Healing & Protection with the Divine Light Invocation
This is a yogic practice for using the power of our mind for healing & protecting ourselves and others with Light. The text below is copied from the book “Kundalini Yoga for the West” written by Swami Sivananda Radha (including the illustrations).
Instructions for the Divine Light Invocation
Stand erect, feet shoulder-width apart. Keep the eyes closed and focus them on the space between the eyebrows. Lift the arms above the head at the same time as you smoothly and gradually tense the whole body, while you inhale. The arms should be kept straight and the tension maintained throughout the body (fig. 1). Hold the tension and the breath. Make the following affirmation to yourself, silently and with all the concentration possible:
l am created by Divine Light,
I am sustained by Divine Light,
I am protected by Divine Light,
I am surrounded by Divine Light,
l am ever growing into Divine Light.
Slowly lower the arms as you exhale and relax. Keep your eyes closed and use your imagination to see yourself standing in a shower of brilliant white Light. See the Light pouring down upon you, flowing into the body through the top of the head, filling your entire being.
Now, without raising the arms, keeping them at your side, tense the body and inhale (fig. 2). Hold the tension and the breath. Mentally repeat the Invocation.
l am created by Divine Light,
I am sustained by Divine Light,
I am protected by Divine Light,
I am surrounded by Divine Light,
l am ever growing into Divine Light.
Slowly exhale and relax. With the arms beside the body, concentrate on feeling a warm glow of Light suffuse your entire body, outside as well as inside. Acknowledge silently to yourself:
Every cell of this, my physical body, is filled with Divine Light.
Every level of consciousness is illumined with Divine Light.
Divine Light penetrates every single cell of my being every level of consciousness.
I have become a channel of pure Light.
I am One with the Light.
The Divine Light Invocation is an exercise of will, as well as an act of surrender. Be receptive to the Light and accept that you are now a channel of Divine Light. Express your gratitude with deep feeling. Have the desire to share this gift with someone whom you wish to help. Turn your palms forward (fig. 3).
You can now share the Divine Light with any friend or relative.
Keep your eyes closed and visualize him or her standing before you. Mentally open the doors of your heart center and let the Light stream forth toward the feet of this person. See the Light encircling the person and spiraling upward in a clockwise direction, enveloping the body completely. See the spiral moving high up into the sky, taking his or her image along with it. Finally the person merges into the source of the Light and becomes one with the Light. You may even lift your head to follow the spiral of Light, keeping the eyes closed. When the person has passed from your view, relax and silently give thanks for having the opportunity to help someone in need. Remember, in helping others we are helping ourselves.
You are now ready to begin all over again, putting others into the Light, one by one, in the same way. As you become more familiar with the Invocation, you may take several people in a group or a family together. If you should want to help many people, you must repeat the complete Divine Light Invocation as soon as you notice that your attention begins to slacken. If you wish to help someone that you don’t personally know, visualize the outline of a person in the Light. Your efforts will not be in vain. The Divine Light Invocation may be used to bless any friends or relatives who have died. When you put them into the Light, see them at their very best in the physical body before their transition. See them surrounded by and filled with Light. This will help you to release any attachment to them, and will also help them on their path on the other side.
The Divine Light Invocation may be used as a mantra also. Repeat the words of the Invocation to yourself and see yourself surrounded by Divine Light in your daily life. It will help you to keep in touch with the Light within you and to see the Light in others around you.
Before you go to sleep each night, see your body and bed surrounded by a spiral, like a cocoon of Divine Light. In this way, your physical body, which is the temple of the soul/Self, will be protected.
The Divine Light Invocation has to be meaningful. Never allow it to become a mechanical routine. When water runs through a rusty pipe, the water comes through but so. does much else that is unwanted. Just as the water will finally clean out the rust, so through your efforts you will become a purer channel for the Light. As you keep practicing, the channel becomes clearer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Swami Sivananda Radha (1911-1995) was one of the foremost spiritual leaders of our time. Her knowledge of the Kundalini system was based on personal experience and direct teachings from Indian and Tibetan masters. She later verified and broadened her understanding through research into the original texts. Her own foundation in yoga was based on character building, courage and awareness, and her special gift was to convey the teachings in a concise, expansive form – providing a flexible structure for aspirants to discover their own path to awakening their potential.
Swami Radha was born in Germany in 1911, moved to Canada after World War II, and travelled to India in the mid-fifties to meet her spiritual teacher, Swami Sivananda. Initiated into sanyas in 1956, she then returned to Canada and spent the next forty years passionately committed to teaching, living the ideals of yoga, and updating the ancient texts. Swami Radha wrote ten books and founded Yasodhara Ashram, a thriving yoga retreat and study center in British Columbia. She established ascent magazine, timeless books and a number of urban centers called Radha Yoga Centers. These centers and publications continue to present her work in the spirit it was created, maintaining the quality and integrity that were the essence of her life.
