Meditation The Greatest Gift You Can Ever Give Yourself
The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well. (Sogyal Rinpoche)
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Meditation is most necessary, for only by meditation will all things come of their own accord. (Sant Kirpal Singh) ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm
Meditation is a mental/spiritual technique for relaxing the restlessness of the mind and freeing it from anxiety and stress. In its higher forms, it aims for the attaining of peace of mind, inner silence and spiritual awakening. (Remez Sasson)
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We are sick with fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas. Meditation is therefore the art of suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin. (Alan Watts)
Despite the materialism of our modern century and the infernal noise of its mechanical, industrial, nuclear, and military power, there still exist a few representatives of that superior type of humanity who in silence inquire, meditate, and pray. (Khaled Bentounes)
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Meditation is the expression of your true nature; it is the activity which appeases your inmost desire. (Suzuki Roshi)
All meditation systems either aim for One or Zero – union with God or emptiness. The path to the One is through concentration on Him, to the Zero is insight into the voidness of one’s mind. (Joseph Goldstein)
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Recent studies in the field of science are confirming that meditation can improve our physical and mental well-being. Besides having a positive effect on our body and mind, it also helps us develop spiritually. Thus, meditation can help us in the physical, mental, and spiritual spheres of our lives. (Sant Rajinder Singh)
As meditation deepens, compulsions, cravings and fits of emotion begin to lose their power to dictate our behavior. (Eknath Easwaran)
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In the center behind and above the eyes there is an aperture; on this side of it is the material world, in which we are living now; and on the other side is the astral world. (Baba Sawan Singh) The Dawn of Light, 178
Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj
Meditation is the process by which we withdraw our attention from the world outside and our body and concentrate it at a point between and behind the two eyebrows. By focusing our attention there, we come in contact with a current of Light and Sound which will lead us from our physical consciousness into higher consciousness, into the Beyond. (Sant Rajinder Singh)
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When the third eye opens, you see the Light of God within you. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/single-eye.htm)
Just behind the darkness of closed eyes shines the Light of God. When you behold that Light in meditation, hold onto it with devotional zeal. Feel yourself inside it: That is where God dwells. If, on the other hand, you behold no Light in meditation, then concentrate at the point between the eyebrows, and gaze deeply into the darkness that you see with closed eyes. Try, by your devotion, to penetrate that thick veil. In time you will surely behold the Inner Light, for it is ever there, shining in your forehead. Just as all human beings have eyes, so does everyone have this spiritual eye within his forehead. It awaits only his discovery in deep concentration within. (Yogananda)
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One who beholds the inner Light may be grateful for several reasons. First, it is the only occult experience of which it may be said that it is entirely without risk or peril.
Second, it is the loftiest of all clairvoyant visions.
Third, it confers the feeling of perfect felicity, not in the worldly sense, but of an ethereal unearthly kind.
Fourth, it is a direct manifestation of God to man, being the first of His outpourings, hence an uncommon blessing, a grace.
Fifth, if it appears in consciousness as Power, the recipient may feel a tremendous force, unknown otherwise, throbbing all around and within him, or a sudden lightening-like flash of complete comprehension: he understands what neither bodily sense nor intellectual faculty can understand – the supernatural meaning of Spirit, of eternity, of transfiguration, and of reality. (Paul Brunton)
I went round the streets and squares of the cities of this world seeking Thee, and I found Thee not, because in vain I sought without for Him who was within myself. (Saint Augustine)
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If, therefore, thine eye be “single” thy whole body shall be full of Light. (Jesus Christ)
The Kingdom of Heaven is within. (Jesus Christ)
Ask, and it shall be given to you; Seek, and you shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened to you. (Jesus Christ)
