Meditating

[sm78]

I am not certain on how many HDF participants meditate..

Well ... ?? :)

I voted option 2. I am trying get regular with it.

[sm78]

To Clarify:-

By option 1, I imply stand-alone meditation without any accompanying anusthans / rituals.

[MysticalGypsi]

I picked one, but I meditate for a variety of reasons, and sometimes just because I am stressed out or angry at someone. So, I am not sure I am always trying to secure some spiritual goal.

[mirabai]

Me too! Sometimes I think we just need a moment of separation from the daily insanity of life. That few minutes of connection with the Omniscient One recharges and strengthens
:)

[sm78]

what you guys say make good sense. as for me, i have found, sitting for meditation daily to attain a spiritual goal (as Buddhists do) seems a bit pretentious too me at my level of consciousness. :)

[sm78]

I picked one, but I meditate for a variety of reasons, and sometimes just because I am stressed out or angry at someone. So, I am not sure I am always trying to secure some spiritual goal.

Hey you still visit us!! :)

[Agnideva]

Namaste All,

I voted 1 also. My meditation generally involves japa followed by quiet meditation. It is advised that in temple after puja and prayer one sit and meditate for a few minutes to absorb the vibrations. I have been trying to do that recently too, although it is quite difficult in the midst of all the noise and commotion.

OM Shanti,
A.

[satay]

Namaskar,
I voted 2, however, for the longest time now, I have not been able to settle my mind even during japa. While the rudra beads drop in cow's mouth, my mind wanders from place to place on personal wordly matters. Trying to bring it back to the Lord hasn't been working for me.

I need to find a way to focus. I hardly ever visit the temple anyway and I haven't done so for months. Temple I find is a distraction anyway as people just stare at others.

[Agnideva]

Namaskar Satay,

I hardly ever visit the temple anyway and I haven't done so for months. Temple I find is a distraction anyway as people just stare at others.
Generally I think meditation at home is much easier. Yes temple can be very distracting place for quiet meditation, and there is a lot of noise, children running around, people chatting, etc. If you go at a time when it is peaceful though, it can be a great experience.

OM Shanti,
A.

[saidevo]

I learnt meditation at Ramakrishna MaTham long back and did practice it for sometime. I don't meditate daily, only as and when I feel like it, but the thought that the sure way to steady spiritual progress involves daily meditation is at the back of my mind always.

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaskar,
I have not been able to settle my mind even during japa. While the rudra beads drop in cow's mouth, my mind wanders from place to place on personal wordly matters. Trying to bring it back to the Lord hasn't been working for me.

I need to find a way to focus. I hardly ever visit the temple anyway and I haven't done so for months. Temple I find is a distraction anyway as people just stare at others.

Namaste Satay (et.al)
A great and important subject.... I voted, but find that option 1 IS option 2. May daily practice for me is my spiritual practice. I cannot seperate the two.
re: settling the mind down. Your experience is normal. Even Arjuna points this turbulence out to Krsna. The mind is looking for more happiness, that is what you are experiencing. The goal is not forcing, no pushing or shoving as the mind rebels even more. "Trying" is not the key. Allowing the mind to settle down is 'technique'. This is why many teachers start with one syllable mantra's, we start there. WE do not push or shove. We start the mantra ( japa) from within, without effort. If the mind picks up on a thought, fine. We just go back to the mantra again, that is it. We have not violated any 'rule'. It is the 'right' mantra that will help. Not a long one , just a single syllable.

There is no need to 'monitor' the mantra, it's pronounciation. AS one begins to settle down, the mantrta may take on a different sound quality, and that is fine. We do not concern ourselves with it. We're just easy about it; why? the mind is wired to do within by itself, the mantra is the vehicle.

Do this for a week... no effort, no whipping. Sitting comfortablly, no disturbances, no jumping up to get the phone or door... no rushing, no fussing. When done, sit quietly for a few minutes and enjoy the quiet, then get up back to activity. LIke that - its about being easy.

let us know of your progress. Keep it simple this is the key.

Week two: the mind is tied to prana. we will settle the mind with pranayam. First, just start with the mantra as discussed above.... remember, if one can think , one can meditate. that simple.

[saidevo]

Namaste Satay.



