Meditation What, When Why and How:
Q. What is 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.
Source: Why Meditation
Q. Why Meditate?
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.
Source : Why Meditation pg. 9,10
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.
Source : Why Meditation pg. 19, 20
Q. When to Meditate? (When to make the decision to go into meditation)
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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 22
Q. Meditate in the morning or in the evening?
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!
Source: Why Meditation pg. 27,28
* How often and how long should we meditate for?
Q. “What is the right way to approach Meditation?”
The first thing is, be sincere. Keep an open mind. Have the openness to experiment. Be enthusiastic.
Source: Living Enlightenment
* Is meditation connected to religion?
* Is meditation compatible with all religions and belief systems?
* When and where did meditation originate?
Fears/worries about:
Q. 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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 34
Q. Will meditation at the beginning produce any bad side-effects?
No! Meditation will not produce any side-effect except bliss and health!
Source: Why Meditation pg. 73
Q. When meditating, lots of negative thoughts arise. Will they come to reality?
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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 63,64
Q. Master, is it possible that meditation takes us into inaction? Even though my intention is to energize myself through meditation, I find that I lose interest in things after meditation. Why?
This is an interesting and real issue. Normally, you are in a state of action, which is the state of rajas. When you are in rajas, also described as aggression or passion, you are externally oriented. Your thoughts are focused on action of some sort or another, usually with some goal in mind. This is the state of most human beings, whether in business, academics or just looking after the household. You plan your activities and you plan to fulfill them accordingly. When you go into meditation and practice seriously, and this happens especially when you are in an ashram kind of environment, you realize the futility of these goal-based actions. All these, all the triggers that activate you, seem to be negativities of some sort. You tend to drop these negativities.
When you drop these negativities and do not want to do anything with them, the state that you move into is tamas, or lazy inaction. Suddenly you find that you are disinterested in everything. You may just want to sleep, that is all. It is not quite depression, but a disinclination to act, because all actions seem negative. This may last a while, a few days, but not for long. Let it happen. Let yourself go through this process. Let all the negativities work themselves out of you. Then gradually you will move back into action with awareness, satva. You will act, since you cannot but act, as Krishna says, but now you act without a purpose. The results of your action are no longer of relevance to you. Success and failure no longer bother you. So do not worry if you slip into what you think is laziness while practicing meditation. It is likely to happen It is a normal process. Just continue and you will move into purposeless action. People think that moving from rajas, aggression to satva, calmness is the natural evolution. It does not work that way. When you move out of your normal active and aggressive behavior you first fall into tamas, inactivity. This is the movement of the mind when it moves out of aggression; it moves into inaction. When this shift is caused by meditation, the inaction does not last long. The mind soon moves into a relaxed, calm state. I have talked about this elsewhere in detail. The mind is constantly looking out through the senses. Its focus is external. It settles on the periphery. However, deep inside there is a longing for it to move inwards. It is constantly getting pulled towards the center from the periphery. It is constantly getting pulled from the material to the spiritual. Usually it settles somewhere in the middle. That is why I say that all humans are eccentric. Their senses pull them to the periphery and their being attracts them to the center. The mind settles eccentrically in between. Meditation aids the movement inwards. As attention shifts from the periphery to the core there is a resistance to what was experienced in the periphery. This leads to temporary inaction and detachment to peripheral experiences. Once a glimpse of the center, the core is achieved there is no detachment or dislike. There is neither attachment nor great attraction for something or detachment or dislike for something. All experiences are viewed non judgmentally and with non-attachment. At the core it is always bliss. It is the state of nithyananda, eternal bliss.
Source: Bhagavad Gita Digital Chapter 3 pg. 91-94
* What do I do if I feel physical pain while meditating?
* Can I meditate if I’m pregnant?
* Can I meditate if I’m sick?
Techniques/practices:
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.
Source: Living Enlightenment
Q. Why do we need meditation techniques?
Meditation techniques are not there to help you achieve anything. They are there to help you
remember that you have not yet found eternal bliss! If I suddenly tell you, ‘Slip into bliss!’ is it possible for you? No! You are not even aware that bliss is your natural state. But when you hear so many masters prescribing meditation again and again, you continuously remember that you are still seeking. Meditation techniques are the lifebuoys that help you cross the ocean of bliss. When you are just learning to swim, will you directly jump into the ocean on your own? No! You need a lifebuoy to keep you afloat. In the same way, to enter into the ocean of bliss, you will need a method to help you initially. Meditation is the most natural method for you. Meditation techniques are nothing but lifebuoys. Once meditation becomes your way of life, you will automatically drop all the techniques, because meditation will become the very quality of your life, no longer a routine that you make time for each day. Every moment will be meditative. Meditation will be a continuous happening in you, irrespective of what you may be doing in the outer world.
