WORK AS PLAY🔗

When you take up meditation, you will make the beautiful shift from being serious to being sincere. Understand, sincere is not serious! All your stress and all your problems arise because you are taking life too seriously. People come and tell me, ‘Nowadays, life has become so competitive and stressful, we have no time to do anything that we really want to do.’

Actually if you see the Truth of the situation, it is not a question of less time or more work. It is your attitude about these things that makes the difference. You see, it is not the work that exhausts you. It is your mind, your attitude! Take a simple example. If you have to take the train to work, you feel tired even before you get there. Even if you have only been sitting comfortably on the train, you feel exhausted. But if you are taking an evening walk along the beach, you don't feel tired even after walking for two or three miles! Understand, in your mind you feel that the train ride to your office is work, but the walk on the beach is relaxation! You don't have anything to achieve by taking that walk. This is the big difference. The whole thing depends upon your state of mind. Naturally, if you carry the same relaxed attitude towards your work, you can give yourself to it without getting stressed-out. The whole purpose of meditation is this: to get out of the result-oriented mind, and watch every moment of life unfold as a beautiful Divine play!

Q: Can you speak on drugs? What is the state they can put you in? How is it different from the state which meditation puts you in?

Meditation takes you to superconsciousness. Drugs take you to unconsciousness! That is the whole difference between them The biggest problem with drugs is, the more you take, the more you will become accustomed to it. The same dosage which was enough the first time will not be enough the second time, third time or fourth time. So the dosage has to keep increasing. Naturally, within a short time, your whole nervous system will be destroyed! You will not be able to relate with reality anymore. So you will be constantly craving for that unconscious insensitive state. I tell you, apart from becoming useless to society, it is like taking up a human body and living like a pig - with the sensitivity of a pig, or a stone. It is abusing yourself, destroying yourself. So that is why drugs just should not be encouraged - not socially, and especially not on the spiritual path. These people who try to achieve meditation through drugs - nothing will happen! It is simply nonsense. I have seen so many of these so-called spiritual communities here and there, everywhere. Just cheating themselves and cheating others. Understand, drugs have nothing to do with spirituality. They will only lead you to deeper and deeper unconsciousness. A categorical NO to drugs is the first step to spirituality.

YOU ARE THE SOURCE!

Experiencing yourself as the play of pure consciousness

_________________________________________________________

Consciousness is present in your every pore.

Your very body is a wave of the universal consciousness.

The breath that goes in and out of your body is consciousness.

Your movements are consciousness.

Your emotions are consciousness.

Your thoughts are consciousness.

By your very nature, you are an expression of pure consciousness.

Understand, I am expressing a very subtle Truth.

You don’t just have consciousness.

You are consciousness!

A few centuries ago, science believed that matter and energy were separate things. It is not possible to convert matter into energy, or energy into matter. Then it was proved that matter can be converted to energy and vice-versa. When the scientist Albert Einstein delivered the famous equation, E=mc2, he was actually equating E (energy) with mass (matter). In the equation, c is the speed of light. However, it was believed that the same object cannot exist as matter and energy at the same time. Later, experiments conducted on light proved that light behaves both as a particle (matter) and as a wave (energy). At the same time, it exists as both matter and energy! This was a great revelation in the scientific world.

The famous double-slit experiment conducted on the behavior of light was a benchmark in our understanding of the relative nature of what we call ‘reality’. The findings of this experiment rocked the scientific community, by proving that the mere presence of an observer can drastically affect the result of an experiment! In other words, it is the observer who unconsciously creates his own reality at every moment, by ‘choosing’ one of many possibilities and causing it to precipitate into reality.

This Truth, discovered by science only a few decades ago, was declared by the Eastern rishis (vedic seers) in the Upanishads, written thousands of years ago. The very first line of the first major Upanishad, Isha Vasya Upanishad declares this Truth: Isha vasyam idagam sarvam, yat kincha jagatyaam jagat This whole world-manifestation is nothing but energy, nothing but Divine consciousness!

