About Spiritual Exercises

Me, catching some SEs during a screening in Cartagena, 2008

Me, catching some SEs during a screening in Cartagena, 2008

John-Roger’s book Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise

Spiritual Exercises (SEs) in MSIA

There is one thing you can do here physically that can improve your ability to consciously know the reality of your existence on the higher spiritual levels, and this is spiritual exercises. SE’s are designed exactly for that purpose. They can also help you anchor into your physical body the unconditional loving and blessings that God has for you. SEs are an active technique of holding the mind steady and quieting the emotions by using a spiritual tone or vibration to connect ot the energy that flows from God throughout all existence. Doing SEs can help you transcend illusions and limitations and move into the awareness of the Soul.

In MSIA, there are a number of tones that we chant during SEs. The two main ones that are chanted before a person is initiated are Hu and Ani-Hu; these are also changed aloud in grops. Hu is Sanskrit adn is an ancient name for God, and the Ani in Ani-Hud adds the quality of empathy.

When you chant, you can pronounce Hu like the name Hugh or say the sounds of the individual letters H and U. Hu is the ultimate highest sound, and to traverse the various realms, we break it down into its God-like components and are born into each new level by the sound current initiations.

These tones open the centers in the head. In MSIA we do not work in any level below the upper part of the third eye. This is not because the energy of the centers below that is ‘bad’ but because the most direct path to Soul Transcendence is through the top two centers. The lower centers can take a person through many, many distractions. For example, they can make you feel very lusty. You can be led astray, and it is important to be careful.

Chanting Hu, Ani-Hu or your initiatory tone builds a bridge (opens a channel) between your consciousness and the higher consciousness. You may not walk across the bridge immediately because you may not have it solid enough. Let’s say you have done spiritual exercises for three weeks, two hours a day, and nothing has happened. Then you may be walking down the street and a flash of insight comes in. Now, how do you think you got that? You want across the bridge.

The main thing to keep in mind when doing SEs is that the only wrong way to do SEs is not to do them. Perhaps the easiest way to do SEs is simply to be open to receive whatever is there for you at the time. You can call in the Light and ask to become attuned to the Traveler with you, and then chant Hu, Ani-Hu, or your initiation tone. If you are new to SEs, you might do this for ten minutes a day, more if you like, of course, and there is a step-by-step description following.

More important than the time you spend doing SEs is having an attitude of “Lord I am open to receive from you”. And above all, SEs are an action of the heart. So do what you can to bring forward the devotion that brought you to want to know more about God and the Divine within you. One of the great values of SEs is that they give you a chance to attune yourself to the Spirit inside you and become aware, once again, of the loving that is extended to you through Christ. All you have to do is follow the loving back into the heart of God, your home in Spirit.

Doing Spiritual Exercises

The only wrong way to do SEs is not to do them, and there is no required way to to SEs. For people who would like to have some form of methodology, here is a step-by-step procedure as a suggestion for doing fifteen minutes of SEs.

1. Find a quiet place with low lighting and a comfortable chair to sit in. It is best not to listen to music while doing SEs although it is fine to listen to music while getting ready to start.

2. Sit upright, if possible, and close your eyes.

3. Call yourself forward into the Light for the highest good, and ask for spiritual protection and guidance during your SEs.

4. Chant Hu or Ani-Hu. It is preferable to do this inwardly (silently). If you are an initiate you would chant your initiation tone.

5. While chanting, focus your attention in the area near the center of the head directly back from your forehead. This is called the tisra til, and it is in this place that the Soul has its seat and the Soul energy gathers.

6. After you have chanted for about fifteen minutes, stop and listen within. You are listening for the Sound Current, which is very subtle. You may hear it the first time you do this, or it may take years of practice. It is a very individual matter.

7. If you find your mind wandering and you lose the focus of listening, you can focus the mind by chanting again.

8. After about five minutes of listening, you can either continue to listen and look inside or return to chanting again. The times are approximate of course. The idea is to spend time in SEs doing both chanting and listening.

Courtesy of John-Roger, Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise, Published by Mandeville Press, pages 395 – 405.