How should one meditate?
Question: Dear Sir, how should one meditate? I don’t even know where and how to start?
Answer: Let me answer in a few ways.
- The very question you are asking is a step in that direction. This question is a result of an acceptance of the limitation of mind; otherwise why should a mind-driven person seek to meditate? So, this question itself is a meditation, if you stay with it intensely enough.
- Do not seek to mediate. Seek to be meditative. It is a trick of the mind to seek meditation. Then meditation can be comfortably relegated to some 15-20 minutes of a 24-hour day, and the orgy of the mind fills up the remaining 23.5 hours.
Being meditative is entirely different. Each and every second of your time must be filled with presence. Every thought, every emotion, every breath, every movement of the body must be in watchfulness. Every word that you utter must come from consciousness. Gossip, trivia, wandering has to be seen.
- Over time, thousands of methods of meditation have been recommended. All methods belong to a certain time and age and have a particular type of man as an audience. Not every method is relevant to everyone. To be more correct, there are very few methods that are likely to suit you. The methods of the ancients were not made for MBAs.
You will have to discover what works for you. You will be surprised at the variety of methods possible – eating, dancing, singing, rest, movement, sleeping, concentrating, yoga, tantra, listening, watching, abstinence, any conceivable activity can become meditation. Just that the mind has to cease.
I discovered, long after it had been actually happening, that listening to a CD while driving my car was to me a strongly meditative experience.
You have to discover your own.
- Finally, remember meditation is just a tool. It is a technique and a system. It is NOT the truth. Do not get fixated to it. Just know!
-Based on my interactions on various e-media.
Dated: 2nd July,’11