This is the Truth.

Today, modern science agrees that the fundamental particles that make up our universe are not matter, but energy. So matter itself is actually energy! Matter is actually energy vibrating at various frequencies and manifesting itself in various forms. We are not able to see this vibration with our eyes because the frequencies of vibration are too high. Understand, when a fan rotates at a very high speed, we cannot see its three leaves separately. Instead, we perceive a single disc, a solid object. It is as if the separate leaves have merged to create an idea of a solid object. In the same way, the vibration of energy particles is so fast that cannot be perceived by the eye. It appears to be solid matter!

Today, science agrees that matter is energy, energy is matter. Energy in gross form is matter. Matter in subtle form is energy. But one thing they cannot understand is that this is not a blind energy. This energy is a conscious energy. No, it is consciousness itself! It has its own intelligence. In the Shiva Sutras, an ancient spiritual text dealing with meditation, Lord Shiva’s consort Devi asks Him, ‘Kim roopam tatvato deva..?’ (O Lord! What is your Reality..?) Shiva replies beautifully, ‘tadvapuh tatvato jneyam vimalam vishvapooranam...’ (‘The essential nature of Shiva-consciousness is pure, and inclusive of the entire universe...’)

Understand, this whole universe is nothing but Consciousness playing with itself! When everything is Consciousness, no separate intelligence is necessary to direct this play. For example, electricity is present in the fan in a potential form, but unless someone presses the switch, it cannot move the fan on its own. An intelligent person is necessary to activate it. But in the case of the Divine creation, both the Creator and his Creation are nothing but pure Consciousness. There is intelligence in every particle, every cell.

The Taittiriya Upanishad says beautifully, ‘From the Ultimate Consciousness, or God, came ether, space. From ether came air. From air came fire. From fire came water. From water came the earth. From the earth came food. This is the way Existence has happened.’ Thus, mystics again and again emphasize that we are from Consciousness, we are from God. You are a vibration of this Consciousness!

Normally when you hear the word ‘consciousness’, you feel that it is some vague concept. It is something which you know you have, but you cannot define. You are so accustomed to thinking of yourself as a combination of matter and consciousness. You feel that your body is matter, and somewhere within it is your ‘consciousness’.

But I am using the word in a different way. I am saying to you, Consciousness is present in your every cell. Your very body is a wave of the universal consciousness. The breath that goes in and out of your body is consciousness. Your movements are consciousness. Your emotions are consciousness. Your thoughts are consciousness. By your very nature, you are an expression of pure consciousness.

Understand, I am expressing a very subtle Truth. You don’t have consciousness. You are consciousness!

Annamaya means composed of food. This sheath is the physical body itself. It is the outermost of the five sheaths, and is the grossest layer. This is the only sheath visible to us.

Pranamaya means composed of prana, the vital force that holds together the body and mind. It pervades the whole organism, and its physical manifestation is the breath. As long as this vital principle exists in the organisms, life continues.

Manomaya means composed of manas or mind. It is the cause of diversity, of I and mine. Man’s bondage is caused by the mind, and liberation, too, is caused by that alone.

Vijnanamaya means composed of vijnana, or intelligence, the faculty which wills, discriminates and determines. Since this sheath is already within close range of the atman, it is endowed with a reflection of pure consciousness.

Anandamaya means composed of ananda, or Supreme bliss. The bliss sheath normally has its fullest play during deep sleep, when the mind and senses cease functioning. Being the innermost sheath, the anandamaya kosha is the purest reflection of the atman, which is bliss absolute. The anandamaya kosha is proof that bliss is our true nature.

According to the Taittiriya Upanishad, the individual consciousness or atman (Self) is ‘encased’ in five koshas or energy sheaths.

They are known as annamaya kosha (food sheath or physical layer), pranamaya kosha (vital energy sheath or breath layer), manomaya kosha (mind sheath or mental layer), vijnanamaya kosha (knowledge sheath or intelligence layer) and anandamaya kosha (bliss sheath or bliss layer).