Source: Living Enlightenment
Q. I am already doing some meditation given by some other master. Can I do the ones you give
here?
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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 58
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?
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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 62, 63
Q. Lots of masters give many meditation techniques. What makes your techniques special?
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.
Source: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions pg. 64
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?
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.
Source: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions pg. 64
Q. I find that some days I can meditate well and on other days I cannot. How can I make sure
that that I am always successful in meditating well?
The moment we start labeling meditation as good and bad, doing well and not so well, we start losing the whole meaning of meditation. Meditation is being in the present moment. There is nothing to define this experience by. We just are. That is all. There are people who insist on all kinds of conditions before they can meditate. Absolute silence is a requirement. Even the slightest noise will disturb them. All this is just a mere fuss. A small story:
A man got upset that a neighbor living in the apartment above him came home late every night,
making a lot of noise banging the doors and such. What really bothered the man most was the way the neighbor dropped his shoes one after another, making a loud thud. All this woke him up, and then he could not go to sleep until the man was done with all the usual noise. After many such sleepless nights, he gathered up some courage to confront his neighbour. He told him not to make all that noise at night, and specifically not to drop his shoes. The neighbor politely
apologized and that night moved about quietly when he came home. It became so quiet that the man could not sleep! He was so used to being awakened by the banging door and the falling shoes. He was just waiting to hear the door bang. It did not happen. But suddenly one shoe dropped and nothing more. This guy was really tense and couldn’t relax into sleep. After waiting a few minutes, he shouted, ‘Drop the other shoe and get it over with, you fool!’ The moment we start labeling meditation as good and bad, doing well and not so well, we start losing the whole meaning of meditation. Meditation is being in the present moment. There is nothing to define this experience by. We just are. That is all. There are people who insist on all kinds of conditions before they can meditate. Absolute silence is a requirement. Even the slightest noise will
disturb them. All this is just a mere fuss. If that is the attitude we take in meditation, we will be waiting for every sound to disturb us. Even if there is no sound, the sheer tension of waiting for a sound will take us away from the present moment. Remember, meditation does not make us deaf. In fact it makes us more sensitive. Meditation is about focusing inwards and including everything that happens around us. It is witnessing without getting involved in what happens outside, and even in our mind. We just witness our thoughts. We do not try to stop them, or get carried away by them. If we try and capture any particular feeling during meditating, it will be a fruitless effort. Many people ask me, ‘Master, how can we hold on to the bliss of being with you?’ The truth is that you cannot. The moment we try to hold it, bliss slips away. It is like holding our hands in flowing water. As long as our hands are open, the water will stay in them. The moment we try to hold that water by closing our hands, we will find that there is no water. So just flow with your meditation. Be relaxed and be comfortable in your body. Focus on your breath without controlling it. Or use any other technique that you are comfortable with. Stop worrying about any experience you have had before or one that you want to have now. Whatever experience you have is the right experience. Meditation has no goal. You cannot set target experiences. The process is the meaning of meditation. The experience is whatever you experience.
Source: Bhagavad Gita Digital chapter 6 pg. 109, 110, 111
* Are dynamic meditations the right solution for those who have a hard time sitting down in
silence?
* Are there any practices that can aid my meditation?
* What are the simplest techniques one can start with?
* Is it ok to meditate with open eyes?
* Is the best technique, no technique at all?
* Is the use of a mantra helpful during meditation?
* Should one only meditate by himself/herself or are group meditations beneficial as well?
Common issues:
* How to handle distractions such as the need to itch or scratch?
* What do I do if I feel physical pain while meditating?
* What if I feel like I’m about to fall asleep while meditating?
Preparation:
Q. Master, is there any harm in sitting directly on the floor and meditating if that is possible? Is it
essential to have a floor covering to sit on?