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It is an excellent time for meditative practices. Turning within and being aware of the inner Light is a stabilizing force. When we experience our own inner Light, it radiates outward to the whole world. Turning within toward the inner Light projects an uplifting energy to those around us. And now is a time when the world needs Light the most. (D.R. Butler)
Now the question comes: How to open that eye with which He can be seen? He says, when you close your eyes, there is darkness. Look penetratingly into it; put your whole attention into it. That is knocking on the door, you see, and it shall be opened. You continue to look directly into that and you will find Light. Who will see that Light? Your very Self. Tulsi says, “How to penetrate this darkness? Sit at the feet of a Master - He gives you a boost, you see Light." Is it not wonderful? Is it not a miracle? What more miracle is required? (Sant Kirpal Singh)
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This self-originated Clear Light, which from the very beginning was never born, is without any parents. This Clear Light has not been created by anyone, has never experienced birth and has nothing in it that could cause it to die. Although it is evidently visible, yet there be few who see it. Although it exists in everyone everywhere, it has gone unrecognized. And yet you go on hoping to attain some other fruit than this Clear Light elsewhere. Even though it is the thing that is most essentially yours, you seek for it elsewhere – how amazing! (Tibetan Buddhism)
If you were able to go inward right now and waken your sleeping Buddha, what would you find? Tibetan Buddhism says that at the heart of you, me, every single person, and all other creatures great and small, is an Inner Radiance that reflects our essential nature, which is always utterly positive. Tibetans refer to this Inner Light as Pure Radiance or Innate Luminosity; in fact, they call it Ground Luminosity because it is the “bottom line.” There is nothing after this, nothing before this. This luminosity is birthless and deathless. It is a luminescent emptiness, called “Clear Light,” and it is endowed with the heart of unconditional compassion and love. (Lama Surya Das)
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The point is that you are seeing something beyond nature, beyond the existential, beyond the psychic, beyond even cosmic identity. You are starting to see the hidden or esoteric dimension, the dimension that transcends nature. You see the Light, and sometimes this Light literally shines like the light of a thousand suns. It overwhelms you, empowers you, energizes you, remakes you, drenches you. This is what scholars have called the "numinous" nature of subtle spirit. Numinous and luminous. That is, no doubt, why saints are universally depicted with halos of light around their heads. That is actually what they see - Divine Light. (Ken Wilber)
Human industry must be joined to grace if the spiritual eye is to be opened. So long as the eye which looks upon time fills itself with things and usurps the conscious field, that spiritual eye which looks upon eternity can hardly act at all: and this eye must not only be opened, it must be trained, so that it may endure to gaze steadfastly at the Uncreated Light. (Evelyn Underhill)
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The experience of divine Light is no hallucination but an actuality, an entirely real one, even a thrilling one. If the Light is not resisted, by timidity, ignorance, or egoism, it will work upon the entire human being, radically transforming his outlook, life, and consciousness. (Paul Brunton)
And so it came…It tiptoed itself into my heart, silently, imperceptibly, and I looked at it with wonder. It was a still, small Light, trembling softly. It had the infinite sweetness of a first love, like an offering of fragrant flowers with gentle hands, the heart full of stillness and wonder and peace. (Irina Tweedie)
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Generally, the seeing of Light during meditation is a favorable sign of present experience or good omen of future experience. It indicates that meditation in depth is being attained, or will be later. The Light may seem spread out in space or as a thin ray alone. It may appear as a tiny black-centered sun or as a large round ball. There are still other forms--such as lightning and stars. Generally, too, there will be a living dynamic quality in it, a movement, a winking, and a fiery flickering.
This Light is the penultimate experience on the mystic's way. He finds himself totally lost indeed but lost in the most dazzling Light. The ego seems to have vanished: infinity and universality of being have replaced it. Ecstatic rapture fills him. Is it any wonder that the Greek Orthodox Church mystics of the first few centuries believed this was the ultimate experience of pure Spirit, the final union with God? Yet it may not last, cannot last, must come to an end. It may have held him for one or two minutes only or it may have done so for a longer period. It may never recur again in his whole lifetime--this is so in most cases--or it may come several times more. But it stands as a landmark until the end of his years.
