Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Trying to Deepen my Spiritual Connection

Over the last couple of months - while I was undergoing and recovering from a knee surgery and a brain surgery - one item I have given priority to is to work on deepening my spiritual connection.

I am not a religious or spiritual person. So this was all uncharted territory for me. Quite naturally I was frequently finding myself out of my depth and wondering if I am going about it the right way.

My preferred way of learning new topics is to read books. Preferably the authoritative and reputed ones.

So I went about looking for a few books to read - one book leading to the next and on and on.


The journey has taken me through the following books:

1. Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds

As I have already written about earlier this book made me realize that being the I-BELEIVE-WHAT-I-CAN-SEE agnostic that I was, I have been very deficient in the spiritual aspects of life.

The book identifies Deepening Your Spiritual Connection as one of the nine key factors that can make a real difference in the battle with cancer and can lead to a spontaneous remission from cancer.

The chapter dealing with Spirituality has an interesting case study of a Glioblastoma patient getting completely healed with help from a Brazilian spiritual healer John of God. Interestingly a big part of the healing was the hours-long meditation the patient did over 2-3 years.

The healing methods of John of God described in this book is very similar to those attributed to Indian Yogis of yore and got me interested in learning more about the ancient healing methods.


2. You Can Conquer Cancer: A New Way of Life

This book by Ian Gawler was brought to my attention in the book Anticancer: A New of Life by David Servan-Schreiber. I have not read this book yet even though I purchased a copy a while back. 

The author - an Australian veterinarian - describes an integrated and holistic approach to cancer; emphasizing nutrition, the power of the mind, meditation, family and social support and the spiritual dimension of life. 

The blurb of this book got me interested in learning more about meditation.

3. Meditation as Medicine: Activate the Power of Your Natural Healing Force

This remarkable book by Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa talks about using a combination of meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, chanting, and mental focus - all covered under the umbrella term  Medical Meditation to target and heal specific illnesses. 

Halfway through this book, I was very hopeful that the book would give me a set of steps to follow (meditation method and duration to perform, a mantra to chant, specific breathing exercise to perform, etc.) to completely heal myself of Glioblastoma. 

No such luck. The book does talk about healing cancer generally and does not make a mention of brain cancer.

The book also introduced me to the concept of chakras, kundalini, and the esoteric experience of kundalini rising from the lower chakras to the highest chakra along with the miraculous healing potentialities of such an occurring. 

Yes, This book got me very interested in learning more about Kundalini.


That is me on the day after my second Craniotomy holding up this book as I was reading it during that period.


4. Kundalini Rising: Mastering Creative Energies, and

5. Awakening Kundalini: The Path to Radical Freedom


These two books gave me a good introduction to the concepts around Kundalini. 

Kundalini Rising: Mastering Creative Energies - by Dr. Barbara Condron is a difficult-to-read book. However, it is an impactful book as it demystifies the concepts of Kundalini.

Awakening Kundalini: The Path to Radical Freedom - by Dr. Lawrence Edwards is a better-written book with a similar demystifying impact. 


6. Living with Kundalini: The Autobiography of Gopi Krishna

This remarkable book gives a first-person account of kundalini awakening and unfolding over a dozen years. It highlights the dangers of going about it in an ignorant and unguided manner.

7. Autobiography of a Yogi - by Paramahamsa Yogananda

This terrifically entertaining book gives a profound introduction to yoga and the Vedic traditions from ancient India.

Got to know of Self-Realization Fellowship from this book. 

The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for Home Study offered through their website seems to be an easy-to-follow and trusted way to deepen one's spiritual connection. I have signed up for those lessons. 

In Summary:

  • I have been reading a lot of books in an effort to learn more about spirituality, religion, yoga, meditation, natural way to cure myself of Glioblastoma. I haven't found a sure-fire cure for Glioblastoma while reading these books. However, it has indeed widened my perspective on life. 
  • I have signed up for The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for Home Study in an effort to build a regular spiritual practice. 
  • I have taken on a few habits like meditating for a short time, chanting mantras whenever possible during the day, reading more about these topics, etc.



The story so far

It has been a month since I decided to start a blog to journal my journey with Glioblastoma Multiforme after bei...