Our daily spiritual practice routine, as helpful as it is, represents only a portion of the time we have to live our lives well. How we live every waking moment is just as important as the time and attention we give to our interludes of subjective contemplation. It is in the arena of everyday circumstances and relationships that we are provided ample opportunity to demonstrate what we know and prove to ourselves the depth and clarity of our understanding. If we are not living well—that is, freely and productively—we are not growing spiritually. How we experience life is in direct relationship to our inner condition: to our psychological health and maturity and our understanding of the purpose for living, and what we are willing to do to live our lives successfully.
Therefore, we should not become addicted to our spiritual practice routines or be inclined to indulge ourselves in inner work to the extent that we deny ourselves the privilege (and duty, even) of participating in meaningful activities and relationships. Scheduled sessions of subjective contemplation should be balanced with worthwhile activities. In this way do we fulfill ourselves and the purposes of life itself.
CHAPTER TWO
Experiencing the Natural Process:
How to Meditate Effectively
A most useful approach to meditation practice is to consider it the most important activity of each day. Schedule it as you would an extremely important appointment, and unfailingly keep your appointment with the Infinite.
Our lives are meant to be lived effectively and successfully. For this, we need to be alert and functional. Regular, correct practice of meditation can contribute to our overall wellness and enhance our abilities to be knowledgeably and skillfully functional. The most useful result of right meditation practice is that of enabling us to be spiritually aware and conscious of the fact that we are ever anchored in the Infinite Life.
Schedule your practice session at a time when you can give your total attention to the process. Early morning, before starting the day’s activities, is an ideal time. If this is not possible, choose a time that is best for you and adhere to it. Some meditators enjoy their practice twice a day: early in the morning after restful sleep, and in late afternoon or early evening. Dedicated practice at least once a day is recommended.
Although not absolutely necessary, it can be helpful to have a private place set aside as your personal meditation sanctuary to be used only for that purpose. Whenever you go there, you will be inclined to avoid thoughts about secular matters and give your attention completely to meditation practice and God-communion.
The routine is easy. Adhere to it without complicating the process and let results unfold naturally. The progressive stages of practice should be clearly understood. They are:
•
Sitting
– The ideal meditation posture is comfortable and pleasant. Sit upright, with attention gently flowing upward to the area between the eyebrows (the spiritual eye center) and the higher brain. This will begin the inward turning process. Be content. Accept the fact that, for the duration of practice, there is nothing more important than what you are presently doing.
•
Beginning
– How you start your practice will be determined by your psychological disposition and your knowledge of the meditation process. You may begin with prayer, to awaken to a sense of attunement with God. However God is real to you, whether as an omnipresent Being, Universal Intelligence, or a Benevolent Presence, pray to God. All soul-impelled prayers go the Source regardless of our concepts or ideas about God. With awakened spiritual consciousness, your understanding of God and your real relationship with God will improve until you actually know and experience God as God really is. Or you may begin with a preferred meditation technique. Proceed however you feel inclined, until you experience physical relaxation and mental calm. At this stage, the body’s vital forces are more harmonized and mental and emotional distractions are minimal.
•
Internalization of Attention
– As practice progresses, attention withdraws from externals (from environmental circumstances, and from physical, mental, and emotional conditions). Withdrawn from contact with distracting influences, attention can now be easily directed to the purpose of meditation practice.
•
Concentration
– Perfect concentration is an undisturbed flow of attention to the point of focus.
•
Pure Meditation
– Continuous, uninterrupted flowing of attention to the object being contemplated is pure meditation.
•
The Peak Experience
– When awareness is partially or completely removed from identification with mental processes and transformations, superconsciousness is experienced. Degrees of superconsciousness are determined by whether mental and emotional influences are mixed with superconscious awareness or if restrictions and distractions are absent.
Superconsciousness is natural to the soul. At our innermost level of being, superconsciousness is constant. This is why it can be acknowledged that, at the soul level, everyone is already free. The reason many souls do not know they are free is because their attention is identified with mental processes and objective circumstances to the extent that they have temporarily forgotten their real, inner nature. Meditation is helpful because it enables us to have awareness restored to wholeness. When we are not established in awareness of pure consciousness, we tend to look outward for a relationship or for support of some kind. When we are consciously established in pure consciousness, we are soul-content and always peaceful. We can then relate to our feelings and thoughts, and to people and circumstances, more appropriately.
Everyone experiences a degree of soul contentment during deep, dreamless sleep. This is the unconscious way to be open to the restorative influences of the soul. Meditation practice is the conscious way to be responsive to enlivening, spiritual influences. Repeated superconscious episodes eventually purify the mental field, resulting in mental illumination and the removal of all delusions and illusions.
A few beginning meditators discover that they can meditate without having to use a planned procedure or a specific meditation technique. They simply sit, turn within, open themselves to the possibility of experiencing spontaneous adjustments of states of consciousness, and flow along with the process. However, most beginning meditators do not experience spontaneous awakenings. Because of habit, their awareness tends to remain involved with physical sensations, emotional states, and thought processes. For them, an intentional approach supported by knowledgeable practice of a meditation technique, is helpful. Successful use of a time-tested meditation technique—such as prayer, mantra, contemplation of inner light and/or sound—will enable them to remove attention from sources of distraction and bring them to the stage where spontaneous meditation can occur.
