“Meditation
should become part of yourself. Then the mind will gradually get purified and
the formless
Consciousness will become
revealed.
In this way you will understand your true nature.”
“A Visual Journey”,
Nisargadatta Maharaj,
Inner Directions Publishing, Carlsbad,
California, 2003, pg. 99
MEDITATION
1.
The aim of meditation
2.
The approach to meditation
i.
Exploration
ii.
Surrendering
iii.
Meditation technique
3.
The flows of meditation
i.
Purification
ii.
Becoming aware
iii.
Unification
4.
Recommended meditations
5.
Meditations in practice
(practitioner’s experiences)
MEDITATION
Meditation is
a process in which we intentionally instigate and direct our vibrational,
energetic and material (physical) flows. During this process, our mind is a
primary instrument in the function of Consciousness. Through consciously
utilising it we are able to influence the main flows of meditation.
CONSCIOUSNESS –
VIBRATION-ENERGY – MATTER
Practically
speaking, meditation or a meditation technique is based on the following
principles:
- relaxation: stilling of the psycho-physical processes (emotions,
thoughts and the physical body) at least to the level that’s necessary for a
continuous unobstructed flow of meditation (which on the other hand does not
mean the total motionlessness of the body),
- concentration:
directing one’s attention to the objects of meditation (this can be a point on
the wall, “third eye”, another person, etc.) or even better onto the subject of
meditation, the one’s own essence (God, Reality, Absolute, Self, I-AM-ness…),
- visualisation:
when meditating on a certain object, we also visualise it (for example, the dot
on the wall, the “third eye”, another person…), although if the object of
meditation, so to speak, is the subject itself (i.e. “that which sees”), then
there is no visualisation, as our true essence can not be visualised. And
finally,
- activation:
initiating the vibrational-energetic and material flows in oneself or in
another mentally (by means of mental effort), which is meant to bring about a
state that is “free of disturbances” – our natural state.
We spoke in
detail about application of the said principles and meditation techniques in
our previous books and we referred to them as primarily the practical
activities. Here, we will only point out some general principles in one’s
approach to meditation, from which it will be possible to set off on one’s own
path through their practical application and in the way that best reflects
one’s own needs and tendencies. These principles are:
-
The aim of meditation
-
The approach to meditating
-
The flows of meditation and
-
The recommendations for meditating.
1. THE AIM OF MEDITATION
The questions:
-
What is this body?
-
What is this mind?
-
What am I doing here?
-
What is the purpose of life?
-
Who is thinking?...
…
as well as the affirmations:
-
I am this body.
-
I am not born accidentally and I have a task.
-
I am the mind.
-
I am the Consciousness.
-
I am the body, the mind and the Consciousness…
… are all
spontaneous expressions of the urge towards self-realise. They seek and
ultimately find their answer through a process of uncovering the knowledge.
Meditation is
a natural
process, it is something we are born with; it belongs to an essential
aspect of our being – it’s in our nature. Just as innate it is to human beings
to feed, drink, grow, develop and so on, it is as equally innate to us to ask
questions and seek the answers to those questions.
Meditation
(when seen in its wider context as a process of thinking and directing thoughts
and emotions) is a natural process of individualization of Consciousness, or
rather a spontaneous expression of our essence, God (Reality, Absolute, Self,
I-AM-ness) within us – our own I.
In order for
us to find the truth, the easiest
and the only possible way to reach it is through our own experience –
meditation techniques (as a general category) present an age old, tried and
tested method for exactly this purpose.
Meditation
essentially has two goals:
1.
to enable one to reach the
answer to the question: who am I?, or rather – what is my
true identity?
2.
To offer proof as to the validity of the answer received.
Almost every
person throughout history, has at least once if not many times, wandered about
themselves, which clearly indicates that no one really knew/knows who they
were/are. Even if/when an answer would be reached through whichever means and
sources, one could never be totally sure if it is the right answer and so one
would have to return to the original question and so, the search would carry
on. The reason for this is because no one gives enough importance to that,
which is essential in ourselves. Instead, the priority is given to its
manifestations, primarily to the physical body and the mind, by identifying
with them.
