Meditation and Meeting God

[myth]

Namaskar Everyone,
I have been trying to meditate but to quite little success. I had turned to Ganesha and Shiva because I was going through some problems and I turned to Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha. They did help avoid several obstacles but the crux of problem still remains and I sense it will not leave me unless their directly intervene.
I have been looking for means to get a better connection with Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva but I am unsure as to how I should go about it.
I have done some pujas but I would wish to have a conversation with either of them. I was told that was possible via meditation.
Can anyone advise me how I may go about this?
Many Thanks in advance

[devotee]

Namaste Myth,

I have been trying to meditate but to quite little success. I had turned to Ganesha and Shiva because I was going through some problems and I turned to Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha. They did help avoid several obstacles but the crux of problem still remains and I sense it will not leave me unless their directly intervene.
I have been looking for means to get a better connection with Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva but I am unsure as to how I should go about it.
I have done some pujas but I would wish to have a conversation with either of them. I was told that was possible via meditation.
Can anyone advise me how I may go about this?

There are many factors involved in success that you are seeking :

a) Your samskaars (deep impressions in mind) carried over from your past births
b) Grace of God/Guru
c) Proper practice

The samskaars or the deep impressions engraved in your mind drives you towards things/happenings that you encounter in your present life or that you will in future. They are the biggest hurdles on your path. These samskaar can be overcome with practising detachment and constant effort in that direction. These samskaars are also overcome by the grace of God / Guru. It is suggested that you should find a True Yogi for getting trained as a Yogi and be successful in Yoga.

Basically the mind is to be trained to get detached from 5 senses and mental attachments to desires / motives. This is where the meditation helps. Our mind wanders because of forces of Sattva / Raja and Tamas gunas. So, the mind should be trained to remain undisturbed by the forces of these Gunas and that is the state which is God's highest state. "Meeting God" seems like you are trying to meet someone who is a being but God is not a being or even a non-being. God is beyond all concepts of our mind.

The reality is that God is never ever separate from us. We have no existence without God. God's separation from our existence is oxymoron. So, there is no need to meet God. We have to Realise His presence in us. It is not easy to realise His presence within us until mind is pure and fully tranquil. God shines in the pure tranquility of our mind.

OM

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Myth: Devotee has given you more than I could ever offer, but there is one other aspect I'd like to mention, and that is time and patience. The results of meditation generally don't come quickly. We need to exercise a great deal of patience, and think in decades, or even lifetimes when it comes to progress. I apologise if you already realised this, but since you didn't mention how long you'd been meditating, I wasn't sure. Some souls seem to desire instant success, and that just isn't the way.

Aum Namasivaya

[Goatess of Ganesha]

Namaste myth,

Though I am still a newly aware traveler on the Dharmic path, perhaps my own experience may give you comfort. The efforts given in order to meditate are the sacrifice given to God which opens the way. The effort one puts forth is to remove what weights one down to earthly thoughts and matters. Like a hot air balloon, the effort to remove the weights allows the balloon to do what it naturally does: to rise up on the divinely-warmed air already within us. In my own practice, I find that focusing on what efforts I can put forth to remove the worldly weights suffices.

To put it another way, the connection we have with God is, as Devotee stated, already a reality. It is out ego-selves which choke this pathway and make the way appear clogged. Much like when someone has a panic attack and believes they cannot breathe, the anxiety of failing to breathe creates greater panic and constricts the airways further. (I have experienced that situation far too often.) Breath comes naturally as does our connection to the great Divine. Simply breathe and deeply know the truth of unity.

Be well, myth.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Please note that this will cause some consternation for some... it is not meant to do such a thing... but to give another view.


'Effort' is more actions and co-mingles us more into wanting. Not a bad thing to want the Supreme , this is good. Yet doing nothing 'perfectly' sama (even-ness),
is just allowing yourself to be your SELF. This takes some getting use to. It is finding the way 'to get out of the way'.

What does the wise inform us ? Just be quite. This is more profound than on thinks. People in general think , oh I will not talk.
Yes, but this is not being silent. It is all those mental fluctuations ( churning of the mind) , those vāsana-s that bubble up again and again.

