Hari
Om
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
The text being referenced for the next few weeks is "The Art Of Contemplation". Obtaining the booklet for yourself would be a good move. Use it as
your prompt, your guide - even as a note book; don't fear to scribble points
for yourself within the pages! The exercises might be looked at separately; but
there is a 'step-ways' progression, so best to begin at the beginning!
EXERCISE
5 cont'd.
In
the first part of the this exercise, last week, we saw that finding within our
contemplation the facility to Love Truly and thus funding forgiveness were
essential parts of spiritual progress. Without these, we are stuck in our mire
of attachments and all that entails. Given how the mind will so readily drop
itself to fretting over one thing or another and creating disturbance even more
when we attempt to sit in meditation, it is necessary to clear out that
'compost heap' at the start of our sitting. This is pretty much what all the
preceding exercises have been about.
Thus,
when you are sitting for your contemplation each day - no matter of what
duration, be it fifteen minutes or an hour - a high proportion of that time is spent
in the preparatory phase, making adjustments to our body, first, then the mind
- and mostly the mind! The actual contemplation, in fact (particularly in our
novice and beginner stages) is therefore quiet short. It is fine to be so.
Having contained all thoughts, having gained a centred-ness and degree of
emptiness wherein there is a glimpse of complete and total stillness… the mind
will again rear up and say 'see, it is so peaceful!' At that point, leave the
contemplation and move on with your day. Initially, it may only be a matter of
seconds in which true tranquillity state called as meditation is achieved - but
each second is a triumph. Also, because the mind has decided this is indeed
peaceful, it will start to hanker for more and more and gradually (oh so
gradually!) begin of its own accord to settle, in anticipation of the
stillness.
Contemplation
must never, indeed can never, be enforced. It is a process to which the mind
must be led and there it must decide of its own accord to drink. As with the
proverbial horse in this metaphor, it can be tickled and shown and perhaps be
shown a reward for taking that drink of bliss, but ultimately, it the mind
alone which can make the decision to leave itself and free the Real You to the
space of Selfhood.
Beware
overdoing things though. The mind, being what it is and easily 'hooked' on
things, it will demand more and more - even this must be controlled. Having
meditated in the morning, tell it that it cannot look for more of this until
the evening meditation. The effect, you may be surprised to find, is the some
part of the mind rests in 'daydream' of that later moment and thus there is a
tranquillity and presence maintained throughout the day, bringing a focus and
alertness you may not have felt for sometime, if ever.
With
continued practice of this nature, the mind begins to struggle less and less at
the restraints put upon it and begins to move with the intellect's desire to
move into the higher element. Joy and peace increase. Ever more readily, our
practice advances until Bliss truly arrives.
The
realisation of True Self is possible through sheer contemplation; however,
enjoying the happiness of this
realisation can only come where there is devotion. It is through bhakti that we
prepare the mind for this enormous task. There are those who seek to stay
within the bounds of dry intellectual pursuit; therein the Truth remains only
an intellectual element - present but unlived. Only by working with devotion
can the Truth which has been discovered be fully manifested; praarabdha insists
that we must continue to live out existence of this body till its natural end,
therefore, if we have been fortunate enough to walk the path of Jnaana and find
the Bliss, the very least we can do is to present it outwardly through our Love
and deeds in the world; this is saadhana. Equally, those who live with only bhakti, whilst
gaining much from it, will find that shanti is still missing. The relief of
the mind comes from jnaana alone.
Knowledge
without devotion is tasteless; devotion without knowledge is mere idolatry. Not
everyone is capable of contemplating upon nirguna, Reality without a form, thus
to ease the mind and aching hearts (alamban), we have our 'heroes' in the form
of OM, Christ, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and so forth. They become the conduits
through which we connect with that Higher Element.
