you have direct access to God within the depths of your being. You don't need a church, you don't need a pastor, you don't need a priest, you don't need a guru, you don't need some kind of external holy book like the Bible. No, the Divine lives within you, and in this video, I'm going to be explaining how you can directly experience God through meditation. Now, to begin, I want to start off by sharing a little bit about my story with meditation and how I learned to experience Divine Union through this ancient practice. Okay, so growing up, I really didn't know anything about meditation. I grew up as a Christian fundamentalist, and I was taught to stay away from meditation. I was taught that it was demonic and that I shouldn't be doing it, and so I didn't. But eventually, when I moved away from Christian fundamentalism, I started to study some of the Eastern traditions, and what I recognized was that meditation was like a foundational pillar of so many of these. So many of these Eastern

Traditions, especially in the mystical branches of these Eastern traditions, and so I wanted to learn more because these sages, Saints, and Mystics that I was reading about were experiencing Oneness with God by going within, and this was really new to me because growing up as a Christian fundamentalist, I was taught that God was some deity that was distant from me, separate from me, and I had to pray really hard, and I had to live holy all the time in order for God, the Holy Spirit, to be happy with me and to visit me with the divine presence, but the divine presence, God, was something that was way out there somewhere up in the heavens, up in the sky, distant, separate from me. The idea of God being within, the idea of God being one with my being, was blasphemy, okay, and so when I started learning about meditation from the Eastern perspective and through this ancient Eastern tradition, and like I said in the Eastern traditions and the mystical branches of those Traditions, I was really fascinated because this was

something new to me, but then what happened was when I started to learn about all this, and then I went back and read the gospels, I started to find some of this language in Jesus. Like when he says in Luke 17:21 that the kingdom of God is within you. And then especially in the Gospel of Thomas, really the whole theme of The Gospel of Thomas is to go within and to experience the divine presence within yourself and within everyone else, and to know yourself, know yourself as pure Spirit, pure Consciousness, and one with God, beyond the body, beyond the Mind, beyond the ego, beyond space, and Beyond Time. And so I started seeing some of that in, like I said, in the canonical gospels and in some of the non-canon, non-canonical gospels like the Gospel of Thomas. And this is what really got me interested in this whole notion of God being within, and I really became obsessed with this idea, with this theology, with this philosophy, and I wrote a lot about it, and I started making videos about it.

it became a big part of my life, and it got to a point where I realized that okay, even this new revelation, this new Theology of God is not out there somewhere, but God is within me. It was becoming another theology, it was becoming another doctrine, it was becoming another dogma, but it wasn't really producing any kind of transformation in my life. And when I was reading the, like I said, some of the sages and saints and mystics, especially the Christian Christian mystics like St. Teresa of AA, St. John of the Cross, me art, and many more, when I would read about their experiences with the divine within, what I noticed was that they weren't just talking about it, they weren't just writing about it, they weren't just teaching about it. No, they were experiencing it, they were being, they were going through these mystical encounters, and they were getting into deep meditation, and they were practicing contemplative prayer. And this would enable them to have the direct

experience of God from within the depths of their being. And so for me, it was okay. Like I said, it was a theology, it was a new idea, a philosophy that I was writing about, that I was learning about, but I still wasn't really experiencing it and I didn't know how to experience it. I just thought it was a cool idea. The idea that God was within me instead of just far and distant and out there somewhere was a cool idea. It was comforting and it helped me in my spiritual journey at the time. But then when I started learning about meditation and what it really was, this was the missing component in my spiritual journey at the time because again, this idea of God being within became another idea, another theology, another doctrine, but it was just in my head space. It wasn't in my heart space. It wasn't experiential knowledge. It was intellectual knowledge, but I wanted the experience. I wanted to be transformed from the inside out and I wanted to have these encounters and the experience of divine.