The koshas are present in concentric layers around the atman.

Each kosha is interior to, and subtler than, the previous kosha. The annamaya kosha or physical body is the outermost and grossest layer, and the anandamaya kosha or bliss layer is the innermost and sublest layer.

These five layers are not watertight compartments, but are actually gradients of conscious energy, from the grossest to the subtlest.

Understand, every layer of ‘you’ is a gradation of consciousness!

Your physical layer or physical body is the most visible and grossest expression of consciousness.

Your breath layer is a more subtle expression of consciousness – a bridge between the gross body and the subtle mind.

Your thoughts and emotions form the mental layer, which is a still more subtle vibration of consciousness.

In the intelligence layer, the same consciousness is expressed as the ability for visualization and discrimination.

The bliss-consciousness layer is experienced by you only in deep sleep (though you are unaware of it), or rarely, in deep meditation.

These five layers are not physical sheaths, but rather different layers of subjective experience. They function as one holistic system. Each layer flows into the next layer, and is intimately connected to the layers it touches on either side.

That is why you will see that many of the meditation techniques combine techniques for two or more layers.

One more thing: Each of these layers is a vibration of Consciousness, whether gross or subtle. Each layer is linked to the core Consciousness.

So in meditation, we can either work along the spiral of Consciousness, moving slowly inwards - or we can directly jump from any layer to the superconscious state. Understand, you don't have to work along the spiral. You can take a quantum jump from anywhere along the spiral into the core Consciousness!

The traditional methods work along the spiral. That is why they first prescribe techniques to cleanse and energize the body, then they proceed to work with breath, then the thoughts and emotions and so on. But there is another path, where you can take the leap from anywhere into your inner space. It all depends on the person, on his state of readiness.

Since every layer of 'you' is an expression of consciousness, anything can become a door to enter into that pure inner space.

That is why you will find, in the Vedic Tradition We've spared no effort to turn anything into a meditation! Your very body movements can be used to infuse awareness into your life.

Your breath, your emotions, your thoughts can all become techniques to help you enter that inner space. The Vedic Traditionhas thrown open all the doors!

Q. In the Vedic Tradition, why do you have so many deities, so many methods of worship, so many meditation techniques?

A. In the West, why do you have so many cars? Why do we have so many cars in the West? Because so much time and energy has been invested in doing research, to give us unique designs and different levels of comfort and luxury! The West has done much research to improve the quality of our life in the outer world.

In the same way, in the Vedic Tradition, we have spent so much time doing research and development on how to raise the consciousness of the individual. That's why we have so many methods, so many techniques, so many Gods, so many paths!

In the Vedic Tradition, meditation has been elevated to a pure science for enlightenment. For thousands of years, the enlightened mystics and Masters of the Vedic Tradition have given their lives to research and enrich this science. Understand, a scientist is a person who creates a formula to reproduce the experiences which he has had in the outer world. He creates techniques by which the same understanding can be transmitted to others.

A mystic is a person who creates a formula to reproduce the experiences he has had in the inner world. He creates techniques by which the same realization can be transmitted to others.

Not only are these techniques are time-tested and foolproof, created out of the experiential wisdom of thousands of realized Masters, many of them have been experienced and verified in my own personal life. In the Vedic Tradition we say, 'As many minds, that many paths'!

But basically, there are only three kinds of techniques. The first kind works on bringing the Truth or awareness into your daily life. These techniques need to be practiced twenty-four hours a day. Techniques like vipassana which focuses on repeatedly bringing your awareness to the present moment, belong to this category. You may be doing anything –writing, reading, cooking, working... but the thread of meditation should be there all the time, like an undercurrent.

The second kind of technique is those which are to be practiced at a particular time of the day, or even during a particular period of life – maybe when you are in love, or when you are going through a difficult phase in your life! The Mahamantra meditation technique, where you practice intense humming for a few minutes and then remain a witness for a few minutes, is a simple example of this category of meditation.

