Meditation & The Restless Mind

[Amrut]

Indiaspirituality, Thank you so much for your post. It was extremely helpful. I have to admit since I am still new, I do not know what many words mean, besides puja, but this is why I have the internet. I can learn. and I think your suggestion of moving from three-wheel, two-wheel, one-wheel and maybe some day no-wheel bike will help me very much.

Namaste,

If you have doubt or do not understand any words, please do not hesitate to ask. I have studied in my mother tongue and so sometimes I am short of words when I translate in English or sometimes I am comfortable typing Gujarati / Hindi / Sanskrit words.

Spirituality is the only filed where one wins only by losing. The more you rush, the slower you progress or sometimes your life moves in reverse gear.

Give yourself some time. Do not rush, but do not be lazy.

Do not expect shortcuts. All these problems are there to shape and train your mind. To make it stronger.

e.g. while learning martial arts, when you are hit first time, it pains a lot. But next time, you do not get hurt as compared to the first time you were hit.

Repeating things will shape your mind.

Imagine a grass field. People want to cross the field every now and then. So they begin to walk in a straight line. After some time, there is a pag-dandi i.e. foot path - a narrow road, where grass is either bend or has been uprooted naturally. Since one repeatedly walks on same path, grass never grows on that path.

Same is the case with mind. Mind does not like stress. So instead of adapting ot nature, we try to change the nature

e.g. A.C - Air Conditioner.

Once which was a luxury is now a necessity. You find A.C. in malls, offices, cars and even in bed rooms. There is a big market of convenience products in America, because of this fact. This is the direction of technology.

Now when cell phones are common, unlike older generations who remembered 30-40 telephone numbers, we can hardly remember 5-6 numbers.

Same with knowing new words, since they are just a click away. So mind does not consider it as important enough to store it, as it is easily search-able in short time.

In spirituality, it's opposite. Always remember, neutral mind is strong mind, forgiving mind is strong mind. It's not a sign of weak mind. As a neutral and let-go habit keeps mind stable. Stable mind can contemplate / meditate.

It takes time to switch over. Just do not lose patience and always remember 'GOD EXITS' - Never loose faith

Aum

IS

[Amrut]

Namaste,

Shared my thoughts about meditation in the thread Questions : First Session in Post #5

Also have a look at other replies

[Amrut]

Useful Posts:

also refer to the post Sadhana

My thoughts in

Post #8
Post #9
Post #12
Post #13
Post #30
Post #40


Another thread Serious questions relating to having eyes closed in meditation
Post #6

Yet another thread

Questions : First Session in Post #5

And Thread

Meditation & The Restless Mind

Post #6 and Post #11

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: I think that within certain circles, meditation is presented as something you really need to be doing to be a successful Hindu, or even person. Within that circle of words, area of consciousness, there is a pressure to meditate. Things like, 'If you're not meditating, you're not serious' or 'everybody meditates, why can't you?"

Its almost like some childhood competition, or daring going on. So then with all that in the air, newcomers, even old-timers, a lot of people somehow feel like failures because they can't.

Can anyone here do advance skateboard tricks? Do we put pressure on ourselves to be able to? Why not.

Meditation, according to Patanjali, is not the starting point. Its an advanced stage. There are many steps that come before it. So why would somebody be unhappy if they are unable to do an advanced technique straight away? http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm Some see it as limbs, other see it as stages or steps. Meditation in the way being described here is step 7 of 8. Kind of like starting the kindergarten kid right out on calculus.

In my opinion, its because of this pressure from teachers, from yoga gurus, etc.

I'm not saying one should just give up. I'm saying don't put unrealistic expectations on yourself.

I would say the key is to be content with what you can do, not frustrated with what you cannot do.

Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

There are many ways to meditate. You can meditate on any object, but not every object can give you grace to further your progress. That is why meditation on Ishvara is supreme. Meditation on Ishvara is part of both patanjali's kriya yoga (tapa, svadhyaya and ishvara pranidhana) and his ashtanga yoga. Around 10 percent of the yoga sutras deal with meditation on Ishvara. Many people go to Buddhism to look for meditation practices, because meditation in modern times has become associated with sitting cross legged and watching your breath and this is what is most developed in Buddhism. In Hinduism meditation is much larger and even doing karma is a form of meditation, as Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, mamanusmara yuddhya cha. "Fight while remembering me." The magnificence of the universe itself is a vibhuti of Ishvara and this can be recognised in everyday life.

One shloka by Shankaracharya illustrates this idea:

AtmA tvaM girijA matiH sahacharAH prANAH sharIraM gR^ihaM
pUjA te viShayopabhogarachanA nidrA samAdhisthitiH |
sa~nchAraH padayoH pradakshiNavidhiH stotrANi sarvA giro
yadyatkarma karomi tattadakhilaM shambho tavArAdhanam.h

You are my Self, Parvati is my intellect. My vital breaths are Your
attendants, My body is Your house, and all the pleasures enjoyed by
my senses are materials for Your puja. My sleep is Your state of
samaadhI. Wherever I walk, I am circumambulating You, Everything I
say is a hymn of praise to You, Everything I do is in devotion to
You oh Shambhu!

