At the Top of blog:
Photo of Half Dome from North Peak
These Words & MP3 of the song:
From Swami Kriyananda’s song “Channels”
“Mountains remote and still, hint at higher worlds unseen. So may
our lives be, soaring and serene.”
Yosemite Mountains: Soaring and Serene
The mountains in Yosemite are magical. One of the most grand and
mystical ones is called Half Dome. You see from the photo, that
it’s as if God made a slice with His knife, making it look almost
flat down the front.
On our vacation in Yosemite, we hiked my favorite trail to North
Peak. The four mile hike ends with an incredible view of Half Dome
as well as Yosemite Valley to the right and mountain peaks off to
the left. You can sit near the end of North Peak and gaze at the
entire facade of Half Dome, as you see in the photo. My husband
Paalaka and I were there for around 3 hours.
I was very inward and asked Yogananda to help me commune directly
with the rock. This process is called “The Sky and Earth Touched
Me” in Nayaswami Bharat’s book by the same name.
It felt like I was the rock and the rock was me. It was a deeply
healing experience.
It’s difficult to put into words, but I could tell that the serene
quality within the rock was very much alive. It seemed to transfer
its serenity to me. It felt like the rock and my molecular
structure were the same.
Yogananda said that he remembered his lifetime as a diamond. I
can’t say I can understand that, but what I experienced at Half
Dome could be an inkling that “we are a part of all that is,” as it
says in Ananda’s Festival of Light. LINK Savitri’s answer “What is
the Festival of Light?
Just as we cannot fully see the top of a mountain when we are not
yet on the top, we cannot often see our own potential for complete
serenity or feel God’s presence within ourselves. When we practice
meditation deeply, especially in nature, we aspire to become so
still that we merge with God. I felt a glimmer of this potential on
Half Dome that day.
May your meditations and experiences in nature be “soaring and
serene.”
Might be good to actually include the Sky & Earth Touched Me exercise as a link?
Go to a beautiful natural area that feels vibrantly alive, such as a small stream lined with maple trees, a flowery mountain meadow, or an aspen forest. (One can also do this exercise indoors by looking out a window or looking at a vibrant photo.)
- When something captivates you, relate to it from your center to its center. Touch its essence and feel it becoming alive in you.
- Feel that aspect of nature awakening equivalent soul qualities inside you. For example, a towering mountain may inspire feelings of higher aspiration. In my case at Half Dome, it inspired the power of serenity and stillness.
- Looking loving at what has captivated you, and mentally include its name in the following sentence, “Half Dome touched me and gave me part of itself.
- Continue to practice as you sit or walk, saying Half Dome touched me,” or, if you prefer, “The Creator touched me.”