Then there is the third kind of technique, which you neither need to practice continuously nor at a particular time. In fact, you don’t even need to practice these kinds of techniques. Just the very remembrance of the technique is enough! Examples of these techniques are the Upanishadic Mahavakya, the statements of the great timeless Truths, and the beautiful Zen koans. When you are in a highly mature state, you don’t need any separate techniques. Just the very remembrance of Truth will transport you to that elevated state, and you will simply experience the Truth!

Q. How do I locate the technique which is right for me?

If a technique appeals to you, simply try it out. Practice it sincerely. Put your whole energy behind the effort, believing fully that it will work for you. If you are enjoying it, stick to it for at I Vedic Tradition ten days - without expecting results!

Our biggest problem is, whenever we initiate any activity, our mind has already leaped to the results! We are unable to do anything without thinking, ‘What am I going to get out of this? How much? How fast?’ We carry the same attitude into our spiritual practices also. We think that the Divine is going to jump on us during our very first meditation session! Then we wonder what went wrong.

Three monkeys once found a ripe, juicy mango. Like all monkeys, they fought over the mango for a while. Then somehow, they had a moment of clarity, a moment of intelligence. Instead of eating the mango right away, they decided to sow the mango. Once the mango seed sprouted and grew into a tree, they decided there would be enough and more mangoes for all three of them. Each one decided to take up a part of the task of caring for the plant. The first monkey said, “I will water the plant everyday!” The second monkey said, “I will keep the soil healthy and rich, add fertilizers and ensure that the plant grows well.” The third monkey said, “I will guard the plant carefully and protect it from harsh weather and animals.” One month passed; then two, then three. There was no sign of any plant growing from the seed. The three monkeys called for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue. The first monkey declared, “As promised, I have been watering the seed every single day.” The second monkey cried, “As promised, I have been adding fertilizer and making the soil rich.” The third monkey said, “As promised, I have been guarding the seed very carefully. Not only that, I have been taking the seed out every single day to check whether it has sprouted or not!”

So just understand what will happen if you check for results everyday! Give the process of meditation some time to grow in you.

On the spiritual path, you need to have deep passion, with deep patience!

Passion means the tremendous will to succeed, and patience is the deep prayer that you should succeed. When you have passion with patience, you will have intensity without restlessness.

Understand: once a technique has touched you, there is no way you will not be transformed. Sometimes the transformation will be subtle, and sometimes others may see it better than you do. If a technique is helping you feel more relaxed, more centered, more sensitive – it is working. If it is making you more joyful, helping you expand, feel more energetic – it is working.

Usually, among the first five or eight techniques you choose, there will be one that is right for you. Locate it. Pursue it.

Now one important thing you need to understand: ultimately, all meditation, all techniques, are only for your body-mind. Your being needs no meditation! Your being is always in that still, silent, blissful space... or I should say, that still, silent, blissful space is your being! Meditation is not so far away from you as you think! In fact, we are all continually experiencing split-second samadhi. So often, without realizing it, we dip into the Self, into our being. These are the moments when we enter into spontaneous meditation!

Just recall any moment in your life when you have experienced great beauty: the sun rising suddenly from behind a mountain, or the first time you hear a lovely piece of music. At such a moment, suddenly, you become totally still, wordlessly aware. Haven't we all experienced such moments? That is meditation! At such moments, we are living enlightenment. But the problem is, we have virtually no control over when such a moment will come or go. Our meditation is a pure accident! Understand, our meditation is not in our control.

Not just that, even if we do have a powerful glimpse or satori, our body and mind cannot retain that high voltage ecstasy for more than a few hours or a few days. Actually, experiencing a glimpse of pure consciousness, a moment of satori is not such a big thing. It is not that difficult. But to stay in that space and to express and radiate that state, preparation is needed. Training the body and mind to sustain and radiate that experience continuously is the purpose of meditation. This is a continuous process. That is why I always tell people that meditation cannot just be a quantity added to your life, it has to become the very quality of life!