Sitting cross legged for 20 minutes a day does not make one a meditator, meditation in Hinduism goes much further than that.

[Amrut]

+1 EM and Sahasrnama

There is religion and there is spirituality.

Religion opens doors to spirituality

Karma Kand and other rituals are there to steady the mind adn make is ready for core meditation on the supreme.

Meditation is an integral part of spirituality, but as said, it is for advanced meditators.

Instead of trying things that you are not prepared to, better try to prepare yourself, so that in future you are qualified adn capable of meditating.

One should be able to meditate for 45 minutes on first day / first try. This is the sign that your mind is prepared to meditate. It does not matter if you regularly cannot sit properly up to 45 minutes, but in first attempt, God helps one to judge.

Better do Karma Kand, as earlier said.

Spirituality is direct dealing with mind. When worldly thoughts decreases, one can chant God's name.

One can meditate if one has subtle intellect or pure mind. Subtle intellect is for ones practising Jnana marj and I find it difficult to explain and is often taken in wrong context i.e. one has to be intellegent. In spirituality, the wise man is the one who can discriminate between Atman and An-Atman (Atma-Anatma Vivek) and not the one with photographic memory or the one who is highly intellegent who can remember everything he reads.

I prefer pure mind, pure mind is the one which longs for God. Only God is important to you and not worldly thing.

Sri Anandmoyi Maa says, rather than dropping everything, better just cling to God. It is the force of attraction towards God that will drop worldly things from mind. One does not need ot drop it. Same thing is said by Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna also said that increase bhakti, keep God in centre of life and as your only God.

Rest is taken care of.

Aum

[Anirudh]

In my view :

Meditation is lot simpler than many of us think. I am inclined to conclude that we humans tend to complicate things.

Meditation Techniques

If you go through the comment section, you can find the English version.

I am following this for about an year or so although was introduced to meditation in my early twenties by my Guru. I feel the instruction given in this video s pretty easy to follow and in my personal experience it is an effective approach.

Hope I didn't hijack the thread nor offended any ones wisdom here.

Best Regards

Anirudh

[Eastern Mind]

In my view :

Meditation is lot simpler than many of us think. I am inclined to conclude that we humans tend to complicate things.

Vannakkam: I think this statement is totally dependent on one's definition of meditation. So I would agree what what you say for the simpler forms of 'meditation' like relaxation, or pondering on a subject, but for dhyana as per Patanjali, I wouldn't call it simple at all. Well, the concept itself might be simple, but that's not that easy to do.

Aum Namasivaya

[Amrut]

Namaste,

I have not looked into 1 hr long video, but agree with EM and partly you too.

Meditation is straight forward, but we have trained our mind to keep hunting for objects and issues.

This is the reason why meditation is difficult, though it is a straightforward process.

Swami Sukhbodhananda said that, "To be make noise one has to make an effort, but to remain silent, what kind of effort does one have to make? To clap, you have to make effort, but to remain silent what kind of effort do you need? no effort is needed. So technically remaining silent is more easy. But practically, one cannot remain silent, so remaining silent is difficult, thought it looks easy."

Our daily life is an extrovert life and mind is clinging to 5 sense through body. Mind satisfies it's demands through body. Body eats and happiness, satisfaction is experienced by Mind. Body does not say, I am happy. Mind says, I am happy, sad, etc.

Meditation is turning an extrovert mind into an introvert mind. Senses are pulled back. This i reverse of what mind is already doing since ages. So it reacts back. This tug-of-war makes meditation difficult. When the mind itself wants to go inside (it's not intellect or heart), then meditation is very easy.

If you do any process like being aware of chakras from bottom to top one-by-one, then it is easy. But to just remain still and do nothing, just be an observer is difficult.

In first case, one kriya (action) is substituted by another one. So it's not that problem. But if you do not do any kind of action, mind finds nothing to cling to and hence it goes wild, trying to break free.

Everyone knows what has to be done, but mind is so powerful, that you cannot apply what you intellect decides. This is the power of mind.

No matter how much intellegent you are. If you are badly hurt, you cannot meditate. That incident of humiliation will keep repeating and till you find a solution or a way to square-off or a way to prove yourself innocent, mind will not be at peace. The more you try to avoid thoughts, the more mind will react.

It is like soda, the more you compress, more it is pressurized. When the pressure is released, soda blasts upwards. Same is with mind. Mind will bounce back strongly when just like a compressed spring bounces up when the pressure is released.

So to new meditators (and not so new meditators), the teacher has to keep reminding one and the same thing again and again to get students car back on track. This is why reputation is necessary.

Just reading Gita intellectually once or twice wont help you in meditation. It is this constant reading that keeps you or brings you back on track.

