14/10/2019
www.yogamilano.it
What is Meditation?
Many people mistakenly believe that meditation is an instant product: just sit down and the process works magically, lulling the meditator into a thoughtless world of bliss, stillness and internal beauty. When these experiences do not come in the first weeks of meditation, new practitioners suppose they're doing something wrong or that their technique is defective. Consequently they discontinue the practice because of simple misunderstanding.
So what is to be expected in the first weeks of meditation? "The mind is like a mad monkey stung by a scorpion", said the great yogi Ramakrishna, and everyone who starts meditation and tries concentrating knows this to be true. Especially in the beginning, the mind is uncontrollable and unruly. As you sit down many thoughts arise ... you drift off thinking of something else; sounds and noise from without sidetrack your internal concentration, your body won't stay still and you finally get up thinking that nothing has happened.
But it has! By constant practice your capacity to hold your mind steady is building. Much as the body of an athlete in training acquires great physical strength and stamina, so too the struggling meditator develops mental strength and the capacity to concentrate. It is only after a time that the stage comes when we can truly fix our mind on the object of meditation and hold it there - then true meditation is performed.
Another puzzling experience for some is that the mind appears even more unsteady after commencing meditation. More thoughts than usual arise in the mind and this is taken to mean that the process is not being done correctly. Just the opposite is true. The function of meditation is to internally work on the mind by clearing out all the distortions and impressions our past actions have registered upon our subconscious mind. It's like cleaning house: in the middle of the process the house may look even messier than when we started, but by persevering and not quitting mid-stream we get it clean. So, as we continue to meditate, the mind becomes clearer and clearer.
Meditation is the effort to control and develop the mind to realise one's true nature. It is the means by which we can realise our full potential on all levels of existence: physical, mental and spiritual.
“Spirituality provides humanity with that subtle and tremendous power with which no other power can be compared. Therefore, with spirituality as the base, a rational philosophy should be evolved to deal with the physical, psychological and socio-philosophical problems of the day. “
- Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
“Spirituality is not a utopian ideal but a practical philosophy which can be practised and realised in everyday life. Spirituality stands for evolution and elevation, not for superstition and pessimism.”
- Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
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