ROUTE TO MEDITATION

Spiritual Illumination of the Path and Goal of Meditation
Sri Sudarshan, Founder, SKYLIGHT YOGA™

Leveling the Praying Field

​Before we dive into everything “Meditation,” let us back it up a second. First we must address the role of having an experienced, knowledgeable and unselfish Teacher, Spiritual Preceptor or Guru for guidance in the art and science of meditation. Say a prayer. Allow your most sincere intentions to be felt and heard by the Divine Self. Offer the heart of your enlightened mind on the altar of wisdom. Seek the company of spiritual personalities, open your deepest feelings to them and spend more time in their presence. Use the device of a higher frequency known as the Guru. When you consume impure content or food for the mind, how can you act surprised when your mouth and mind emit poison? Consume the Guru’s pure Vedantic teachings. Verily, they are the nectarine knowledge that removes the poison of ignorance and restores radiant wisdom.

Meditation cannot be “done,” rather, the mind comes to a state that is meditative. Look at a monk and look at a lay person. One has practiced focusing and stilling the mind for decades and the other has never tried. Yet, there is still no such thing as a “good” or “bad” meditator. There is only “meditation.” Facts and knowledge accumulated will not help your meditation practice. Only practice will.

To put it as succinctly as possible, a very long time ago when the Vedic Culture existed (and the Rishis who gave us Yoga), an initiate was drawn nearer to the practice of meditation only after intense years purifying oneself in the disciplinary stage. There was the implied, inextricable, and one ultimately learns, the necessary command and execution of the Yamas (Outer Observances) and Niyamas (Inner Observances). In modern times, the whole process, method and relationship between the Teacher and Student is almost entirely abandoned. Yet, every spiritual aspirant and meditation student will come to realize the necessity of humility, discipline and purification in order to attain the absolute goal of meditation: going beyond the mind.

Most easily understood, meditation is 1) emptying the mind of all of its contents, allowing its Source to be revealed 2) allowing one thought or object to fill the mind, thereby transcending it. The profound understanding is that, in reality, it is both, always and at the same time. Do not imagine it like you are forcing something drastic to happen. When the waves of the lake subside, the water reflects the Sun with perfect clarity. ​

Separation from Mind

Mind is a collection of data and impressions. Meditation transcends the mind because our true nature is more subtle than the gross body, senses, mind, intellect and ego. Disassociate from the false identity that you are the mind. You are not the mind. Meditation happens through the mind. 

Moving from grosser to subtler will not be possible unless the external hindrances are removed. This is why Asana, Yogic Postures, and Pranayama, Yogic Breathing, have been placed well-before the Concentration and Meditation practices of Raja Yoga. It is not to say that one will be unsuccessful in meditation if one does not perform the poses associated with Yoga. The Asanas are there to enhance the effectiveness of the later practices, including concentration and meditation. The physical exercises of Asana and Pranayama, or Hatha Yoga, are purification techniques to prepare the mind and body to sit for long periods absorbed in actual meditation. That meditation seems impossible so long as the body is allowed to fidget restlessly. 

Technically speaking, meditation cannot be “defined,” although the scriptures give the best explanations and arrive closest to the definition in both simple and complex terminology. “The unbroken flow of all mental energy toward one object.” “Widening the gap between when the last thought subsides and before the next thought arises.” “Yogash Citta Vritti Nirodha.” There are millions of definitions of “meditation” and they can only come close to the edge where meditation begins. 

Purposeful Obstacles in the Path

First a brief introduction of the major physical, mental and higher obstacles to meditation. It is important to know that you will encounter these obstacles and to continue discovering the importance of having a spiritual teacher to help you through them. In doing so, you learn the art and skill of conquering these obstacles that will hold you back. The path to Self-realization is strewn with these obstacles, so go find your Guru, request the initiation of their profound blessings, and get ready.

Physical Obstacles: a. Aimless Wandering b. Cessation of Practice c. Health and Diet d. Laziness and Sleep e. Complications of Daily Life f. Useless Conversation g. Self-Justification h. Lack of Spiritual Preceptor

Mental Obstacles: a. Anger b. Depression c. Doubt d. Memory e. Fear f. Greed g. Hatred h. Loss of Vital Energy

Higher Obstacles: a. Desire b. Moral and Spiritual Pride c. Religious Hypocrisy d. Name and Fame e. Elements and Visions f. Taste for Pleasure g. Prematurity and False Attainment h. Loneliness

Start with One Breath at a Time

Dharana is the word for “Concentration of Focus.” All of meditation is centered on attaining and attuning to this focus. In allegorical language, the breath is the king of the mind. The breath is, in fact, the state of your mind manifested at the grossest level in the body. Concentration begins by lengthening the inhalation, exhalation and retention. You can open your practice with five minutes of mindfulness, the simple awareness of all chattering contents and colliding thought-waves of the mind. You can also open your practice with ten minutes of diaphragmatic breathing. Then continue concentrating by gently placing your entire focus in one location and on one object for meditation. When the mind is focused in meditation, it is light, alert and clear; not strained, dark and dull. 

