24. Relax! That Is Meditation!

We are always disturbed by too many words and ideas. How many of us have postponed practicing meditation on one pretext or other?

First we think,'to meditate stillness of the mind is necessary. I don't have it.' Then our friend comes and says, 'practise pranayama. This controlled breathing technique helps us concentrate a lot.'

Understand! 'Stillness of mind', ' Pranayama', these are big words which create more complications. In our current state, that is the unreachable goal. Usually when we are at work, we are thinking of our home. When we are at home we are thinking of the evening discourse. At the discourse we are thinking of when we can go back. At home we are thinking of the next day's office work. At office we are planning the evening outing. When we are outside, we start thinking of home again. We never live where our body is.

Meditation is very simple. If we can relax without TV or other outside distractions, we can meditate. When we simply relax where we are, we are in meditation. We can meditate instantly. We should become deeply aware of our boundaries.

So understand that being in the present, living with awareness and consciousness is called meditation.

Just relax. Just be where we are. Feel the ground or chair, feel how we are sitting, and feel all the parts of our body. Simply experience the present. By being totally in the body we will start experiencing life. Because this idea is so simple, it is also very difficult to understand.

Many people are very successful in their chosen paths. They are also severely depressed. They deal with depression in three ways. Addiction and substance abuse is the first form. Suicide, either by killing oneself or slowly dying within and walking like the living dead, is the second path. The third method, which only very few intelligent people choose, is that of meditation. We have to go into the depression to get to know it, to analyze it and then to come out of it. These are the three paths to get out of depression.

We have to choose our own path.

Meditation helps us face ourselves without judgment. It helps us to face uncertainties in our life without becoming too excited or too depressed. It helps us just be. Being aware of the body, thoughts, and events outside and relaxing into all this is meditation. Try it.