Lesson Learned in Silence

On my lunch break today, I walked out to a small area with some trees, plants, very beautiful area. I sat down and began meditating and i realized ... or it came to me as a thought, "don't meditate here... people have been smoking. smoking brings in a lower vibration." Although it was very peaceful and no one was around, it was a smoker area, and so i picked up my things and walked off.

As I was walking I got my first lesson... I looked at a tree in this little area, and up through the leaves I saw the rays of the sun glitter. I realized that the Sun, like God, is above us, but the leaves of my restless mind obscure Him. But on occasion, the leaves part and His essence reaches me directly. Meditation would be the clearing of the leaves... where there is no obscuration to God.

As I sat down at a new location, devoid of smokers, and equally private, I had a wonderful experience where nature seemed to be teeming with life all around me.

There I got my second lesson:
According to "Karma & Reincarnation" by Paramhansa Yogananda there is a way to communicate with great saints: there's a visualization practice where one visualizes the spiritual eye as a brilliant star in a field of blue... and calling the saint into the Light.

At any rate, I got this message... I was thinking "boy i really want to be out of debt... that's what I really need." and I got a surprising answer... "The only reason you want to get out of debt, it to have less reliance on God... and to have more reliance on the world." How true it was. it cut to the heart of the matter.

While I sat, the wind carried a little feather, it flew right to me. I took it and put it in my book on Karma and Reincarnation. As I walked back to work I got this inspiration that the feather represented the bird no longer needing to use the small feathers and let it go, to gain a bigger, stronger feather. So to, I have grown from old ways to take on new spiritual ways.

Finally I watched the movements of a very bizarre creature. perhaps a worm. 2 inches in length perhaps, thin as a thick hair... and moved around the table where I sat. I watched his endless movements... tapping with it's head for solid ground, then lurching forward... repeating the process over and over... amazing. I felt connected to the strange creature.

What a wonderful and rejuvinating lunch break.

Praying for a Bird... and it responds!

Today I was at work. Took a break. Walked to one of our kitchen areas and got a cup of coffee. I walked to a window that looks out to the backside of the building and looked into the tree's outside. I saw a tiny little bird with something small in it's beak. Further out I saw a janitorial worker taking trash out of a trashcan.

It hit me that we all are so similar. Here I was, the man and the bird - all working for our livelihood. I began to pray for a blessing upon the bird and upon the man. As I silently prayed for the bird - it did the most unusual thing!

It flew to the ledge where the windows was I'm looking out of. There are 4 or so large windows here, so the fact it flew to where I was was odd to me. It then proceeded to watch me with his eye... and fly up a little bit and gently peck at the glass between us. He watched my hand movements as i put the coffee down and just stood there with me - until another bird flew in.

I found it quite fascinating. I wonder if animals pick up on prayer or positive energy?