Start of the Day: What the Spiritual Masters Say

Start of the day is when we want everything to go smoothly for us. The productivity of getting a task done, the milestones involved, the effort of teams or maybe supportive systems - a lot is at stake whether you are working or managing the home.

Start of the day: What the Spiritual Masters Say
The ancient, wise men who guarded Indian traditions and beliefs knew what they were talking about even back then. They knew how important it is to start the day with a sense of awareness and mindfullness, something we are all struggling with. In fact, many of us don't even wake up peacefully. However, the Hindu scriptures clearly differentiate between following a spiritual master and following an Avatar. That would take me several posts to write so I am not getting into that.

The spiritual masters I have researched about include Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Ramakrishna Paramanhansa, Swami Vivekananda, and several Buddist spiritual leaders. But please note that while I am not a follower or disciple of these great masters. I am deeply inspired by ways they prescribed and I like to compare it to my own spiritual experiences and beliefs. As a result, it helps me to research and keep track of how they interpreted their spiritual experiences and how they liked to approach the start of the day

We wake up with a sense of rush. Rushing to get things done, rushing to beat the traffic and reach office on time, it is a constant rush we wake up with. That is a false sense of duty that calls out to us. If we haven't had a good start of the day, things go awry. Don't they? But that is also because we didn't prioritize our duties correctly.

But you know what? I liked this thought that perks me up at the start of the day. There's a Sanskrit saying, "A duty that comes into conflict with another is not a true duty at all." This means that if you are working at the expense of your health, it's not your true duty that you are demonstrating but a false sense of it. You have a duty towards your body - to maintain it well and take care of it with proper rest, food and sleep.

In the same way, whenever you are engaged in doing something, make sure it doesn't conflict with other duties. For example, if you are working very hard but ignoring the basic etiquette of maintaining important relationships in your life like that with your spouse, your parents, your close friends, etc, then you are ignoring the social fabric that keeps your life meaningful. Any duty that you percieve to come into conflict with another cannot be considered as a 'real duty.'

Start of the day: PRAY
Here's what I like to do at the start of the day. Before getting up in the morning, I always pray for a few minutes. There's no formula to follow. I just pray to God and seek His blessings before I start the day. This means before I get out of bed, I do my prayer. It makes me feel more peaceful before I start my tasks. It gives me an opportunity to sync with my higher self and acknowledge that I am not the actual Doer but I am the instrument that needs to be pretty good and focused at what tasks lie ahead for me. Praying also eliminates any negative energy or thoughts or feelings that I may otherwise begin the day with.

Always remember, once your feet touch the ground, your spiritual energy that is replenished in your sleep gets absorbed by the earth's vibrations that are very strong due to the pull of gravity. That is why people are advised to sit in padmasana with some sheet or some prayer mat while they pray. The body's spiritual energy reserves are easily absorbed by direct contact with the earth. The smartest way to conserve your sleep-replenished spiritual energy is to pray before your feet touch the ground first thing in the morning. THIS IS NOT MY PERSONAL FINDING. THIS IS WHAT SPIRITUAL MASTERS ADVISE. Following this has helped me a lot.

Just as start of the day is important, the way you go back to sleep is equally very important. According to spiritual masters, sleep is a form of temporary death. The only difference between sleep and death is that in sleep, your soul travels back to your body within an acceptable time frame so that your body can be fully energized for the following day. In death, the soul does not return. It goes back to its Origin. Therefore, sleep and the quality of sleep are important for those who are spiritual. It is also believed in metaphysical science that sleep is when your soul can travel with immense power to any place or any person you are attached to or strongly connected to.

I have read Buddhists who say that they start the day with something very mindful. For example, while drinking a glass of water, they'd say, "This is the elixir of life and youth and God's kindness. This will keep me alive and energized as God's elixir of life for the whole day." The power of your thought can make that plain glass of water become something more. That is what the Buddists say. Practice every breath that you take with meaningful mindfullness. Be aware of who you really are versus who you think you are.

For kids, the best way to ignite their minds is to teach them to thank God every morning and every night. Adi and I say our prayers together. It makes us feel so good to start our day like that and also to end our day with lots of love to God.

To ensure that in your sleep, you are energized and stay blessed, you must offer a prayer to God, thanking Him for the day that He blessed you with, the little things His love showed itself in and expressing your gratitude is the most beautiful way to say good bye to the day that was because that day doesnt come again ever in your life.

Each day at the start of the day, you are reborn because each night your soul comes back to your body and gives you life. Thank God every morning that He has kept you alive, given you the power to breathe in and breathe out and blessed you with that one gift no onelse can give you - the power of life. Thank God every morning and every night. It may not give you a perfect start or a perfect end. But you'll see how the quality of awarness and mindfullness comes to you more naturally when you sync with your Higher Self.  But one thing, don't do this for God. Do it because you love your self. Do it because you also have a duty to nurture your self. Have a fantastic start to all your days.

But hey, tell me, how do you love to start your day?