What meditation is and what it is not

02/09/2010 /
  • To find Peace of mind
  • When Peace of mind comes, Happiness follows. If we look for happiness but not looking for peace of mind, we might look for it at the wrong place.
  • Peace of mind means also a balanced, calm, focused and clear mind which is not deluded, not crazy, not over active and restless, not depressed and lethargic, not fearful. Yoga Lifestyle helps meditation and peace of mind.
  • Meditation gives inner strength and detachment , the power to let go and to release ourselves from our attachments. This will free us from the weight of our subconscious and per se bring in new light.
  • Meditation is a process of purification. The patterns of attachments and fears of the past, the mistakes and karmas are replaced with new ideas, feelings, perspectives and possibilities. Meditation detaches us from these long standing patterns of wrong thinking and identifications and frees us from fears as the sense of the True Self becomes more real and tangible. We become lighter and wiser. In the same manner, when darkness is being dispelled slowly by light, we start to discern the accumulated old furniture in the dark room in the basement, and also realize that we can be free from them.
  • Meditation is a slow training in awareness. If our favorite thoughts come, and we fall in its traps, meditation and awareness fail. Try again.

Therefore concentration is necessary in meditation, to dissolve the distractions and to be strong in the remembrance of the Self. When we succeed in concentration, we can return to our focus quickly and go deeper. When we concentrate on the Self, the name of God, a mantra or sacred pure sound, this will replace all distractions and traps of the mind. What meditation is not?

  • It is not closing our eyes and wandering in the thought world, dwelling in our likes and dislikes, attachment and confusions, deluding ourselves in what we already know instead of opening ourselves to what we can not possibly know with our minds.
  • Meditation is not putting more thoughts in the mind or solving problems. It is the process of emptying the mind.

by Swami Sitaramananda