What is Contemplative Practice?

You may ask: "How am I to declare, Aham Brahmasmi (I am Divine)?” Yes, you can do so. But, first understand the Aham, the ‘I’, the Divine Principle. Scriptures declare - Ekam Eva adhvitheyam Brahma - The Absolute is One without a second. Though people worship the Absolute with different names and forms, the Supreme Reality is only one. Just as the same person is called in different names by different people at different times, God has many names and forms - all these are creations of the human mind. Scriptures emphatically declare that the Lord is the nameless and attributeless Eternal Reality. Understand properly the true and Divine nature of the Aham ('I'). The ‘I’ is the master of your body, senses and the intellect, and is the power that permeates the entire cosmos. (Baba)

How do we get the right answers?

We can ask Swami how he can declare, Aham Brahmasmi, it is the truth we find in Veda, he is the embodiment of Veda and he proves the truth by his divine presence of the Scriptures. And he doesn’t ask us to only believe it, he ask us to make the same experience.

To make that experience we have to understand the Aham, the ‘I’, but we see in the ‘I’ in the body only and therefore, whenever we think ‘I’ it is the body and we think automatically that the other is doing the same, the mind is the same, therefore Baba tells us.

You are not one person, you are three: (1) the one you think you are, (2) the one others think you are, and (3) the one you really are. That is your real nature. (Baba)

What is contemplative practice?

Sai Baba's Speech on Contemplation

Contemplative practices is a distinctive focus, the direct experience of an object, while at other times it is more the concentration on ideas or on situations. Incorporated into daily life, it is a reminder to that what we find most meaningful.

Contemplative practices are realistic, essential, and transformative, it is developing our capacities for deeper concentration and quieting the mind in the midst of action without being distracted by the ups and downs of everyday life. It results in a state of calm inner focus and centeredness and it helps to explore meaning, purpose and values. Contemplative practice can develop the heart and communication skills, it improves our focus and attention, reduces stress and enhance creativity, it is supportive to a loving and compassionate approach to life.

Contemplative practices are usually varied. They depend on our traditions all over the world.

Examples of contemplative practices include various forms of meditation, focused thought, time in nature, writing, contemplative arts, and contemplative movement.

Some people find that active, physical practices, like yoga or chi gong work best for them.

Others find it more in inside and silent practices, like meditation. Some people find that rituals rooted in a religious or cultural tradition soothe their soul. We should for ourselves discover out contemplative practice, in whatever form is best for,  it will enrich our life and work.

The contemplative practice we find here is in writing and the focus is on the divine words. How it is done?

We take Swami’s words, like the thought for the day for example and we think it over sentence by sentence and we write down what comes to our mind by doing it.

We will be projected in our own life and situations in our past and we have to think it over in the light of Baba’s words as it is all in our mind, but by doing it we automatically make it come up and we notice later on that it gets transformed.

What happens by that is an inner transformation, it keeps our focus on his words and we find answers and the situation in the past in a totally different light depending to our experiences and we are not surprised if it looks totally different to what we thought it was before.

In that contemplation we go back to the essence and begin to write our life story new and we find it in the light of our own inner higher self and it will look different than it was during the time we experienced it as real in the mind and often it comes as a kind of surprise that it looks all different in the inner view and out of the light of our own self than it looked before.

We go on with that practice no matter what obstacles are there and the obstacles will come up and he tells us to be aware of the obstacles and we just go on and with practice we begin to get deeper into the value of it. 

By listening to his words, what is reflected is the wisdom and it is the same as in the Veda and we get familiar with it and by that we are getting aware that the same wisdom is reflected in our own self. 

It is not only about contemplation and constant practice on the divine, but it is about self-realization, we realize that we are the same self and there is no difference between the higher self. He is that, I am that, we are that.