Union that the Christian Mystics were having that I was reading about in the experience of some that some of the yogis that I was reading about were having. You know, I wanted that experience. I wanted to uh experience what it was like to be one with God. And then, what would that do for me? What kind of fruit would that produce in my life? How would that transform me? And so, when I started learning about meditation, what I discovered was that I had many misconceptions and misunderstandings about meditation. And so, when I first started to practice it, I think the two main things that I was really thinking about and focusing on were number one, okay, I have to try to control my thoughts. I thought meditation was about controlling my thoughts. That was misconception number one. And then, number two, I was thinking, okay, I have to try not to think because meditation is all about not thinking. That was misconception number two. And so, if you have been meditating or if you can think back to when you first started

meditating, and you can remember what that was like. You know, it can be very challenging at first. It can be very difficult because the mind becomes very active when you try to get quiet, when you try to get still. The mind has a tendency to produce more thoughts. The voice in our heads gets louder and louder and louder, and it just becomes distracting to concentrate and to enter into that stillness. And so, that's what happened for me. You know, I'm starting to meditate, and I'm noticing, Okay, this is hard. I can't get still. I'm so distracted by my thoughts and what I'm feeling and just everything that's going on. And then, at the same time, I was trying to control my thoughts, and the more I tried to control my thoughts, the harder it was to control my thoughts. And then, I was trying not to think. And if you've ever tried to not think, you know that it's like impossible when you try to do something, especially

when it's with the mind in meditation, especially when you're trying not to think, it becomes more challenging. And then you just get frustrated. And for me, I just ended up quitting because it was just too much for me. I couldn't do it. And I concluded that meditation was not for me. And I need to go find some other spiritual practice because I just can't do it. But again, I was believing lies. I was believing these things that were misconceptions. And so once I got over these misconceptions, which came with reading some really good books on meditation and learning from people who have been meditating for many years, once I got past that through the knowledge of what meditation really is, then I started to meditate correctly. And when I started to meditate correctly, it didn't happen immediately, but over time, through consistency, I started to transcend the thinking mind, the analytical mind, and I started to experience this peace that was within me. And then the more I stayed in this peace, and the more my

mind was quiet. It was like I was being drawn in to deeper levels of Peace. But the peace kind of transformed into this love and joy. And then eventually it turned into this Bliss. And then the Bliss turned into this expansion of consciousness. And the expansion of consciousness led me to realize, to experience, that I was one with God and one with everything. And the experience, the feeling of this Encounter of being in this place, being in the State of Consciousness, is really ineffable. So I can try to describe it. I can try to put words to it. But ultimately, all words, all thoughts, all ideas fail when you get into that place and you try to describe it. And the mind will try to come back, and the mind will try to analyze it and judge it and label it. But the key with this whole process of meditation is learning how to transcend the Mind, learning that you have thoughts but you are not your thoughts, and sitting back as the witness and watching your thoughts and feelings and emotions pass.

by just like clouds in the sky. Okay, and so when I started doing this, like I said, I started having having profound experiences where I was experiencing the divine within me. I was experiencing Divine Union just like I was reading about that the Christian Mystics were experiencing. And I and I did experience Unity Consciousness that came with this ineffable Bliss and love. And since that time, the first time it happened to me was about 3 years ago, and since that time, um, my life has never been the same. And it's one of those things where once you start to experience it, your body learns and your body remembers. And so it becomes easier and easier to get back into those deeper states of meditation. And I don't know, or I'll say this, I didn't know as much as what I know about meditation now, but it didn't matter because I just started practicing. And I approached it with an open mind and an open heart, and that led me to having the experience that I was searching for.

