I recently had an e-mail exchange with a good friend and collaborator about handling the pressure of today’s life, balancing the professional and private demands with spiritual practice – and how to avoid getting one’s energy depleted. At the end of this correspondence he suggested, “You might consider sharing these tips in a blogpost. They will be helpful to others as well.” So here are extracts from our exchange.
It started with my friend sending me his proof-reading comments with the remark, “I apologize for the delay in getting back to you…” I know that he has tough times, and so I answered, “The doors of time sometimes don’t allow much passing through.”
He replied, “Your statement regarding the doors of time sometimes not allowing much to pass through is very true for me, at least for the past several months. These days there is lot of working piling up for me — both personally and at work — but not much is getting completed. I have been praying to improve my capability to handle things better. Any suggestions from your experience would be very beneficial for me.”
I then wrote him the following lines:
30 November 2012: Aries – Birth of a Diamond
“I know only too well these tight times, esp. during my professional years. For many years, I worked just 80% meaning 36 hs/week in my job to be able to care for the family and, more so, spiritual activities.
And now the time is again tight, the last months were. Each year, the rising half of the year, esp. Aries to Cancer, is speeding up.
The most important for me was to maintain the meditation schedule. And I split up my work, working on it rhythmically – meaning, I tried to use any minute available, was doing WTT correspondences / corrections during breaks at my office. I now do correspondences or activities demanding low concentration in side hours and try not to let myself be interrupted with non-essentials (there are many).
I try to prioritize: I can concentrate best for creative work of writing / researching (Lunar Messenger texts etc.) during the morning until noon, and again for a certain time after dinner. When I try to do it in the afternoon, it does not work. When I first do non-essential things, it is much more difficult to get to essential things later than the other way round.
I lose lot of time if there is not the right sequence, meaning when I am tired at a certain level – not much, it blurrs the access to clear thinking. In these times I either do non-prio activities, household activities, or I lay down for a short nap. Master Morya in his Agni Yoga teachings recommends to change regularly the topics with which one is active (instead of resting) to keep the mind freshly interested. Of course, relaxation and some time in nature, be it a park, a river or some green, gives back pranic/psychic energies.
This is most important to me, and if I don’t respect, my condition goes low. For me, about 10 minutes asanas in the morning (since many years, I just have the same sequence) are also most essential to feel well in the body, and thus with a better condition – these things are not time spent but enable to stay better stable.
Another thing is, I try to avoid “energy vampirism”, meaning I close my energy system (double pyramid visualisation for protection) before going into any kinds of mass assemblies (work, supermarkets, transportation); even in the car you are not immune. Keeping the protective aura stable (I had to learn this!) enables keeping the energy level higher. In any case of depletion, washing face (neck), arms and hands (quickly during work at the toilet) cleans away subtle dross. Good aeration is also essential, besides the light food and the spiritual alignment.
These are some thoughts to the topic energy management.”
My friend replied, “Wow! Thank you very much, Ludger for taking time to share all these practical, simple yet profound suggestions. I am doing some of these. I have been doing double pyramid once a day since you told me few years ago on a Skype call. It has been very helpful. I see your point in doing this more frequently than once a day. I will try to bring others into my routine as well.”
I would like to add an extract of my notes from the seminar of Master Kumar in Iguazú, lecture of 22 June 2018, morning. It is about building the protective double pyramid:
“As we attempt to build the personality in the temple there would be many elements which we call rogue elements. They try to obstruct, to destroy, to digress, to distract our pure intention to transform our personality into a temple. There are always forces in nature which are constructive and which are otherwise also. Nature contains varieties of forces. As much as there are beneficial forces there are also other forces which work contrary to self-transformation. They emerge from us on account of the deficiencies and weaknesses we have in us. Our weaknesses one by one get exposed and we start working with our personality; the undesirable, the weaknesses and limitations hidden in us would come up. When we boil the water the impurities emerge and by another boiling they are destroyed.
When we are on a journey to light there are elements of darkness which would like that we are not on the program of transforming ourselves. On the basis of our previous actions, thoughts and speeches they do not let us move forward. Therefore there is a regular ritual suggested to us every morning to build a diamantine temple around us so that there are no more digressive elements from the surroundings or from the past. We did many times prayers for the benefit of supporting the good intentions of the governments; we worked with the Diamantine Network from 2007 to 2014. It can be done by each one of us. We can be protected from within from the forces trying to attack us. Even when we are in the midst of a crisis or an accident, the accident does not have an impact on us. Even while a fire is around the fire does not touch is. We can do the ritual every day in the morning. It is conceived by the ancient most seers: We build a double pyramid of light so that nothing can touch us by way of untoward events. With an accident we even don’t get a scratch on the body. You do not get hurt by an accident, be it on the road, in a plane or a flight. You remain untouched by any element that attacks you. It is a beautiful Vedic ritual and it is done by all the knowers in the East as part of morning prayers.