Q. If meditation has to become a 24-hour process, how can I get any work done?

Understand, meditation is not against action! Meditation does not mean just sitting silently with your eyes closed. Actually, even if you want to sit with your eyes closed all 24 hours, you won't be able to do it. Just try it and see!

In the Bhagavad Gita, the enlightened Master Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna, Na hi kaschit kshanamapi jatu tishthati akarmakrit Kaaryate hi avashyah karma sarvah prakrtijairgunaihi (Not for an instant can you remain without action, for everyone is helplessly driven to action by their very nature – BG III.5)

Whether you wish to or not, it is impossible for you to remain without doing any action.

That is why, I am an action-based Master! As long as you have action inside you, my action and yours have to cancel each other out. Only then can we enter into the space of silence.

This concept of karma yoga or ‘inaction in action’ needs to be understood. Inaction in action means giving your best to the task before you, without getting caught in the sense of doership, and without worrying unduly about the results.

When we work without the sense of doership, we are free of the burden of our own personality. We are not limited by what we feel we can do, by our past track record. When we don’t worry about the results, we are not caught in our expectations for the future. When you are intensely focused on the action alone, the mind doesn’t have an excuse to jump to the past or the future. Naturally, you fall into the present moment. This is meditation.

Externally, your actions will be more aware, more creative, more effective. Yet internally, you will be experience a deep and undisturbed silence. When you work without the load of past and future in your mind, you will suddenly see that tremendous clarity arises, tremendous energy is released within you.

Q. But isn’t meditation also a ‘doing’?

A. In the beginning, yes. Even to sit silently is to do something. Even to watch your mind is to do something. In fact, in the beginning, meditation may seem more like a doing than anything else – because you are doing something that is not natural to you. Even when you are doing something perfectly natural – like just sitting, it can seem like an effort when it is formally imposed upon you. Do you know, there is a Zen meditation technique called just sitting? But even there, participants struggle to achieve! Yes, at the start, it is definitely going to be an effort. But in a deeper sense, meditation is not a doing – because when you do it the right way, when you really succeed in meditation, all efforts disappear. When you become totally relaxed, when you stop trying to achieve results, when you simply enjoy the meditation, you will gradually stop even being aware that you are meditating. Then it will no longer be a doing!

Q. Swamiji, meditation seems like such a tough thing to enter into! I don’t know if I can handle it…

A. See ma, if you think meditation is easy, it is easy. If you think it is difficult, it is difficult, that’s all! So don’t decide straight away that you are going to face many problems!

Actually, there is only one real obstacle on the path of meditation: your ego! Whatever other issues come up, whatever problems you face, be clear: they are just the different voices of the ego.

The ego is nothing but your sense of ‘self ’, the collection of ideas and concepts that you have about yourself. Be very clear: the ego is nothing but a collection of ideas! It is an imaginary thing. The ego doesn't even have a real existence. Yet it is this ego which is controlling your life! It is the ego which creates a sense of separateness in you. At birth, it separates you from your mother. Until the moment of birth there is no ego, no boundary. You are simply a part of your mother. At the moment of birth, when the umbilical cord is cut, you sense your own boundary for the first time. In the very first year after birth, the ego builds your picture of yourself and the world. The ego is responsible for your sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Throughout your life, the ego puts you into the position of ‘me versus them’. It separates you from your parents, from friends and strangers, from nature, from all of Existence. Whenever you utter the word ‘I’, you are breaking away from Existence. You cannot really break away, because you are a part of Existence – but in your mind you break away. You create for yourself a world in which you are separate from all. This world exists only in your mind – it is just a mental concept – but you allow this concept to rule all your actions. You always hear people say, The ego is the root of all your misery. Why?

Because the ego thrives on hostility, on conflict. Any environment which creates a sense of isolation is the survival ground for the ego. The ego may be a product of your own imagination, but it is a cunning animal! To stay alive, the ego creates a distorted version of reality in which all things are in a state of disharmony.