Prayer is a direct approach to meditation. One need only pray from the heart (from the soul) for attunement with God and for spiritual awakening. Prayer can continue until it is no longer necessary. Meditation will then spontaneously unfold as impelled by the soul’s innate urge to have awareness restored to wholeness.
If you want to use another meditation technique, mantra practice is one of the easiest and most beneficial. The Sanskrit word
mantra
is from
manas
(mind or thinking principle) and
tra
(that which protects and takes beyond). Internal listening to a mantra, a chosen word, word-phrase or a subtle sound, keeps attention focused, thus “protecting” it from being unduly influenced by feelings, moods, or thoughts, “taking it beyond” clouded or confused mental states to clear, superconscious levels. In the following chapter, several mantras are described, along with explanations for their use.
If you are a new meditator, plan to sit for at least 20 minutes, to allow time to experience deep relaxation, settling of emotions and thoughts, and to rest in the tranquil silence. If you are a more experienced meditator, after resting in the silence, proceed to more intentional contemplation. Short meditations of 20 to 30 minutes are ideal for inner refreshment and centering. Longer meditations provide opportunities for more profound exploration of refined states of consciousness and for the unfoldment of spiritual qualities and insightful perceptions. Use this routine on a regular schedule for superior results:
•
Sit to Meditate
– Sit upright, poised and relaxed, with an attitude of alert expectancy. Let your awareness be in the spinal pathway. Withdraw attention from externals, then from the physical senses, turning it upward to the spiritual eye and higher brain.
•
Be Open to the Infinite
-– Open your mind and your heart (innermost being, soul) to the Omnipresent Life, to God—as God is known, or as God is mentally pictured by you. Have an attitude of reverence and devotion.
•
Proceed
-– If you pray, do so now. If meditation occurs spontaneously, flow with it. If a specific technique (a mantra or any technique you know) will be helpful, use it until you no longer need it, then flow into meditation.
•
Rest in the Peak Experience
-– When you awaken to a satisfying level of mental calm, tranquility, and clear awareness, here rest. Remain alert to this experience for as long as it persists. This is the beneficial phase of meditation practice, during which superconscious influences are introduced to the mental field, nervous system, and physiology.
If you are satisfied at this level, when you feel inclined to conclude your practice session, do so. If you want to more intentionally contemplate subtle and refined levels of consciousness or higher realities, do so until you feel inclined to conclude the session.
At the conclusion of your practice session you may remain seated for a few minutes for the purpose of doing some intentional inner work: letting awareness of superconsciousness blend more obviously with mental processes and body awareness, then engaging in possibility-thinking, problem-solving, intercessory prayer, or any other useful activity. Or you may merely return attention to matters at hand and resume your normal relationships and activities.
If pausing after meditation for the purpose of doing intentional inner work, here are some guidelines:
•Rest in the aftereffects tranquility of the meditation experience. Feel that your mind is illumined: radiant with soul light. Know that, from now on, only entirely constructive mental attitudes and thoughts will prevail, and that only entirely worthwhile, constructive impulses will determine desires and actions. Feel yourself to be attuned with Cosmic Mind: that your thoughts and desires are blended with Cosmic Mind and you are responsive to life-enhancing impulses flowing into your mind from Cosmic Mind.
Feel that your body is enlivened by superconscious forces, that illumination extends to, and throughout, your body: strengthening the body’s immune system, slowing biologic aging processes, awakening regenerative energies, refining the brain and nervous system, and harmonizing the actions of glands, organs, and systems of the body.
•Feel yourself to be in harmony with the rhythms and flows of the universe. The universe is a series of connected aspects, a continuum. It is self-referring (all of its aspects interact) and self-complete, a wholeness. When you are in accord with its processes, you are included in them and all of your needs are spontaneously provided. You are inspired to right thinking and right action, and events, relationships, and circumstances unfold in entirely supportive ways.
•Acknowledge the innate divinity of every person and wish everyone their highest good, just as you accept your own highest good in all aspects of your life. Wish for all people to be enlightened. Wish for all creatures to be happy and free to fulfill their purposes.
•If you need direction in life, engage in possibility-thinking. Imagine “what can be” and “what you can do” so that your constructive desires can be easily fulfilled and all of your purposes can be actualized or expressed.
•If you are confronting problems, feel confident that every problem has a solution and you can know it. Open your mind to possibilities, see through appearances to desirable outcomes. If a solution does not immediately unfold in your mind and awareness, give the situation to God with absolute faith, then be open to unplanned and uncontrived good fortune. Use your common sense and practical skills to help yourself while knowing that the Power which nurtures the universe, and you, can do anything. There are no unsolvable problems; there are no incurable illnesses; there are no permanent mundane conditions or relationships; and there are no limits to what you, as a spiritual being, can know and accomplish.