sumitsehrawat
April 9th, 2005, 04:13 PM
Meditation is the opposite of doing. It is non-doing. We spend most of our lives in doing, striving, planning, and reacting. We tend to have little awareness of the constant and relentless activity of our own mind and how much we are driven by it. That's no surprise as we hardly ever stop and observe the mind directly to see what it is up to. It takes a while for us to start looking at our mind; to get comfortable with the richness of allowing ourselves to just be with our own mind. It's a little like meeting an old friend in years. There may be some awkwardness at first. It may take some time to re-establish the bond.
Ironically, although we all have minds, we seem to need to "re-mind" ourselves of who we are from time to time. If we don't, the momentum of all the doing just takes over and we start living it's agenda rather than our own.
The momentum of unbridled doing can carry us through decades, even to the grave, without our knowing that we are living out our lives without self-awareness. So make special time each day for meditation. It is a way of stopping, a way of "re-minding" ourselves, of nourishing the domain of being. To make time for being, for non-doing, may at first feel contrived. But once you see the need to calm your self and find an inner balance, the commitment to make time for yourself becomes a priority.
When we meditate, we do not allow our impulses and thoughts to translate into actions. We simply watch our thoughts. Looking at the thoughts, we realise that all these impulses arise in the mind. They have a life of their own. They arise even without conscious effort. By not reacting to impulses, we come to understand their nature. This process actually burns up destructive impulses in the fires of concentration and non-doing during our meditation practice.
At the same time this process produces insights, creativity and awareness. This process of non-doing unchains us, opening up new directions for us through the moments we call life. Without meditation and awareness we often get stuck in these moment-to-moment impulses which derive our life, with no clue to our own imprisonment.
Meditation is simple but not easy. To develop awareness requires discipline and effort. Most people live their entire lives in unawareness. The mind keeps us tangled in a perpetual state of maya (illusion). We have to make a conscious effort and that is enlightening and liberating. It allows us to see more clearly, and come to understand things and areas we were out of touch with.
Awareness helps us to enjoy feelings of joy, peace, love, happiness and bliss, which often go unacknowledged. It opens up channels of deep reservoirs of creativity, intelligence, imagination, clarity, determination, will-power, fearlessness and wisdom within us. We are thinking virtually all the time, leaving us very little respect for inner peace and quiet. Our actions are all too frequently driven by ordinary thoughts and impulses that run through the mind all the time. We get caught up in these thoughts that colour our whole life, carrying us to places we may not wish to go to; we may not even realise where we are headed.
Meditation means to use the energies to guide us. Watch yourself. Don't try to change anything, just watch; become aware of the present moment. Allow yourself to be exactly as you are. When you are ready, move in the direction your heart tells you to go.
---The Hindu
Ironically, although we all have minds, we seem to need to "re-mind" ourselves of who we are from time to time. If we don't, the momentum of all the doing just takes over and we start living it's agenda rather than our own.
The momentum of unbridled doing can carry us through decades, even to the grave, without our knowing that we are living out our lives without self-awareness. So make special time each day for meditation. It is a way of stopping, a way of "re-minding" ourselves, of nourishing the domain of being. To make time for being, for non-doing, may at first feel contrived. But once you see the need to calm your self and find an inner balance, the commitment to make time for yourself becomes a priority.
When we meditate, we do not allow our impulses and thoughts to translate into actions. We simply watch our thoughts. Looking at the thoughts, we realise that all these impulses arise in the mind. They have a life of their own. They arise even without conscious effort. By not reacting to impulses, we come to understand their nature. This process actually burns up destructive impulses in the fires of concentration and non-doing during our meditation practice.
At the same time this process produces insights, creativity and awareness. This process of non-doing unchains us, opening up new directions for us through the moments we call life. Without meditation and awareness we often get stuck in these moment-to-moment impulses which derive our life, with no clue to our own imprisonment.
Meditation is simple but not easy. To develop awareness requires discipline and effort. Most people live their entire lives in unawareness. The mind keeps us tangled in a perpetual state of maya (illusion). We have to make a conscious effort and that is enlightening and liberating. It allows us to see more clearly, and come to understand things and areas we were out of touch with.
Awareness helps us to enjoy feelings of joy, peace, love, happiness and bliss, which often go unacknowledged. It opens up channels of deep reservoirs of creativity, intelligence, imagination, clarity, determination, will-power, fearlessness and wisdom within us. We are thinking virtually all the time, leaving us very little respect for inner peace and quiet. Our actions are all too frequently driven by ordinary thoughts and impulses that run through the mind all the time. We get caught up in these thoughts that colour our whole life, carrying us to places we may not wish to go to; we may not even realise where we are headed.
Meditation means to use the energies to guide us. Watch yourself. Don't try to change anything, just watch; become aware of the present moment. Allow yourself to be exactly as you are. When you are ready, move in the direction your heart tells you to go.
---The Hindu