Namaste everyone, I am hoping someone can help me out. I am a very much devoted devotee of Lord Shiva. I was wondering how to meditate properly so that I may reach the point I have heard and read from other people. Some are able to meditate and chant the name of Shiva to the point they reach deep meditation and are able to speak to Shiva. I wish to get to that point, but I'm not sure what I might be doing wrong.
Hi Meenakshii, The initial focus of meditation is to calm your body and mind. This in itself is fairly difficult to achieve and it requires a lot of practice to calm and still your self. Then after a lot of right practice, you may start having some spiritual experiences. But if you begin with that expectation, you may end up disappointed. Everyone's journey and experiences vary. There are many articles on various techniques of meditation, explore and try. The best would be to seek personal guidance from a good and safe practioner or a guru. Good luck.
You can start with guided meditation apps like Headspace . There are some good Buddhist meditation videos on youtube. The initial step is to just breathe ,relax and be aware of the sounds and everything around you. Then comes the awareness of yourself and less about your surrounding. You progress to subsequent levels from there but to reach that state of "Samadhi" is very ,very hard and may take years of committment and discipline to get there. If you find meditation hard, there are several ways to get there. The simplest way would be Bhakti marg which is complete surrender and unflinching faith and devotion in Him. Think Radha, Mira Bai and Hanuman.
I remember reading somewhere that one should not get attached to the spiritual experiences and they are more of a distraction in ones spiritual progress. As elders here suggested please get advice from a proper Guru (not those famous corporate ones)