I was wanting to have okay, and so how can you experience God like so many of the mystics and Saints and sages talk about and write about, and how can you experience that divine presence within, that Unity Consciousness, the Bliss, the love, the joy, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Well, from my experience and from my encounter with the divine presence within me, I've kind of constructed this step process through meditation, during meditation, that I think can be very helpful and beneficial. So, the first step is simply to find a comfortable, quiet place that you can start your meditation, that you can get into, that you can feel like you won't have that many distractions. And I think, again, the key with this is finding a place where it's comfortable for you. And this is going to be different for everyone, you know, for some people it's inside, for other people it's being outside. I know for me, I started off always

meditating inside, and I made sure the room was quiet and that there weren't many distractions going on. But then I got to a place where I felt like I was connecting more with myself, with God, with nature, with everything around me when I was outside. And being outside for me, I felt like I could get into deeper meditative States quicker and more efficiently. But this is the thing with meditation, and I'll just say this from the beginning before I get into the rest of these steps. The thing with meditation that I think people don't talk about enough is that it's very unique to each person, so you have to find what works best for you. And even as I'm going through these five steps, you're going to see that there are different practices, there are different techniques that I'm going to talk about, and I leave that open for you to really decide and for you to do your own seeking and searching and experimenting on what works best for you.

during meditation and what works best for you as far as getting into your heart space and experiencing that Stillness within so that's just something to keep in mind but the first thing is just the preparation so you're finding a quiet comfortable place uh and then this is important you want to try to sit in an upright position where your spine is straight and this is going to help the energy flow this is going to help uh the breathing and it's and it's going to be comfortable so you know don't just you want to sit up right and want your your spine to be straight but you also want to be comfortable so whether that's sitting in a chair or you're sitting on a ground with on some kind of uh some kind of cushion you know you want to find again you want to keep it comfortable you want to keep it unique to you and your environment what works best for you but you want to try to maintain that upright position and so that's really the the first step is just being comfortable being upright

and then you could also maybe start with some kind of intention or some kind of prayer to begin. Like you know, I am doing this meditation to experience Oneness with God. And you can either say that out loud or you can say it to yourself. But some kind of prayer, some kind of intention. And then if this helps, you know, I've heard different things from different people. But some people, when they start their meditation and they close their eyes, they like to uh, direct their focus and attention to their spiritual third eye. And so they kind of close their eyes and they gaze uh, upward towards their their third eye while they're meditating. But if that's not comfortable for you, then it's not a necessity. It's not something that you have to do. But maybe try it if it works, if it helps, if you feel that that helps the energy flow and it helps your breathing during the meditation, then keep doing it. But again, this is going to be unique to you and what works best for you. And then the second thing, the second

step is once you're in a position, you're sitting upright. You've started with an intention. You're getting into this place of calmness and peace. Uh, for at this point, you want to start your breath work. You want to start breath control. And so, this can just be simply becoming aware of your breath and taking deep breaths and being aware of how your body is feeling and how you're maybe you're shifting from the sympathetic uh state to the parasympathetic State. And you just feel the energy, you feel a calmness start to come over your body. Okay, this is going to happen in step two when you are starting to become more intentional with the breath. You're following your breath. You're becoming aware of the breath. You're slowing the breath down, taking deep, deep breaths. And again, just cultivating that Sacred Space of Stillness and peace. Uh, from this point, this is when you want to start. And by the way, so from the preparation from the beginning to this time of you getting in touch

with the breath. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes. Okay, so just just this alone, just getting comfortable, getting still, making sure there's no distractions in the room, and then getting in tune, you're getting aligned with the breath. This is going to take five to 10 minutes. Just is just the introduction. Uh, once this is happening, then what you want to do once you notice that your body is starting to relax is you want to start to almost like analyze your entire body and see if there's any tension in any parts of your body, any of the muscles or tendons or whatever. If you feel any kind of tension in the body, you just want to start to bring your awareness to that part of the body that has tension, and you want to just start to breathe into it and just release the tension. And you're going to notice that as you were breathing, as you were focusing on your breath, uh, that the tension in your body, no matter where it is, is going to start to leave. It's going