I can give you an easy way to catch the ego; to know when the ego is coming up.

Whatever makes you uncomfortable is ego!

Look at your own life. Whenever you experience pain, anger, jealousy, it is always the result of feeling separate from someone else, of feeling alone, of feeling cheated. In times of misery, you always experience yourself as being all alone. This is the ego at work. In times of joy, you feel naturally connected with everyone and everything around you. When you are joyful, happy, laughing – these are the times when your ego is at its weakest. In your present life, you may experience these moments temporarily. But meditation is going to take you to a permanent state of bliss. Meditation is the process of falling in tune with the whole of Existence. In meditation, there is simply no place for separateness, no place for the ego. Once you sense the lasting harmony of everything, once you sense the deep interconnectedness of all of Existence, what will be the need for maintaining the ego? The ego is your armor against the world. The ego is your shield in times of war. If everything is peaceful, if everything is harmonious – then where is the need for armor, a shield? You can just relax, that’s all.

But you are used to struggling for everything! We have to create a big problem and then fight with it. This is what your ego wants. That’s why you find it so difficult to meditate – because meditation is such a simple thing! It is too simple, actually. All you have to do is sit silently and unclutch from your thoughts as they come up. Is that so difficult? Actually there is no need to teach or learn meditation! Meditation should simply happen. Just sit still for a few minutes and watch your mind, it is enough to get a glimpse of reality. Just for a few seconds, if you can sit silently, watch your racing thoughts, just be – that will be enough to convince you of the Truth. And once the Truth is known, where is the place for your ego? The ego will have to be dropped. You will drop it naturally. That’s why the ego fights meditation so hard. Meditation is the death of ego!

So the only problem you will face is the strong resistance from your ego. When you are meditating, the ego will raise a thousand questions. Doubt is the most deadly weapon that the ego has! The ego will continuously create doubts and questions in your mind. In the beginning it will make you worry, Can I really meditate? Can I sit for so many hours with my bad back? Is this path really for me? What if I get drawn too deeply in? What will happen to my family? Will my friends call me crazy? Am I really crazy? If you are working with a Master, it will raise doubts against the Master!

Is the Master really authentic? Does he know which technique is right for me? What is his purpose in teaching me meditation? Is this some kind of hypnosis?

So if you find these kinds of questions arising, don't bother. Simply drop the questions and continue with the meditation. Don't feel guilty about having these questions! These questions arise naturally in everyone's mind. And don't try to struggle with these questions. Don't make the mistake of struggling with the ego! Ego is just something imaginary; it is nothing but the lack of awareness; it has no positive existence. Just like darkness is a state of no-light, ego is a state of no-awareness. If you are in a dark room, can you fight the darkness and push it out to make the room bright? Does it make sense to struggle against the darkness? In fact, your solution has nothing to do with the darkness. You have to simply bring in a lamp and the darkness will disappear on its own! In the same way, don't waste your energy fighting with the ego. Focus on bringing awareness into your meditation. By and by, the questions will drop naturally.

The biggest spokesman of the ego is the mind.

Just like the body, the mind too should be an instrument in your hands. The mind is a wonderful instrument, tremendously powerful. It is a marvel of creativity. It is a Masterpiece of design. It is also a social necessity. Without the mind, we would not survive in this world. But we forget that the mind is only an instrument. Instead, we ourselves become an instrument of the mind! We are totally controlled by our mind. The great trick that the mind plays on us to separate us from reality is the use of language, of words.

Words separate us from reality. The moment you perceive something, you try to verbalize it. When you see a flower, you tell yourself, This is a flower. We absorb all of life through words, through abstract concepts. Understand: words are not the experience! The word flower is not the flower, the word love is not love, the word enlightenment is not enlightenment. Words form a barrier between you and reality. Meditation has no need for words. Meditation is the direct experience of reality. But the mind continues on this constant chatter of words. The mind doesn't let you relax for a single moment. The mind is constantly creating ideas, concepts, opinions for you. It uses words to distort reality.

