meditation
meditation is considered the
gateway to self-realization. it
is a powerful tool to control
the seemingly uncontrollable
mind which according to the
buddha when undisciplined can be
your greatest enemy and if
disciplined can be your greatest
friend.
the mind has often been compared
to an untamed monkey that cannot
sit still. try concentrating on
a point on the wall or an image
of your favorite deity and see
how long you can actually keep
your attention on them. it is
not in the nature of the mind to
remain calm. the mind has often
been compared to a lake where
the slightest ripples disturb
the calm waters and prevent you
from seeing the beauty and
resources that lie below,
waiting to be tapped. yoga, as
patanjali defines it, is nothing
more or less than stilling the
mind, so we can see that
longed-for beauty and let our
life be flooded with those
largely unsuspected resources.
in the bhagawad gita sri krishna
warns arjuna against the dangers
of the agitated mind.
"the disunited mind is far
from wise;
how can it meditate? how be at
peace?
when you know no peace, how can
you know joy?
when you let your mind heed the
siren call
of the senses, they will carry
away
your better judgment as storms
drive a boat
off its safe-chartered course to
certain doom.
most of the time-honored methods
that sages have devised to
achieve this tremendous state
seem to fall into two
categories: those that allow the
mind to quiet down by not giving
it attention and those that aim
to channel the mind's attention
into a single focus. this focus
helps us withdraw our attention
from, and finally subdue, the
endless stream of mostly random
thought making that is the mind.
some methods advocate using an
external object, like a candle,
or using the breath, or using
something more internal. the
most common internal device has
always been a mantra—a charged
word or short formula that you
silently repeat, concentrating
on it more and more deeply at
the expense of those pesky
thought waves.
as taught by the late sri eknath
easwaran, (a spiritual guide)
passage meditation offers us the
chance to let spiritual texts
deeply penetrate our being. in
passage meditation, the object
of attention is not an image or
an external object but an
inspirational passage chosen
from any of the world's great
spiritual traditions and
memorized ahead of time. one
great passage to start off with
is the prayer of st. francis.
to use this method, try to
establish your practice in the
morning, before fascinating
activities like breakfast or
reading e-mail have taken over.
sit in a comfortable position,
with your back, neck, and head
gently erect in an anatomically
straight line. then close your
eyes, breathe deeply and softly,
and begin silently reciting the
words of the passage in your
mind, as slowly as you can
without losing their meaning.
you want to let each inspiring
word "drop like a jewel into the
depths of your consciousness,"
as sri easwaran's oft-repeated
phrase instructs. there is no
need to think about the meaning
of the words. when you're giving
them your full attention, their
meaning can't help but sink in,
leading to all kinds of positive
developments. as we assimilate
the inspired words, we find
ourselves being spontaneously
kind, for example; we find that
addictions and unwanted
behaviors of all kinds drop away
as we come to resemble more and
more the ideals that the passage
we've chosen holds out to us.
for this to happen—and this is
really the core of the
technique—do not follow any
associations that may come up,
even apparently "pious" ones.
when any such distraction
arises, you can do one of two
things about it, depending on
how long it has taken you to
realize you're not on the
passage. in the case of the odd
distraction, the stray thought,
simply bring your attention back
to the words of the passage.
don't get annoyed with your mind
or take note of the distraction
in any way; rather, refocus your
attention on the passage. but
the mind is tricky, and
sometimes a distraction will
take over and go on its merry
way for minutes on end before we
realize what's up. at this
point, we should "pick up the
mind gently," as sri easwaran
often said (getting angry at it
will only be a second
distraction), and bring it right
back to the beginning of the
passage. boring? exactly, but
that's partly the point. you are
serving notice to the mind that
you are in charge—that for a
half hour, at least, it is going
to learn to obey you for a
change or risk what it hates
most: being bored. |