If We Only Knew – Guided Meditation, Ayya Medhanandi

The root of saraniya, reconciliation, is sarana, refuge. The silence in the heart is our most powerful refuge. And sati, mindfulness, is the mother of opening the heart and coming to know who we really are. We must come empty to the Buddha, or awakened ones from whom we seek guidance and help in removing obstacles. Then we learn how to hoist up our sail and direct ourselves to listen, bow, and see the flame of Dhamma burning brightly within us. At the core of our being, joyful respect enables presence and sublime understanding of who we really are. We are not separate but one conscious awareness, the same and indivisible. When we give up dividing, judging, fighting – and suffering – the ego falls away and we directly know underlying reality. Both our freedom and our rescue are in pure awareness – through the promise of virtue and the power of our homage. A guided meditation, Ottawa Buddhist Society, April 3, 2026