Meditation
offers one an opportunity to awaken to and realise one’s own essence and to
“reach” the source of the physical body and the mind, then that of one’s
individual Consciousness and ultimately, the very source of the Infinite
Consciousness.
Still, the
problem of one’s identity and the question of Truth can not be solved in its
entirety through meditation, but it is possible to reach a state (a level)
where meditation is no longer necessary. The realisation that we are neither
these physical bodies with a mind and a consciousness, nor even the Consciousness
itself, extinguishes one’s need for meditation and hallmarks self-realisation
as the state of Being in which one constantly differentiates Reality from
illusion.
Self-realisation,
as the ultimate purpose of meditation, is a state in which we have the knowledge
of being one with God and in which we can only be our own goal and creation.
Therefore, the final certainty (“proof”) that we get is in self-Knowledge
itself, where one finally looses one’s identity: the memory disappears, and
since there is no one to remember – we are our own proof.
The concept
that the path to Him and the goal of reaching Him are found through meditation
is simply an explanation of the mind, a mental construct that has arisen from a
feeling of separateness between man and God. To be free from this idea of
separateness, which incorporates the freeing from attachment to the “false
self” through meditation, and finally to be free from the meditation itself – is the removal of ignorance.
“The death of
false “self” is not an easy task. In comparison, bringing someone back from the
dead is child’s play."
[1]
2. the approach to meditation
Approaches to
meditation can vary to a greater or a lesser degree. These variations are thus
defined according to what each individual approach gives priority to. Generally
speaking, there are three main ones:
-
the path of devotion, or the path of love, is the path of devotion to an
ideal, an example, a person (teacher) and ultimately to God, during which one
develops almost a personal relationship in one’s strife towards this union (for
example the approaches of various religions, bhakti yoga, etc.),
-
the path of knowledge, or the path of wisdom, is the path of putting
various subjects, such as space, time, universe, birth, life, death,
reincarnation, incarnation, eternity, infinity, etc., under intense scrutiny,
thus reaching the insights one needs (for example: the philosophers,
theologians, gyana yogis, etc.),
-
the path of action, or the path of keeping being active (in relation
to the need of the present moment), is the path related to various rituals,
operations, science, selfless service of some sort and so on (good examples
here are tai chi, kabala, scientific research, karma yoga, etc.).
Of course,
none of the approaches above are exclusive onto themselves and each one
contains within it the other two. For example, the path of devotion can not
happen without the right sort of knowledge and the right type of action, nor
can the path of knowledge unfold and flow toward its ultimate destination
without a certain kind of devotion combined with an appropriate sort of action
and likewise, the path of action falls hopelessly short of its goal without the
right knowledge and a type of devotion particular to its needs. At the heart of
all these “paths” is being in the state of flow.
This is why
one’s approach to meditation must incorporate all three: knowledge, love and
action. It can be said that meditation is a compound of two main elements:
-
exploration, and
-
surrender.
2.1. Exploration
Exploration
emerges as a spontaneous expression of an urge to self-realise. It manifests
through questions such as: Who am I?,
Where do I come from?, etc. In essence, it is a matter of exploring oneself
in an attempt to find answers to these questions.
Since one
knows from one’s own experience (with one’s mind) that one simply is – “I am” (we can not deny ourselves), one naturally searches
for the meaning of this fact, who is this “I” or “I am”? We‘ve already
explained earlier that this “I” or “I am” is the very basis of the all-pervading,
total experience that starts with the very moment of conception.
“I” or “I am”
is inseparable from one’s mind – it appears and disappears with it
simultaneously. Since mind has a natural tendency to enrich itself during one’s
life through a continuous generation of experiences (which can be recognised
through multiplication of emotions and thoughts), this leads most people to an
ever-increased identification with their physical bodies and their thoughts and
emotions (i.e. mind itself). This process continues until one’s mind starts
forming a concept of one’s essence as being the same as one’s Consciousness.
This emergence of a “new” concept marks a start of the transformation of one’s
perception of oneself from:
-
merely being a physical form,
to the appearance of the “world of matter” or rather of the coarse world,
-
being one’s mind alone, to the
emergence of the world of vibrations-energies, or rather of the subtle world
that’s based on the emotions and thoughts, and
-
being Consciousness, at which point
nothing definable actually emerges (no “world of Consciousness” as such),
because such a perception is “beyond the mind”, hence it can not be described
with the tools of the mind.
Until one’s
mind becomes firmly directed towards one’s self-realisation and gets fully
established in it, one will continue to be assailed by ideas, processes, images
and words on which one will meditate; this will either lead one’s mind to being
swept away in the wake of thoughts and emotions as they start to appear, or towards
one’s getting sleepy and drowsy. Directing of the mind leads enables one to
acquire the ability to calm one’s mind and to not let it wander. However, until the practitioner becomes proficient in this, as soon as they
start their meditation they will begin to generate various distracting
thoughts, which will distance them from those related to self-realisation
(several similar and connected ones, although it can also be just a single
one). Luckily, in time, one masters this process of channeling and bringing
one’s thoughts down to just a few similar ones, and finally onto just one,
through a continuous practice of meditation. It is necessary to meditate
frequently and regularly as long as that meditative state doesn’t become the
norm and continues uninterrupted throughout the day.
This process
of exploration (or better yet – the self-exploration), as a spontaneous
(natural) process of meditating on the said questions: “Who am I? … Where do I come from? …”, eliminates all the extraneous
contents of the mind and leads to the source. “Who am I?” frees us from a learned idea that keeps us in a
continuous state of oppression – the idea that we are (only) this physical body
and the mind. An inquiry: “Where do I
come from?”, is an addition to the previous meditation and helps the mind
to consciously direct itself and follow through to its very source.
2.2. Surrendering
Surrendering
emerges as a spontaneous manifestation of an urge to self-realise through an
act of trust (faith), in which we surrender to “something” or “someone”.
Surrendering
itself leads towards elimination of the superfluous contents of the mind. At
the same time, it doesn’t mean that emotions and thoughts are absent or
eliminated, but rather the contrary: it is their bringing into one’s awareness,
or better still – their harmonising with one’s Genetic code. Also, surrendering
doesn’t mean a loss of concentration-attention. Instead, it is the very
bringing into one’s awareness a process of ”observing” the creation–duration–cessation of emotions and thoughts. At first
this process of concentration is made with some effort. However, this would in
time completely disappear and instead become effortless. Surrendering will
gradually bring about a state that is free of emotions and thoughts not in harmony with the Genetic code.
Here is a
thing: for us to think there must be a beginning and an end in meditation, or
that in it we shall receive some definitive answers is actually totally
illogical. If we are to discover something about the state “before the beginning”
or “after the end” of oneself in meditation and then expect to be able to
transfer that something is to another person by means of a verbal description
or by some other way of defining it, we’d be making a big mistake – it is
simply not possible. This is because that, which we can find out and which we
refer to as “transferable” knowledge unfolds in time and space, i.e. in the
mind, and as such it represents only the so called – relative knowledge.
When, for
example, we ask ourselves a question who
am I?, the answers we receive are most often relating to the results of our
looking into our past, meaning the learned concepts passed on to us from our
parents and peers, or those we’ve arrived at through our own experiences – I am
this physical body, this mind, this Consciousness, or I am a human being, right
until the concept of I am God (Reality, Absolute, Self, I-AM-ness). Through
surrender the same answers start to arrive again – I am this physical body,
mind, Consciousness and so on, or – I am a human being, etc. All these answers
are certainly not unimportant and as such can represent a process that leads to
the Source of Truth – but only if we remain detached from all mentally
definable knowledge.
