead of looking for it in the wrong place, you must discover where it really dwells. The difference between a spiritual being and a politician is this: The politician says, "Bondage is external--break it and then you will obtain the joy of freedom." But the knower of the Truth says, "O my friend, bondage is not outside, but within you." No matter how much you try to break your outer fetters, your bondage will only increase. Therefore, you must go where there is supreme freedom--to the inner Self in the heart.

You are entirely responsible for your own state of dependency; in fact, you have become addicted to it. Because you think that the elixir of love is found in dependency, you have made it the abode of your love, and if you were ever to tear down the wall of dependency, you would only build another one somewhere else. However, you must free yourself in every way. Lord Buddha said again and again, "You can certainly come to me, but do not become bound by me." In the same way, when people ask me, "Is it alright to meditate on you?" I tell them, "Meditate on your own Self." Although it is difficult, you must escape from the prison of the non-Self. Who is a Hindu? Who is a Jain, a Buddhist, a Sufi, or a Christian? If you are imprisoned in one of these false identities, how can you find freedom of the self? That is why Lord Khrisna said, "Give up all religions and take refuge in me (our inner consciousness) alone." Discard all false identification with religion. Go to the inner Self for shelter and revel there.

Our undisciplined mind is where it all starts. All the negative conditioning or programming from childhood and past lives have to be cleansed through the practice of meditation before the full brilliance of the light of consciousness within can shine forth. Pride, arrogance, hate, fear, anger, lust, greed, addictions, compulsions, inhibitions, and other negative thieves of the heart have to be purged out of the energy body through the universal energy (Qi) of love of meditation before self-realization can take place.

Remember that as long as your clogged mind has not been cleaned out, as long as your vessel has not been emptied and washed, you will not be able to fill it with God's nectar, nor will you be able to digest that nectar. It is important that your vessel be empty and completely purified in the fire of meditation and knowledge.

The following benefits of Qi meditation are expounded by the great meditation masters which will give students of meditation a reason, a goal and a vision to strive for.

As the divine sage Narada (Bhakti Yogi) said: "After attaining love, a person has no desire for anything else." A being who has found the inner love neither suffers nor becomes excited over trivial matters. He neither hates nor becomes attached to anything. Why should he become trapped in delusive dramas when he holds the source of the world, the center of bliss, in his hand? Why should he take interest in the wrong path? Why should he criticize any religion, sect, or person?

Jnaneshwar Maharaj wrote, "One tastes and attains this elixir by stealing it from the senses." When the senses become free from all outer contacts, for the first time in one's life one experiences the inner sensation of joy that lies at the core of one's being. When one sees and hears one's Self, one touches that inner love. When one tastes one's own Self, one experiences satchidananda (being, consciousness and bliss). Whoever has tasted this sublime elixir has tasted the mystery of life and the essence of the entire world.

The divine sage Narada, author of Bhakti sutras (Yoga of Love), said, "Knowing this, the devotee becomes intoxicated and still, reveling in the Self." By attaining and experiencing the nectar of the Self, which is supreme love, one becomes ecstatic. One who is completely established in the Self becomes utterly quiet and serene; he becomes the Self. When the love of God, the ambrosia of the Self, is revealed, one finally attains the Truth and begins to dance like a madman. The intoxication that arises from the love of the divine Self is overwhelming. I often say, "Why do you use marijuana, opium, and cocaine? If you want real intoxication, drink the elixir of the Self. That will take you higher and higher; you will never come down from it."

When a flowing river merges into the ocean, it becomes the ocean and so takes on the ocean's delight. The ocean of the Self is complete in itself. Intoxicated with love, it billows ceaselessly with its own joy. A person who is immersed in the Self becomes drunk with love. Sometimes he is lost in a state of overwhelming bliss. At other times , he is engrossed in discussing the self. Narada said, "The love of the inner Self is nectarian by nature." That inner love is not far from us; since its source lies within us it is not, and cannot be concealed. We ourselves have obscured it. Our blindness makes us think that it is hidden, but it is manifest within us.

Ultimately, a true living spiritual teacher is very much a must to seek and have because without one meditation would be unfruitful, unsafe, unprogressive, and a waste of time. The following statements will help you realize the importance of having a true Siddha or Arhat Guru [whose teachings are energy (Qi, prana, shakti) based with a true lineage of Siddha or Arhat (enlightened) masters] in your path to freedom.

Therefore, before you set out on a pilgrimage to the infinite, reflect upon your undertaking with great care. If you go alone, your journey will be confined to the realm of the mind. If you want to go beyond the mind, you will need a companion who has himself transcended the mind and can therefore take you by the hand and lead you on a journey. A small child needs a wise person to give him self-confidence and a helping hand, someone to kindle faith in his heart so that he can eventually stand up and walk straight on the path. Similarly, a seeker of Truth needs a strong hand and a firm support. Kabir wrote: Think this over and understand it. The path is very narrow and precarious; it is so subtle that you need the Guru's help to discern it. Jesus also said, "Straight is the way and narrow is the path." Its subtlety is such that it is beyond your experience and understanding. When this is the case, how can you walk on it? You cannot find the path by clever thinking; thoughts are not sufficiently subtle. As long as you do not give up your mental cleverness, as long as your thought-waves do not subside, you will neither experience nor recognize the bliss of That. This is why Kabir said that one needs the Guru's help in order to find the way.

When the kingdom of fantasies collapses, only the Guru remains as the support of all. In one of his poems, Sunderdas wrote, "the Guru has revealed the perfect Brahman, who alone is all-pervasive. To whom can you be attached? Whatever exists is That. The root of everything pervades everything. All the thoughts and doubts of the mind have been obliterated. Through the contemplation of That, the Guru has firmly established me in the Truth. He has washed away all my filth and made me pure. When I meditate on my Guru, my heart is filled with ecstasy."

