Hari
Om
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
How
have you found your month of 'yajna'? Refreshing, it is hoped; encouraging, it
is prayed; interesting, at the very least? Having completed Gurudev's book
'Meditation & Life', it is hoped that you will keep reviewing it - better
yet, purchase the full text - and putting what is given into practice.
Meditation is not a passive thing. It requires work! This is a common error on
the part of many 'meditators'; to sit down and breath deeply and think that
peace will fall into them and do the quietening of the mind with little effort on
their part.
If at all you have learned anything over the
past months, it is that no true benefits come without your own diligent effort
- purushartha. It is called the 'practice' of meditation because that is
precisely what is required. Practice. Each and every day. Just as you would
require for an instrument, for singing, for cooking, for building… the more you
do these things the better and more refined becomes your work and the greater
joy you obtain from its execution.
To
this end, AUM-day is now going to provide actual exercises; things to do. Not
today though. Today, review what has been covered thus far; check over your
notebooks and find out what it is you struggle with most. Spend contemplation
time on precisely that - ask yourself, 'what is it within me which is causing
this or that hurdle?'
Progressing
in meditation demands self-honesty - whether or not you are practicing
meditation for spiritual or for purely stress-management purposes, that
self-honesty is paramount to overcoming the inner blockages.
Enjoy
this day of review. Prepare for exercise.
