 |
| Budda Statue in Bodh Gaya |
Iam a great fan and believer of the practice of yoga to maintain a healthy life. I strongly believe that regular yoga exercises keeps the body flexible and helps to strengthen the spine, which helps guard against backache and every other ache. The kind of yoga our teacher practices is called Hatha Yoga. Hath Yoga is a branch of yoga which emphasizes physical exercise and some pranayama and mental exercise to detach oneself from the immediate.
One week-end at a friend’s place we met a self-styled guru. “हर आदमी परेशान घूमता फिरता हैं।” (Every man wanders around anxious and troubled.) He gave us a very practical definition of Meditation. Our friends like to drive long distance in their car. They drive the car, buy new cars, diesel cars, and drive around the country. Friend says “I can drive for 12 hours and take a class after that. I feel fully refreshed.” The Self-styled guru has an explanation, “that is because while driving you are fully in the ‘now’, concentrating, that is Meditation! Hence you feel fully refreshed and rejuvenated.” Yes, for each of us there is our own sense of Meditation. For me it is yoga exercises, and sewing on a sewing machine. For some it is cooking! Feel happy refreshed and creative as you concentrate on the task at hand. “You are in the NOW.”
Another friend had once suggested the mantra of happiness, “to live in the moment”. The trick is to concentrate on whatever is immediately at hand without worrying about the next moment and the task ahead. Obviously, easier said than done!
The conversation turned to relationships. The self-styled guru introduced us to the concept of a “hurt body”. During interactions there are conflicts among people, which are often based on prior understanding, preconceived notions and earlier experiences. Each of these leaves a “hurt” or “wound” on our mind! This accumulation of hurt leads to each of us living with a “hurt body”. Absolutely!
A similar concept I experienced earlier in a version of Meditation propagated by the Ram Chandra Mission called “Heartfulness Meditation”. I came across a follower of this form of Meditation in Detroit and he recommended another follower in India. This form of Meditation involved what was called “cleansing”. Every day one accumulates stress or a series of “hurts” during the course of interactions. Meditation in the evening for half an hour allows all these hurts/thoughts/incidents to leave your system “through the back door”. “It appears like smoke coming out of the back of the body”. This leaves one “cleansed”. The procedure is to concentrate on a Divine Light illuminating the heart from within. “Thoughts will keep coming into your mind, do not concentrate on any of them, let the thoughts come and go.” Meditation is the capacity to concentrate to the exclusion of all else. This allows you to concentrate on your inner self, it gives peace, peace of mind and happiness. Now, that is the most difficult thing to do, concentrate on the inner self to the exclusion of all else! If that was possible would not we all be superwomen!
In some sense detaching oneself from the immediate surroundings and from the worldly worries even for a short period of time is a form of Meditation. This is much more difficult than yoga. However, the curiosity with regard to Meditation and its healing powers remains. So when a session of Pranic Healing and Meditation was announced we decide to give it a try.
Meditation according to this method should be done under the guidance of a master. Grand Master Choa Kok Sui is said to have developed this form of Meditation called “Meditation of the Twin Hearts”. These are the heart chakra (the emotional heart) and the crown chakra (the spiritual heart), and by concentrating on these one is able to draw tremendous energy to the crown (the top of the head). This form of meditation heals the body and mind. The lady facilitating the Meditation started with some physical exercises to warm up and prepare the body for meditation. A sound track with the voice of the Grand Master guided us through the process. We closed our eyes and concentrated on the heart to draw energy from the heart chakra and then we concentrated on the crown chakra, and finally on a point about a foot above the head where one imagined a bright star emanating light. This was supposed to produce a tremendous amount of divine energy.
 |
| Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya |
The most interesting and unique part of this form of Meditation was that this divine energy was then projected or transferred to mother earth to bless the earth and heal all the people on it. So we projected all the energy we had apparently gathered to an image of mother earth, an imagined little green ball in front of us. The teacher told us that we could bless our own loved ones with the divine energy we had gathered only after we blessed mother earth and all creatures on it! Wow, What an interesting concept of living in harmony. Now if we all had so much of divine energy so easily acquired, and were able to transfer this to the earth and all people on it, would not the world be a better place to live in!! We enjoyed it all the same.
Unni-Verse 
Very interesting description of various 'forms' of meditation. But the inclusion of the picture of the Bodhi tree probably is the most apt. One does not need any meditation to feel the silence and peace when one is under that tree. It is almost surreal. Personally, I still find the focus on one's breath as the most appropriate mechanism to be with the 'immediate' for a spot of time. If one is lucky, the thoughts mingle with the breath and wither away, at least for a few seconds!! Pranayam rocks! Cheers!!
LikeLike
Interesting read. And now with information technology you have online source of mediation like calm (https://www.calm.com/) or headspace (https://www.headspace.com/)…
LikeLike
Wow! “The Internet of Meditation!” Thanks
LikeLike
Nice read. After having tried meditation in a few different forms I would vote for the concept of “stilling the mind” as paramount. I think all the other things we do is to get there, even for a moment. Living and savoring each moment, the now or “mindfulness” is a simple but great tool. As Rakesh put it, other thoughts and worries wither away when we breathe mindfully.
LikeLike