Hari
OM
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
Meditation & Life, with Sw. Chinmayananda
(Gurudev).
We are now exploring the writings of Gurudev on our focus subject of
Meditation. The book is a thorough treatment of the subject and extends to over
170 pages of closely printed text. No attempt is intended, here, to present the
text in its entirety. However, important paragraphs and quotes will
be given, within a summary of each section. You
are encouraged to use the links on sidebar to obtain a copy for yourselves from
CM publications.
Please remember
that each of the posts under this title is part of a thought flow and it is
important to go back and read the previous post in order to refresh and review
the context.
12; Why Meditate?
[Now we come to the crux… for this chapter, Gurudev's words will be
given in full.]
Think of a person who takes one step forward and then one backward,
the third to his right, the fourth to the left. In which direction do you think
he would progress? He reaches nowhere,
even though such mutually cancelling efforts are repeated ad infinitum. The only advice that can be given to such a
person is that he or she resolve their conflicts and make up their mind as to
the direction they wish to follow. With nothing to pull them back or to
sidetrack them, they are sure to reach the destination.
The need for integrating the various conflicting aspects of our
personality is obvious. Our physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual
personalities must be blended into one harmonious whole. Meditation is the
technique for achieving this harmony. It is the highest spiritual discipline.
Through meditation we come to experience peace within. Internecine wars between
desires end. Conflicts between duties no longer torment us. The mind is able to
view life as a whole. Meaningless flutterings and consequent dissipations
cease. We now can direct our potentialities with increased, unshatterable
concentration.
 |
| Remember, you can obtain focus-art pieces like this from YAM's RedBubble shop. See sidebar. |
No one will have failed to notice the result of concentration among
natural phenomena or human activities.
The sun's rays converged on a point through a lens will burn the object
beneath the focal point. Successful people in business and in the professions
owe their successes to single-pointed efforts. Application of a divided mind
brings about indifferent results. The
scriptures have rightly emphasized that every person is a potential genius.
Most of us are able to use only an insignificant part of our infinite
potential; therefore, disappointments are our lot. We have unlimited powers
which, unfortunately, we have not learned to tap and make use of. It is a
question of rediscovering ourselves. Beneath all our superficialities lurks a
constant unconscious search for the common denominator. Along a single trail at
one and the same time move all the different aspects of our personality - in
order to reach the common destination, the experience of Reality.
The mind flutters from one object to another. The flow of thoughts
is ceaseless. Obviously, before the mind can be made to concentrate on
anything, it must be cultivated. In meditation the mind is made to withdraw its
attention from sense objects. The intellect, asserting its mastery over the
mind, orders it to stop all thoughts except the thought of the common
denominator. By assiduous practice, the mind learns to think of only one thing
at a time. Such a mind is a force to be reckoned with; it actually becomes
invincible.
Having become conscious of its True nature, such a mind is not
disturbed either by passing sorrows or ephemeral worldly joys. Prosperity
cannot spoil it, nor can adversity degrade
it. Just as the scientific discovery of the indestructibility of matter
and energy gives new meaning to objects, realisation of Sat-Cit-Aananda by the
mind-intellect, through meditation, gives a new edge to life, stripping all
worldly shows of their power to delude. All curtains lift before the
penetrating gaze of the mind thus established in Pure Consciousness through
regular meditation. Shorn of all complexes, it is no longer assailed by any
doubts or fears.
Do not hesitate. Start meditation now and soon the incomparable experience of the
gifts it showers on you will obviate mere logic.
[Here, the first part of the investigation into the whys and wherefores of the need of meditation concludes. In the next part, the process of meditation is explored.]
