Reflecting and Meditating on Verses of Sacred Texts
Reading spiritual texts can be a great source of motivation, inspiring us and opening our minds to new approaches and thoughts. Most people read these texts in order to learn something new, which is a valid reason, though such information stays only on intellectual level if it is not understood with the faculty of intuition or grasped by the sufficient free consciousness that an individual have, though as such abilities depend on spiritual level, not everyone can get those insights when reading a book. Nonetheless, when a book is read consciously, a lot may be gained from it.
In these modern times, spirituality has become a multi-billion dollar industry, which sadly waters down true knowledge on how to achieve lasting spiritual change and self-realization of the Being. There is a very small number of authors who are sufficiently developed to be able to write from experience, that have understood spirituality on a deeper level and can objectively convey spiritual truths. However, the ancient sacred texts that survived suppression and destruction are mostly of a different kind to modern books, as back then spirituality was often deemed more important than it is today.
Many of the ancient sacred texts have been written by those who are spiritually advanced (or by their disciples), and some texts have probably sprung from different sources in higher dimensions, which is why reading such genuine spiritual texts can awaken things within us that are useful for the inner work; they can for example act upon the consciousness and awaken the faculties of intuition, clairvoyance, direct cognition etc. It depends of course on the state we are in when we read them, which is why it is useful to be in as clear state as possible if we wish to gain some deeper understanding from them.
There are many ancient texts from various traditions that are endowed with spiritual qualities that can be picked up when in the state of self-remembrance, with consciousness active and present. Some of those texts are the four Gospels, Bhagavad Gita, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Nag Hammadi scriptures, some Sufi, Hermetic and Kabalistic texts, Upanishads, Popol Vuh, and many others. Some of these texts are easier to read than others; we may notice that some we can read with great ease, as if this is not the first time we study them. We should pick up the scriptures that we feel drawn to, as this is an indicator that our deeper nature is ready to receive something from them. What we receive from them does not necessarily have to be some incredible revelation, it may just be a unique feeling that we don’t at first comprehend, but that it shows us a certain value of the text we read. As we progress, this feeling can be developed through such study and the inner work in general, eventually bringing us to development of spiritual faculties with which we can later study a lot of things pertaining to spirituality.
I find that meditating and reflecting on paragraphs or verses of genuine spiritual texts can be of great value for the consciousness. Just reading them when in a proper state of consciousness has a great effect, and how much more so when actually reflecting or meditating on them! To do that, it is good to choose a verse that awakens an interest within us, that we feel drawn to understanding its meaning.
One can do a simple reflection while reading sacred texts, by pausing, closing your eyes and bringing the verse or paragraph to the mind, observing it with the consciousness, with intention to discover its (deeper) meaning. Often time such texts have been written to speak to us on different levels – moral/physical, religious (devotional), and spiritual esoteric. Another way is to memorize the verse or paragraph you want to look into, and take it to meditation. This could make you gain even more from it due to spending more time on it and because in meditation you can reach a deeper state of consciousness.
Both ways rely on the same dynamic – to have the consciousness active and the mind serene while reflecting or meditating. In such a state, the consciousness can extract deeper meaning from the text, supported by the Being who can help by overseeing the effort. As the consciousness increases in the inner work and as more and more parts of the Being are incarnated, it becomes easier to get much more from ancient sacred texts, especially when we have Atman (Spirit) and Christ within us, as these parts connects us to a much larger whole of the Creation and to the Absolute.
The ancient sacred texts, and some genuine modern spiritual books, are a great gift for our inner work. Even if we don’t understand what they mean, reading, reflecting and meditating on them act on our consciousness by creating ripples in it that bring our spiritual nature more prominently to the surface, it brings the above-mentioned feeling to the surface, and this can guide us in life and the inner work.
HDP, March 2022.
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