to start to loosen, and you're going to start to feel relaxed and at peace within your entire body. And this is very important, important from the beginning to establish this because until the body is calm, until the body is at rest, you're going to have a very difficult time really going within and experiencing those deeper levels, those deeper states of meditation. So once this happens, you're relaxed, you're sitting there still upright, you're breathing, and now it's been 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes. What you want to start doing is you want to start concentrating on one thing. And this meditation technique is known as the primary object technique. So you want to pick one thing, one object, and you want to start to focus on it. Because what's going to happen during those first 10 to 15 minutes, even when you're focusing on your breath, even when you're setting your intentions, even when you're going through your body scan and you're releasing tension, you're going to notice that the mind is still very

active at this point, and it's going to be distracting, and you're going to want to stop. You're going to want to quit. You're going to want to give up because it's going to be very challenging and frustrating. But this is normal. This is natural for the beginning phase of this, for the first, like I said, 10 to 15 minutes. Don't expect the mind to be still, to be in this state of no thought or anything like that because that's just, it's just not going to happen in the beginning, okay? And so, just be aware of that, and the best advice I have for dealing with thoughts, intrusive thoughts, and just an active mind in the early stages of meditation is, like I said, it's simply to, you're not trying to control your thoughts, you're not trying not to think, you're just simply being aware of your thoughts, you're letting them come and pass by, and you'll notice that that's really the nature of every

thought that you have it comes it stays a while, and then it leaves, so just let it do. Let the thoughts do their thing. Don't try to control them. Just sit back, notice that you have thoughts. This is really powerful and profound. Recognize that you have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts, and watch your thoughts go by. And just that alone will enable you to enter into a deeper state of meditation, and you will feel more empowered, and you will feel liberated by just that because you know for so many people, they are their thoughts. They think that every thought that they have is their thought. They think that the voice in their head is their voice, but the reality of it is that it's not. You are not your thoughts. You are what's aware of your thoughts. You are not the voice in your head. You are what's aware of the voice in your head. So practice that. Next time you're meditating, sit back in those first 10 to 15 minutes while you're preparing, while you're getting into a Sacred Space, and just

watch the thoughts, watch whatever is coming up, the images, the feelings, the sensations. Just simply be aware of it. Okay, so you get to this place 15 minutes in, and now you can start applying the primary object technique, which is just concentrating, it's fixating on one thing. Why do we do this? Well, the reason we do this is because when the mind is focused on one thing, then what happens is all the other thoughts, all the other distractions, all the other feelings and emotions that are arising as we get still start to become less and less. They start to fade away because when the mind is focused on one thing, then it can't be focused on all these other things, right? And so when we're not focused on one thing, then it's easy for us to just think all these different thoughts at one time and to just be all over the place and to just... It's just... There's something about focusing in. It's just the way the mind works, focusing in on one object and what

you'll notice, as you start to do this, it will be challenging, because the mind will still want to, you know, go to these other thoughts, and so it will kind of gravitate to what you were thinking about before you started doing it. But here's the thing, just keep focusing on this primary object. The longer you stay focused on the primary object, the more the thoughts will start to fade away, and the more you will start to enter into that peace and that stillness. Now, primary objects can be simply, it can be anything, and again, this is another point I was making earlier. This is something that is going to be, you've got to figure out what works best for you. For many people, they've experienced a lot of success with simply continuing to follow the breath. And so, at this point, you're already aware of the breath, you're following your breath, you're taking deep breaths, you're calming the body. And so, if you want, you can just keep following the breath at this point. That can be

your primary object or it can be some kind of a mantra. Whether you're saying it out loud or saying it to yourself, the Mantra is a great meditation method. It's a great primary object. So if that works for you, do that. Or it can be simply staring at a candle flame. Or it can be something that you're envisioning, an image that you're focusing on. Or it can be a feeling. It can be the feeling of Love. Or you know, Grace. Or peace. Or forgiveness. Mercy, meditating on Mercy, by the way, is very powerful. I've experienced some of the, some of the most profound mystical experiences through the Gateway of focusing on mercy. So try that. Try to let the feeling of Mercy, Mercy in and of itself, become your primary object. Let that be the main thing of your consciousness, of your awareness, and watch where that takes you. So you have your primary object, you start focusing on it, and at this point, there is no time limit. You don't say, I'm going.