In meditation
it’s possible to get all kinds of knowledge and what’s more it can arrive
instantaneously – “here” and “now”. But we must not forget that it is only a
relative knowledge – meaning a knowledge limited by time and space and so
possible to be passed on to others. On the other hand, an absolute knowledge
can not be passed on to anyone else, because “we” are that knowledge, a knowledge that has no
subject (no “I” nor “we”) hence there is no one to pass (it) to anyone else.
Certainly that
along side such enquiry one also needs to have a certain level of
understanding, but this too is not enough. We need to think that we are that Knowledge, or rather God, but
only when even this very thought disappears – only then we truly are It, or
better still – we are in a state we’ve always been in, the God-state. On the
other hand, through surrendering and devotion we merge fully with God. We
finally reach (although we never actually left it in the first place) the
God-state only then, when emotions of love are fully and totally harmonised
with the Genetic code of Consciousness and as such they disappear, just as the
very subject that had originally created them has now also disappeared.
It can be said
that the approach to meditation can be that through questioning and wondering
we realise what is destructive, and so we become able to channel and eliminate
such contents (i.e. the destructive emotions and thoughts). In other words we
become more and more able to recognise what is constructive and to stimulate it
through surrendering. And still, in the end we must relinquish both – the
search and the surrendering, and through spontaneous merging of an individual
and Divine Consciousnesses become one with God.
2.3. Meditation technique
Most of the
meditation techniques are based on a premise that there is the subject that
meditates (i.e. the practitioner) and the given/chosen object of meditation.
The subject of
meditation is an individual, regardless of whether we define him or her as the
Consciousness, mind, or both together. The bottom line is that the subject, whom
we recognise as a particular person existing in time and space, is a
manifestation of God.
The object of
meditation is someone or something on which this subject meditates, or rather directs
their attention to. These can be:
-
Outer, representing all that is
not concerned directly with one’s essence, such as the processes in oneself
(nervous system, immune system, etc.), humanity, universe and so on.
-
Inner, directed at the essence
within and indescribable by the use of words – for the same reason we will have
to settle for “God within”.
At the
beginning phases of one’s practice, when the subject and the object are still
separated, it is ok to use techniques for directing one’s attention towards
external objects as they help to channel one’s energetic-vibrational processes
leading to calming of one’s mind.
However, in
the next phase one must understand that the subject and the object are one and
the same, and that by continuing to meditate on the object, be it a concrete
manifestation or an abstract concept, one perpetuates this experience of
separateness or better still of duality, thus further unsettling the natural
state of Oneness. In this phase one leaves behind the process of meditation
that assumes the separateness between the one who meditates and the object of
one’s meditation.
All that is
needed is to turn the emotions and thoughts towards the inside, towards that
which we are in our essence. The external objects finally disappear (themselves
being no more than the projections of our mind), leaving the observer (witness)
and the observed – to become one.
In fact, the
mind is neither capable of renouncing nor of transforming itself. But when one
searches for the source of mind through asking who am I?, or some other similar question, the mind transforms
spontaneously. Equally, when one meditates through assertions such as “I am God”, “I am Reality”, “I am” and
so on, the mind also transforms spontaneously, through surrendering.
In both cases
(or rather approaches) the state of duality of the “subject-object”
relationship transforms into a state of non-duality trough a meditative
process. More generally speaking, it is in this chasm between the subject and
an object that all the problems of man as an individual lie, and likewise of
the humanity as being but one’s own projection.
The progress
in meditation shows through the disappearance of the emotions, thoughts and
experiences, which disrupt self-realisation (although there is no unit of
measure for this). Progress can, to a degree, be recognised through the
following two characteristics:
-
we increasingly think of those we meet as being the Divine
manifestations,
-
we “see” ourselves in others, and vice versa.
At first these
are simply mental affirmations, only to later become the processes “beyond the
mind” that unfold spontaneously.
