Meditation Practice

A session led by the Warden of Shanti Sadan

It has been said that meditation is the best preparation for the day, and the day lived with mindfulness is the best preparation for meditation. The observation refers to both sides of our life: the ‘me-time’ we devote to meditation, and the me-in-the-world situation that we find ourselves in for most of the day. Meditation can help us on both these levels.

We need help in our outer life in the world because so much is beyond our control. As it is often said, the only thing we can be certain about is uncertainty. While for some, this uncertainty makes life worth living, for others, perhaps the majority, it is a cause of worry and stress, giving rise to what the American writer, Thoreau, called, ‘quiet desperation’. But he also recognized that the human mind can be lit by what he called ‘internal sunshine’. This is where meditation comes in.

Meditation, and the non-dual philosophy on which it is based, is a great benefit, because it not only helps us to free ourselves from mental heaviness. It is also a means to release that internal sunshine. This inner radiance is not the possession of special people. It is present in all of us, waiting to be released.

Let us look at three qualities, innate in all of us, that our practice of meditation will strengthen and mature.

1 Resilience
2 Patience
3 Inner Light (internal sunshine)

In our daily life, we find that our affairs do not always run according to our wishes, and our reactions to apparent setbacks can range from anger and annoyance to self-pity and a sense of hopelessness. The word ‘resilience’ suggests that whatever happens we have the inner power to bounce back and carry on. In fact that is the literal meaning of the word ‘resilience’: the power of a material to resume its original shape or position after compression or bending.

How can meditation help us to be more resilient? When we are crossed or criticised, when things don’t go according to plan, when there is an apparent loss or defeat, what happens in our mind? We usually react in a negative way, with thoughts of resentment, which can go on oscillating within us in a way that is quite disproportionate to the offence or upset.

Thoughts tend to flourish and have us under their power when our mind is in an unsupervised, unchecked condition. But meditation is a unique time when we become intelligently aware of our thoughts. It is now that we deliberately apply methods that will free us from any mental agitation. For these methods will give us the power to calm down the current thoughts and fill the mind with positive ideas based on that internal sunshine waiting to be released. Meditation enables us, so to say, to see our thoughts rather than be our thoughts. And once we realise that our thinking process can be objectified, and, to some extent, altered, we have the possibility of a great inner freedom.

So the message is: Don’t allow yourself to be a victim of negative thoughts. Bounce back. Be resilient. Turn to meditation, calm down, and plant in your mind thoughts of light, strength, peace and freedom such as you will find are given in our meditation practices. Meditation helps us to be resilient because it strengthens our thinking muscles and flexibility.

Let us look at the second quality: patience. By patience is meant something more than resilience. Patience suggests that we are identified with a deeper level of our inner life. Patience recognises that all experiences in this world of change are passing. Sometimes we can change things ourselves through intelligent intervention. Sometimes we just have to accept the situation. It is patience that gives us the inner strength to await developments without undue agitation. Above all, patience, in the context of meditation, is based on the recognition that the inmost centre of our being is not affected by the fluctuations and impacts that take place on the surface.

Meditation equips us to view our thoughts with a degree of objectivity. This will help us to identify with that higher part of our being that sees the thoughts but is not tied up with them. This inner dimension of our nature ever abides in detached freedom. So we have good reason to practice patience. For our higher being, our true Self, is the embodiment or model for all patience.

Therefore, in both our inner and outer life, let us be patient with our situation, and remember that our innermost Self—our real I— transcends all change, and is therefore not touched or altered by whatever occurs on the material or mental plane.

Through cultivating patience and making it our constant companion, we will know that in spite of appearances, at the deepest level of our being, all is fundamentally well. A similar thought was expressed by the English mystic, Mother Julian of Norwich, when she wrote: ‘And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’

Let us look at our third quality: inner light. The glory of meditation is that it helps us to uncover in ourselves the inner light, not as a matter of theory or belief, but of actual experience. By inner light is not meant any physical light. What is meant is the light of consciousness that reveals our thoughts and, by extension, makes known to us everything we are aware of. This light is in all beings. It is our original being. It is concealed by our thoughts, which form a kind of covering or smokescreen. If this inner light were not present, there could be no experience. But experience persists, because this inner light can never be extinguished. In the words of our meditation text, it is that perfect consciousness which knows no coming or going.

We began with a saying: ‘Meditation is the best preparation for the day and the day lived with mindfulness is the best preparation for meditation.’ Regular daily practice brings stability to our inner life. We will have a means of overcoming moods and disproportionate reactions. Instead of succumbing to negative thoughts, we will be able to bounce back with energy and resilience. Our patience will ensure that we see happenings in the right perspective. And our mind, stabilised and tranquillised, will be receptive to the inner light that is ever at the core of our being. We will gain the ability to lift our attention from the stream of thoughts, to an increasing sense of our identity with the awareness that reveals all thought.

Let us now turn to our practices.

Inner Preparation
We begin by inwardly expressing reverence for the higher teachings, and to the supreme power which is the source of all. We sit for a minute or two, with calmness and openness to the unseen reality which pervades all things.

Breathing Practice
Breathe a little more deeply and slowly, becoming aware of your breathing. Then, as you breathe in, say inwardly ‘I am Light’, and as you breathe out, ‘I am free’.

When we turn our attention to our breathing, we lift our mind away from other thoughts, and this has a freeing, calming effect. By taking the word ‘light’ on the in-breath, we are reminding ourselves of the light at the source of our own being. By affirming ‘I am free’ as we exhale, we recognise the inner light as ever free from all limitations. (Four to five minutes)

Visualisation
Bring your attention to the ‘heart-centre’. Imagine that there is a flame of a candle shining here. The flame is bright, upward-pointing and still. Focus your mind on this flame.

By envisaging this inner flame we are reminding ourselves of the eternal presence of the light of consciousness that is the foundation of our own being. It is through practice that the depth and purity signified by the still flame will impress itself on our mind.

So let us do the practice together now. Continue with the slow, conscious breathing. Now bring your attention to the heart-centre and focus your attention on the flame, as described. (Five minutes)

Meditation on a Text

OM I ABIDE IN THE INNERMOST HEART OF ALL.
I AM THAT PERFECT CONSCIOUSNESS
WHICH KNOWS NO COMING OR GOING. OM

When we think of ourselves as the body, we are isolated individuals. When we regard ourselves as the mind, the dividing lines between us become less certain, as we are constantly sharing and inter-changing ideas with others. Meditation reveals a deeper and more subtle level of experience which is one in all and knows no limit or boundary. This is the foundation of experience, the truth of what is, the recognition of the oneness of our innermost Self as the Self of all. This is what is meant by the first sentence of our meditation text: ‘I abide in the innermost heart of all.’

The second sentence points to the immortal, eternal nature of this dimension of our being. ‘I am that perfect consciousness which knows no coming or going.’ It also indicates the all-pervasiveness of the ultimate consciousness, where no change or movement, ‘no coming or going’, is possible because of its fullness.

Slowly and calmly repeat the text, or a part of it, to yourself, holding the idea in your mind with a view to going deeper into its meaning, remembering that it indicates your own higher nature.
(Seven minutes)

Closing Practice
The natural expression of the great truth that there is one underlying reality in all beings, is to wish the best for all.

And so we end our meditation session by sitting for a minute or two sending out thoughts of peace and goodwill to all, without exception.