to focus on this thing for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. No, you just release all those thoughts and all the different things that the mind is trying to come up with. And the only thing you're thinking about, the only thing you're focusing on, is your primary object. And what's going to happen is, eventually, as you stay there, like I said, all the other thoughts are going to start to fade away. They're going to dissipate. And you're going to be left with just the primary object. And if you stay there long enough, even the primary object starts to slip away. And then you're at a place where you have a decision to make, you have a choice. And so what the ego is going to try to do at this point is the ego is going to try to distract you. It's going to try to get you back into the beginning of your meditation where you were distracted by all the thoughts and feelings and emotions and sensations. But at this place, when you

start to enter into that state of no thought. That state of stillness and peace is starting to just encompass your entire being. That's another thing that's going to happen and this is a really good sign when you start to feel this peace that just starts to arise out of nowhere after you've been focusing on your primary object. It's important to pay attention to that and it's important to sometimes. What I'll do and this has been really helpful when I start to feel the peace arise while I'm practicing the primary object technique. I will then substitute that feeling of peace for my primary object and when I substitute that. When I substitute the primary object for the feeling of peace then peace becomes my primary object and the peace starts to bring me into deeper states of meditation and that's what I would encourage to do when you start to feel that peace. Go at that peace release the primary object. Probably at this point you're only going to be down to just the primary object just the primary

object all the other thoughts, all the other distractions at this point will have dissipated. Now you just have this piece, and this piece is going to bring you into the deeper states of meditation. Now what happens is the peace, the more you focus and concentrate on the peace, and as the peace becomes your primary object, the peace kind of transforms into this love, and you just start to feel immense love throughout your whole body. It's like this is where it starts getting ineffable, and your mind doesn't know what to do with it, but you're just you get lost in this love, and you know it's divine, you know it's unconditional love, you know it's just it's like the greatest feeling imaginable all throughout your body. Sometimes you start crying, sometimes you start laughing, you feel warmth. It's an amazing experience, and at this point you're getting close, but like I said, the ego is going to try to come back. The ego is going to try to start with the distractions again, but as you just continue to have this

posture of keeping your heart open and letting go, and you just let go of the ego and fear and judgment that's trying to arise, that's trying to distract you. Then the more you are going to, uh, sink into that love, to the peace, and the love is going to start taking you from this point on. So, at this point, it's all about letting go. The more you let go, the more you'll start to enter into the divine presence, into the, uh, the Oneness. And so, when this happens, you're going to start to feel like your sense of self, this sense of being a separate self, is going to start to disappear. It's going to start to fade away. The ego is, you're letting the ego go, you're letting the, uh, the analytical mind and all the fear and all the judgment that comes with that, you're letting all of that go. And like I said, you're sinking into that Divine love. And as you do that, you're going to start to feel a bliss. And when

you start to feel a bliss. This is when you are experiencing Oneness with God, and right after this you start you realize. At this point, you realize that you are one with everything, and this is Unity Consciousness. The peace transform, the peace turns into a love, the love turns into this Bliss, and the Bliss turns into Oneness Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, and this is divine Union. You know, and this is experiential knowing. This is not intellectual knowing. This is not intellectual knowing, but you know in this moment that you are one with God, and you see that you are also one with everything, and you know from experience that separation is indeed an illusion, and this is how you experience Oneness with God. This is how you directly experience the divine presence, and where was it this whole time, it was within you, it's always been within you, and so what meditation is actually doing is that it's just, it's removing the veil, the veil of Separation. In Sanskrit, the word is Maya, that's what they say in

