A.“Meditation is falling in tune
with nature, with Existence. This is your natural state, your true state of
bliss. This is connecting with the Ultimate Consciousness. Meditation is just
being blissful in the moment. When you are at complete peace in the present
moment, you are already in a state of meditation.”

If I had to put down the answer
in one line, I would say, anything that raises your consciousness is
meditation. It can be even a simple breathing technique. It can be a simple
repetition of a word, or it can be just simply sitting! In the Zen tradition,
just sitting is meditation. You may think this is the easiest but in fact, it
is the most difficult meditation. Anything can become meditation, if it raises
your consciousness.

Q. Why Meditate?

A. From page 9,10 – Extensive
research done by different scientists in different countries has proven that
meditation results in good physical health, mental health, and a host of other
derived benefits. But according to me, even those results are not straight
results of meditation, they are not the actual purpose
of meditation. They are just the side benefits of meditation. Good physical
health, mental health, etc. are all wonderful to have, but they are only side
benefits of meditation. If somebody asks me, why meditate, straight answer
would be, to raise your consciousness! The human body is designed to live in
high consciousness. The human brain is wired for enlightenment.  From page 19,20 –
Meditation is needed to create an increasing influence and awareness over both
your thinking state and the unconscious state. Instead of the dream state
penetrating the waking state and the deep sleep state; with meditation, the turiya or blissful state will start penetrating the waking
and deep sleep states! The more and more we meditate, the more we raise our
awareness and the more we raise our consciousness of the fourth state – turiya. Turiya itself means
fourth. You cannot give an exact name to this state. You can call it by any of
these names: samadhi, enlightenment, atmagnana, brahmagnana,
nirvana… They are all different names but denoting the same state. When this
state starts penetrating and overlapping the waking and deep sleep states, we
will see good health happening in the body, mind and being. The purpose of
meditation is to experience this fourth state and bring more and more influence
of the fourth state into our waking and deep sleep states.

Q. When to Meditate? (When to make the decision to go into
meditation)

A. Meditation is just like reading an owner’s manual before
you start driving the car. The person who does not read the owner’s manual
before driving the car will naturally meet with accidents! In the same way, the
person who has not started meditation before entering into life will inevitably
enter into suffering and depression at one point or the other. I want you to
deeply understand and analyze this question, ‘when meditation?’ Please
understand, meditation is the basic thing needed for
life. It is not an option. It is a very basic need. As I was telling you
earlier, meditation is like an owner’s manual for your body and for your life.
The moment you start living, you need to go through it; you need to enter into
it. Don’t wait for accidents to happen to start reading the owner’s manual of
your life. Be intelligent and start this very moment.         Why Meditation pg. 22

Q.  Meditate in themorning or in the evening?

A. There are three kinds of meditation. The first is
bringing the Truth or awareness into your life. This is supposed to be done all
twenty four hours a day. Techniques like vipassana or
bringing your awareness to the present moment all the time belong to this
category of meditation. It is not a part of your routine. It should become the
very quality of your routine. You may be doing anything like writing, reading,
cooking, discussing… but this thread of meditation should be happening in
parallel, like an undercurrent. There are other kinds of meditation techniques
for which you need to spend a particular time, like one hour in the morning or
one hour in the evening, or any other convenient time. The Mahamantra
meditation technique, where you hum for a few minutes and then remain a witness
for a few minutes, can be given as an example for this category of meditation.
Then there is the third kind of meditation techniques, which you neither need
to to the whole day, nor spend seperate
time for. Just the very remembrance of the the
technique is enough! Examples of this are the statements of the great timeless
Truths. When you are in a highly mature state, you don’t need any separate
technique. You don’t need to practice the whole day or at any particular time.
Just the very remembrance of these Truths will put you in the elevated state.
You will be in that high state and experience the Truth. This is the third type
of meditation. Examples of this are the beautiful Zen koans.
They are profound Truths written in a concise way. Just the very remembrance of
them will transport you to that zone! Why Meditation pg. 27,28

People are afraid that their desires, their fears, and
whatever else they think of as their life, will be taken away from them if they
start meditating. I can say that this is true! Once you start meditating,
whatever you think of as your life will not be any more an important part of
your life, because once you start meditating, the real truths will start
revealing themselves to you. All the time, you are trying to protect yourself
from the basic truths because you are afraid of them you don’t need to protect
yourself from your fears because these fears do not have a base at all. The
concept or the idea that you are a solid being, which is the root cause of all
your fears, will simply be shaken by meditation. All that you thought you were,
all your desires, all your fears, all your worries, will be shaken and will
start going through a big change.

Q. I am already doing some meditation given by some othermaster. Can I do the ones you give here?

A. You are welcome. I always tell people, try to collect the
best flowers from all the gardens and make a beautiful bouquet for yourself.
You do not have to think, “If I learn from one source I should not learn
from another.” No! It is not like a shop that if you come to this shop,
you can’t go to the next shop. Go to all possible sources and learn all the
best things. Pluck all the best flowers, and make a beautiful garland for
yourself. I always tell people, your ego is such it cannot be broken by one
master. Now you need so many blows from so many different directions and so
many methods from so many different sources. So, do not think, if I learn from
one source I should not learn from another source. No! Learn from all possible
sources and raise yourself.

Q. I have learned vipassana, but I am unable to practice it effectively. I am not sure why. Is it that I am doing
it wrong, is it a wrong technique for me?

