Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Reiki, Spirituality and Sikhism - Are they compatible?

I have been thinking about this for nearly two years and should confess that I am not 100% sure what Guru Nanak would say but I have my own logic that convinced me that they can be compatible. Is it a crime for an Amritdhari Gursikh to receive Reiki treatment or attunement? What one says depends on what one believes in and what they know about Reiki and its philosophy. I tried to tackle it from an objective perspective. I will start the story from the beginning -

In 2002,  I had been suffering from a severe shoulder pain for a year and had tried every treatment including physiotherapy, message, kinesiology and acupuncture; nothing had worked completely. One day when I went to an elderly friends house for a social visit, he said that he can see two holes in my body and that usually happens after a childbirth. I didn't know anything about Aura reading or Reiki then. I was surprised at his remark. He further said that he can fix the holes. At this I mentioned to him that I actually have a very bad right shoulder and the pain keeps coming back. He asked my permission to heal me. he didn't mention Reiki or anything. I simply gave my permission. I thought he was going to message my should but he didn't touch me at all. All I knew was that he was standing behind me. I had closed my eyes. I later asked my husband what did he do? He mentioned that this person simply placed his hands near my shoulders. The pain went away for a month. Coming downstairs from his house, I noticed a poster which prompted a conversation in which he told me that he does meditation everyday for an hour in the morning. A month later I called him in distress due to severe pain, he did the same hand treatment again and this time the shoulder pain never came back. I now know that what he did was Reiki treatment. I also know that since this Christian person changed his religion to Jehovahs Witness, he gave up Reiki as it is against his new religions belief system.

In late 2008, a work colleague told me that he has joined a meditation group and now he does meditation everyday for an hour. I became jealous and felt guilty that I, the Amridhari Gursikh, never do meditation and this person, Mr Nobody - according to AKJ standard Sikhi, was meditating everyday. In 2009, my new year resolution was to do meditation everyday, open my third eye and raise my Kundalini to 7th Chakra and see God and whatever else about Him Guru Nanak saw. I have since found out that 7th chakra is not the goal of Kundalini, it is the 4th chakra, the heart centre. Guru Nanak, the prophet of the 4th chakra, according to Sahej Yoga people, also seem to see God through the 4th chakra, the chakra of Love and Compassion for all. I was serious about my goal as 2012 was only four years away and I had to achieve the highest state before the end of the world. I must say I did very well that year and was very happy with the Kirpa of my Gurus. Read my blogs from that time to know about my precious experiences.

In Dec 2009, I went to India. My eldest sister told me that she had received Reiki attunement and was getting good results with healing but she gave up thinking that it was against Sikhism and she was not willing to change her Guru. Knowing how Reiki healing had changed my life ..

I asked Baba Makhan Singh of his opinion. He said that its Ok to practice Reiki but to be aware that when you heal someone this way, you are using your personal energy, although the Reiki theory says that its only God's energy that is being used. He said that since we use our intent to heal the person and to clear their aura (he knew about auras!), our personal energy does get used.

I am scared to see some Reiki healer being sick with life-threatening diseases. I wonder if they are sick as they used up too much of their personal energy and left themselves vulnerable to sickness. In pranic energy healing, they talk about receiving a little more than you are giving, so you don't deplete your energy but Reiki says that the healer doesn't control the flow of energy. It says that the Reiki knows how much is needed and the patient can't receive too much, unlike pranic energy healing where too much can cause energy congestion. Since reiki says its not personal energy being used at all, they do not talk about the harm to the healer for giving too much.

Besides this, in the Reiki Attunement session, the master asks you to imagine a Golden Yellow light around yourself. Yellow is the light of Solar Plexus, which is the chakra of personal energy.

More importantly, when Guru Nanak gave me darshan and before or after my 9 petal lotus opened, my whole body was healed by a emerald green colour particles coming out of a gemstone in the heart centre, hanging on a string that came down from the 7th chakra. Then the electric green colour light came out of my temples up to the palms of my hands in a semi-circle shape. This was not given to me by any humanbeing, therefore I trust this to be more God's energy and something that I was given without asking, so I must have God's permission to use it. Although, I tried to not accept it, as I was scared that I might not have the ability to use it wisely; I know believe that the creator would be a better judge of what I am capable and worthy of than myself. I still haven't used either of these to heal others. I am sure, when its the right time, I will be asked to serve. There is no hurry.

