Meditation and Mindfulness

My dear Anu,

very detailed information about meditation and we are able to handle the difficult situation on our way.


Love,
Bhavna

 

Dear Anu,

The Mind of ours is a cloth and the desires we have are knots that make up our mind. The thoughts we get actually is cotton that is used to make such knots. If we eliminate the knots one by one, the Mind which presents itself as important will disappear and become insignificant. Once it is achieved, it surrenders itself to consciousness and become an instrument in the hands of consciousness. It becomes a red carpet to the Kingdom of Universal Absolute.

When we have a session of silent sitting, our mind brings all our thoughts to the forefront. We should not resist it and instead we need to evaluate each one of them, retain the ones that are noble and remove the ones that are not necessary. This process should continue and until cleansing is complete.

In the cycle of spiritual growth, we go through steps such as a) concentration, b) contemplation, c) meditation and d) liberation. Whether we follow 1) Bhakthi Yoga or 2) Gnana Yoga or 3) Karma Yoga, we need to go through all of the above steps.

If we choose the path of devotion, we need to spend our time to concentrate on the form, contemplate the form and then meditate on the form to reach the highest level of devotion to get liberated.

If we chose the path of knowledge, we need to spend time to concentrate to find and learn such knowledge, contemplate on it and then meditate on that so that we can practice the teachings to get liberated.

If we choose the path of action, we need to concentrate on our work skillfully, selflessly and lovingly, contemplate on such actions to keep improving every day without expecting the fruits of such actions. When we do actions in that form, it becomes meditation 24/7 leading up to liberation.

In my humble opinion, closing our eyes and bringing our thoughts to the forefront should not be viewed as meditation. It is merely silent sitting. When we are able to focus on one thought, it becomes concentration and when we are able to control our mind and senses, it becomes contemplation. When our mind becomes an instrument in the hands of our Self, it becomes meditation. Raja Yoga is practiced by many yogis to achieve the desired results in their spiritual path. When mind disappears and become one with the consciousness, duality is eliminated and Self gets liberated.

Viswa

 

Hi Anu,

Nice blog on mindfulness.. Found it very informative..

 

Dear Viswa,

We all make sincere efforts to think about obtaining this divine state of making our actions without expectations but no matter how much we deeply think and believe it is so difficult for us to imply in our life

you are right that it becomes our 24/7 meditation once our actions are not followed by our desires however I think that it is not easy to make it happen consistently without practicing progressively in stages of concentration,contemplation and meditation.
All these attempts make us worthy of sound and stable minded in terms of controlling our kam,krodh, moha, lobh, ahankar.Once we accomplish this stage then it would be easier for us not to expect any thing of any of our actions.
I believe that to be able to make successful progress in karmyoga we need to practice concentration followed by contemplation and meditation.
This has been my introspection since I have been reading Bhagavad Gita hence it is still my baby step.

Love,
Bhavna

 

Dear Bhavna,

You are right about the sequence in which we can develop the mind into a disciplined mind. The sequence is concentration, contemplation and meditation no matter whatever is the path to liberation. Apparently, without concentration, we can't contemplate on anything and without contemplating, we can't meditate on anything.

For us to make spiritual progress, first and foremost step is to control our mind and senses. I am a believer that our mind is nothing but collection of desires. As I mentioned earlier, if mind is a cloth, desires are the knots and our thoughts that become desires are the cotton bundles. Once we learn to remove these knots one after another, the mind dismantles itself from all desires. For achieving that we need complete control over senses. Once we achieve control over senses and mind, it begins to listen to the Lord and in fact, becomes the instrument in the hands of the Lord. My Guru taught me, "If you can clean up your room (mind) and come to me, I can make it into a flower garden. But the effort to clean up your room has to be made by you." Mind is the cause for Bhavaroga (the feeling of dualism) and it is also the medicine to cure that disease by making it uni-focused on the goal.

Going on the spiritual path is like making a journey in the darkness all alone. When we drive, we can see our headlight roughly for about 50-100 feet but every time we make progress, we see another 50-100 feet. If we make one step, the Lord makes 10 steps to make us learn how to make the next steps. If we don't take diversion and focus our attention on the destination, we will reach the destination. If our goal is to pursue happiness, the only way we will get it is by searching for it inside of us. If it is difficult to find it inside of us, it is impossible to find it outside.

There is no separate personal and spiritual life. If we pursue our spirituality, personal life becomes that much better. The rigor and discipline we need to achieve our spiritual progress is hard but the motivation to get the end result will have to keep us going. Like teachings in Bhagavad Gita, if we do our duty of disciplining our mind and senses and make a sincere effort to get liberated without expecting such results in this life, someday, we will reach that goal.

This is my humble opinion. Anu, thank you for mentioning Bhavna's message to me in this blog. She is one of the persons in this forum, I respect the most, as I truly enjoy her eloquent interpretation of Bhagavad Gita.

Viswa