Thursday, January 7, 2010

Meditation – Introductory– Swami Brahmavidyananda

Meditation is not a technique but for meditation we may use certain preparatory techniques

I, the meditator have to be available as the meditator,

I, the meditator, am a simple conscious being, one who is aware of, to whom everything is known or becomes known and the one who is self-aware – I the meditator am an awareful conscious being.

To start, I sit in a steady and comfortable posture- one can sit in padmasana, if one is familiar with that – or one can sit in sukhasana – legs corssed in a simple way of sitting – or ardha-padmasana. If I can't sit on the floor, I can sit on a firm chair ( a rocking chair or easy chair will not do ). I sit with my back head and neck in a straight line – I don't sit in a tilted posture. I am relaxed – steady, straight, and in a comfortable sitting posture – and my hands rest on my lap – clasped lightly- fingers touching each other– or one can keep hands on the knees – I sit in a steady, comfortable posture – this is called asanam – just a sitting posture for meditation.

I sit in a clean, quiet place, which has a good environment, and a time like the morning time, in which I am available for meditation. If I cannot sit on the floor, I sit on the chair. If I need some back rest it is possible I can lean the bottom of my back on some support if it is there – while meditation if I need to make small adjustments so that I can be comformtable, I can make – and if I can sit in this comfortable sitting posture for a length of time – say half an hour or 45 minutes – that is very helpful for meditation. This comes by practice – asanam.

Om ….. Om….

Having been seated, having taken a few rounds of deep breathing – juts simple deep breathing – say 10 rounds or 15 rounds…..one can do nadi shuddhi or pranayama if one is familiar with that….

When I take deep breahing – my breathing cycle becomes steady – breathing becomes normal. As my breathing becomes steady … I relax … my body relaxes .. my breathing becomes steady. There is a technique called pranavikshanam – observing mentally ones own normal breathing … this is a useful technique for relaxation … people do this for hours and hours… we do not do this for too much of time … but for a few minutes it helps. Whenever you have time to relax, you may sit and do this prana vikshanam – observing ones own normal breathing … it is a useful technique. This is not meditation – but as a technique useful. Prana vikshanam……

One can take to these techniques whenever one needs, whenever one want to … observing ones own breathing… and deep breathing – these are useful techniques –these help me see my self as being relaxed … I see myself as being relaxed and I see tht I am relaxed… I am quiet… I am relaxed… and I am awake and relaxed

Shri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya raam

I am relaxed... I am awake but relaxed. I, the meditator am role-free .. for the time being… I drop, I suspend all the roles… for the time being I have no roles – neither an man or woman – I suspend all my roles deliberatly for the time being. Roles and with their attendant requirements … all my worries I suspend … I decide to take care of them later… all deliberate decisions too … I keep all external things external…. My ambitions.. my desires…. All of them I suspend for the time being…. It is possble for me to suspend these roles… baahyan sparsaan krtvaa bahi – keeping external things extrenal … I tell myself I will take approprate care, appropriate actions later in an appropriate time …now I suspend them all… even that I am a man, I am a woman, I don't bring in…. I am young, old, I do not bring in all these now…. I suspend…. even though I play a lot of roles… I take on lot of roles….

With them I cannot be the meditator…. I cannot meditate…. As a role… this is important … as a role I cannot meditate effectively and it is possible for me to suspend… this we have been doing so many times each day… when the lady looks at the husband… the wife role… when the lady looks at child… the wife roles gets suspended… the mother role come in… this suspending the role we keep doing day in and day out… it is not something which is not known or not possible. I, the role- free person… relaxed person… the sef-awareful person… the awareful person… I am the meditator…. I meditate on Ishvara…. I meditate on Ishvara…

Shri Raam Jaya Raam … Rama Raama Raama Raama Raama Raama

When we conclude the meditation session – we can chant the Om Shanti 3 times and if one wants to continue for a little while one can contine and others can quietly leave

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti