"U" is for...

Hari OM

Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.

Did you think more on the "A" situation? Keep it within radar range as we now move on to the "U" portion of the sound syllable. Once creation has taken place, beginnings begun, one of two things can happen.  All can stop, or all can continue. 

To go on, there needs to be commitment to process. There needs to be an UPHOLDING of the established order, even when faced with constant change (is that not a contradiction in terms?!). Change is ever constant. The one fact with which we are faced, as we are forced to live in our constructed paradigm of 'time', is that it moves on.  Movement requires that nothing remains as it was.  Therefore we need a frame of reference which UNDERPINS all this change and holds us steady.  

What US?

The Universal System is us.  The underpinning. That which collects, collates, formulates, re-creates... Everything that takes place in the maintenance cycle can only happen as a result of the Creation. Everything that moves is merely an echo of that original sound. There is nothing we can think which has not been thought before.

Quite the UNDERTAKING, is this process called meditation! Faced with our unoriginality we are forced to consider what purpose it serves to continue the upkeep of 'life'. Why continue to procreate? Why build edifices and seek to write the ultimate novel? It is because Mankind, from his earliest moments, has sought immortality.  Unable to conceive of the possibility that immortality already resides within him, he externalises; manufactures, builds, bequeaths, births... 

Thus the "U" is circular in form. The underpinning principle, the Aatman will keep returning as jiiva until it has grown enough in realisation that there is something more it can be doing. Something higher to attain. Something far beyond the concept of this and that, you and me.  As much time as is required, we are given.

These are some of the considerations of "U".  Are "you" starting to appreciate the way in which we can meditate upon OM? There are no shortcuts.  There can be no hurry.  Incorporate this into the daily exercise. Sit for the five minutes of emptying, five minutes of "A" thoughts and adding in five minutes of "U" thoughts. Perhaps the question has arisen - why introduce thoughts when attempts are to empty?  It is necessary to supplant all the many and varied distractive thoughts with Higher Thinking.  It is this which will help us to finally release thought.  The 'emptying' we are exercising at this level is merely the storing on one side of our minds the daily interferences.  That is all that is asked or expected for now. Do tell how you are progressing, or share your stumbling blocks, via comments or email. This is to be a place of sharing.

Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal Bliss and supreme joy in the end.

(Swami Sivananda)