Meditation dawns upon us that we are not the congregation of few molecules to be disintegrated sooner or later. We are All Knowledge, All Existent and All Bliss. The limitless Bliss is within us. The Kingdom of heaven is within us. Where goest thou to seek for the kingdom of God, asks Jesus of Nazareth when it is there within you. Go out of the clutches of mind in Meditation and find it there. It is already yours. How can you get what is not yours? It is yours by right. You are the heirs of immortality, sons of the eternal father.
जब अपने ही दिल में खुदाई है, काबा में सजदा कौन करे
जब दिल में ख्याले सनम आ बसा, फिर गैर की पूजा कौन करे
When All-shining is within, who will bow outside and one is all immersed with the thought of His Love, why would one worship a stranger. But Alas! We have completely forgot our own Self. Being the kings, we consider ourselves as beggars because we are snoring in mind’s lap.
भीखा भूखा कोई नहीं, सबकी गठरी लाल
अपने को जानत नहीं, ताहि विधि भए कंगाल
None is poor or beggar. Everyone is possessed of immense treasure but being ignorant of true Self, we find ourselves miserable.
In Gitanjli, Rabinder Nath Tagore describes:-
He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. I am ever busy building this wall all around and as this wall goes up in the sky day by day I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow.
I take pride in this great wall am I plaster it with dust and sand lest a least hole should be left in this name; and for all the care I lose sight of my true being. The dungeon, the prison is boisterous mind and the one whom I enclose with my name is my true Self. But mind has overpowered so much that I consider myself nothing but mind and I have completely forgot about my own Self. Even Meditation is considered to be the concentration of mind which dwells either in past or future. We are to stay in present which is the death of mind because there is no place for mind’s thoughts to jog around in present.
What is Meditation – There is a misconception or misunderstanding about the Meditation. It is considered to be concentration or control of mind. Meditation is going beyond mind. It is of no-mind state. Mind cannot understand meditation. The only obstacle is mind and there is no intrinsic possibility that mind can understand meditation. As light and darkness can’t stay together, meditation and mind can’t stay together. One is the absence of the other. Meditation comes up, mind is seen nowhere. No effort is made to control the mind because every control results in suppression or repression.
Many think that meditation is simply to concentrate about something. Meditation is not to think about this or that. It is non-objective. There is no object in it. It is simple and pure subjectivity. The innermost core of man is pure subjectivity. Meditation is the realisation of innermost treasures i.e. self which is beyond any contemplation or thought. Thinking is of mind, contemplation is of mind and the meditation is beyond thinking, contemplation and mind. Meditation springs up without any effort when caravan of thoughts disappears.
How to do Meditation – While sitting silently in a comfortable posture and closing eyes gently, watch and watch whatever is going within. Thick darkness is there, dead silence is there and a caravan of thoughts is appearing from somewhere, nowhere and elsewhere. We are just to watch and watch and watch these thoughts without any evaluation, judgment; appreciation or condemnation. We are not to remark, “This thought is good I must have it: This is bad, I must ignore it”. By the judgment, we miss the process of pure watching and get into the process of thinking.
When we go on watching our thoughts persistently and continuously without any effort or strain, thoughts will start diminishing slowly. With consistent observation, they will disappear. Once thoughts disappear, BHAV, BLISS appear and we realise one hidden under the thoughts, In Swami Ji’s voice:-
ये सैर क्या है अजब अनोखा, कि राम मुझ में, मैं राम में हूँ
बिन सूरत है गजब का जलवा, कि राम मुझ में, मैं राम में हूँ
I and my father are one. Meditation does not involve any technique or method or credentials. All is required is to do it persistently and regularly and be a WITNESS, A SAKSHI, A NEUTRAL ENERGY. It takes a little time to create gap between witness and mind. Once the gap is created, you are in for a great surprise that you are not the mind and you are the WATCHER the WITNESS. You become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing.
WHAT DO WE GAIN – Meditation is not result-oriented we do meditation for sake of meditation. There is no expectation. When we delve deep into Meditation, we experience BLISS which has no opposite. Pleasure is followed by pain, joy by sorrow and happiness by misery. We won’t be disturbed by others; we would start looking into ourselves. Whenever we are self-conscious (i.e. feeding our ego or lying in the lap of mind) we are simply showing that we are not conscious of SELF at all. We don’t know who we are. If we had known, we won’t be seeking the opinion of others. When we are self-conscious we are showing the symptoms that we don’t know who we are. Meditation will dawn upon us that we are the WATCHERS, WITNESS, SAKSHI.
IN CONCLUSION –
1. Thinking does not begin, dozing has not happened, meditation takes place.
2. Meditation is the absence of thinking and sleeping. Then you are in meditation. You are in Bliss.
3. Watch anything in mind. You are cut off. Watching is a sword.
4. The more you think, the more you fall away from reality. Real does not need thinking. Real needs awareness and alertness.
5. Meditation is Watchfulness (without effort), Wakefulness, awareness (no mind) and alertness.