I have observed a strange pattern in my life. Ever since I was an adolescent and have wanted to do something “wrong” – something that seemed against my value system, there was something to stop me. Or someone would suddenly show up and admonish me. Or situations would play themselves out in such a way, that try as I may, I wouldn’t be able to indulge.
I remember one of those walks – for instance – at the threshold of teens, where everyone my age was experimenting with their first few sips of alcohol or drags of cigarette. I was out on a trip with my family and my elder cousins took me along with them for a “private chat!” Little did I know, this was a code word to smoke and my cousin, about eight years older than me said to me, “Try it! Everyone does… it’s like a kick, you just need to get it out of your system by doing it once.” I so admired this cousin. And yet, as I looked at that little white and brown stub, something within said, “No, this is not for me.” However, I didn’t have the courage to say it aloud. Wondering, how to get out of the situation, I just sent out a quiet prayer. Out of nowhere, a few wild dogs started barking and advancing towards us – and we all had to move back home where none of them got a chance to offer it again to me.
Like this, so often, I can remember – being on the brink of doing something which would have left me feeling guilty or unhappy and somehow being saved in the knick of time.
I used to wonder, what this invisible boundary around me was… it seemed like certain things just couldn’t get past. Whether someone from outside tried it – or even me, from within. It was almost like my personal “Lakshman Rekha” or protective boundary and something seemed to be keeping me safe. I would slip – but never fall hard enough to not be able to get back on my feet.
It was only when I went for my first spiritual retreat with my beloved guru did I understand what this was. It was, as He so beautifully explained, a “spiritual fence.” Since meditation had enticed me from a very young age, as had love, God and faith – some kind of energy had got accumulated around me, which acted as a fence. This allowed all the good to get in, and magnify – but kept the bad out.
My guru explained that one of the most wonderful aspects of being a seeker, and having a living master was the ability to constantly find oneself inside a spiritual fence. This accumulation of extremely potent positive energy protects one from most malicious attacks – at the tangible, and intangible front.
Meditation has innumerable benefits – and I wish every person would choose it, at the youngest age possible as it becomes the north star to our lives. However, a benefit I didn’t even know of – and one that was so powerful was, this spiritual fence.
Who doesn’t like the feeling of being protected? With this fence itself, we have to go through a journey which is adventurous enough – why would we venture out without it? What a feeling of deep protective love it is to know – wherever you go, whatever you do, there is something protecting you – and this protection can be found through regular sadhana of meditation, and through surrender to a guru?
The spiritual fence around me has been taking care of me for years. I feel safe. Secure. Like a little one in the womb. It’s a feeling I wouldn’t trade off for anything in the world.
