Veggie Fest, the popular vegetarian food and lifestyle festival, returned this year after a four-year hiatus. The event was held in Lisle, Illinois (USA), and attracted tens of thousands on August 11 and 12. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave the keynote addresses on both days. Some highlights from the two talks are included below.
Why are we unhappy, posed the spiritual Master. It is because we are looking for happiness in the wrong place. We search for it in the outer world, which is riddled with ups and downs, causing life to be a pendulum that shifts between moments of joy and moments of sadness.
True happiness lies within and can be accessed through meditation, he said. Meditation allows us to tap into the source of all love and happiness. It offers a state of bliss that remains unaffected by life’s ups and downs. This contact with divine love also strengthens and heals our soul. As the soul is healed, we automatically experience improved health of the body and mind.
As we meditate on God’s Light within us, we begin to see the Light of God in all and regard everyone as an extension of God. Meditation broadens our perspective and fosters harmony with the world around us.
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji emphasized how meditation is now more mainstream, with many people adopting the practice for its physical, mental, and emotional benefits. Yet the real reason to meditate, he said, is a spiritual reason—it is to experience our soul, to understand and experience our relationship with God. In meditation, we connect with the divine Light, which nourishes and strengthens our soul.
After each keynote address, the spiritual Master gave introductory meditation instructions, which were followed by a short meditation session. The more we meditate daily, he said, the stronger the connection between our soul and God.
