WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO APPROACH MEDITATION?
This text was machine-transcribed from the printed book and may contain errors. Select the words and choose “Report a mistake”.
Pen down your earlier experiences about your own meditative experience. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why do we need meditation techniques? Meditation techniques are not there to help you achieve anything. They are there to help you convert the intellectual understanding you have into an experience you can use
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.
This tells-you are a meditator already.Just you have to expand more thats all.
Conclusion
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.
“Any technique, any method which raises your consciousness is meditation”
People ask me why are there so many meditation techniques available today. First, there are so many different techniques because there are lots of different types of people. Each person has a different mental setup. A technique that suits one person may not suit the other. So you can experiment to see which technique works best for
“Meditation is just being blissful in the moment”
“Meditation is choiceless awareness” you. Second, when you keep trying one meditation after another, the very effort of doing all the different meditations will eventually make your mind drop into restfulness, into the ocean of bliss!
Right ways to appraoch meditaion
a. The first thing is, be sincere. Keep an open mind. Have the openness to experiment. Be enthusiastic. There is a beautiful term in the Zen tradition to describe the attitude – the beginner’s mind. It means looking at every single
thing in life as new, so everything in life excites you.
b. The second thing is, be optimistic. Bliss is a perfectly realizable goal for you, even if you are completely unfamiliar with meditation.
Once a man approached the great enlightened master Ramana Maharishi and asked him ‘Bhagavan, am I qualified for spiritual life?’ Ramana answered him with a question, ‘Are you alive?’ The man was startled. He said, ‘Yes, of course!’ Ramana replied, ‘That is enough. You already have the necessary qualification for spirituality!’
The very aim of human life is enlightenment. The possibility of becoming enlightened lies in the Kundalini shakti, an extraordinary potential energy which is hidden inside every human body. If it can be awakened, it will take you to a different plane of consciousness, a different plane of Existence.
The possibility to become a different conscious being is present only in human beings. Animals don’t have this potential to become enlightened, to become different conscious beings.
c. The third thing is, be playful! Meditation is a big adventure. To become serious about meditation is to miss the whole point. Celebrate meditation. Simply enjoy it! The fourth thing is, have patience. Don’t start worrying about results the moment you start meditating.
A small story: 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. They knew that once the mango seed sprouted and grew into a tree, there would be more than enough mangoes for all three of them. Each of them decided to take up one part of the task of caring for the mango plant. The first monkey said, ‘I will water the plant every day!’ 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 other animals.’ One month passed, then two, then three. There was no sign of any plant growing out of the soil. 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!’
If you are greedy for instant results, you actually prevent the process from settling down in your system. You yourself block the whole process. The fifth thing is, enjoy solitude. Give yourself a chance to experience your inner environment. When meditation becomes a part of you, bliss will flower naturally.
Assignment 5
Self work out
You can experiment to see which technique works best for you. Second, when you keep trying one meditation after another, the very effort of doing all the different meditations will eventually make your mind drop into restfulness, into the ocean of bliss!(Pen down what is meditation according to you) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- Conclusion
Truth 1:If you are greedy for instant results, you actually prevent the process from settling down in your system. You yourself block the whole process. Truth 2:There is a beautiful term in the Zen tradition to describe the attitude – the beginner’s mind. It means looking at every single thing in life as new, so everything in life excites you. Truth 3:By undedrstanding truth one,if you can apply truth two you can experience any moment as meditation.
Lesson-6