Flame Meditation

Entering the Cave of the Heart Mediation on the Flame Introduction The Cave of the Heart Meditation elaborates on Sutra 1:36. Patanjali describes a method of meditating on a light that is beyond all sorrow as on of the means to overcome all of the obstacles in the mind. This practice anchors us into this light. It is one of the key practices to settle us into the light of self-knowledge and prepares us to honor the best of our self and our practice. Practice Withdraw your mind from all external affairs. Be aware of your body and the space occupied by your body. Mentally check the position of your spine. Keep your head, neck, and trunk in a straight line. Make sure that you are breathing gently and smoothly and there is no noise and no jerk in your breath. Relax you whole body. For a few minutes just watch the natural flow of the breath. Once the mind settles . . . Offer your love, respect and gratitude to the Divine Light, the Inner Guiding Force that resides at the Guru Chakra — the center between your sixth and seventh chakras. This center is beyond the earthly plane, the sensory plane and our minds. The Divine Light and the guiding force residing here transcend all. In this center the sages, the great masters of light, live together in perfect harmony and oneness with the Absolute Divine Being. Sense a flame or inner light at the point between your eyebrows. Let the light of this flame at the Guru Chakra lead you to your heart. Follow the light into your heart center. The heart center is slightly to the left of the physical heart, and slightly below the sternum. Stand at the door which opens into the cave of the heart. Although the passage is dark you walk through guided by the light. At the end of the cave is a beautiful lake in which grows a blossoming lotus with eight petals. On each petal is a flame. Start with the flame in front of you. Mentally pray to the flame shining on this petal which is the earth element. “Through this manifestation, Oh Lord,

may I experience your oneness with the earth element. May the earth element, the solid matter within me and outside me, be nurtured by your presence and your healing power.” Now move clockwise to the next petal and the flame shining on it. Here pray to this flame, “Oh Lord of Life this flame is your manifestation of the water element. May I experience your oneness with this flame. May the water element within me be guided and nurtured by the Divine power that flows from you.” Then move on to the third petal and the flame shining on it. This flame is the manifest from of the Divine Light. “May I experience the oneness of the Divine with this flame, the fire element. May the fire element within me and outside me be nurtured and healed by that presence.” Now move to the forth petal and the flame shining on it which is the manifest form of the air element, the pranic force, the force of animation. “This flame is your manifestation, Oh Divine Being. May I experience your oneness with this flame. May the air element within me and in the world outside me be fully nurtured, guided and healed by thy intelligence and healing power.” Then come to the fifth petal and the flame shining on it. I extend my love and gratitude to this flame that is the space element. “May I experience thy oneness with this flame. May the space within me and outside me be guided and nurtured by thy intelligence and healing power.” Then come to the flame on the sixth petal. This flame is the sense of individuality, the small self, the individual self, which is also Thy manifestation, Oh Divine Light. “May I experience your oneness with my individual self. May the wall of duality that separates me from you dissolve. May this flame of the I-am-ness of my individual self be guided and nurtured by Thy Intelligence and healing power.” Now come to the seventh petal and the flame shining on it. This is the flame our

lunar energy, the feminine within us, the tenderness and kindness within. This is the forgiving, loving, embracing part of the Divine. “May I experience Thy oneness with this aspect of the Divine. May this tender, kind, lunar energy within me be guided and nutured by Thy intelligence and healing force.” Then come to the eighth petal and the flame shining on it.This is the flame of solar energy, the masculine energy of strength, vitality, will power, determination, and the indomitable will to do, to become, to be. “May I experience Thy oneness with this energy. May this form of yours within me and outside me be nurtured and guided by Thy intelligence and healing force.” Finally come the central flame.By this time all the other eight flames join each other in one big flame. This is totality of our known world, the totality of our existence. It is also one with the pure absolute Divine Being. “May the totality of this, my existence composed of earth, water, fire, air, space, individual consciousness, lunar and solar energy become one with you, the Divine Being. May this central flame in the Cave of the Heart, the Jiva Atman, the complete being within me and the Universal being outside me be nourished, nurtured, and guided by Thy intelligence and healing force.” Here you May offer your heart-felt prayers in your own language: Oh Divine Light, Sacred Flame, it is you that connect all hearts. It is you as the Divine Light that creates a bridge between individual soul and the Absolute Divine Being. Knowing this allows us to open to all and gives us strength and wisdom to embrace all and exclude none. May this Sacred Flame be experience by all of us as the Sacred Link connecting all aspects of reality within and outside us.” Pray to you mantra, your tradition, and all the saint and sages know and unknown to you. Pray to God. Pray to Goddess. Pay to you inner self to nurture this flame so that you may walk in the Light, so that you may never tumble in the darkness. With that prayer recall your mantra, recall the object of your mediation and begin to meditate.