Where the Greek Orthodox Church regards the Light experience as the highest point reachable by man, the Indian Philosophic Teaching regards it as the last stage before the highest. For anything which is "seen" implies the existence of a "seer" as separate from it. This is not less so even in the case of the Holy Light. Not seeing but be-ing is the final experience according to this Teaching. "You have to go beyond seeing and find out who is the `I' who experiences this Light," said Ramana Maharshi to a disciple. (Paul Brunton)
No man who has lived through a temporary spiritual experience is ever likely to forget it. His days will be haunted until he sets out to seek ways and means of repeating it. (Paul Brunton)
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To have one eye glued on the enchanting pleasures of the flesh and with the other expect to see a spark of Eternal Bliss is not only impossible but the height of hypocrisy. (Meher Baba)
Overcoming and giving up outward tendencies, stilling the mind and dying while alive is not easy. The inner gate opens only when the outer gates are closed. There is no other way to get in. People wish to continue to run out through the outer gates and also wish to get into the inner. This is impossible. Two things cannot happen at the same time. One is to be given up to achieve the other. (Baba Sawan Singh)
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In my travels I spent time with a great yogi. Once he said to me, “Become so still you hear the blood flowing through your veins.” One night as I sat in quiet, I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast I know it is the source of all of us. (Mirabai)
I am blind and do not see the things of this world; but when the Light comes from above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees everything; and through this Vision I can help my people. The heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things, and through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be seen. (Black Elk)
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This is the only way to explain existence, to overcome sadness and grievances, to banish death and misery, to find the right path, to realize Nirvana - it is correct meditation. (Buddha)
The attainment of the one-pointedness of the mind and the senses is the best of austerities. It is superior to all religious duties. (Sankaracharya)
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If the mind can get quiet enough, something sacred will be revealed. (Helen Tworkov)
When you meditate, the silence of the senses illumines the presence of God within. (Gurumayi Chidvilasananda)
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After half a century in psychiatric practice, I know without a doubt that the source of addiction is spiritual deficiency. Irrespective of whether we are religious or atheist, all human beings are spiritual by nature and spirituality is the cornerstone of our recovery. (Dr. Abraham Twerski)
Among all my patients in the second half of life there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. (Carl Jung)
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In God alone is there primordial and true delight, and in all our delights it is this delight that we are seeking. (Saint Bonaventure)
To know the sweetness of the Infinite within us, that is the cause, the reason, the purpose, the only purpose of our being. (Nicholas of Cusa)
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Regular meditation opens the avenues of intuitional knowledge, makes the mind calm and steady, awakens an ecstatic feeling, and brings the practitioner in contact with the source of his/her very being. (Swami Sivananda)
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
When you realize the unborn, uncreated, unconditioned, you are liberated from everything born, created, and conditioned. (Buddha)
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Between God and spirit, there is no other obstacle but that of a veil of the mind. If this veil were to stop fluttering in the breeze of desires, as it does at present, the spirit can take in directly the Cosmic Energy from its very source. (Sant Kirpal Singh)
When the time arrives for you to leave this life for another life, if you wish to go to a beautiful and soulful world, then you will need a valid passport, and that passport is your meditation here on earth. (Sri Chinmoy)
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If you really want to rid yourself of present bad habits you have no greater recourse than meditation. Every time you meditate deeply on God, beneficial changes take place in the patterns of your brain. (Yogananda)
When you come in contact with Light and Sound Power within, you have not to adopt any virtues, but everything, all virtues, will come within you of themselves. (Sant Kirpal Singh)
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Learn to penetrate within yourself, your deeper, almost unknown self. It will need patience to return day after day; not stopping until the truth is reached, the peace is felt, the blessing descends. It will need perseverance until the source of the strength is found. Thereafter it will take you over: this is grace. But remember - with each return from the day's efforts you will be confronted by the world again, by its harsh reality yet glorious beauty, its stark conflicts yet benign interludes. So know this world in which you have to live, its petty minds and noble souls. Learn from both. And when you have seen enough of the world's surface, ask for its tremendous secret. (Paul Brunton)
Each man has a private door opening on to the Eternal Brightness. If he will not press and push it open, his darkness is self-doomed. (Paul Brunton)
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Pure Meditation Practice Shunryu Suzuki
In Hinayana Buddhism, practice is classified in four ways.
The best way is just to do it without having any joy in it, not even spiritual joy. This way is just to do it, forgetting your physical and mental feeling, forgetting all about yourself in your practice. This is the fourth stage, or the highest stage.
The next highest stage is to have just physical joy in your practice. At this stage you find some pleasure in practice, and you will practice because of the pleasure you find in it.
In the second stage you have both mental and physical joy, or good feeling. These two middle stages are stages in which you practice meditation because you feel good in your practice.
The first stage is when you have no thinking and no curiosity in your practice.
When you are tired of sitting, or when you are disgusted with your practice, you should recognize this as a warning signal. You become discouraged with your practice when your practice has been idealistic. You have some gaining idea in your practice, and it is not pure enough. It is when your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it.
When we practice meditation we just practice it, And whether we find joy in our practice or not, we just do it.
Repetition, for no special purpose and without end, is the way to follow the cosmic order. The point is not to look for something, but to practice. Continue until you reach your coffin. If you practice every day, after a while you no longer have to think about practicing or decide or want to practice. So repetition is very important. (Suzuki Roshi)
We can say either that we make progress little by little, or that we do not even expect to make progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough. (Suzuki Roshi)
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Meditation: A Portal to a New Dimension Andrew Cohen
One of the many miraculous functions of meditation is that it is a portal to a different dimension.
