Meditation And Its Utility In Daily Life,
Meditation PracticeI. "Silence Is The Great Revelation"- Lao-Tse
II. Body Sensations
III. Deepening Exercise-Body Sensations
IV. Thought Control
V. Breathing Sensations
VI. God In My Breath
VII. Breath-Communication With God
VIII. Stillness
IX. Body Prayer
X. The Touch of God
XI. Concentration
XII. Finding God In All Things
* Individual's Uplift And World Welfare
Meditation And Its Utility In Daily Life
Meditation is not for a few but is necessary for all human beings.
The inner self of a person touches the Higher Self (the Param-Tattwa)
during deep sleep daily. This unknown touch recharges the battery of
man. So, when he gets up from his sleep, he feels that he is
refreshed, full of strength and relaxed. This is a natural process
for
all persons alike. If one could not sleep properly, he feels
disturbed
and is in a sort of weariness. It is the experience of every man,
whether he is rich or a beggar, a literate or an illiterate, an
executive or a labourer, a farmer or a business man, a housewife or
a
huckster. So, every man needs peace, strength, ability to discharge
his duties and for tranquillity of mind. So, a wonderful discovery
of
man is to keep his inner self in touch with the SOURCE in a wakeful
state for longer periods continuously through specific type of
systematic practices. This is called the art of meditation. And such
a
person is said to be a YOGI without any discretion/distinct ion of
caste, creed, colour and country.
Dhyanam nirvishayam manah-That state of the mind, wherein there
are no Vishayas or sensory thoughts, is meditation.
Whether oriental or occidental, Hinduism or Muslims,
Buddhism or Jainism, Christianity or Judaism, Shinto-ism or any
other
'ism', the spiritual purpose and meaning is to lead an individual
soul
to the ecstatic communion with the Universal Divinity or ONE TRUTH,
the SOURCE. A continuous flow of perception of thought is
Dhyana-Tatra
pratyayaikatanata dhyanam. It is the flow of continuous thought of
one
object or God or Atman or Supreme Source-Tailadharava t. According
to
Raja Yoga, meditation is the seventh rung or step in the ladder of
Yoga. One cannot attain this state unless he knows the art of
"Concentration" . What is concentration? -Desa bandhas-chittasya
dharana. Concentration is fixing the mind on an external object or
an
internal point continuously, without interruption or break for
twelve
seconds. So, an aspirant has to develop himself in concentration,
which itself is changed into meditation, if his state of keeping the
mind focused at one object/point/ subject continuously and
spontaneously for 12x12=144 seconds. It is termed as 'Dhyana' in
Sanskrit scriptures, which comes from the root 'Dhi'. In English we
generally call it 'intellect' which is the basic root with different
derivations in different practices. However, 'Buddhi' (reasoning
faculty) is said to be directly based on this root term; yet this
term
is used liberally by all systems of Yoga, which is central theme of
all mystic techniques leading one to higher levels of spiritual
consciousness with profound depths of spiritual expansion and takes
one to God-realisation or Self-realization.
Meditation may be objective, or on qualities or purely subjective
or one's own breath. In objective meditation the Sadhaka meditates
upon God only and not man or Lord Shiva,
Vishnu,
Rama, Krishna, Christ, Buddha .
Only God is something alive, vibrating with supreme reality,
omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. He may meditate upon the
beatitude, the qualities, the activities of his Ishta-devata. Or he
may meditate upon the all-pervading pulsating Supreme Energy which
is
within him and without, permeating everywhere. This is subjective
meditation. Similarly on his breath while inhaling and exhaling with
MINIMAL SILENCE. All meditations are good; what counts is the
intensity and unbroken continuity of meditation.
An aspirant has to rest his soul on the bosom of the Lord, to
bathe in the bliss of Divine ecstasy, to drown his ego in the ocean
of
eternity, to draw sustenance and strength from the SOURCE to attain
whatever he is capable of achieving. A Sadhaka should meditate
regularly, chew and digest what he has learnt, to transform what he
has learnt into wisdom, to apply that wisdom to solve the problems
that cross his path daily. Says F.W. Robertson: "It is not the
number
of books you read, nor the variety of sermons you hear, nor the
amount
of religious conversation in which you mix, but it is the frequency
and earnestness with which you meditate on these things till the
truth
in them becomes your own and part of your being, that ensures your
growth."
A sincere spiritual seeker meditates to realize the Ultimate
Reality to unravel the mystery of life and death, to understand in
the
bottom of his heart, what is Truth. Once he knows Truth, he knows
the
Ultimate Reality, he becomes That, and there is nothing more to
know.
A person who has realized Brahman, becomes Brahman, and lives in
Brahman. Knowing is being. That is the highest state.
India has been fortunate to have produced many saints and seers
who had realized the Truth and for more or less time lived in a
state
of Divine Ecstasy.