The most
efficient form of meditation is when processes in meditation transfer and
continue in the so-called waking state as well as in one’s dreams. Through
self-searching, surrendering and a combination of these, all one’s activities
in meditation will spontaneously follow the process of meditation. Then the
processes in the so-called waking state as well as in dreams will unfold by
themselves until an uninterrupted state of Being is reached – our natural state
in which there is no need for meditation. At first this state surfaces in the
pauses between two emotions, or two thoughts, or two experiences, only to later
become permanent.
It’s necessary
at this point to utter a word of caution: when it comes to the frequent occurrences
of the so-called “ecstatic experiences” (experiencing an appearance of light,
out of body perception, etc.), they represent a very subtle link to the mind
and so one can develop a strong attachment to them. Having said that, if we
manage to steer clear of falling into a trap of developing an appetite for such
experiences, they can prove to be quite useful, as with their help the mind can
be transformed in a relatively short time bringing us in the state of serenity
(the serenity of mind) and a so called awakened dreaming (the mind engaged
through awareness).
[2]
3. The flows of meditation
What we refer
to by “flows of meditation” are the processes that take place inside a
practitioners during meditation, which are:
Purification – becoming aware – unification
The said
processes are not separate, but rather connected into a whole and as such they
unfold simultaneously, in order to ultimately result in a singular process –
the process of maturing of Consciousness.
3.1. Purification
Purification
essentially refers to the purification of the mind. It is because a
purification of the body through fasting, various physical exercises (hatha
yoga asanas and other related postural and movement based systems, breathing
techniques, etc.), fito-therapy and so on, are only supplementary activities if
not followed by the purification of the mind. Even the various notions of
refraining from/giving up certain foods, drinks, sex and so on, are all
worthless if not backed by the “renouncing-channeling” in the mind itself. Renunciation
can only be in relation to “I”, and not in removing the external objects alone.
We often hear
of the importance of the specific positions and movements in meditation (while
performing the religious rituals, practicing certain aspects of yoga, tai
chi…). However, as good as these systems may be, it all this must be done with
a healthy degree of freedom and spontaneity as the very tendency to execute
these positions and movements “as precisely as possible” can actually lead away
from the originally intended meditative purpose – due to “the excessive attachment to the body”. It’s necessary to take up
such a position (or perform a move in such a way) as will make it easiest to
meditate, which means that one is able to sit, walk, etc. Many teachers say
that the best is to be in “the position of the Self (I-Am-ness)”, and yet it is
not possible to actually define it.
for
many people, purification of the mind means its elimination, or more
specifically – elimination of the ego, often identified as smothering of all
desires and eradication of thoughts. We have already mentioned earlier in this
text that we are not in favor of an elimination of mind as such, but instead we
are for its awakening (making aware), which in the end of the process leads to
a spontaneous emission of emotions and thoughts – emotions and thoughts that in
turn remain in harmony with the Genetic code of Consciousness. Besides, the
simplest processes exist when we are addressing God (Reality, Absolute, Self,
I-Am-ness); they in themselves lead to the correct channeling of our emotions
and thoughts.
As God is our
essence, it would seem that we are addressing ourselves – it’s the very process
of turning inward. This should be understood as the concentration-direction
towards the Divine manifestations, and it ends in the process of directing the
emotions and thoughts without concentrating any further on someone or
something. The whole point is in making our mind “busy”, but not to loose
ourselves in its endless labyrinth. Even though it would appear that we are
addressing ourselves, it is actually a channeling of the mind through its
engagement and direction.
The
meditations will be even more effective if the prayers that are used in
meditation are made as simple as possible. For example, a prayer: I pray to God
to show me who am I?, will be more
effective if simply put as: Who am I?, since it does not engage the mind as much. In both cases we are addressing God,
i.e. ourselves, but in the latter the mind is engaged less.
It is very
important that the experiences or reactions that emerge as a result of such an
enquiry do not turn into thinking. Another example would be, if we get an
answer I am God (or I am Reality), just as if we didn’t get
any answer at all, we must guard against the game of mind, which will always
pull towards its own preservation. This game follows the principle of forming
further new questions, such as: why has
this answer come now?, or why hasn’t
any answer come to me yet?, or else they might lead us into thinking about
the answers to the original questions, or even about some particular phenomenon
experienced during a meditation, such as the feeling of weightlessness, of
being outside the physical body or the vision of light, etc.