When you go deeply into the meditative state, your awareness detaches itself from the thought-stream. Then your identification with emotion, memory, time and body begins to fall away. You become aware of something very mysterious.
Imagine that you had been fast asleep in a small dark chamber and then you suddenly awakened to find yourself floating in the infinite depth of a vast, peaceful ocean. You literally become aware of a new dimension, when moments before you had experienced yourself as being trapped, a prisoner of your body, mind and emotions. When you awaken to this new dimension, all sense of confinement disappears. You feel that you have access to the whole universe and also to that which the universe exists within. You're aware of body, mind, time, and space, but there's another dimension that extends in all directions, unlimited by any of it. Meditation is the portal to this dimension, a door to the realization of limitlessness.
Why is this experience significant? Because the infinite context you awaken to is not just a quiet place inside your own head. It's a deeper dimension of reality itself. Life, death and everything in between, reality as a whole -- the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown, all that ever was and ever could be -- is made up of both the manifest and the unmanifest. But most of the time, all we are aware of is the manifest dimension, the domain of time and space and becoming. Meditation will give you the direct, conscious experience of the unmanifest dimension, which is the ground of being itself.
The "ground of being" is empty. It is an objectless, timeless, spaceless, thoughtless void. But everything that exists has come from this no-place, including you and me. Paradoxically, while empty, this no-place is pregnant with infinite, unborn potential. It is the ground we all emerge from, the womb of the entire universe.
When something came from nothing, 14 billion years ago, the nothing didn't disappear. That unmanifest, unborn dimension is the ever-present ground out of which everything is arising in every moment. And meditation allows you to know this ground within your own experience.
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Even in the awareness of the body and the movement of thought, beneath it all, in the state of meditation, you become conscious of a current of stillness that is the echo and the reflection of the ground of being. There is a great mystery there. In the infinite depth of that emptiness, there arises a knowing, a pure knowing itself that seems to answer all our questions and relieve us of all our existential doubts.
Whenever we journey far enough beyond the conditioned mind -- beyond thought, beyond form, beyond time -- we will always discover this same mystery. That is why we meditate, so we can awaken to the instantaneously liberating nature of the ground of being. The more profound is our experience of the ground of being, the more we begin to emanate that mysterious knowing which is enlightened consciousness itself.
If you want to find God, hang out in the space between your thoughts. (Alan Watts)
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Jyoti Meditation Instructions: An Introductory Meditation Technique Sant Rajinder Singh Ji
Jyoti Meditation (light meditation) is an introductory practice used in Science of Spirituality—Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission that anyone of any age can try on your own. The full meditation technique used in Science of Spirituality, which leads to inner experiences of spiritual realms of light within, is called Shabd Meditation or Surat Shabd Yoga as is practiced by people all over the world.
A good analogy to understand the joy of meditation can be found in the reports of those having a near-death experience, or NDE. In such experiences, someone who underwent a physical trauma or accident may have undergone clinical death. As doctors and medical practitioners worked on their body, the patients experienced floating above their body and watching the procedure being done on them. Some floated through walls to witness friends and relatives in other rooms, what they were doing, wearing, or saying, and later, when the patient was revived, what they saw and heard were borne out to be true. At some point, those describing the experience report going through a dark tunnel to emerge in a world of light.
There, they met a being of Light who embraced them with more love than any they ever experienced in their physical life. The joy they felt in this world of light was so tremendous many did not want to return to life. During this time, they no longer felt any pain. The light was bright and intense but not scorching. This experience was so loving it transformed their lives and they realized how important it is to be loving. They returned to their body as it was not their time to die, but they were transformed by the experience. They no longer feared death and knew that there was more to life than their physical body. They knew they could exist beyond this body.
According to a Gallup Poll, over thirteen million people reported this near-death experience. The good news is that people can experience the realms of inner light through mediation without the trauma of a near-death experience. This bliss and love can be ours any time we want through meditation. When we tap into this place of peace and calm, we naturally are beyond the reaches of stress and anger. We are in a place of joy and bliss that lasts with us even when we come out of meditation.
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To get started with the Jyoti Meditation practice, which anyone can try on your own at home or anywhere you like, sit in a comfortable pose, most convenient to you, in which you can sit still for the longest possible time. While meditating, it is not necessary to hold hands or touch anyone else, as any movement brings your attention back down into the body, distracting from concentration at the seat of the soul, also called the third eye, single eye, shiv netra, divya chakshu, ajna or aggya charka, tenth door, or daswan dwar (located between and behind the two eyebrows).