As I said earlier, whatever Krishna says here in terms of what to sit on and how to sit is only from a practical point of view, based on conventions of those days. Where would you go for kusha grass today, or deerskin? Animal protectionists will come after you if they see you sitting on deerskin! What is implied here is that you should follow some fundamental principles of hygiene and cleanliness. That is all. People often ask me whether they should bathe before meditation. There is no real need but if you feel sleepy it is a good idea to bathe so that you feel fresh. Even in the morning if you move straight from the bed into meditation even without brushing your teeth, you may be in a half-awake situation and fall asleep as you try to meditate. Other than that there is no rigid rule that you must bathe or that you must sit on a floor covering to meditate. What you need is some basic discipline like in every of skill. You need to practice with sincerity to be successful in meditation, as with every other activity that you undertake. Just because it is considered a spiritual activity, you cannot say that this skill or habit will descend on you from the heavens above. Be sure it will not! That is the reason why Krishna is laying down basic guidelines for meditation. He knows how unstable our minds are. Even when all these guidelines are laid down so clearly you will go and do what you please. If nothing is laid down, God only knows what you will end up doing. In every discourse at least one person will ask me whether he or she can meditate while lying down. Once I asked that person why he would like to meditate while lying down. He said with all sincerity that it will save him time as he can lie down, meditate and then go to sleep!
Source: Bhagavad Gita Digital chapter 6 pg. 94-95
Q. Respected Master, is shavasana okay for meditation or should we sit to meditate?
If you lie down, you will sleep. Even when you sit, you sleep! So naturally when you lie down, you sleep. Please don’t lie down and meditate. See, when you sleep, you can meditate. However, when you meditate, you should not sleep. There is nothing wrong if you meditate when you are asleep. But if you sleep when you meditate, there is something seriously wrong. Don’t do shavasana and meditate. But meditate when you do shavasana! I normally recommend that you sit on the floor crosslegged. If you cannot be comfortable on the floor, sit on a chair. For Nithya Dhyaan meditation, I recommend the vajrasana posture of sitting on your haunches. What is important is that your head, neck and lower back should be aligned and you should not slouch. Slouching makes you drowsy and you will sleep while sitting. You do not need shavasana to sleep. Even padmasana and vajrasana can lead determined people to sleep! When you are sufficiently adept, you do not need any particular posture to meditate. These instructions are necessary at the initial stages. When you are initiated as a Nithya Spiritual Healer into the ananda gandha meditation, you can learn to do it all the time with eyes open. Meditation is awareness, that is all. Once you learn how to stay in the present moment, the awareness automatically happens. All these things that you do sitting in a specific posture is to bring your mind to the present moment. Meditation should become part of life instead of segregating it as a thirty-minute chore in your daily routine.
Source: Bhagavad Gita Digital chapter 12 pg. 82-83
* Are there any common guidelines to follow when one prepares for the mediation process?
* Is it ok or advisable to meditate with background music?
* Can I sit on a chair instead of the floor?
* Where are the best places to meditate?
Aim/goals/Solutions
Q. Is meditation a practical alternative for today’s generation?
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.
Source: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions pg. 72
Q. If a person focuses on his work with intensity does he need meditation?
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.
Source: Why Meditation pg. 72
Q. Many scriptures advise us to look inward. But to be successful in this world we need to look
outward, at how things happen around us. How can we succeed by looking inward?