I voted 2, however, for the longest time now, I have not been able to settle my mind even during japa. While the rudra beads drop in cow's mouth, my mind wanders from place to place on personal wordly matters. Trying to bring it back to the Lord hasn't been working for me.

I need to find a way to focus.


Human mind usually thinks by association with the help of pictures and series of words. When you sit in meditation and thoughts arise (as they bound to), you might try to minimise your participation/involvement in them by using only brief words, even half-words and no pictures to covey the idea of the thought and then dismiss it while another thought comes by. Practicing thinking with less words and minimum pictures in general helps the power of intuition to grow. However, when concentrating on a single thought the use of words and pictures becomes necessary.

Watching your breathing (without consciously changing its pattern) and direcing attention on an inner expression such as the feel of a pulse or an outer expression such as a clock tick might also be of help.

In the Ramakrishna MaTham technique, before actual meditation, the student is asked to relax in the sitting posture by directing awareness to each part of the body from top to toe with closed eyes and viewing the body as a witness stationed outside it. Then comes the practice of pranayamam. Then the concentration part by imagining every detail in the form of a favourite deity or guru (with closed eyes but the image can be replenished in mind intermittently by opening and looking the at the portrait before the student in the initial stages). Then the student is asked to imagine that within the cavity of the chest on the right side is the spiritual heart which is like cave that expands to the immense sky. At the center of the cave is a raised platform on which a lotus bud slowly rises and blossoms. The student mentally brings the picture of his meditation and seats it inside the lotus flower. In the final stage, the student first imagines and in due course sees that the entire cave is filled with light.

The key, as SwamiJ says, lies in our being a witness rather than a player to our thoughts.

Perhaps the summary in this link might help:
http://www.swamij.com/bia.htm

[sm78]

It is advised that in temple after puja and prayer one sit and meditate for a few minutes to absorb the vibrations. I have been trying to do that recently too, although it is quite difficult in the midst of all the noise and commotion.


I hardly spend time outside India. In India too, you cannot do this in most temples. But as I have found...there still are places where the ancient mystic vibrations still hang strong and monkey mind drops its jaws in awe. But then one cannot be at these places all the time.

[sm78]

Namaskar,
I voted 2, however, for the longest time now, I have not been able to settle my mind even during japa. While the rudra beads drop in cow's mouth, my mind wanders from place to place on personal wordly matters. Trying to bring it back to the Lord hasn't been working for me.

I need to find a way to focus. I hardly ever visit the temple anyway and I haven't done so for months. Temple I find is a distraction anyway as people just stare at others.

Have thought about a pilgrimage lately ... ??

[satay]

Have thought about a pilgrimage lately ... ??

yes, but again, who can go on pilgrimage when there are worldly affairs that need your attention?

Do you recommend any place in particular?

[satay]

namaste,
yajvan, saidevo, agni, singhi,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your help and in fact, depend on it!

Singhi, my apologies for trolling the thread.

Yajvan, I will try your suggestion for a week and report back. What's the one word mantra?

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

namaste,
yajvan, saidevo, agni, singhi,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your help and in fact, depend on it!

Singhi, my apologies for trolling the thread.

Yajvan, I will try your suggestion for a week and report back. What's the one word mantra?
Namaste all,

First note how the universe responds to Satay's request...how many here are offering help to him. It is the Fullness of Being that is repsonding to Satay.

Satay, I will email you the mantra for your consideration and the instructions.

dhanyavadah

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~~

Namaste sadaka,

There seems to be a notion that thoughts are 'bad' during meditation. That one should constrain, control and eliminate thoughts. This is a curious thing and meets the condition of the 'cart before the horse'.

When experiencing samadhi, one is without thoughts, it is not the means.
So, one would naturally think ' If I stop these thoughts, if I control them,
buy trying consciously to eliminate them, then samadhi will be the remains or the result of this.'

This is not the case. Samadhi becomes the 'fruit' when one transcends thought, settles the mind down. One gives up ( yajya) the relative field of thinking and arrives at the finer levels of the mind, until it too is transcended. And what is left? Pure Awareness, Pure consciousness, sama, or balance.

