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Question & Answers on Meditation

questoes e perguntas sobre meditação

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André Amorim
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86 views5 pages

Question & Answers on Meditation

questoes e perguntas sobre meditação

Uploaded by

André Amorim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why has Meditation become so Widely Accepted?

1. It reduces stress and promotes good health. Growing numbers of doctors and
scientists recognize the beneficial physiological effects of meditation, especially
in relation to stress relief and relaxation. Extensive mainstream research and
documentation substantiates the significant health benefits of meditation. Even
Kaiser Permanente health insurance offers meditation to their clients.

2. It is practical and something we can do alone, unlike going to church or


therapy.

3. Meditation now receives widespread media coverage. Sports trainers and


health care professionals openly advocate meditation; editors and advertisers
portray meditation as a normal part of everyday life.

4. Popular culture now includes meditation. Although first developed in India


7000 years ago and introduced to ancient Greece nearly 3,000 years ago, a
large part of this contemplative knowledge was lost over time. Five centuries
ago, European intellectuals explored Asian mystical philosophies, with roots in
meditation, as a by-product of the vast world wide exploration of the time. The
20th century emerged with a re-introduction to meditation. But it took the
revolution in thinking of the 1960s generation—and events like the Beatles
learning meditation— to create widespread public awareness of the practice. As
the ‘flower power’ generation enters middle age, many of their youthful values
gain broad-based acceptance. ‘Normal’ for many people now means: to question
religious dogma, act out of concern for the environment or use natural
therapies to heal ourselves.

5. In recent years we have gained access to vast reservoirs of knowledge from a


world of cultures. We choose from the best of an array of traditions. When
asked why I choose a spiritual practice originating from a foreign culture, I
reply that just because something originates in another country does not mean
it is unsuitable. No one believes that computers, first developed in America, are
not useful everywhere. Meditation originated in India, has millennia of
acceptance in Asia, but people from all backgrounds directly experience its
benefits.

6. Meditation is a straightforward way to explore our own, personal spirituality.


While institutionalized religion has recently disillusioned many people,
meditation offers us a method to enter our own inner world to pursue a direct
spiritual experience.

Meditation is a Practice
Although we hear the praises of meditation in a hundred languages, it is
surprising how few people actually meditate. Many people think meditation is a
good thing, and tell themselves (or me) that they intend to ‘try it one day.’
People tell me that they believe in meditation but they don’t actually do it. This
is like saying ‘I believe in swimming’ without ever taking the first stroke. We
cannot experience the benefits of meditation by reading about it, hearing about
it, or philosophizing, or listening to music by some rock star who used to
meditate, any more than we can learn to swim from a book. A swimmer has to
jump in and get wet. If we want to understand meditation, we have to practice.
Although reading about meditation is no substitute for practicing, it is
important to understand the basics of meditation and its purpose. In spite of the
great amount of information available, there is still some confusion!

Today a common reason to practice meditation is relief from stress. But


relaxation is not the main purpose of meditation—it is just a wonderful side
effect. This book focuses on what the Sages of old felt to be the main purpose of
meditation: discovery of one’s ‘Inner Self.’ These Sages developed methods of
meditation at a time when relaxation and stress management were not the
primary concerns of humankind. Meditation has its roots in the knowledge
propagated by Sages living in ancient India. It evolved as a response to the
human yearning to know the Inner Self—to know the mystical spiritual world,
which we may sometimes glimpse but seldom truly grasp. Far more than just a
therapy, it can bring spiritual fulfilment to a level beyond ordinary
understanding. Who can comprehend the Enlightenment of the Buddha, or the
ecstasy of the saints and Yogis? These experiences take us far beyond ordinary
thinking…yet merely by virtue of being human we all possess the potential to
attain ever-higher spiritual states.

People tend to shy away from actively pursuing enlightenment for themselves.
After all, it looks like a lot of work and it appears to be awfully difficult to
actually attain enlightenment—or to even understand what that means. In the
past, most people instead elected to worship those illuminated saints and yogis,
but not to practice meditation themselves.

Yet those who choose to walk the path of Self-Realization discover an inner
world of love, bliss and wisdom beyond imagining. How much better to radiate
love rather than merely reflect it!

Meditation Leads to Self Knowledge

When I was in Nepal in 1979 undergoing my training as a meditation teacher,


we sat for meditation six hours each day. My mind became so clear and my
concentration so sharp that I found that I could easily discern the inner
meaning of difficult philosophy books. It was as if I already knew the
information intuitively. If we want to understand spiritual concepts, it is best to
first practice meditation to develop our intuition rather than just studying
intellectual ideas. If we first understand ourselves through meditation, we will
more easily understand everything else.

“If you want to know all, know One, and that One is your own Inner ‘I.’”

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Spiritual understanding is not an intellectual process. It comes from inner


knowledge and self-realization. Some saints—such as Sri Ramakrishna—were
illiterate, yet they developed a deeper understanding of the ultimate truth than
the greatest intellectuals or scholars. That is why this book is not about
philosophy, health or relaxation. It is purely about meditation practice—the key
to higher awareness.
This article explains how meditation works, and how to practice it. We begin by
addressing a few commonly asked questions.

So what exactly is meditation?

Meditation has been defined as a kind of concentrated thinking, but this does
not mean just any kind of concentrated thinking. Concentrating on a pet rock or
ice cream is not meditation. Meditation is the process of concentrating the mind
on the source of consciousness within us. Gradually this leads us to discover the
infinity of our own consciousness. This is why the goal of meditation is often
described as ‘Self-Realization.’

What is spirituality?

“Spirituality is that which concerns Infinite Consciousness.”

