Thursday, September 30, 2010

Meditation

We may be having a number of myths about meditation. Yes, they must by myths, not the facts –The reason is that, it may not be easy to express meditation in words. Whatever way it is expressed, the possibility is that it goes into our minds and stay there as a myth, unless we attempt to feel it with originality. When we happen to come across another version of meditation, we may enter into another myth. The possibility is that those who are regularly sitting for meditation also may be doing under the influence of such myths, which completely takes away the possibility of meditation to happen. It does not mean, whatever expressed here will be the correct expression of meditation. It may be just a version of expressing it. Probably, the whole content of this blog itself is an approach to express meditation in certain way.

Meditation is a process which has to happen by itself. We may not be able to do meditation. Possibly we can try to set the conditions required for meditation to happen. Meditation is a state of mind. We can not force our mind to get into that state. The mind by itself has to enter into such a state. Possibly we can set the conditions conductive for the mind to enter into such a state.

A mind at the meditative state must be a very active mind, at the same time it is actionless (not inactive) mind. It is not a contradictory statement. The mind is extremely active at one plane, while it is extremely still at another plane. This actionlessness is not due to dullness, but due to activeness of mind in another plane.

We understand meditation in so many perspectives depend on to whom we are listening. There is a perspective that concentration of mind is meditation. Concentration can not be meditation. Concentration is an activity, it is not a process. Concentration is focusing on just one activity of mind and suppressing all other activities. In meditation, there is no suppression. Concentration kill our sensitiveness towards every thing else other than the one we are focusing. Heightened sensitivity towards every thing is meditation. On one side, when we kill our sensitiveness, we can not expect meditation to happen, which need sensitivity. In other words concentration is an action, which kills the possibility of meditation. But concentration may be used as a starting point for meditation, provided we understand the trap within the action of concentration and its limitations.

We sit for meditation to be free from stress. When we sit for removing some thing, meditation cannot happen as the mind is already occupied with the stress which we want to remove as well as the thought of removing some unwanted thing from our mind. Sitting for removing stress is not meditation; it is just an action which diverts mind from stress for the time being. May be continuous practicing of such action may enable the mind to be free itself from the stress at will. But it is not meditation – In meditation, there is no will.

Meditation looks like an abstract thing, when it is not happening. Once it happens, it may be a way of living. The thought of “abstract thing’ may be diverting us away from turning towards meditation. Then we may have the question, why should we turn towards meditation? It is a valid question, when we think meditation is just for a selected few and tough to reach. When we are content with our life, when we are content with our way of living, of course, there is no need for turning towards meditation. But when we are discontent with our life, instead of filling the life with some worthless beliefs, turning towards meditation may be a better possibility. The filling of discontentment with any belief is a trap, which traps us from turning towards the direction of meditation. The philosophical enquiry may be the only key to free ourselves from the trap of beliefs. Now the philosophical enquiry itself may become a trap. Any philosophical enquiry must have got the answer from within us, even if the words are expressed by others. If the answer given by somebody did not match the answer within ourselves, we simply reject that person providing the answer. But if that person’s expression matches with that of ours, we consider that person as our Guru and start following that person - we are already in another trap. This statement is not against having a guru, but to understand the trap there!

So, turning inwards has lot of traps to drag away from such inward journey, but keep us in an illusion that we are progressing in inward journey. It is very simple to understand; only thing is we have to look around within ourselves instead of focusing at just one point within. Only such an understanding can make as be alert about the traps in our inward journey – the traps set by our own mind.

Being alert of all these traps it self may be meditation. Being alert of these traps means that we are alert of our ego. When we are alert of ego, the ego disappears. When meditation happens, there can not be ego. We may be the worst egoist but when meditation happens, there cannot be any ego or ‘I’ centeredness. As soon as the ego enters in our mind, the meditation disappears.

When meditation happens, as there is no ego, we are not behind any thoughts but thoughts may surface within the mind and go. When thoughts are dominant or when we are behind any thoughts, the ‘I’ or ‘me’ centeredness must be the reason. When a thought surface within mind and the ‘I’ or ‘me’ starts tracking that thought, the thought intensifies and we are carried over by that thought. The state of mind in which we are alert and when we are not carried over by any thoughts surfacing in our mind, such a state of mind is meditation. Hence, meditation can happen 24 x 7!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi,

You've a very wonderful blog. To turn into a successful individual the essential thing is usually to have positive thinking. Take pleasure in Sky Rocketing Good results with Turbo charged Positive Affirmations... Create Positive Thinking So It is possible to Eradicate Tension From your Life, Boost Your Self-Confidence and Program Your self For Lifetime Achievement!