It is said in the Vedic scriptures that God manifests himself as eight basic qualities: light, sound, wisdom, power, calmness, peace, love, and bliss. In meditation we attune ourselves to these qualities, any one of which can help us experience great expansion of consciousness.
Practice Hong-Sau or one of the techniques from the last lesson (visualization, prayer, or chanting) until you have become still and focused. Maintain the direction of your inner gaze toward the point between the eyebrows. Now, choose one of the qualities mentioned above and feel, very sensitively, for its presence within. We will use peace in the following example. As you perceive a sense of peace, try to deepen the feeling. Allow peace to expand by concentrating with “relaxed effort.” It may help, in the beginning, to use a simple affirmation such as “I feel peaceful, I am peace” or “Om shanti” to crystallize the feeling, but gradually try to go beyond words into the feeling itself. As the feeling of peace deepens, identify with it. In other words, define yourself not as your personality but as peace itself. Continue deepening this state and hold onto it for as long as you can.
Complete absorption in God or one of His qualities is the last stage of meditation, and it is not necessary to practice further techniques at this point. To commune with one of God’s qualities is to commune with God Himself, who manifests through these vibrations.
After communing wordlessly with the vibrations of peace, thoughts will eventually come into your mind once again. This is a good time to send your blessings to the world. Visualize peace spreading outward in ever-expanding circles. Let it touch everything and everyone. Let the whole planet be bathed in your universal peace.
