"Why Should I Meditate" Half-Day Retreat in West Los Angeles, USA

 A half-day retreat for Rajayoga practitioners (Brahma Kumaris) was held at the Olympic Collection, in West Los Angeles, Southern California, USA, with BK Sister Shivani, world-renowned speaker. The retreat was hosted by the Brahma Kumaris of Los Angeles and Seal Beach, California.  The program started with meditation, creating welcoming and wonderful vibrations, followed by a poem recited by BK Vivek and the introduction of BK Sister Mary from Chicago, a practicing yogi and teacher for over 30 years.  She shared with the students a few of her spiritual experiences and journey, followed by a meditation commentary.
Next, BK Vivek welcomed Sister Shivani and Sister Chandru, Director of the Brahma Kumaris, West Coast, USA, by reading a Hindi poem. The poem’s translation is “We have waited for this special guest for so long, light was already here but real light came now.”
Sister Chandru shared: It is now, the time, for us to tell people to wake up to the 5 vices and to their own truth, or else, time will be too short to tell people and to help them out. This is the time. In America we are celebrating 40 years of service.
Next, Sister Shivani asked everyone if we feel the difference between meditating at home and in the gathering? It is the same self, same God and same technique of meditation, but is there a difference in the result?  So, what is the difference?  And some participants replied: Atmosphere, vibrations.
She then elaborated, stating, “When we are in a gathering, a thought is created that we can do it, then we manifest the thought that we can do it, such that those who cannot do it can also do it. So, someone creates a thought that “you CAN do it.” The thought gets radiated to the body, a thought frequency gets created and even those who cannot meditate, can also do it.
At home, the mind creates a thought that you can’t do it, which gets radiated to the body such that you start believing that you cannot do it. So the easiest way to meditate is doing it in a gathering, when everyone else is doing it. At home, we are not alone. There are other minds at home too. So, minds not doing meditation influence us at home. This is a remarkable equation to be noted: minds who influence us when we do not know how to meditate, and then the minds who are not meditating can also influence us. So, when meditation is new to someone, it should not be done alone. This is because, doing it alone, will create a thought of “It cannot be done.”
God says to get up at 4:00 AM and meditate. Why does God say 4:00 AM?  It is because all other minds at that time are sleeping.  Family is sleeping, the city is sleeping, the country is sleeping. Those who sleep early get up around 5:00-6:00 AM and those who go to bed late, are asleep at 4:00 AM. So, you will have less interruptions and low frequencies around you.
Why should I meditate?
Sister Shivani shared that every religion says to remember One God. The first question she asked upon arriving to the center was why remember only Him? Does one not have other important people to remember?
So, if I remember a sister, then my thinking will be connected to the mind of that specific sister that I am remembering. So whatever state of mind that sister will be in, will influence my state of mind too. So if the other person is angry or upset or worried at that time, this will affect my state of mind just by remembering the other person. Like a website, you download the other person’s state of mind by remembering the other person.
Meditation means I think of only God. “Remember Me” means we do not remember anyone else. If I think of Baba, I am logged onto His website of happiness. All His data is therefore downloaded. Otherwise one wrong click will result in downloading something else that we do not need. So once we meditate we want to download peace which is the right and elevated vibration, otherwise we download all the wrong vibrations.
The program ended with a closing meditation, and the distribution of toli (sweet) and blessing cards to all.