Hinduism prevents us from this divine presence of bliss and love and Oneness that is always present, that is always reality. So it's not like we are meditation is not about attaining this Oneness with God or encountering the Divine um. It's about realizing that it's always been there. And so meditation is allowing us, it's our method to transcend the thinking mind, to transcend the analytical mind that's always fixated on the past and the future. But what you'll notice as you start to sink into these deeper states of meditation and as you start to experience Divine Oneness, you're going to be fully absorbed in the present moment. You're even going to start noticing that while you're focusing on your primary object, while you're focusing on your primary object, the longer you do that, the more you're going to be fully absorbed and just in the present moment. The thoughts of the past and the future, those will start to dissipate and you'll

just be here now in the present moment because that's where God is that is Ultimate Reality. The Eternal now and from this place of Union there's no telling what can happen uh and so I don't want to talk too much about that because it's going to be different for everyone the experiences the Visions the encounters uh anything is possible in this place the healing the transformation this is where miracles happen and again I I really want to emphasize that this is something that is always within you the kingdom of God is always inherently within the depths of your being all you're doing is you're you're removing whatever it is that has been preventing you from experiencing what you've always had and you can experience this every single day if you wanted to at any time it's it's always within you you always have it it's again meditation is not something that you're doing in order to get God's presence that come down from the heavens no it's already within you it's it's one with

who you are. It is who you are, okay, and that's what's so amazing about this. And I know I kind of got lost in the steps, basically, but basically step one, just I just want to go over this because I said there were five steps, and I want to be clear on what these five steps are. So Step One is the preparation, getting into a comfortable position, making sure that you're sitting upright, starting with some kind of intention, and then starting to become aware of the breath. Step two is where you're really starting to focus on the breath. You're taking deep breaths, you're being intentional with your breaths, you're doing breath work, pranayama if that's something that you're familiar with, and you know the techniques, all the different techniques that come with pranayama. And then step three is when you start to apply the primary object technique. You start to concentrate, you start to get into that state of peace, that inner stillness from focusing on that one thing. Step four is when you

take the concentration even deeper. And it's kind of like it's a place where you're letting go of the primary object, and you're starting to sink into the love that is pulling you into the deeper states of meditation, where Oneness with God is experienced, and the ego is dissipated at this point, okay, so that's step four. It's deeper concentration. This is actually the place where you open your heart, and you start to let go. You let go of the ego, fear, and judgment, and all the other distractions that start to try to arise during this time. And at this point, you're going to be in a deep meditative state, so it's going to be easy. It's going to be easy to just keep letting go, to keep sinking into those deeper dimensions and realms within the depths of your being that are pulling you in to more and more love, more joy. And then like I said, eventually that love that was originally peace, but then it turned into

love that's going to turn into Bliss. And when it's Bliss, you're right there, you're at the door, and as you just surrender to that Bliss, then there's a shift that happens. You lose this sense of being a separate self, which is an illusion, the ego, and at that moment, you experience Divine Union. You experience some and you are in this state of consciousness that shows you that everything is indeed interconnected. You are one with everything. You are one with God. You were one with the universe. So yeah, there's so many different names for this place, you know, like I said, somi, Cosmic Consciousness, Divine Union, Unity Consciousness, one, there's so many different names, but all the names ultimately fall short because this place, this state, of you encountering the divine presence as not something separate from you, but something that is one with you, something that is you, is ultimately ineffable. But it will produce immense transformation in your life where you will experience authentic spirituality, and you will start to

notice how it just changed you in so many different ways as you as you go about your life, and as you continue to practice meditation on a daily basis, so I think that's it. Um, those are the five steps: prepare, get into that upright posture, focus on the breath, concentrate, uh, that's the primary object, get into deeper concentration, and start to let go as as you're concentrating even more, that step forward four, and then step five is you're entering into somebody, you're entering into Divine Union, you're letting go, and you're allowing the presence, the Bliss, the present moment to fully absorb you where you merge into the Divine, and there is no more you as a separate self, there's just pure Unity Consciousness. Okay, so if you found this video helpful, informative, or insightful, please leave a thumbs up at the bottom of the screen, and be sure to subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.

How to directly experience “God” through MEDITATION (5 steps to Divine Bliss)

How to directly experience “God” through MEDITATION (5 steps to Divine Bliss)