The methodology is very simple: Stay oriented to the east either in a standing posture or in a sitting posture. Look to the east and visualise that a ray of light is passing from your heart center towards the east. Then you bow down to the east and the angel of the east and receive the light of the east into your heart. First you project through imagination a ray of light to the east. Then you bow down to the angel of the east and then you imagine that a beam of light is moving to the south. Imagine that a beam of light is emerging from your heart to the south and you bow down to the angel of the south. The energy of the south will come and join you in the heart center – in sitting posture you may imagine that the light is emerging from your heart and going to the south. In standing posture you can turn to the south. Then from the south the angel is blessing you and joins you in the heart.
Similarly you let an energy of light go to the west, bow down and receive a ray of light from the west into your heart.
Then you see a ray of light going to the north, you bow down and receive the ray of light into the heart.
Then you link up all the four directions. Then there is a square around you. From east to south, south to west, west to north. There is a field of light with beams all around. It is around you, by way of four right angles.
Then imagine that you are moving up vertically and bow down to the angel of that which is above. And then imagine that the energies from above are descending into you. Then connect the four directions to the light from above. It is the headlight. There is a pyramidal lighted dome that builds with your heart as the base. There is a pyramid built over you.
Then imagine that your energies are moving down below, connect all the four directions to what is down below you to your feet. You form another pyramid downwards. You are very much secured in this double pyramid. When this happens you have a lighted shield around you, when you regularly do it during the sunrise hours with the sun-rays. You have a dome upwards and a dome downwards. You are protected from the surroundings and from within and outside. You are at all times saved by this structure: I bow down to the east and the angel thereof, I bow down to the south/west/north and the angel thereof, then to the headlight up, then from below up.
It is regularly done by many people in the east; they chant it in Sanskrit. If you do it we are in the shell of light. The light is of diamantine nature; you are protected by a diamond all around us. This would allow not to fall into temptations all around us, nor the outer temptations can approach and affect you. In this insulated state you can build your temple without impediments.
Normally there would be many impediments or the other, starting from ill-health and personal karma. There would not. While the problems emerge, your practice would not be affected. Not that you would be protected from your karma. Your karma will not come into the way of your practice. Once your karma gets exhausted and slowly you build the temple, the temple becomes a place of service to the surroundings. You have the will to build a lighted temple. The six directions around them, a field of light around them, so that they are insulated within by which their practices are not infected. Even if you have a domestic problem your practice will not be affected. And the temple will be formed and the karma will not touch you. The karma will be exhausted and neutralised.
People say, “I am not very regular with my prayer, with my practices.” A small impediment, worldly influence will bring you off from your practice but the double pyramid will allow you to attend to the worldly duties.
There is a mantra called “let things wait”. This is possible only for those who work with light. Until your work with light is over, the problem would not come. When you have finished your practice you will attend to the purposes which need to be attended immediately.
Shirdi Sai Baba had the habit of living in a dilapidated mosque. He took his residence in that and from there he was doing his work. He had a fireplace in the corner where there burns fire day and night, now since over 140 years. There is another place where he made other preparations. He put his hand into boiling water to cook and serve the people. He did so for about 60 years. For special occasions he invited people from the village, prepared the food himself and served. Once while he was serving people the roof started giving way to fall. The people who took meal got fear and wanted to leave. He said, “The roof won’t fall.” Only few of them stayed there, took food and then he said, “You can go out,” and he also came out and said to the roof, “Now you can fall.”
That is the beauty of this practice, nothing will fall on you. If there is an impending accident, you would be averted of it. There are many such experiences when you work with this mantram. …
This practice will prevent you from falling into problems. You have to have complete faith. Through a small doubt the accidents may enter. … When you do this you are protecting the practice of light which you carry out, it will not be affected. … It is one beautiful practice. You have to do 6 utterances. It can be in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Telugu, without language. It is not the language which is important but the thought. Bow down to the east and imagine light entering from the east, then south, west, north, then you move up and down – even in the worst cases nothing will happen to you. The practice is given to those who are willing to build the temple within to be born again into light.”
3 August 2013: Sagittarius – Pre-Dawn Meditation