28. Februar 2024 – by Verena di Bernardo
Recently in Daniel’s Satsang, a participant asked how she could remain in a state of detachment experienced during meditation in her everyday life. Her question spoke to me from the heart, as I too had often noticed a separation between what I experienced in meditation and my being and acting in daily life.
Daniel replied: “In our meditation space, the charged and pure place for our inner contemplation, we can be undistracted in our immediate experience and withdraw completely into awareness. There we let the outer world disappear. However, when we participate in the world with its social structures, we encounter expectations, demands and ideas. Of course, this is different from meditation: to a certain degree we have to be conscious of the world, otherwise we will not be able to function in it in a meaningful way.
In everyday life, we accept that we fall back on what we have learned. However, when our attention is fully in the world, being conditioned within ordinary consciousness swallows us up. It is therefore crucial how we perceive external influences. When we pay attention to immediate experience, we discover that everything in us appears, lingers and disappears momentarily as part of us. In connection with this liveliness, we create the best conditions for cultivating awareness in the midst of everyday life.”
In the world, but not of the world
Daniel’s answers are never simplistic or detached, as I have often heard in other spiritual contexts. He doesn’t spout ideals, but really goes into the experience of the individual, picks them up right there and leads them into their own felt and connected understanding of truth.
“In meditation – in your secluded, sacred place – open yourself again and again to the momentary in order to preserve the eternally present awareness when you participate in the world again. So you can be in the world, but not of the world.
In meditation, it is as if we fold in the “being in the world”, as soon as worldly obligations are there, a part simply folds out again. But regardless of whether it folds in or out – something is there and open all the time. Always. Even in everyday life, we stay awake to what is happening inside and see what our attention is focused on all the time. Especially when you are facing challenges in your life, pause every now and then – every hour or two for a few minutes – and ask yourself: What is happening inside me right now? Can I accept it and give it space?”
Truthful existence
Daniel’s practical instructions always flow directly into life, they are alive and are never limited to a quiet room or time on a meditation cushion. They spread into our entire existence as a constant practice. The questions he asks us awaken a deep longing to come ever closer to our own inner truth and ultimately to realize it within ourselves:
“Is it possible to experience your own guru in your heart as your own divine self? This means: Do we have access to our deep heart wisdom while we are in the world in which our body-mind operates? Are we living a truthful existence because we follow what corresponds to our immediate experience and not what our mind tells us? Are we simultaneously in the world and not of the world?”
The path of practice…
Listening to Daniel in satsang, his answers feel like a constant being picked up from the moment – again and again he emphasizes in slightly different words how important the commitment to practicing sincerely is: “The more we can say goodbye to the outer world in silent meditation and return home as fully as possible, the more we experience complete nourishment. As a result, we no longer seek it in the outer world and our attention can remain withdrawn.
Without attachment, without being driven by power, lust or recognition, for example, we can be and remain with ourselves. Be mindful of tendencies and do not accept the invitations that cause you to lose yourself in the world. In order for spiritual practice and everyday life to intertwine, you should not become “one of this world”!
… as a life force
There are certain exercises that help us in everyday life: One of them is to be with our breath again and again. In this way, in the midst of everyday life, we can feel this original force that animates everyone and allows everything to exist. When we are in touch with this deep existential experience, something unshakeable comes into our consciousness. Therefore, pause again and again and be close to this power. Keep choosing to focus on your breath while your body and mind function in the world. Pay attention to what flows through your heart and what moves it. Don’t let the mind fixate on anything and stay in the flow of experience… in that moment it’s like a meditation in the world.”