Controlling thoughts requires another thought or anti-thought. This tires the mind and creates dullness. No wonder people leave meditation if this be the means. Meditation is a delight, as it delights the mind. Why so? because of its expansion , the offer to the mind that can expand to more then the most, if given direction...this is called technique. This transcending is the key - without struggle or whipping the mind.

dhanyavadah,

[Atman]

I think for everyone's info- you should visit this site- www.celibacy.info (http://www.celibacy.info)- I find that site fantastic. If you are struggling with meditation- it might not be the technique so much- the fact that you are losing your seminal energy is the major cause- even if you have been meditating for years!

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

I think for everyone's info- you should visit this site- www.celibacy.info (http://www.celibacy.info/)- I find that site fantastic. If you are struggling with meditation- it might not be the technique so much- the fact that you are losing your seminal energy is the major cause- even if you have been meditating for years!

Namaste Atman,
thank your for your post... a very valuable subject. I have taken a look at the site, yet did not choose to down load the $12 book.

These most subtle fluids are ruled by Venus, Sukracharaya. Most think of Venus as the graha of high pleasures, yet he turns out to be one of the graha's of great tapas. Tapaswi Raja or King of tapas.

He earned this via hanging upside down from a tree for 20 years. This twenty years is the length of Venus' dasa period in the Vimshottari (120 year) dasa system. While hanging, smoke was blowing on him ( homam) from the fire (agni) below him.
Tapas is a heating up, buring of impurities in the sadhu. This tapas ability comes from several conditions coming together ( as it must have for Sukracharya):

Sani or saturn's ability for one pointedness and fixity to 'stay the course'
Ketu and moksha, and the yajya homam below Sukra ; Ketu is also knowledge of a higher level, brightness;
Sukra and his enherent ability of desire for Moksha.It is where we point this desire to manifest that is key. What we adore we become.

So when look to celibacy, it compliments spriritual persuits by groming tapas, that of control, of one-pointedness.

pranams,

[Atman]

Yeah I agree- what I also find interesting is Julian talking about hell realms on earth. He says masturbation more than once a month manifests a hell realm right here. So technically all the suffering people are experiencing are due to over indulgence in sex pleasures.
Likewise, the people who are experiencing bliss of devas and demigods are the one's who are celibate and chaste- so while on earth- they can perceive much more than the ordinary man- alas the person who abuses himself too much!
Even Lord Shiva praises celibacy while talking to Parvati- saying 'what is there that cannot be accomplished in the 3 worlds that the celibate man cannot achieve? Reothorical question I believe.:D

[Znanna]

Yeah I agree- what I also find interesting is Julian talking about hell realms on earth. He says masturbation more than once a month manifests a hell realm right here. So technically all the suffering people are experiencing are due to over indulgence in sex pleasures.
Likewise, the people who are experiencing bliss of devas and demigods are the one's who are celibate and chaste- so while on earth- they can perceive much more than the ordinary man- alas the person who abuses himself too much!
Even Lord Shiva praises celibacy while talking to Parvati- saying 'what is there that cannot be accomplished in the 3 worlds that the celibate man cannot achieve? Reothorical question I believe.:D


Why does Buddha smile?

:D



ZN

[atanu]

Namaskar,
I voted 2, however, for the longest time now, I have not been able to settle my mind even during japa. While the rudra beads drop in cow's mouth, my mind wanders from place to place on personal wordly matters. Trying to bring it back to the Lord hasn't been working for me.

I need to find a way to focus. I hardly ever visit the temple anyway and I haven't done so for months. Temple I find is a distraction anyway as people just stare at others.


Don't give up. Actually extroverts find it difficult. Introverts may be having slight edge here. However, extroverts win the world.

[atanu]

I think for everyone's info- you should visit this site- www.celibacy.info (http://www.celibacy.info)- I find that site fantastic. If you are struggling with meditation- it might not be the technique so much- the fact that you are losing your seminal energy is the major cause- even if you have been meditating for years!

But a physical celibate (out of circumstance) may have very fanciful mind, which is turbulent.

Even Ramana Maharshi had said "It is better to do it rather than churn the mind with fancies" (not exact words).

Om

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

But a physical celibate (out of circumstance) may have very fanciful mind, which is turbulent.

