Hari Om
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation
We are spending January in random prompts to thinking Vedantically. A teacher can give out everything they know, but it will amount to nothing if the student is not inculcating that knowledge, to make it their own. Indeed, the more significant part of learning is not the listening to those who have been before us, but by going out and trying all the experiments and tests for ourselves.
On this day, over the past couple of years, you have been reading a variety of approaches and explorations of what meditation is, in its pure form. Ultimately, with proper practice, meditation can take us to a place beyond the physical, beyond mind.
However, in daily life, it can all seem very esoteric. Something which takes time out of our day and can - for many - appear to be a waste of effort. For those who do manage to keep a small part of each day to sit in silence and to drop away all that is external, the reward is to find an improved approach to life, a lift in their heart, an easing of the mind. For the truly dedicated (the rare ones) there is the call of moksha. Total suspension of ego and mind and an entry into the Universal Bliss even while still within the body.
Full and enveloping meditation is the Everest of mental activity (or lack of it!). How many of us can expect to even tread the foothills of that highest of mountains? Few indeed. That does not mean that we cannot seek to emulate something of its essence by visiting the hills and mountains within our reach or to go to the coast and be by the sea, which holds an equivalency of mystery and awe. Likewise, we can find our own little inner hills in which to draw breath and leave everything behind for a while. If we are willing to put in the daily exercise, we will find that our spiritual 'muscle' builds stamina and strength and we can go higher and higher. We may even start to believe we could go to Everest.
A great many of us, though, do not have that desire. All we wish is a little respite from the nonsense of daily life. That is fine, but if we are going to do that with some success, we still require to be regular and determined in our daily practice! Taking a gym membership then visiting only once a week will not bring the results which would come from daily visits.
As had been said before, but bears repeating, one does not have to think about the summit of the mountain when setting out. Just plant one foot in front of the other and keep going ahead. In meditation, this amounts to the baby steps of setting up a daily routine, ensuring no disturbance from the external. Then we have to ensure no disruption from our own selves. The early practice is all about observing how our mind runs away with us and starting to put reins upon the thoughts. Everything begins with ourselves. Do we want it? How much? Are we prepared to care for ourselves in this way?
Wipe away the excuses which bounce up and seem to proliferate when we make up our minds to step into spiritual self-care. It is one of the great ironies that when we attempt to do something positive, temptations and obstacles spring up in ways we never before noticed. It is not that they are actually any more than before; it is merely that now we are seeing. That is a good thing! The purpose of temptation is to test ourselves, to reflect on what it is that creates our threats and holds us in misery.
Think about this today. If you have set a daily discipline, congratulate yourself but continue to knock away the obstacles within and without. If you have yet to set it, look at why it is not done. Discuss with yourself as to why and think about how you might now take that first step.