Not Found in Scientific Details

Meditation is the blending of learning into unlearning. It is true that the right and left hemispheres of the brain are balanced in meditation. It is a bonafide fact that just eight weeks of meditation results in more grey matter in brain areas relating to compassion, focus, emotional control and memory retention. Even if you just pick it up for the first time! It is a simple and verified fact that the iron in our hemoglobin (red blood cell protein molecule transporting oxygen) is imprinted with information after a certain number of days. It is also an absolute certainty that meditation, quite literally, rewires the brain by what is called neuroplasticity. And so on... Of course there are health benefits of breathing properly!

Modern science has always had a fascination with Consciousness. Information will help you to not stop short in your concentration and meditation practice, and to move through obstacles and challenges, but collecting this information is not the practice itself. You must not lose sight of the real Goal.

In the same way that you can see sound waves moving through water – i.e. a subtler vibrational frequency seen through a grosser medium – the thoughts of the mind are vibrations that are channeled through the nervous system. Now you see why it is important to deliberately cultivate a loving kindness state of mind. We are consciously creating our own mental states so that we are able to manifest the realities which we want to see in our minds.

In ancient times, Yogis used Tantra = Mantra + Yantra. Tantra is the tool for expansion. Mantra is the sound. Yantra is the form. When you are in a state of meditation, the Nadis of the Astral Body, also referred to as the meridians, form an energetic pattern. This works because sound manifests into visible form, as seen in cymatical studies. The science of Mantra is highly advanced and nothing short of fascinating.

The right nostril is the Solar channel corresponding to the left brain. The left nostril is the Lunar channel corresponding to the right brain. Anulom Vilom, or alternate nostril breathing, sends energy flowing evenly through both channels. It harmonizes and balances both sides of the brain. In and through a balanced mind is it possible to see into the deeper realities of life.

The Meditative State of Mind

Should/should not, good/bad, right/wrong, gain/loss etc. and all “pairs of opposites” do not last, therefore, we learn to let go of them in meditation. Dealing with “I can meditate/I cannot meditate” means that you are already in the process – you are already in the practice – now surrender to it.

You may set out to meditate for 50 minutes and end up meditating for less than 5 minutes. The next day you may set out to meditate for 30 minutes and wind up meditating for 3 hours. Meditators must realize that they are not scoring statistics for the highlights of a sports match. Meditators must learn to favor quality over quantity. Short and long meditation sessions both have their positive and radiating effect on the mind.

Preparing for the Practice

Concentration and meditation can be accomplished seated or reclined, though it is best to keep the mind clear and alert in an upright, erect and seated position. If this is not possible, adapt any posture so that you are most comfortable, so that your mind is able to relax.

There are several basic practices for focusing the mind using the breath. Inhale, then slightly pause. Exhale, then slightly pause. Repeat. This is called intentional breathing. Expanding and lengthening the breath is another simple and effective practice. Or, you can imagine that your inhalations and exhalations are creating space for light to enter your body and mind. Be open, be practical and be creative!

Impermanent in the Room

​“It is a tough pill to swallow, but you have already swallowed it.”

Impermanence arises from incompleteness. Because you are in your own “mind-world” which is, to put it politely, an incomplete and limited picture, you do not know anything outside of your own “mind-world.” With your false thoughts about a false world you do false things and then die. Is that it? Is that the meaning and purpose of life? No. That is missing the purpose of life. What you have said you wanted to achieve has not been achieved because you have chosen to remain with the countless and meaningless thoughts of pain, burdens, stress, the disease of worldliness, and all this.

In the world of impermanence, people and all things in the universe will disappear. Eliminate the “mind-world” in which there are temporary fantasies, delusional mental pictures, misplaced desires for objects of the world, and if one returns to that place that existed before this “mind-world” appeared, the human being can experience their innate wholeness, perfection and completeness. Meditation is asking you to throw away your little, false self for your real, permanent, fully-conscious and divinely blissful Absolute Self! 

Sri Sudarshan Jyotirmayananda
Published August 1, 2020. Written June 29, 2020.
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