Man can live in two ways. He can live as an extrovert; then he can have the whole world but he will miss himself. And to miss one’s self is to miss all. Unless man becomes rooted in his self, he has no future. One can become a king, a political leader or a successful and rich businessman, but deep down one remains a beggar, utterly poor. Whatever you have, you crave for more, and your greed, whether for money, power or any material pleasure, drives you on and on. This constant running and running, without stopping, hurts. It hurts very much because one cannot drown it in any oblivion. In fact, the more riches you have on the outside, the clearer it becomes to you that inside you are hollow. The other way is to live an inward life: man can live as an introvert – then man lives in his being. Then one lives rooted in one’s own self and a great richness arises because one is nourished. It is from our inner core that we are joined to God, and if we live from our inner core we allow God to live through us. I am not against the world. Be in the world but don’t be of it, be in the world but remain above it, be in the world but remain transcendental to it. Remain a witness – that is the path to reaching the core. All that is needed is a simple process: sit inside yourself and watch. Let the mind do all its old tricks, simply watch
it non-judgmentally – neither labeling anything good nor bad, neither choosing nor rejecting, utterly indifferent, cool. Slowly, slowly, you learn the trick by remaining cool and indifferent. First the mind tries its old tricks and then, by and by, it feels embarrassed because you are not getting affected in any way, this way or that. Even if you become affected against it, then too the mind is perfectly at ease. It has disturbed you. So don’t be against it, don’t fight with it, and don’t fall a victim to its tricks; remain aloof. Many times you get involved. The moment you remember, pull yourself out, again compose yourself, again watch. A thought arises; see it. It comes in front of you; see it. Then it passes by; see it. Coming, staying, going, just watch it. Take note of it, with no notion of whether it is good or bad, whether it should be or should not be – with no moral attitude, just a scientific, cool observation. After a while, the mind stops chattering. One day,
suddenly it is not there, and that day a silence descends upon you, a silence as you have never known before. That silence, that infinite silence overwhelms you from all sides. Then it never leaves you. It remains with you, it becomes your very soul. It is liberating. And the path is, taking a jump from mind to no-mind. Mind can make you knowledgeable but never wise. No-mind will not make you knowledgeable, but it can make you wise. It is wisdom that brings freedom and it is wisdom that brings God to you. It is wisdom that brings immortality to you. Knowledge is a waste. Avoid knowledge and enter into the world of wisdom. The way is meditation; the way from mind to no-mind is meditation. This is not a process of fighting; it is not forcing. It is a happening. Let this be your foundation: be friendly with Existence, outside; inside, be friendly with everybody, including yourself, which is the hardest. People don’t love themselves. That is the last thing they ever do. It is easy to love the enemy; it is difficult to love yourself. You know yourself too well – how can you love yourself? But the person who can love himself can love all. Love thyself, and you are bound to love your enemies and everybody else. If you can love yourself you have fulfilled the basic condition of love, and out of that love arises peace. And
peace is the door from which you start having your messages from God. Beauty is an expression of God, in whatsoever form it appears. So this is the way that you have to seek and search for God. Start looking at Existence with this vision, with these eyes, and you will be surprised because you will see things you had never seen before. You have been passing the same things everyday: the same trees, the same birds and the same people. But once you have this vision, that all is divine, you look at things in a new light. Then the world is no more a puzzle, no more a problem, no more a question – not a question to be solved but a mystery to be lived. The moment you are empty of yourself, you are full of God. Remember that both cannot exist together. Remember again and again: both cannot exist together; it is either you or God. And the foolish person chooses himself. Choose God: disappear as an ego. Forget yourself as a separate entity from Existence, and in that disappearance, you are reborn. It is a paradoxical state: the moment you are empty of yourself, you become full, and full for the first time, full and overflowing, inexhaustibly full. And the ego is a shadow; it has no substance. It is a dream, not a reality. Drop the shadow so that you can attain the substance. Drop the false so that the real can be attained. All that I teach here is how to be empty of yourself so that you can be full of God. That fullness is fulfilment.
