Meditation fad

When people approach me for healing, there’s one repeated request I hear so often.

‘I want to do meditation, but I’m not getting concentration.’

‘Why do you want to do meditation?’ A convincing answer is yet to be received. It has become a fashion to say ‘I do meditation’

Part of the whole

We (jeevatmas)  are all part of the whole (paramatma). There is a constant longing to get back to the paramatma. Ordinarily we feel this longing as a lack and try to fill this lack by accumulating materialistic things and having relationships. These things give us a feeling of fullness or happiness for sometime, then that vacuum resurfaces. Those who are in the routine rat race keep chasing similar objects and may remain in the same track till death. There is nothing wrong with that. All of us will (or were? Remember, time is only in the mind) be there at some point in time.

Once a friend genuinely asked me, ‘I am not interested in spirituality. I love buying clothes, ornaments etc., in abundance. I really enjoy stuffing myself with good food. Is there anything wrong with me?’

I told her, ‘No, nothing wrong. Go ahead and enjoy fully.’

There will be a time when those things stop giving pleasure and then the journey starts deviating in another direction.

Those who stop and analyse the life pattern become aware that the inner self is looking for something beyond the worldly things. Meditation helps to have a look deeper into the self. I would consider meditation in three stages.

Awareness of the thoughts.

Millions of thoughts pass through our mind every day. Majority of them are useless and repetitive, but a lot of our energy is drained through this process. We think that when we sit for meditation, there should not be any thoughts. But the mind has been busy 24/7 so far and suddenly how can it be silent?

So the first step is to become aware when a thought arises. Then, as it used to happen so far, don’t run in the direction of that thought. The moment you become aware of that thought, it loses its hold on you and it passes off. Then of course another thought is going to appear. With practice, gaps start appearing between the thoughts. They are moments of peace and stillness. And you start enjoying it. Spiritual journey needs real tenacity. One has to just keep at it.

Awareness of your Being

As time progresses, besides those moments of peace and stillness, you start feeling something deeper. An awareness of the real you, beyond the body and the mind. Thoughts may still arise, but now the gaps are longer.

When you reach this stage, there will be awareness of that inner being even when you are involved in the worldly activities. It is common for conflicts to appear now. The worldly attractions (as are your friends pulling you into their circle for enjoyment) pull you to one side, and the source of bliss (the drops of which you are getting to experience) to the opposite side.

For one totally into the worldly life, there is no conflict. They may tell lies, cheat friends, take bribes, but have the justification that ‘these are normal things that every body does to lead a normal life in today’s time.’

It needs real determination to cross this stage.

Awareness of the silence

Now there is awareness of total silence. You and the Universe become one. And now, yes, now we reach the stage of ‘no thought’.

A message

I got this message from the universe, for the question whether it is possible to progress in the spiritual path while living a normal life. 

I saw a seedling sprouting from the flower that I had kept on the table for four days. Normally the flower will dry up, the seeds will fall off and germinate when suitable conditions like soil, water and sunlight are available. Here, the plant has taken life straight from the flower. Ok, so it is possible to stay in the world and go to the higher planes of spiritual realm.But.....

...when I took the flower out of the container, I saw the roots. The container had water.Yes, one can go higher up, provided you have proper roots. The roots are the eight limbs of Yoga : yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. The water that is needed is unbroken faith!