Let me quote from Gurumayi Chidvilasananda's book Kindle My Heart, "Once a commuter who wanted to catch the ferry arrived too late at the dock. Dashing to the end of the pier and leaping across the water, he just made it onto the boat.

"Why didn't you wait?" asked the deckhand. "We were just pulling into the slip!"

This is a good metaphor for our human life. We work so hard: we always want to feel we have done something. Particularly if you live in Manhattan -- although the red lights always turn green, and the green lights always turn red -- somehow, just before the lights turn, we always make a mad dash. "Ah! I just made it!"

We try to use the same strategy, to take the same shortcuts, on the spiritual path. And through the merits of many, many lifetimes, we might succeed, but this happens very rarely. There is no reason for all that urgency. The scriptures say there must be longing for the experience, then you need a Master, or a guide to show you the path."

"A Guru is like a cable car that will speed us to our destination," Master Choa Kok Sui said in one of his Arhatic yoga workshops.

Let me enlighten this article with the legend and symbol of the Unicorn as taught by my beloved Unicorn Meditation Master Miguel Nator, "there lived a fierce, horse-like beast that roamed the earth. Its savage spirit could only be tamed by the touch of a virgin. Once touched, the beast is transformed into a noble white steed marked by a long, singular horn at the center of its forehead. In its spiritual ascent, a pair of wings appear to free the Unicorn from its earthly bondage forever.

The Unicorn is likened to Man - part animal, part divine. Its fierceness and savagery represent and signify the animal nature. Its whiteness represents purity and signifies the divine nature. The taming of the Unicorn by the touch of the virgin signifies the taming of the animal nature in man by the awakening influence of his higher self, or soul, symbolized by the virgin. The long horn symbolizes the achievement of right fusion or the integration of man's lower and higher self.

Until man awakens to the touch of his own soul who virtually tames and controls him to return to the center of his being, he remains veiled. Because of this, the acronym UNICORN is a fit symbol of the program of regeneration and of the self transforming man. The colors that surround him represent the key activities involved towards achieving transformation. Violet for Meditation, Green for Service, and Blue for study."

Lastly, as Drunvalo Melchizedek who teaches Merkaba Meditation and founder of the Flower of Life Organization said, "All the world's religions are speaking of the same Reality. They have different words, different concepts and ideas, but there's really only one Reality, and there's only one Spirit moving through all life. There might be different techniques to get there, but there's only what is real, and when you're there you know it. Whatever you want to call it - you can give it different names - it's all the same thing.

Humans have a very short memory. Though we have recorded and documented significant events throughout history, we have forgotten some of the most fundamental truths about ourselves. We have forgotten, for example, how to breathe properly, in a way that activates our higher powers of transcendence and manifestation. And we have forgotten the deeper significance of the myriad life forms around us, not to mention the very roots of our own existence. But this is a time of remembrance and higher awareness.

There are magnetic field changes going on in our earth and solar system that are stupendous beyond belief. On the individual level, you can activate your Merkaba field which is the rotating fields of light (Mer), spirit (ka) and soul (ba) that exists around someone in a state of unconditional love and tell it to maintain your energy fields to protect you, and it will. That's how the priesthood in Atlantis was able to survive all this. The only way you can protect yourself is to create a synthetic eco-magnetic field around your body or by using your light body. The information on the Merkaba is so much part of the consciousness of the world right now that I'm finding that people who have never been to the workshop and know nothing about this are beginning to activate their light body. This has been my prayer all along - that people would start remembering. So if you can just go into deep prayer and ask for your light body to be turned on and protected from this, that's probably the greatest thing you can do."

As my Melchizedek Method teacher, Alton Kamadon of the Alpha, Omega Order of Melchizedek as received from Ascended Master Thoth said, "As we change our personal energy field to the Hologram of Unconditional Love Merkaba (Flower of Life Holographic Sphere) we break down linear time and disintegrate the veil. If we understand the concept of this pattern it will take us into the time continuum of the eternal life form of Adam Kadman in the higher dimensions.

As the universe is sustained by unconditional love, true divine manifestation can only occur within love. It is natural to conceive that the Hologram of Love is the pattern of unconditional love. The Universe was born from it and the finest particle of our atomic cell structure is that pattern. This means we have always had the seed of unconditional love within us and and all we need to do is recognize it and activate this wonderful original essence. This would seem to mean that if you activate a Light field of this hologrammed pattern around your physical body, that also extends through your body cells and anchors in your heart, you are indeed activating your true being of unconditional love."

May this article help you to some degree realize the importance and relevance of Qi meditation or related practices to our health, happiness and well being as conveyed by the saints and meditation masters. Traditionally, the great Masters imparted their teachings in secret to only a few, hand-picked disciples, however, because of their great love and empathy for humanity's disposition, they are now starting a new meditation revolution for students who are ready, therefore, let us be grateful for their teachings and contributions to alleviate humanity's suffering.

You can email me for comments, more information or to set up an appointment for Qi meditation instructions and initiation (or other TCM modalities) for health and enlightenment in my clinic. Like my American acupuncturist colleague Al Stone would say, "Pain is inevitabe, suffering (physical, mental, or emotional) is optional." I would add, "Without unconditional love (Merkaba), all else will fail."Please read Activating the Hologram of Love, Bond of Power, Philippines, the Mystical Land of Healers and Healing and Meditation Tour in the Philippines to know where to get more information about meditation.

May you have a happy new year full of hope, love and cheer. May the force (Qi) be with you.

Let the Divine Light, Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

Love in Service,
Sharanananda

December 20, 1997, Last Updated October 23, 1998

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