A. Neither are you doing it wrong nor is it the wrong
technique for you. First, you should have experienced the psychological
revolution, clarity about you, world, and god. Then, the technique should have
been added to you. Without that clarity, if the technique is directly added it
leads to boredom, dullness, and naturally, you drop the technique. I always
tell people; any study, any journey you undertake, any book you start reading
even if you don’t understand a single world, do not skip. If you don’t
understand and skip, slowly you will see that words which you did not
understand will become more and more like a load, and your very interest in
reading further will disappear. In the same way, in the inner journey, without
going through the psychological revolution or the understanding, if you just
skip the understandings and enter into the meditation technique, it is a
problem.

Q. “What is the right way to approach Meditation?”

A. The first thing is, be sincere. Keep an open mind. Have
the openness to experiment. Be enthusiastic.

Q. What are meditation techniques?

Any technique, any method which raises consciousness is
meditation. Meditation can even be a simple breathing technique. It can be a
simple repetition of a word or simply sitting. In the Zen tradition, just
sitting is meditation. You may think this is the easiest thing to do, but in
fact, just sitting is the most difficult meditation.

Q. What is bliss?

A. In life everyone has experienced some moments of great
happiness. But it has always been for a reason. It is a nice feeling but it has
two disturbing qualities: the feeling doesn’t last and it is the result of some
cause or reason. Only the happiness you experience for no reason at all, which
does not die for any reason, is real and permanent…this is what is called
bliss. Such happiness doesn’t depend on anything outside of you.

Q. When meditating, lots of negative thoughts arise. Will they come to reality?

A. Don’t bother about their coming into reality. You are not
that powerful – fortunately. Fortunately, we are not that powerful to project
our thoughts into reality. Otherwise we would have created a worse hell than
what we are having now. Fortunately, God did not give so much of energy to us
to project our thoughts into reality. If at some time your thoughts have become
reality, if you have seen your dreams or thoughts becoming reality, do not use
that power; try to divert that energy into your consciousness.

Q. If a person focuses on his work with intensity does he need meditation?

A. This is again a hypothetical question, “If a person
focuses on his work…“. Nobody can focus without
meditation. Actually the question with
“if” cannot be answered. “If it is…” cannot be answered.

Q. Will meditation at the beginning produce any bad side-effects?

A. No! Meditation will not produce any side-effect except bliss and health!

Q. Lots of masters give many meditation techniques. What makes your techniques special?

A. I don’t consider it necessary to promote any particular
technique as special. I promote the principle of meditation. If more and more
people are inspired to practice meditation after listening to me, that itself is sufficient – it is a good sign. It could be any
method they feel comfortable with. But if you are asking about my method, you
could say that it is a way of balancing our inner energies. There is an energy
that pervades the cosmos that works the planets, the sun and the moon. We are
also part of this same energy, but we have lost touch. My techniques
helps in tuning us back to this cosmic energy. The more we tune
ourselves, the more at ease we will be with our body, mind and spirit.

Q. There are so many meditation techniques, that we get confused. Each group tries to promote its own technique. How do we know which
technique is right for us?

A. I advise you to try out as many techniques as you come
across. Everyone should try out some techniques, at least 4-5 techniques. See,
everyone who preaches has a spark of truth inside – without that, it is
impossible to come out and be a master. But different masters preach the same
truth in different ways. Also, different people have different mental set-up,
so they may fall in tune more easily with one master, than with another. So try
out the techniques and see. Whichever gives you the deepest inner peace and the
greatest clarity, follow it and forget the rest.

Q. Is meditation a practical alternative for today’s generation?

A. Of course. Especially in today’s society, when stress is
too much, family relationships are failing, meditation can make a tremendous
difference. And it doesn’t require too much of your time and effort. These days
everybody is too busy to think about spirituality. I understand But keep aside at least half an hour every day for
meditation – any meditation is fine. It is not necessary that you should follow
the techniques I am giving you. Follow whatever suits you best, whatever you
feel tuned to. You will surely see a transformation,
not only in your own life, but also in the way you reach out to others and
bring about a definite change in society.

Q. Beloved Master, I have been meditating for a few years now and since I have started I am able to see tremendous changes in my life.
Changes have been happening by themselves, without my trying, or doing
anything. I feel as if something wants to express itself and that I should
allow it. Am I waiting for something to grow strong enough,,
or am I just lazy?

A. Yes, experiences will happen with meditation. You may
find a deep change within yourself since you have started your spiritual
journey. But this is where you start missing as well: you go on asking for
more. you are not just allowing to flow in its own
course. Life is a river: flow with it. But our problem is that we always flow
against life’s currents. A small story: There was a couple traveling with a
group in the wilderness. They came across a rapidly flowing river. The wife
thought it was beautiful. She went close to it and fell in. The husband
immediately jumped in and tried searching for her, but was unable to find her.
He then started swimming against the current hoping to find her. One of the
members called out to him, “Why are you swimming in the wrong direction?
The river’s currents would have carried her away. Why are you swimming against
its current?” The man helplessly replied, “Yes, but I know her. She
would have gone upstream only!” This is exactly what we are doing every
minute of our lives. Life is nothing but a river. It is continuously trying to
carry you away. But what do you do? You swim against its current instead of
flowing with it. There is a popular saying, “Go with the flow”. It
means nothing but this. Now you will ask, “How to flow with life?”
Simply allow life to happen; that’s all! Do not think about the future. Do not
think about the past. The present should be the only thing for you. Just be in
the present moment. –