In Search of the Ultimate Meditation Technique
At the tender age of 14, my whole family attended a lecture by one of the students of Maharishi Mahish Yogi. The Maharishi Mahish Yogi is the originator of Transcendental Meditation, a discipline that became very popular in the seventies. The year was 1974. We all sat in a room full of curious seekers. My Father very skeptical, my Mother enrapt, my brother and sisters just along for the ride. As for me, I was more than curious. I hoped that this would be the beginning of a great and wonderful journey into a mystical world that I had only just begun to search for.
The lecturer explained the procedure and led the room through an elementary relaxation exercise to demonstrate the first steps in controlling the mind. We sat in our chairs trying to control our breathing and pay attention to the thoughts floating through our heads. My mind was full of questions. What is this supposed to do? Am I doing it right? Is this guy for real? What am I supposed to be feeling? When do we get to the good stuff? How long is this supposed to take? On and on, the questions followed one after another like waves rolling in on a beach, never ending. I began to become discouraged, and then the exercise ended.
My Mom convinced my Father that we should all take the course and study the whole procedure. After a few classes we "graduated" and were given our own personal mantras that we were never to share with anyone. To this day, I have never told anyone what my mantra is. I practiced TM for many years after that. But there was always a question that would come to mind from time to time. What is the ultimate goal of all this?
This was thirty-three years ago, but it was not until I came to the M'TAM School that the question of the goal would be answered. I studied yoga meditation, meditation and concentration as taught by Mouni Sadhu, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, everything that I could find to train the mind, and yet the question remained, what is the ultimate goal of meditation? It never once occurred to me that the purpose of meditation was to transform oneself into a divine being. This seems to be such an impossible task. The Divine World is so different from our own. It is pure and clean, there is no death, and there is no pain. It is populated by some beings that are so different from humans that the idea of defining them is literally blasphemy. I have been informed that the impossible goal of literally becoming a God is not only possible, but human beings before me have achieved it. This is not a goal that can be achieved in a single lifetime, and so the doorway in my mind that had only been opened a crack was thrown open and I also realized that there was more to reincarnation than an endless cycle of life and death where the inevitable errors of one life were redressed in the next.
I was informed about the "pathways of reincarnation". I had never before learned of a more detailed description of the process of life after life. I was told of the purpose and structure of a human being that extends into the world of the dead and how we form a new body and negotiate a destiny for the life that we will lead.
This is but a small part of the study of Ka-at Ibi. There is much more in the realms of philosophy, physical and spiritual cleansing, physical exercise, history and spirituality. Ka-at Ibi contains the original forms of what we call yoga, meditation, Qi-Kung, and concentration. It develops the mind, body and spirit into an integrated whole and prepares the complete self for interaction with the Divine World and the world of the dead.
Each class presents both philosophical and practical information in the form of lectures and exercises. The student is informed of their relationship to their relatives who have entered the world of the dead and develops skills in the procedures for building a strong relationship with them. The student learns how to raise their relatives to the status of ancestors and what this ultimately means.
The practical exercises challenge the mind and the body. They develop flexibility and strength as well as massage and invigorate the internal organs. Specific chants are practiced that create energetic connections to the energies projected by the Divine World into our own. The student learns to control their breath and emotions and develops a strong sense of their body. Ultimately the senses are expanded and new and unnamed senses are revealed that allow one to perceive images of the world of the dead and the Divine World under the proper circumstances.
In my thirty years of searching for the ultimate spiritual discipline, I had never understood as much as I understand now as a student of Ka-at Ibi, but I now also know that there is so much more to learn and understand. The profound sense of humility at the task set before me has changed my life. I look forward to continuing my training and sharing this knowledge with others who are honest seekers of a relationship with the spiritual world.
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