Sakshibhav: Witness the New Year with a Heart-filled Mind
Sakshibhav Meditation empowers one to step back from an external event; being aware of it all and not getting engaged or identified with it.
Sakshibhav, or Witnessing, Meditation
We all scurry to welcome the New Year carrying with us the baggage of our past. What if instead we hugged our past goodbye and tried something different to find peace in our lives? Witnessing, or Sakshibhav Meditation works with believers and nonbelievers alike. The daily practice of this meditation has empowered many from around the world to step back from an external event, a thought attack from inside, any physical ailment, or psychological imbalance to enter a state of equilibrium; being aware of it all and not getting engaged or identified with it.
All our suffering begins the moment we get unconsciously involved with the thought process and emotional patterns and take it personally. This meditation gives us the scope to just witness it happening in the biological or mental screen while not participating. We see it all as if it were colored clouds passing over the inner space of our mind-body, where we are the clear blue sky that remains ever unscathed.
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream” ~~ Kahlil Gibran
As we approach the New Year 2020, let’s give a big hug goodbye to all the memories of our yesterdays that taught us the transitory nature of our peripheral life and the benefits of our abiding in a soulful life. Let’s live today as if today is the first and the last day of our life so that it releases us from the dream state so we can enter the awakened state, where we witness life in its fullness, in its totality.
Witnessing, as an art and practice of awareness, helps us release all that binds and minces us in the very grinder of our own mind, stuck with unresolved problems or hurtful memories of the past. Whatever we resist or react to, that very situation or person keeps robbing us of our inner peace. Even if a million other things go right in our life, time, and again we are drawn into that piercing thought pattern that only makes us feel so vulnerable and helpless! These certain relationships or other patterns of external life are so stubborn that however much we fight and invest our emotions, we feel more and more tired and depressed.
How do we get out of these challenging situations of our inner and outer environment? Witnessing, or Sakshibhav Meditation works with believers and nonbelievers alike. The daily practice of this meditation has empowered many from around the world to step back from an external event, a thought attack from inside, any physical ailment, or psychological imbalance to enter a state of equilibrium; being aware of it all and not getting engaged or identified with it. All our suffering begins the moment we get unconsciously involved with the thought process and emotional patterns and take it personally. That is the agony part! This meditation gives us the scope to just witness it happening in the biological or mental screen while not participating. We see it all as if it were colored clouds passing over the inner space of our mind-body, where we are the clear blue sky that remains ever unscathed.
When we move inward, quietly witnessing our mind, surfing our breaths, and surrendering to the moment, we are the Sakshi, the witness, of the magic of life in its natural state! But when we get obsessed with thoughts of some golden time in the future while losing the opportunities that the present moment gifts us, we forget that our Self is not out there, but in the stillness of our witnessing mind.
Therefore, we need to be mindful to be here and now. To be Sakshi, the Witness. To be that love and compassion that we are. Mindfulness is to be here and now, not in some past memories or future worries. Mindfulness is to do one thing at a time with loving attention, enjoying the doing as if it is done through us, and as the non-doer, witnessing it being done!
As we practice Sakshibhav meditation, our brain learns to handle one thing at a time. Many times situations arise, and we are stuck with a problem of indecisiveness. Often decisions taken in haste create unpleasant consequences. All these situations remind us of the deep need for a culture of concentration and attention. From the crowd state we come to a calm state of mind. From an unconscious life of default we move to awakened consciousness. Thus Sakshibhav meditation is awakening to a divine life on earth. The peaceful life of love and harmony for all.
The daily practice of this meditation gives us mastery over our uncontrolled behavior. Yes, old habits do persist, but they do not consume us. The practice of awareness keeps us rooted in the present and not imprisoned in the past. We gradually grow out of the need for judgment and reactivity. A calm, witnessing mind is always loving and compassionate. And only a calm, witnessing mind can grant us the boon of happiness and peace.
Let 2020 be a year of our commitment to live a higher life, not repeating the past, but learning from it. Through Sakshibhav meditation practice, let us live life to the fullest and create a happy future for ourselves and all others on this beautiful planet Mother Earth.
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About the Author
Bodhi Shuddhaanandaa (formerly Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari, India): Globally acclaimed spiritual teacher with 40 years of meditation experience, author, and visionary social advocate; founded Lokenath Divine Life Mission, 1985, which serves thousands of poverty-stricken individuals. Received Lifetime Achievement Award, House of Lords, UK, 2015.