Same thing is repeatedly said in scriptures. Why? Read Vivekchudamani. It sounds repetitive to intellectuals. In Gita, Arjuna asks same question in different ways again and again and Krishna answers them. Why? Was Arjuna Dumb? No. Because mind does not walk the path intellect decides. So mind has to be convinced. Mind tries to escape and it needs to be brought back.

4 vedas are just 4 great Statements - Maha Vakyas. Then why is the need to expand them into million verses. Then again there is end part of vedas called vedanta or Upnishads. Why summarize the whole thing again and again? Lets take e.g. of Gold Smith.

Gold Smith uses small hammer and gives small repeated blows to mould hot gold. Heated Gold is like screwed up mind. It is right time to hit. The hammer are the words of Guru and Shastras. Shastras repeat same thing indifferent ways. All shastras say same thing, arrive at same truth, but examples are different adn may be approach is different. Why? It is like constant hammering that is necessary to shape the mind.

Explanation of being neutral, let-go, forgiveness is most needed when you are hurt. So when you are hurt and listen of Shat-Sampatti, which has perseverance and tolerance, it impacts you deeply. You may have read it many times in past, but the impact of it is not much. Now you are hurt. You know you have to leave the past behind and move forward and are looking for a solution. You live a spiritual life and so read shastras, but mind is looking for ways to come of out the situation and you read Shat-Sampatti and ... your eyes open wide. You immediately apply it, surrender everything to God and then move forward.

This is why repeated reading and satsang with realized souls is necessary. Discussion on Sat-Sampatti wont help, but, as it is said, when the oil is hot, sprinkle water, as it will produce sound. It is right moment for one to listen to sat-sampatti. Sprinkling of water in cold oil will not result into anything. I do not say discussions are useless, or one should read only when one is distressed, I say that, just like when exams are approaching, one studies seriously and remembers well (as you never take it seriously until pressure builds up - it happens to me ), so does the reading of shastras when you need them most or when incident has happened helps a lot.

This is the reason why, one should ask questions, when in jeopardy. In Sanatan Dharma, there are no DOs and DON'Ts. One is free to ask anything. Answer depends upon the mental status and the prakruti of the questioner.

This calms down mind and one is able to easily meditate. Meditation happens is good when Mind is calm and does not hunt for any issues or for any solution. Love for God, surrender drags mind introverts and throws out all the worldly thoughts.

There is not short-cut. One cannot expect a 'U' turn in life. Give your mind some time. Be determined but do not force your mind, convince it. Just like a ball dropped from height does not stay on ground immediately on ground, but bounces back, so does the mind will react and drag you and make you extrovert. But every time the ball returns back, the force of bounce decreases adn finally mind comes to rest. In the same way, mind also calms down. Meditation is like waves. There are good days and there are bad days. Bad days does not means there is no progress. It is a part of progress. Progress only stops when the path is diverted, because the goal is changed, else just effort counts, rest is left to God.

When there are less or no thoughts this straight forward meditation becomes easy. When the mind behaves like mad monkey, meditation is like living in hell. You just want to get out of room. Our is monkey mind, which needs ot be tamed by regular practice, regular and repeated reading and study of shastras and regular visit and guidance form our Guru. Just like meditation is an integral part of spirituality, constant surrender, strong faith, devotion and love for God, regular prayers are also an integral part of spirituality

Shortcut methods which give you quick results are nothing but illusion. They cannot uproot desires, but for sometime, make them dormant and fills mind with happiness. When one comes out this this state, there is no permanent transformation. Just like if you want to burn anything, you HAVE to take adhara (support / help) of Agni (fire), so if you want to up-root the desires, you HAVE to chant God's name- be it God with or without form or it's shakti.

Meditation will become easy as desires decreases. Less the number of desires, more is the peace.

Doing Kriya or ritual is not in strict sense a meditation, though people also call parikrama as sadhana. It is just a statement of encouragement, but actual meditaion or sadhana is to sit and chant God's name or Chant OM or do Neti-Neti (Nidhidhyasana) or activate Kundalini as per classical Patanjali Yog Sutras.

The ways given by Shastras are tried and trusted and after thousands of years of R & D, realized saints have put them in shastras for us. Shastras are authentic and applicable even today. We have to trust them. Only a realized Guru can teach you actual meditation and the essence of shastras. So pray to God to give guide our spiritual journey. When right time comes, God will bless us with a Realized Guru.

So all are needed, Sadhana (for realization, knowledge and experience), study of scripture (for direction and clarity), Guru and God. Only then progress is possible. Progress is not possible only by meditation.

Sorry if I am off-topic, but I get lost when I start typing and most of the time I get logged out . But I prefer to keep the writing as it is.

Aum

IS

[Eastern Mind]

Progress is not possible only by meditation.

Vannakkam IS: Yes, a nice long ramble. I read it all, but this sentence is what struck me. I know others will differ, but I certainly believe this. A balanced approach is needed.

Aum Namasivaya