Close your eyes, gently, as you do when we go to sleep, but remain wide awake. Closing your eyes keeps you from being distracted by the outer sights of the physical world. With closed eyes, focus your attention in front of you. Do not put pressure on your eyes. Also, do not raise your eyes upwards towards the direction of the eyebrows as that puts pressure on your eyes and forehead and can result in a headache. Rather, keep your eyes focused gently in front of you and look into the middle of what appears within. Keep gazing horizontally, focusing about eight to ten inches in front of you with closed eyes.
Look lovingly into the middle of what appears in front of you. At first, you may see either darkness or light, sparks of light, pinpoints of light, flashes of light, circles of light, or light of any color, such as red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, violet, white, or golden color. No matter what you see, continue to gaze into the middle of what appears. You may see inner vistas such as an inner sky, clouds, stars, a moon, or a sun.
While gazing into the middle of what appears, you may notice that your mind distracts you with thoughts. You may find that the thoughts distract you from gazing within. You may find that you cannot silence your mind to continue meditating. To help keep your mind from distracting you, you can mentally and silently repeat any Name of God with which you feel comfortable. This repetition should go on mentally, and not aloud, as you continue to gaze. This silent repetition gives the mind something to do so that it does not send thoughts to you that can distract you from meditating. As your attention converges at the third or single eye, you may then see inner lights. These lights are a reflection of the lights of the inner realms. By gazing deeper into the middle of that light, you can tap into the spiritual treasures within and enjoy the profound peace, joy, bliss, and happiness unlike any found in this world. Those who meditate are permeated with a divine love that engulfs and fulfills them. The beauty of meditation is that this joy can remain with you even after you resume your daily activities.
May you find this meditation helpful in improving the health of your body, mind, and soul.
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Tips for Meditation Sant Rajinder Singh
Just as in any new activity we are learning, it takes time to develop the habits and strength needed to grow in our new endeavor. The same is true with the art of meditation. With meditation, we are learning to still our body, shut out the world, and still the mind. These are new exercises, and it takes time to develop new habits.
Here are some tips for your meditation practice.
Try to meditate at the same time each day. Early in the morning after you have rested is best before you begin the day.
Find a spot and sit in the same place every time you meditate. Make this a sacred place, a place of prayer.
Meditate when you are wide-awake and do not meditate on a full stomach as this may cause you to be sleepy.
Set a spiritual atmosphere before meditation by reading from the scriptures, singing a spiritual song, saying a prayer or poem. Try to put yourself in the mood of devotion and longing for God.
Sit with all humility knowing that it is God's will to bless you with divine experiences.
Start with shorter sittings and build to a half hour, an hour, and eventually two or more hours.
Leading an ethical life creates the conditions conducive to meditation. The number one helping factor in developing one's spiritual practices is the guidance of a living, spiritual Master, one who has completed the course of meditation and who is competent to give direction along the way. (www.sos.org)
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There is only one failure in meditation: the failure to meditate faithfully. (Eknath Easwaran)
The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. If, then, you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn’t belong to the soul. (Yogananda)
Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal bliss and supreme joy in the end. (Swami Sivananda)
Meditation is an effort in the beginning. Later on it becomes habitual and gives bliss, joy and peace. (Swami Sivananda)
In the Buddha's life story we see the three stages of practice: Morality comes first, then concentrated meditation, and then wisdom. And we see that the Path takes time. (Dalai Lama)
The first stage is a bit difficult, for it is crossed with struggle. The journey beyond is pleasant. The karma and the struggle are interdependent. When the karmic debt becomes light, the progress will be rapid. (Baba Sawan Singh)
Don’t feel badly if you find yourself too restless to meditate deeply. Calmness will come in time, if you practice regularly. Just never accept the thought that meditation is not for you. Remember, calmness is your eternal, true nature. (Yogananda)
All the instances known to history show that no one has ever progressed to the highest conscious self-awareness without the help of a Master. It is rather a Fundamental Law that no one can snap or pierce through the inner veil without the active help and guidance of a Master-Soul. If anybody can do it by himself or herself, let him or her try and see if he or she can do it. When one does not hesitate in learning a thing which one does not know in this world, why should one have any qualms in one’s search for something that belongs entirely to spiritual worlds within? Even if as a result of some reactions of past lives, one may have some experience of his own, he will still require someone to guide him to further progress on the Path. (Sant Kirpal Singh)
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