Hari
OM
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
"Let
us remember that the mental attitude of meditation is not invoked by a
mechanical re-adjustment gained in haste during an evening's
'half-an-hour'…"
(Sw.
Chinmayananda)
We
left off last week with a Gurudev quote and pick up again here with one. Is there a
question now that you have been asked to limit yourself to half an hour
maximum?!! Let there be no outrage, no sense of being held back. The point of
the quote is not the amount of time allotted to meditation, but HOW that half
hour is being utilised. Gurudev remarks
that it is not mechanical. We DO have to
begin with the physical (mechanical) part in order to have it running smoothly
enough that we can forget about it and move into the more existential
aspect.
We
have to tame the mind.
Even
this, at first, has a mechanical component. We will be assessing the components
of our mental makeup in other posts (ever the tease!), but for now it is
important to accept that mind is our worst enemy and our greatest friend when
approaching meditation. As much as we
think the body is our problem, as we learn how the mind betrays us we will find
that the body is at its mercy. Gurudev, again, puts this very succinctly;
"The
mind has to be raised step by step from the gross state to the subtle state,
then to the causal state and still further to the great cause; and thus finally
to samaadhi."
Where
to begin the taming? At the body level.
The past two weeks you have been undertaking the focus of aasana and
praana. … Have you not? Remember, this
is an interactive process!
Keeping
it short and sweet this week then; SAADHANA is to continue the focus, but make
it exactly that. Attempt to keep all thought in an observational state,
reflecting only what is happening in your body and on ensuring the breathing
exercise is correct. Every time the mind seeks to shift to what is outside the
skin, whip it back! Your meditation for the time being should be only body and
breath.
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