On Words of Light

Tags

awareness, celebration, darkness, diwali, light, words

It is the final day of the final lunar fortnight of the year (according to the Hindu calendar) and I sit in the low slant of the fading light of autumn as the sun starts to descend behind the trees in the distance.

The sunrise tomorrow (November 4th) will herald a new moon, a new fortnight, and will set off celebrations of the “Festival of Lights” (Diwali) for hundreds of millions in India and those of Indian origin across the world. It is perhaps apropos to note that this year’s Diwali festival comes after a year of particularly deep pain, darkness and suffering in India, due to the ravages of COVID-19 earlier this year.

However, as is light’s wont, it cannot be hidden for long by even the deepest of darknesses. Spiritual teachers and texts often remind us that we have the capacity to accept whatever comes our way with grace, as divine grace. We also have the infinite capacity to learn to lean into the permanence of light, even though we tend to forget the Infinite when we get caught up the impermanence of darkness. Light is often merely a word away.

Joy, Love, Hope, Grace, Peace, Truth, Giving, Health, Purity, Kindness, Gratitude, Lightness, Simplicity, Equanimity. How do you feel when you read any of these words, or speak any of them? I posit that every single one of these words elevates your heart, mind and spirit in some way, however small. If it elevates you, then every single word like say, JOY, becomes a bearer of the energy that can transform this moment for you into LIGHT.

Try it some time. When darkness tends to weigh on you, first say to yourself, ‘this is impermanent’. Then, say out loud (or within your heart) a single word like JOY. Repeat. What if you could create a regular practice that engages you in light-filling actions and leads you to light-fulness? What if the next time you go for a walk, or watch the sunset or sunrise, or drink a cup of tea, or are folding the laundry, or washing the dishes… you were to repeatedly say to yourself… JOY, LOVE, PEACE. Joy, Love, Peace. joy, love, peace.

Imagine that every moment were to become an awareness of the permanence of the light within you, and a celebration of the source of that light. You would then celebrate the sunsets for the stars that they reveal, and life’s dark turns for the grace of light that awaits. Like a fish in the ocean that knows no separation from the water, you would then know no separation from light.

It’s time for me to return to my tea and watch the fireworks that the sunset is surely going to set off among the clouds. It’s time to light the evening lamp to welcome the year of light arriving with tomorrow’s sunrise.

Joy. Love. Peace.

Kumud

P. S. Join us for our weekly Twitter chat, Sunday November 7 at 9am EST / 730pm India (time change in India due to shift to Standard Time in the USA). We will celebrate the light in our lives, and bring some light to those who may need it. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Joy. Love. Peace. A celebration of Light…

Transformative Energy of Words

Tags

empowerment, energy, language, transformation, words

What feelings and emotions come to your heart and mind when you read or hear the single word, Mother? The reactions among different people may range from positive to negative, to perhaps neutral. The reaction to that single word depends on the life experiences that we may have had in relationship to the person(s) which that word represents. 

Now, let me modify the word to “Mother Mary”. What feelings and emotions come to your heart and mind now? Are they different from the single word, “Mother”? The shift in the power and energy that the two words “Mother Mary” evoke probably depends on whether you have a Christian background and/or have friends of that denomination. If I were to ask the same question of a tribal who lives in the Amazon rainforest, what would their response, if any, be? And what about words like Durga and Kali, which evoke the divine feminine who is currently being celebrated in ‘a nine days and nights festival‘ in India?

The spiritual power of certain words, phrases, combination of words as prayers, mantras, and such, is well established. There is a scientific basis for the power and ability of words to convey certain energy. The basis of word power and energy is the mechanism of vibration. At the particle level, we are all atomic, vibratory beings. So, it would be natural that the vibrational energy of words would affect us in certain ways. In addition, certain words and prayers, repeated millions of times by cultures over time, attain special significance and energy. One such word which has spread universally from Indian (or Vedic) culture is AUM (or OM). Are there words or prayers that have achieved ‘special energy’ status in your language or culture?

Words, particularly when spoken in the language of the listener, confer thought, ideas, meaning and transformative power – Swami Sarvadevananda

The ability of certain words to affect us negatively, when spoken in a language which we can understand, is also powerful. The power of their words to send us almost instantly into a state of anger, dismay, rage, even hatred, has been felt by many of us. This is where our spiritual practices can help us. If we learn to keep track of our ‘trigger’ words and the situations in which we are particularly vulnerable to those triggers, we can take action. We can align and harmonize our practices to set up ‘early warning systems’ for such words, people and situations. ‘Trigger-word’ awareness is a bit like being the ‘squawker goose’ in the flock of geese sitting in the middle of the river who alerts the flock that a human has been sighted on the shore!

So, words have power, energy and the capability to set off positive, negative or neutral vibrations within us. By choosing words which empower and energize us, we are likely to empower and energize those in our energy field. By repeatedly choosing words and word combinations which enhance our own spiritual well-being, we can transmit universal positive and healing energy. Let us be empowered to speak healing words, or simply keep our silence. Such awareness and practice would be a sign of spiritual growth, yes?

Kumud

P.S. Today’s blog post was inspired by a talk titled ‘The Science of Mantra” given by Swami Sarvadevananda of the Vedanta Society of Hollywood in Cleveland on September 22 2019. It inspired a lot of questions about ‘word power and energy’, and I look forward to sharing some of those questions with you in our weekly twitter chat. Join us, Sunday Oct 6 at 9amET in #SpiritChat – bring your ‘power words’ and ‘trigger words’ to share. Namaste – @AjmaniK

what words does this photo evoke? what energy do they transmit to you?