9 comments:

manj said...

spirit/angels side of reiki (but this defies the object as it is only with their help you can heal). The one thing I can say is that during my initiation as the reiki master put his hands over my 3rd eye and crown chakra I saw a vision of guru nanak twice. I thought its just me thinking this and then the music on the ipod changed to waheguru as my crown chakra opened. I asked the master afterwards if he always played that track and he said no he had lots of tracks and this just happened to come on. He asked why and I explained my worries about betraying my faith and also the meaning of wahe guru. He was amazed as I was.

manj said...

I am glad to see other people have had the same dilemma as me. I am not a practising sikh but do believe in my religion. I have been interested in reiki for about ten years and have had several treatments having tried accupuncture perviously then trying this. At that point I only looked at it like chi energy healing and did not think about spirits or angels etc. As I decided to learn it the more I read the more i worried about going into the wrong thing and getting mixed up with something alot more serious. Also the fact that it involved alot of japanese and buddhist views made me worry about turning my back on my faith by doing this. However I went ahead and had my level 1 attunement last week and it was very surreal. There were four of us and we all had very different experiences. I totally believe the treatment works but dont know at what point i will be going too far. As I believe in chi and reiki but these then show truth behind angels, guides, spirits, crystals etc. So when I meditate or do invocations asking for help do I ask wahe guru and meditate on that or on the reiki masters etc. I suppose I could keep my sikh prayers seperate from the spirit/angels side of reiki (but this defies the object as it is only with their help you can heal). The one thing I can say is that during my initiation as the reiki master put his hands over my 3rd eye and crown chakra I saw a vision of guru nanak twice. I thought its just me thinking this and then the music on the ipod changed to waheguru as my crown chakra opened. I asked the master afterwards if he always played that track and he said no he had lots of tracks and this just happened to come on. He asked why and I explained my worries about betraying my faith and also the meaning of wahe guru. He was amazed as I was.

Rashminder Kaur said...

I am a Sikh woman and a Reiki Teacher...and I too have been thru this dilemma...all I can say is that I surrendered my path to my Guru...Guru Nanak and the answer that came is that if he did not approve of it...it would not have come into my life. Only caution one should keep is that there is a very thin line between two sides of occult...nature itself is an occult that of the divine order isnt it? but it works for the benefit and free from attachment...if we do that with reiki too...we r safe and on the right path...no need to call angels or have visions or anything...just plain healing and harmony....you can worship the formless thru Reiki...and remember if we offer even a posionous flower with utmost devotion...it turns into a lotus of purity...so look at your intention the practice of any science is not a sin...but forgetting the true vision of creator is what we should be wary of...so enjoy the experience of Reiki because your own lord created it...and if your inside is clean and pure occult itself is devotion and offering...so keep ur worries aside and practice both the healing path and ur religion with utmost sincerity...and our Guru will never let us go astray...

Rashminder Kaur said...

I am a reiki teacher and a practicing Sikh...and for me this dilemma was too complex to deal with....but here is the answer that I got...when I surrendered my seeking of a path to my Guru and to the divine will...if Reiki came to me and brought me closer to nature and creator...it indeed is right to practice it...because if it was not true...it would not happen for me...nothing is evil or wrong except our own intention n inner world...Reiki when done with utmost sincerity of healing n helping people is accepted by the creator and is same as any other form of worship or devotion...everything is divine creation and so is Reiki...what makes anything wrong is our own view n will...so if u r truly devoted to creator...do not be afraid and offer your reiki practice as your way of devotion and yes do not go on the other side of occult and your if you do not wish so...your Guru will make sure you never go astray...so enjoy Reiki practice and keep your creator ever in your remembrance...

Unknown said...

I too am a sikh who has gone through intensive reiki and therapy to recover from M.E. I also had dilemmas about my religion when I opened up to the divine energy. Reiki is above all religions and simply put - is universal love. I still love going to the gurudwara to do seva from my heart - the problem is that there are hardly any people from my community that I can talk to about my experiences and it can sometimes feel lonely. Reading the above blogs has made me realise that there are others like me out there and I totally understand everyone.

Rashminder Kaur said...

Rav Kaur

You need not find people within the community to understand your experience, share it in the right place. Or when you give them healing session and they benefit then people open up and accept it, these days there is not much resistance. Most people understand that Reiki helps them and it is good to practice it.

v8mechanic said...

Yeah. So this Jap monk goes to a mountain and discovers healing that our Gurus with their meditation did not. And now after a two week paid course you will be capable of healing. Don't pretend to be a Sikh

v8mechanic said...

Lol are you for real. Sikhism is nearly 700 years old. Reiki not even a hundred. Believe in our Gurus not some loony jap. By the way how much money is involved in Reiki?

Unknown said...

Sat sri akal ji...i m also sikh...i want discuss about reiki....plz call me 9877518018