Silence = being possessed of the SELF , of your own SELF, nothing outside of you - it is just re-membering YOU.

Questions:
1. Why does the mind do this?
2. Is it looking for something?
3. Is 'Self' something foreign to 'me' that I have to go get?
4. What does it feel like to be established once again in my own SELF?
5. Where to begin?

iti śivaṁ

[Anirudh]

Namaskar Everyone,
I have been trying to meditate but to quite little success. I had turned to Ganesha and Shiva because I was going through some problems and I turned to Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha. They did help avoid several obstacles but the crux of problem still remains and I sense it will not leave me unless their directly intervene.
I have been looking for means to get a better connection with Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva but I am unsure as to how I should go about it.
I have done some pujas but I would wish to have a conversation with either of them. I was told that was possible via meditation.
Can anyone advise me how I may go about this?
Many Thanks in advance

Namaste

I am travelling in a similar boat. I am yet to find answers however will the lessons I have learnt.

I am a devotee of Sree Raama Chandra Prabhu. I know for sure Sree Raama Chandra Prabhu is always ready to help me but I am the one causing hindrances. In your case it is Shiva or Ganesha. So please analyse what is stopping you from divine interventions.

If you aren't able to believe my words then answer this question.

Will your parents leave you when you aren't fine. Your parents are always ready to help but you are not allowing your parents to help you...

Thanks

[ajay]

Namaskar Everyone,
I have been trying to meditate but to quite little success. I had turned to Ganesha and Shiva because I was going through some problems and I turned to Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha. They did help avoid several obstacles but the crux of problem still remains and I sense it will not leave me unless their directly intervene.
I have been looking for means to get a better connection with Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva but I am unsure as to how I should go about it.
I have done some pujas but I would wish to have a conversation with either of them. I was told that was possible via meditation.
Can anyone advise me how I may go about this?
Many Thanks in advance

Namaste myth,

Meditation is but the practice of thoughtless awareness, and I am not sure if this can help you to have a conversation with Ganesha or Shiva. The practice of meditation or awareness do help you to access intuitive promptings from the divine which is a sort of conversation in itself with God.

Sri Ramakrishna was one master whom I know who had conversed with Kali, but this was because of his intense love for God in the form of Kali . His mastery in bhakti yoga enabled this feat for him.

But he went beyond this as well and attained Brahman consciousness and enlightenment through the direction of his Guru Totapuri.

Pranams.

[manish]

God first comes to the devotee as deep peace.
Although similar to peace, calmness is a much more powerful and expansive aspect of God.
Many saints have experienced God as a great light. When we meditate and see the light at the point between the eyebrows, we are seeing Him as light.
Sometimes there is a tangible presence of God but other times you have to believe that a transaction has taken place between your spirit and God’s spirit and there is always evidence of this later on. I believe God is sometimes “quiet” like this because
1) He wants us to come even deeper and even closer to Him
2) there is an area in our life we need to correct or
3) he is waiting for us to act on something he has already given us.

Namaskar Everyone,
I have been trying to meditate but to quite little success. I had turned to Ganesha and Shiva because I was going through some problems and I turned to Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha. They did help avoid several obstacles but the crux of problem still remains and I sense it will not leave me unless their directly intervene.
I have been looking for means to get a better connection with Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva but I am unsure as to how I should go about it.
I have done some pujas but I would wish to have a conversation with either of them. I was told that was possible via meditation.
Can anyone advise me how I may go about this?
Many Thanks in advance

[c.smith]

Hari Om!

So delighted that you "chose" Ganesha, or more appropriately that he chose you to work on overcoming the current difficulties you are encountering. He is probably the easiest among the gods to communicate with on an intimate friendship level so please be free with your thoughts. Everything is working out to your best benefit - be assured and have faith!

Personally I would save meditation for another time when your mind will be more receptive. Perhaps taking time to focus on your relationship with Ganesh would be to greater benefit right now. Talk with him throughout the day, leave him a flower, pray from your heart, share your concerns - leave no stone unturned.

Although the original post is from January, the advice is still just as relevant today. Hopefully myth returns to update with progress.

Om