I never knew the power of blessing till I met my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji). In the Chinese culture where I am born in, it is not something we practise consciously. As a child, I always observed how my mother prayed to our ancestors and family deities. The way her generation related with the Divine was through prayer. They relate with God like a business, offering something just to beg for something to be showered in their life. The idea they carry about self is that human beings are lower beings than Gods.
The Sanatana Hindu Dharma gave me the right introduction of self from the context of I am the Source. The moment I cognized that I am also made of the same source as the Existence, I begin to understand and appreciate the power of blessing.
The first thing I learned about blessing from Vedic culture was to bless myself as the first step to bless the world. Blessing myself means accepting me as I am, respecting self as I am, revering me as I am, and feeling that there is something worthy in me as I am. This feeling builds a kind of self-love which is important in shifting the space of negativity we are usually caught in due to the societal conditioning and the wrong thought patterns.
The more we experience a space that is filled with joy or bliss continuously, the more we want to bless our self and bless the entire world and Universe. Swamiji said that “Blessing has to be done to everything because it is consciousness. It is not just an action, it is consciousness. It is not an action directed towards a person; it is a consciousness radiating toward everything!” When we have the presence of an enlightened master, the whole world is continuously blessed by him who is in bliss. His very presence is a blessing, an eternal blessing. His words are a blessing, his actions are a blessing, and his very breathing is a blessing, even though sometimes the blessing comes in a way we don’t directly understand. Everything that happens in his presence is a blessing. When we are established in pure witnessing consciousness, anything that crosses us only awakens blessings.
Swamiji gave an apt analogy – when the air crosses dust, dirt or drainage, it creates a bad smell. When the same air crosses the ripe old sandalwood tree, it creates the sandalwood smell. A confused, chaotic, unconscious, clutched, identifying mind is the dirt, dust, and drainage. A pure, radiating, unclutched inner space is the ripe sandalwood tree. Any breeze that blows through the sandalwood tree carries the smell of the sandalwood tree: the blessing. Same way, whatever crosses the witnessing consciousness will have the smell of a blessing. That is why any food touched by an enlightened being becomes prasada – consecrated or energized food. Water touched by him becomes teertha, holy water. The place where he lives becomes kshetra – a temple. Idols touched by him become deities. And a person touched by him becomes enlightened. Witnessing pure consciousness is like a sparsamani – a touchstone. Whatever the sparsamani touches becomes pure gold. In the same way, whatever pure witnessing consciousness touches, it becomes a blessing to the whole Cosmos. Blessed are those who have a living enlightened master who constantly blesses them in all dimensions of their lives.
Now, whatever new endeavours I want or whenever I want to start something new, I always seek blessings from the Guru, sangha (spiritual community) and my own blessing. At Singapore sangha, we have different Facebook groups to request blessing from Swamiji as well as What’s App groups on smartphone where we can simply send a blessing request for anything in life ranging from success in getting a new job, passing of exam, speedy recovery from sickness, graceful exit from death, literally anything under the Sun. One thing I also learned, even after we receive the blessing of the Divine, it does not mean we can just be lazy and not take responsibility. A blessing means the energy and knowledge for manifesting that reality are already sent, we have to take the responsibility to create that reality we want. I’ve seen people asking for blessings but never take any responsibility. When the desired outcome doesn’t happen, they carry incompletion with the master for not causing their reality. Sometimes despite whatever we’ve done and the desired outcome doesn’t happen, it means whatever we seek is not meant for us and the blessing comes in other ways which our mind may not comprehend logically. That happens only when we have tremendous trust in the Master.
Blessing is an experience, not a subject we can talk much, we only have to experience it. We only have to live it and let the pure witnessing consciousness touch our life as a happening of miracles. Blessings!