Source: Bhagavad Gita Digital chapter 7 pg. 135-138
Q. Master, you mentioned that meditation is the way to Being and Krishna Consciousness.
Yes, meditation is the key to self-awareness. There is no other way that you can reach Krishna or Shiva Consciousness, and the state of Causeless Auspiciousness. Meditation is, being in the present. It is not complex or difficult. Meditation is a simple process. It is dropping the mind: moving away from the mind, seeing the mind as separate from you, watching it, witnessing it, and remembering, ‘I am not the mind.’ It is not suppressing the mind or senses or thoughts. This is what I call ‘unclutching.’ It is breaking the connection between thoughts. Thoughts by themselves are unconnected. They are irrational, illogical and unconnected. We connect them and by connecting them we create shafts of pain and pleasure. Either way we suffer. By disconnecting thoughts, by un-clutching, we drop the mind and keep remembering that we are not the mind. Slowly the remembrance becomes stronger. The distance between you and the mind becomes bigger. One day you absolutely know that the mind is a mechanism with which you had become identified. You had become clutched and now it is time to wake up from that sleep, that illusion. To become awakened means to know ‘I am not the mind; I am the Master.’ Then you can have control over the mind, and you are not used by the mind anymore. When you are free from the bondage of the mind, you are liberated, free and in bliss. Any skill is acquired with practice. And it is the same with meditation. You spend years acquiring useless skills and information. You attend courses and pay through the nose for bits of information that you never use again. Meditation is a lifesaver. It helps you understand yourself. Unfortunately, it is not diversion of the mind; it is centering the mind. It is about giving up the mind. Naturally the mind does not care to lose itself. It does not like losing control. The purpose of meditation is to bring you out of the clutches of your mind and out of the bondage of your thoughts. While it is not as easy as being a couch potato and watching the television, it is not difficult either. All you need is discipline to sit for a few days looking inwards. Once you discover the joy of being in control of your mind, you never want to lose control again. This control leads to liberation. Once in a while someone tells me, ‘Master, I am fine as long as someone is not talking within my hearing range. I can meditate well. But I get disturbed by sound.’ Meditation does not make you deaf. You can hear when you meditate. In fact, awareness increases and you hear better than normal. The point is to witness what is going on outside without becoming involved. You cannot shut off your senses. Even when you close your eyes, you have an inner TV playing inside. Watch your thoughts as if they are clouds floating in the sky. Do not become part of the cloud. With practice you can meditate sitting in a noisy mall. You can meditate with eyes open. All this comes with practice and sincerity. The only difficulty is the assumption that it is difficult.
Source: Bhagavad Gita digital chapter 14 pg. 37-39
Q. Meditation appears complex and difficult. How can we become successful in meditation?
Yes, meditation is the key to self-awareness. There is no other way that you can reach Krishna or Shiva Consciousness, and the state of Causeless Auspiciousness. Meditation is, being in the present. It is not complex or difficult. Meditation is a simple process. It is dropping the mind: moving away from the mind, seeing the mind as separate from you, watching it, witnessing it, and remembering, ‘I am not the mind.’ It is not suppressing the mind or senses or thoughts. This is what I call ‘unclutching.’ It is breaking the connection between thoughts. Thoughts by themselves are unconnected. They are irrational, illogical and unconnected. We connect them and by connecting them we create shafts of pain and pleasure. Either way we suffer. By disconnecting thoughts, by un-clutching, we drop the mind and keep remembering that we are not the mind. Slowly the remembrance becomes stronger. The distance between you and the mind becomes bigger. One day you absolutely know that the mind is a mechanism with which you had become identified. You had become clutched and now it is time to wake up from that sleep, that illusion. To become awakened means to know ‘I am not the mind; I am the Master.’ Then you can have control over the mind, and you are not used by the mind anymore. When you are free from the bondage of the mind, you are liberated, free and in bliss. Any skill is acquired with practice. And it is the same with meditation. You spend years acquiring useless skills and information. You attend courses and pay through the nose for bits of information that you never use again. Meditation is a lifesaver. It helps you understand yourself. Unfortunately, it is not diversion of the mind; it is centering the mind. It is about giving up the mind. Naturally the mind does not care to lose itself. It does not like losing control. The purpose of meditation is to bring you out of the clutches of your mind and out of the bondage of your thoughts. While it is not as easy as being a couch potato and watching the television, it is not difficult either. All you need is discipline to sit for a few days looking inwards. Once you discover the joy of being in control of your mind, you never want to lose control again. This control leads to liberation. Once in a while someone tells me, ‘Master, I am fine as long as someone is not talking within my hearing range. I can meditate well. But I get disturbed by sound.’ Meditation does not make you deaf. You can hear when you meditate. In fact, awareness increases and you hear better than normal. The point is to witness what is going on outside without becoming involved. You cannot shut off your senses. Even when you close your eyes, you have an inner TV playing inside. Watch your thoughts as if they are clouds floating in the sky. Do not become part of the cloud. With practice you can meditate sitting in a noisy mall. You can meditate with eyes open. All this comes with practice and sincerity. The only difficulty is the assumption that it is difficult.
Source: Bhagavad Gita digital chapter 14 pg. 37-39
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?
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. – This answer continues on for three more pages, wasn’t sure if to copy the rest of it.
Source: The Only Way Out is In pg. 49,50
* Can meditation cure depression?
* Can meditation dissolve karma?
* Can mental patterns be dropped through meditation?
* What kind of experiences should I expect?
* Is meditation the only way to achieve true bliss?
Exploring deeper
* Do I need a meditation teacher in order to learn?
* Can you recommend books and cd’s on meditation?