How to handle the mind?

Just like I said about the ego – don't fight with the mind also. You cannot achieve anything by struggling against your mind. In fact, you cannot even struggle – because even struggling is a function of the mind! So it will be one part of your mind struggling against the other. Instead, simply become a witness to the functioning of your mind. Continuously watch your thought and disconnect from them, just unclutch from them This is not going to be easy. Especially on this path, the mind is a very dangerous companion! Initially, it will create all sorts of fears and doubts in your mind. When you start trying to witness your thoughts, it will convince you that you are actually witnessing. But if the mind tells you that, it means the mind is at work. If you are actually witnessing, there will be no opinions, no judgment, not even the idea, These are thoughts. I am unclutching from them.

But be very clear: the mind is not your enemy. There is nothing wrong with thinking. It is just a process like any other. Don't put yourself into a fighting position. Just be an observer of the mind, an observer of your thoughts. Enjoy the play of your mind! As you start unclutching from your thoughts, you will see that they start flowing more and more slowly. As your awareness becomes deeper, you become aware of gaps in the flow. A gap that you experience like a flash – you glimpse it, then it vanishes; a gap in which you experience a beautiful silence. By and by, the gaps start happening more frequently. Don't become attached even to this experience! Don't wait for the gaps. When the gaps become wider, you will be able to see with intense clarity – not just the outer world, but the inner world as well. This is the experience of no-mind. Don't think that all this is too much for you! When you practice with sincerity, with totality, it will happen.

There are some simple ways you can make your meditation really enjoyable:

Make time In the beginning, keep aside at least half an hour for meditation everyday. Even if you plan on practicing anytime-anywhere meditations, always include a half-hour of sit-down meditation. In the beginning, you need to cultivate discipline in your meditation. Also, you need to practice consciously, in an environment set aside for the practice of meditation. During this time, ensure that you are undisturbed. Don't accept any engagements. Don't pick up the phone! Let your family and friends know that during this time, it is important for you to be alone.

It is preferable to keep the timings the same every day. The body and mind get accustomed to routines very fast. If you practice at the same time every day, you will find that you can slip into the meditative state more easily at that particular time.

Make space Choose a clean, uncluttered, silent space for meditation. If you can, set aside a room in your home as the Meditation Room. If you already have a prayer-room in your home, that would be the ideal place. A space that has already been used for worship or meditation will have high energy level, which will help you meditate better. It is better to meditate in the same place every day. If the space is indoors, ensure that there is sufficient sunlight and plenty of ventilation. If you are meditating outdoors, say in the garden, make sure that it is a private space where you won't be disturbed.

Be comfortable Unless you are physically comfortable, there is no way you can meditate! Meditation requires you to forget the body. If the body is in pain, how are you going to forget it and move beyond? So ensure that you are comfortable. Many techniques require you to squat on the floor. If you are not accustomed to this, use a chair - but keep trying. Use a cushion as a seat if you want. For lie-down techniques, don't lie on the bare floor. Use a carpet or a straw mat. Ensure that some time has passed since your last meal - at least two hours. Initially, you may feel sleepy during meditation. This is the tamas (lethargy) that is weighing down your system. Don't try to fight the sleep - ultimately, you will be able to neither sleep nor meditate! And don't feel guilty about feeling sleepy. If you are sleepy, just go to sleep. When you finish sleeping, you can get up and meditate, that's all!

Q. I am afraid that I might get too attached to meditation...

Understand, meditation itself is nothing but removing your attachment! So you can't get too attached to it!

Actually, what most people are afraid of is 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 now think of as your life will start losing its importance, because 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.

I can say that meditation is all about changing your inner software!

Once you start meditating, your inner software will have a new quality. Your body may be the same, your hardware may be the same, the things with which you are living may be same, the persons with whom you are living may be same, but your Being will be totally different! Your Being will have a different quality.

Your inner software will be totally new.