Meditation
This post is about giving some information on Meditation and questions people may have about it. It is in continuance of the last YouTube Session I did. As I am always more comfortable in explaining things in written form, I would try to explain the same things here which I said in last session. If there is any confusion between the two then this post should be given more importance.
Meditation – Meditation is basically the state of no-thought in mind but it is sometimes misunderstood as concentration or focus. Through Meditation, main aim is to reach that no-thought state where there is no traffic of thoughts inside a person’s mind.
As most of the people, who regularly read me, would know that I recommend only one remedy, i.e. Meditation. It is because Meditation brings awareness. It brings calmness and balance in person’s mind and he is able to take more balanced & meaningful decisions of his life. Normally, we seek remedies to resolve some problems in life but Meditation is the way by which we can avoid getting into problems. Hence, Meditation remains the only remedy for me.
How to do Meditation? – Now, the million dollar question is how to do Meditation? This question becomes more relevant when we see that there are so many different types of meditation and every teacher is advertising his way of meditation as the best. Only Osho has developed at least 150 different ways of meditation. So, how to choose the best way of meditation and how to do it?
Let’s first understand that why there are so many different types of meditation?
It is because we have so many different people in world and each person has his own unique nature and abilities. It is most important that first of all we choose the right meditation method as per our nature. For example, a person who is very much physically active or agile would love something like Dynamic Meditation which requires a lot of physical activities whereas a lazy person like me would love to simply sit at one place or lay-down while meditation.
The first and biggest mistake we can do is to choose a meditation method which is not aligned with our nature.
So, first effective step towards starting to meditate is to join a Meditation Camp at your place. Normally, these camps are for about 15-20 days. Now first of all, understand that nothing major is going to happen in these 15 days. Only meaningful thing which would happen is that every day you will learn at least 2-3 different methods of meditating.
Now, make notes of the different types of meditation you are doing everyday and how you feel on a particular day or how your day goes like? Like this, by the end of 15 days, you will know about at least 40-50 different ways of meditation. Now, simply reflect back at your experiences and mental state on each of these 15 days and try to find on which day you were happiest or most peaceful.
The meditation you did on that particular day is aligned with your nature. Now, pick that particular meditation and start doing it regularly for better results. Your journey in meditation has just started.
Observe Mind as 3rd person - Then the next hurdle comes when you need to start observing your mind as 3rd person.
After 10-15 days of meditation, people normally tell that "nothing is happening, I feel like wasting my time".
Now, who is telling you that? It is same mind telling you these stories that nothing is happening and you are wasting your time and it is the same mind which you need to come in control of.
At least one thing is happening that after doing meditation for 10-15 days, your mind has started feeling afraid that if you continue to meditate like this then sooner or later you will overpower your mind. Hence, it has started giving you these stories that nothing is happening and you are wasting your time. So that, you should stop meditation and mind should again feel comfortable.
Consider your mind as a 3rd person. Create a distance between you yourself & your mind and then you will understand mind's cunning ways. Also, understand that all our deep internal issues are at least 20-25 years old. If you have given 20 years to collect the garbage then give at least 20 months to clean the trash.
Which Meditation I do? – Again, it is a meditation which I feel is more aligned with my nature. So, not necessary that it will be aligned with your nature or evolution level. If you are at higher evolution level than mine then some other meditation method will suit you. So, you should not start in this meditation just because I am doing it but if you feel that this way of meditating is also aligned with your nature then feel free to start it and then observe how it works for you.
Osho has mentioned about this meditation in his book Main Mrityu Sikhata Hoon or And Now, And Here (English Version). I don’t think Osho gave it any name but as the whole book is about Death, one of my friend decided to call it Death Meditation. So, let’s call it Death Meditation only. It is a process of 40 minutes in total divided in four stages.
First Stage (10 minutes) – This is the stage where you need to lay-down on floor or bed and leave yourself like a Dead Body. As if there is no strength, power or energy left in your body. In a way, you have to call back all the energy which is spread in body to its source. If you continue doing it for a few days then you will experience that all your energy is getting accumulated at one place and that one place would be your most active chakra. It can be any chakra of your body. Whichever is most active chakra, this energy will accumulate there and you will feel a definite pressure on that chakra.
Second Stage (10 minutes) – This is second stage where now you need to leave the process of breathing entirely on body. It means that you need not to help or assist in inhaling-exhaling. Let lungs inhale-exhale on their own. You neither need to take breathe or stop breathe. Let breathing be a natural process and you will realize that at body level you can’t even feel inhaling-exhaling. Body will do on its own.
Third Stage (10 minutes) – This is third stage where you need to observe your mind or thoughts and slowly get into a situation where thoughts are lesser and lesser and finally to the stage of no-thought.
Fourth Stage (10 minutes) – After 3 stages are done, in 4th stage we just need to sit silently for 10 minutes.
I would suggest to pursue this meditation only after reading the Book Main Mrityu Sikhata Hoon or And Now, And Here (English Version) as it is for those people who want to have an Out of Body Experience.
If anyone is interested then relevant book links are here –
Main Mritu Sikhata Hoon - https://www.amazon.in/Main-Mrityu-Sikhata.../dp/8172610408 .
And Now, And Here - https://www.amazon.in/Now.../dp/0143446576/ref=sr_1_1...
There is another book of Osho named The Book of Secrets in which he discussed 112 different ways of Meditation - https://www.amazon.in/Book-Secrets-Osho/dp/0312650604 .
Hope this helps. Thanks,
Swami Premanand Bharti
Leave a Reply