The silence that transforms

It took close to two years of my own journey to integrate my experience with the Brama Kumaris group. I accidentally came upon their Meditation branch in Bagtikan Street, Makati at a time in my life when I wanted to learn more about meditation and how to meditate. I was in that point of my spiritual search where I wanted to try everything and experience any possible spiritual discipline that I could fully connect to answer to the thirst for spiritual knowledge that was burning inside me.

Walking in and later joining the daily meditations taught me a precious gift: that of open-eyed one-pointed meditation focused on the source of Light, which they called Raja Yoga. But more than this practice, there was a predominant shift in my mind about the nature of Soul and that we are all Beings of Light. Yes it was a mind shift that happened, aside from the experiential part of peace and tranquility that meditation gave me. It broke my expectation that Meditation will make me find abundant and perpetually at peace in this sort of plastic bubble of tranquility that suffering cannot penetrate. What I found out as I have stayed with the practice through the years, and modified meditation into my own very personal practice, is that it’s not about abolishing pain and suffering, but rather, honing our heart’s response to it. It helps us see our personal dramas from another perspective. Meditation also brings the awareness that we don’t have to live in a cave or reject the world as we know it to be a genuine spiritual aspirant.

I have never regretted that experience and always look back on it with fondness. Many years after, when people would talk BK like a “cult” (everyone was in white!) I would laugh and shake my head at how so many people in our predominantly Catholic-Christian country are still so closed to the idea that there are so many other ways of seeking spirituality. I guess this is the same mindset how, in parts of the Muslim world, the practice of yoga has been banned in their states. Or how other church based groups cringe when one speaks of a Unified and Accelerated Energy Field when science begins to try to meet with what spirituality may define as “divine.”

These preconceived notions, definitions and doctrines are all of the mind. Real spirituality takes us OUT OF THE MIND, into the experience of SPIRIT (that all encompassing presence of Oneness) and of SOUL (our individual energetic blueprint that comes from SPIRIT). In the study of the evolution of consciousness today, it is clear that it doesn’t matter what practice you choose but that this practice must transform you, elevate you and bring you closer to a state of enlightenment. I believe that enlightenment comes when the “fruits of the Holy Spirit” as the Catholics say, arises such as love and peace, akin to the Buddhist compassion and the universal idea of love and the brotherhood of men. Or when Daoists understand the Way, or when yogis touch the True Self.

The subtlety of transformation is worked on best in silence. OK, cathartic life changes and painful lessons will definitely change us, but there is something that can really be said about the transformation in silence. This is where meditation comes in. And this is where the practice of any faith-based religion or spirituality group comes together. They all agree that we need to go into silence, into some form of inner work and reflection, into a centering prayer or a quiet time.

The Brama Kumaris group call themselves a World Spiritual University. They are an international 74-year-old NGO organization with a consultative status with the United Nations and a seven-time recipient of the UN Peace Messenger Awards. BK teaches meditation, soul awareness and everyday spirituality in weekly programs and talks they offer to the general public. And anyone can join for free in any of their centers in Makati, Quezon City, Manila and even the provinces. But what is exciting is when the whole community comes together and resonate the whole feeling of positive love and light. Tomorrow, Charlie Hogg Head of the BK Australia will come to talk at Onstage Theater in Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center. He says, “Peace is a state of mind, and the collective power of humanity is centered in our mind. Meditation is the simple tool that anyone can use to create peace of mind. It’s our personal and powerful contribution to global well-being.” In the same manner, another inspirational event is being held on June 7 at Gateway Suites, Gateway Mall Araneta Center Cubao focused on the theme “I am Change.” It is a rally call for true empowerment... that if we seek change in our country, it must begin from a level of personal transformation of shifting the mind, to see life from the eyes of the spirit. International Peace advocate and meditation teacher Maureen Chen (Justice of the Peace in Australia) will be the main speaker. She was appointed as the moderator of the Hong Kong network on Religion and Peace and chairperson of the Unity for Peace. She chaired the Million Minutes of Peace Appeal and Global Cooperation for a Better World Project in Hong Kong, working with 120 countries around the globe. During this event, singer Timmi Cruz and myself are invited to share our experiences of individual empowerment to effect positive changes.

There is no one path, but all these different paths lead up to the top of the mountain to see the elevated view. Check out this specific path of community gatherings of Light and Love.

(Both Brama Kumaris events are open to the public for free. Call 414-9421, e-mail question@ph.bkwsu.org or visit www.bkwsu.org.)

(Also, my Living Awake series of booklets (with titles Shift your Mind!, Relationships Revisited and D.I.Y Spirituality) are now available at major branches of National Bookstore, Fully Booked and ECHOstore Sustainable Lifestyle.)