The inner guide is the spark of God’s divinity residing in man’s soul. This spark becomes a guiding light in man’s life when it is kindled by the fire of meditation. This book presents meditation practices and experiences which will inspire those searching for a truer meaning of life in a world beset by crisis and conflict. For those who choose to seek freedom by experiencing their soul’s real identity two things are required. The first is the continued practice of spiritual disciplines to outgrow the body consciousness and to know freedom in the light of the divine reality. Meditation when mastered will reveal our higher consciousness to be in union with the truth of God’s presence. Man’s search for soul awakening needs a second factor that is the guidance of a spiritual master who has seen God’s light.

In my own spiritual quest I am most grateful for the guidance and inspiration received from my meditation teacher SivaBalaYogi. The mission of SivaBalaYogi is to make man know that he can experience God’s reality and find lasting peace of mind through the soul liberating practice of meditation. Here is a poem on SivaBalaYogi’s life composed during my February 1971 visit to his native village Adivarapupeta for celebrating the Sivaratri festival sacred to Lord Siva.

THE STORY OF SIVABALAYOGI

An Adivarapupeta lad was a weaver of cloth

Suddenly at fourteen Siva brought his spiritual potential forth.

Siva appeared to him out of a blazing Linga

The boy meditated and conquered nature, ego, and anger.

Siva merged in him during twelve years of austerity

Now the yogi leads devotees to spiritual prosperity.

He showers on all the fruit of his penance

He initiates seekers into every divine experience.

THE INNER GUIDE is a spiritual work comprising 365 pages of poetic messages received in meditation and daily life. It deals with inner experiences, spiritual instructions, descriptions about saints and deities, words to inspire the truth seeker, and prayers for the soul’s development. The central philosophy underlying this book is that man through the constant practice of meditation can realize the divine meaning of life and gain spiritual peace. It is only in the deep silence beyond the mind’s changing ideas that divine guidance and experiences can come. All the world’s problems are a reflection of man’s lack of inner peace. Hence meditation creates more inner harmony in each individual, and its practice by mankind reduces worldly problems. The real aim of life is to find truth, happiness, and freedom. The purpose of THE INNER GUIDE is to provide truth seekers with daily inspiration on the path of self realization. Each of the 365 pages of poetic spiritual messages is a divine call for man to utilize everyday of the year for his soul’s development.

Meditation is the method using varied techniques by which man’s consciousness becomes aware of and unites with the divine reality. By meditation through devotion the yogi uses the power of love to unite his human self with the Cosmic Self. By meditation through knowledge the man of wisdom uses the power of discrimination to realize his soul as being one with God. By meditation through kundalini yoga the aspirant through breath control exercises and concentration on the seven yogic centers within the astral body seeks to fully awaken the kundalini life force and merge himself in God consciousness.

Hence by the practice of meditation techniques man can experience God consciousness. In the various levels of God consciousness the spiritual aspirant experiences divine visions of saints and deities, various colors of light, hearing divine messages and mystic sounds such as Aum, expansion and floating beyond the body, smelling divine perfume, feeling the kundalini life force electrically ascending and descending throughout the body, entering the samadhi deep peace state where the mind is obliterated in silence and only an awareness of Spirit’s all pervading reality exists, and feeling the all consuming ecstasy of divine love in the heart.

The inner guide is revealed when man’s soul is awakened through meditation. Then a oneness unites God, the spiritual teacher, and the aspirant’s awakened soul. Thus meditation puts the mind into a state of silence where man feels his being merged in God’s existence, consciousness, and bliss.

Jay Mazo, Sierra Vista, Arizona 1998