Creating Your Own Shrine at Home

Creating a dedicated, cared-for space to support your practices at home may be simpler than you think. Sadhguru explains a few simple steps you can take to transform your home into a greater possibility to look inward.

Q: Sadhguru, what can we do to create an environment in our home that is conducive for our growth?

Sadhguru: If you are living in a family situation with a few other people, it is best to create a space for sadhana that is kept in a certain way and not used for any other purpose. If you have a yantra or a sannidhi, that is great. Otherwise, at least keep a picture, light a linga jyoti or an oil lamp, and put a little flower there every day. If you can create a dedicated, cared-for space, it can provide a lot of support – a little shrine in your own place. A shrine is not about looking up or looking down. A shrine is a possibility to look inward.

The sadhana you do can transform the space. Through the sadhana, something within you should shine. When you shine, you are enshrined. Investing in that little space will definitely pay in a big way in your life. There are certain ways to create a shrine. Whether you have a yantra or just a picture, make sure you always have an oil lamp burning. Beneath the yantra or picture, you can keep a raw silk cloth that is not dyed or sanforized. If the silk is raw, the way it came out of the cocoon, then the fabric is alive in a way. If you use a raw silk cloth, it reverberates much better than if you use a synthetic cloth or something else.

Another option is to keep everything on a large copper tray or a woven copper cloth. Between the three – the raw silk cloth, copper tray, or copper cloth – you can choose whatever is best for you, according to your convenience and aesthetics. This will enhance the energy of the space. If you can cover the walls and partitions of this space with lots of loose material, such as raw silk, it will reverberate and hold the energy much better. In this way, you can create a cocoon of energy. “Can’t I do without that?” You definitely can. It is just a question of energy efficiency. If the sides are covered with raw silk, the space will be much more energy efficient.

When you meditate at home, and you sit in a space that is a cocoon of energy, it takes much less for you to get into a meditative state. The instructions for Shoonya meditation are that you can sit wherever you want – even at the airport, for example. One reason is because Shoonya is of a certain nature. Another reason is that when people begin to meditate, we do not want them to give it up because they cannot set a certain atmosphere. When it comes to Shoonya, the idea is “Do it anywhere, but anyway do it.” Not having a raw silk cloth should not be an excuse for you not to meditate. But if you create a certain atmosphere, it is more energy-efficient. Things will happen so much easier if the place is kept in a certain way.

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A version of this article was originally published in Forest Flower, June 2017.