Even Ramana Maharshi had said "It is better to do it rather than churn the mind with fancies" (not exact words). Om

Namste Atanu,

Some wise words... this passion has been around for ages. It's something one may stuggle with. Yet even the risi's had children. One would argue that this is purposeful pro-creation and not the passion for entertainment value. Where would the Pandu have come from if not for Vaysa?

I have found over time that this passion settles down and one finds sama, balance. It is key that the mind has to see the other delights in this world as it looks for more and more happiness.
If one whips the mind, trying to implore undue control, one is filled with 'churn', no good can become of it and it tends to only cause more grief, really throwing one off the path.

Yet contol is tapas and favors the seeker. Undue control bounds the indiviual and the mind rebels. I have seen this in me. A simple example.
Caring for a cookie.... no thank you, I do not need it. Then the mind pursues this thought again and again. When one only wished for a cookie , the whole bag is eaten! The rebellion of the mind as such.

So there needs to be some skill in action applied. Perhaps we can talk of these skills that one uses?

pranams,

[Atman]

Why does Buddha smile?

:D



ZN

Because he is in complete bliss- is he not?:D

[atanu]

Hari Om
~~~~~
-----
So there needs to be some skill in action applied. Perhaps we can talk of these skills that one uses?

pranams,

Namaste Yajvan,

Till now I have not seen any skill in myself, though I am not giving up. Not giving up is my skill perhaps.

Om

[satay]

Why does Buddha smile?

:D



ZN

I don't know.:dunno:

Why indeed?

[sm78]

Hari Om
~~~~~


Namste Atanu,

Some wise words... this passion has been around for ages. It's something one may stuggle with. Yet even the risi's had children. One would argue that this is purposeful pro-creation and not the passion for entertainment value. Where would the Pandu have come from if not for Vaysa?

I have found over time that this passion settles down and one finds sama, balance. It is key that the mind has to see the other delights in this world as it looks for more and more happiness.
If one whips the mind, trying to implore undue control, one is filled with 'churn', no good can become of it and it tends to only cause more grief, really throwing one off the path.

Yet contol is tapas and favors the seeker. Undue control bounds the indiviual and the mind rebels. I have seen this in me. A simple example.
Caring for a cookie.... no thank you, I do not need it. Then the mind pursues this thought again and again. When one only wished for a cookie , the whole bag is eaten! The rebellion of the mind as such.

So there needs to be some skill in action applied. Perhaps we can talk of these skills that one uses?

pranams,

Namaste All,

The topic under question, that is control of passion or sexual passion to be frank is a little different from control of other habits. For example I had been a non-veg all my life and didn't thought vegetarianism is necessary till say 5 months back when I gave up non-veg. I have never yet faced any temptation to seek a non-veg dish, though I was very fond of them few months back. The reason I think is that my mind has lost is desire for non-veg food.

Passions have their roots in the seeds of desire in the mind. One cannot control unless the desire is eliminated. The practice of austerity and tapas are not as much as controlling existing desires but rather preventing the mind from falling for new desires and craving and keep it vital and alert. Tapas cannot eliminate exiting desires ~ at least not easily. This my belief and experience.

The desire for sex, marriage, family unfold, as if a "change of seasons in nature", in our mind as we grow older ~ it is quite fascinating to see how they rise & subside with change in a phase of our life and age. It is best for ordinary persons not to behave as if a mighty warrior and fight desires which hold much power. Cultivating the desire for knowledge, truth ~ know God is the only thing to do. Soon the season of his life will change and what tormented him a decade back will be curious memory ~ given that his main desire for knowledge has only matured over this time.

Hari Om.

[sm78]

Sivaya Subramaniyaswami in his revelations of Lemurian scrolls indicates the at 48 years of physical age the fire of the kundalini turns its expression from outward to inwards. It is around this age onwards that the "worldly man" can benefit by a rigorous and vigorous practice of austerity, various Tapas and enter the path of brahmacharya.

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/ls/ls_ch-26.html

[jasdir]

I don't meditate, I have to meditate.


jasdir.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté



I don't meditate, I have to meditate.
jasdir.

think - do - act.

praṇām

[Gayatri]

Hello,

I am looking for a technique for meditation. Can anyone tell me, how do I start and how many minutes for the beginners? Thank you..