Let me make it clear that ‘spirituality’ should not be confused with


‘spiritualism,’ which involves itself with mediums, psychics or communicating
with the dead. Spirituality concerns Infinite Consciousness—the same Ultimate
Truth as realized by the great spiritual teachers throughout history, such as
Buddha, Jesus and Krishna. Spiritual philosophy espouses that the goal of life is
to merge the individual mind into Infinite Consciousness; the way to attain this
is through the practice of spiritual meditation.

What is Self Realization?

The goal of meditation is to realize who we really are at the core of our being.
Yoga philosophy describes two distinct levels to our inner self: mental (which
includes emotional) and spiritual.

The mental self is sometimes called the individual mind. It is limited because it
is strongly associated with our limited physical body and is the cause of the
feeling ‘I am this individual person. This is our ego speaking.

Yet our sense of self-awareness comes from our connection to a more universal,
subtle form of consciousness. Yogic philosophy describes a reflection of an
infinite, all-knowing form of consciousness within our minds. This Infinite
Consciousness is unchanging and eternal; it is at the core of our true spiritual
‘Self.’

Identification with the small, ego-centered self is called Relative Reality,


because that ‘small self’ is prone to change and death. When we realize the
subtler, permanent reality behind the Relative one and we see that our true
nature is pure unlimited Consciousness, this is known as Self Realization.

What is the difference between Meditation and Yoga?

A common understanding of Yoga is as a series of physical exercises that


stretch and tie our bodies into impossible knots. But these physical postures are
only one aspect of yoga, known as ‘Asanas.’ The physical postures of yoga are
practiced for their health benefits and because they help to prepare the body for
meditation. Yoga is both a philosophy of life and a system of spiritual practice.
The word ‘yoga’ actually means union between the individual self and Infinite
Consciousness. Meditation is the most important practice in the yoga system
and is the means by which this merger or union is achieved. So yoga is a system
or science that enables an individual to develop themselves physically, mentally
and spiritually. Meditation is the practice that makes the mental and spiritual
development possible.

I’ve tried meditation but I can’t stop thinking. Am I doing it wrong?

The idea that you have to stop thinking in order to meditate is misleading. It is
true that in the highest spiritual states normal thinking modes are suspended,
but for most people this is a long way off. And, the way to achieve this state is
not by trying to stop thought.

You can meditate quite successfully by developing your concentration through


regular practice. Do not try to think of ‘nothing’ or try to stop the thought
process. This will only frustrate you. The mind needs something to focus on.
This is where the Mantra comes in. Just focus on mentally repeating your
Mantra. When other thoughts or feelings distract you, as soon as you become
aware of that, simply direct your attention back to the Mantra. Then if your
mind wanders again, as soon as you notice that, just direct your attention back
to the Mantra again. It’s a bit like training a dog: it takes repetition and
patience.

Is meditation a science?

Science (from Latin scientia – knowledge) is most commonly defined as the


investigation or study of nature through observation and reasoning, aimed at
finding out the truth. The term science also refers to the organized body of
knowledge humans have gained by such research.

Since the Yogic approach to spirituality uses both observation and reasoning to
get at the inner truth, and there is an extensive body of knowledge associated
with the tradition of Yoga, it can technically be referred to as a science, though
some prefer the term ‘rational spirituality.’

Meditation has also been described as ‘Intuitional Science.’ Extensive


laboratory tests demonstrate the physiological effects of meditation, but this
only shows us its physically measurable effects. Even a recording of a person’s
brainwave patterns is just a measurement of physical electrical waves. It does
not tell us exactly what they are thinking or feeling. The only real laboratory for
testing meditation is the mind itself, and the results need to be experienced
personally. ‘Tantra’ is another name for this science, the discipline of spiritual
meditation, which enables the practitioner to merge his or her individual mind
into Infinite Consciousness.

Can Spirituality reconcile with Scientific Rationality?

The central idea of spirituality—that Infinite Consciousness is the ultimate


reality—is common to most Asian and some Occidental forms of mysticism. It is
not so remarkable that this idea is widely accepted by mystics and philosophers.
And in the last century many scientists delineated parallels between quantum
theory and the mystical view of reality as described in the ancient texts of
Taoism, Buddhism and Yoga.

Albert Einstein and virtually all his contemporaries including Niels Bohr, Erwin
Schrodinger and Max Planck (in fact most of the pioneers of modern physics)
testified to a belief in mysticism. When Werner Heisenberg, discoverer of the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, went to India and met with Rabindranath
Tagore, the Nobel prize winning poet and great Yogi, he was enormously
relieved to find someone who didn’t think his ideas were crazy. The ancient
yoga philosophy seemed to be saying much the same thing about Reality as the
emerging Quantum Theory. This topic, though fascinating and the subject of
much discourse, particularly since the 1960s, is beyond the scope of this book.
If you want to learn more about this subject I recommend two books: The Tao of
Physics by Fritjov Capra, and The Unity Principle by Steven Richheimer.

What is Spiritual Meditation?

In spiritual meditation our mind is directed towards a spiritual idea. The


simplest way to conceptualize this is to think of infinite love, peace and
happiness—or of an entity that embodies this. We may call it God but the name
is not important. What is important is to remember that this Infinite Love is
within us, surrounding us and always with us.

Spiritual meditation is concentration on a spiritual idea, one associated with


Infinite Consciousness,the source of our awareness. As we contemplate this vast
and beautiful idea, our mind gradually transforms into pure consciousness that
has no boundary.

Spiritual meditation: the effort to merge our sense of ‘I’ into Infinite
Consciousness.

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