Therefore, in
order that the process of purification carries on without interruption, it
should be understood that any questions, answers or experiences that may appear
during meditation won’t present an obstacle to the process of purification as
long as we are able to accept them without judgment or attachment, that is if
we don’t think about them. Having any
sort of expectation in our meditation, will result in our attaching to the goal
and so missing the whole purpose of meditation.
“As long as
someone craves liberation, they can be sure to remain in chains.”
[3]
Considering
that during meditation there is a spontaneous influx of emotions, thoughts and
experiences, it is necessary to try some of the following (we could call them
“remedies” against the loss of concentration and of the state of flow):
-
Whenever other thoughts or experiences appear, it would be good to
direct our thoughts towards God (Absolute, Reality, Self, I-AM-ness) trough a
continual repetition of – I am God, I am
Reality, and so on, as in this way the mind will get channeled in the right
direction.
-
We can keep our mind busy through giving it a task to solve – what is mind?, and simply let the
process unfold so that after some time the excess emotions, thoughts and
experiences (perceptions) will get channeled.
-
If we were to direct our attention onto the question – to whom do these emotions, thoughts and
perceptions arise?, the mind will calm spontaneously, on its own.
-
By meditating on only one thought, be it in a form of a question – who am I?, or an affirmation – I am God, I am Reality… over a longer
period. Such a thought will take over and will channel all other, extraneous
thoughts.
-
By directing our attention on our breathing, or more simply on just
observing our breath (regardless of the system used: yoga, tai chi, etc.), which
will reduce the number of thoughts.
-
By visualising (with the eyes shut) the tip of our nose or our “third
eye” from inside-out, which will also lead to the reduction of the number of
thoughts and to their channeling.
It should be
noted that the methods popularly used for increasing the
concentration-attention such as fixing the gaze on the candle flame, a point on
the wall, turning all of one’s attention towards an image (of a saint, guru,
teacher…) or onto a symbol (triangle, square, circle, cross…), while being at
the same time methods of purification, they can only be of use as such in the
beginning and for a limited period only they can give positive results, but no
lasting effect.
As long as
there are questions, answers and experiences, it means that the purification is
still happening, and so one needs to carry on with one’s meditations. A
practitioner should meditate without any intention (a goal) and with all their
attention turned towards the process itself.
3.2. Becoming aware
Through the process
of purification, the mind slowly becomes a constructive factor in meditation,
i.e. an instrument of Consciousness in the function of becoming aware. The mind
doesn’t disappear, but rather it becomes calm, emotions and thoughts appear,
remain a while and disappear, and the individual Consciousness gradually
emerges as the “observer” or the “witness”, and so we realise ourselves as that
“observer/witness”.
In this
process of observing emotions and thoughts, one can sometimes even “hear” the
subtlest of sounds, not belonging to the normal hearing range (for example,
when you cover your ears, you can not hear the sound, but you could pick up the
subtle vibrations that can not be described in words). We should not attempt to
repeat that “sound” willfully, nor should we insist on remembering it, as this
can engage the mind excessively. Other experiences can also take place, such as
an appearance of light, or a perception of colourlessness, none of which should
be given importance to, since they too will eventually simply vanish through
the process of “observation”.
All of the
above we can colourfully sum up as a gradual reduction of light, as if
controlled by a regulator.
Observe your
emotions and thoughts and also observe how you observe them!
A meditation
further unfolds through a so-called experience of emptiness and an experience
of silence. This emptiness connected to silence surfaces at first occasionally,
but then ever more frequently and for longer periods. The process mostly
unfolds in two phases:
- “Emptiness
of mind” is the first step during which the mind acknowledges an
occasional “emptiness” and “silence”, i.e. it notices the absence of any
emotions, thoughts or experiences. It is clear that the very acknowledgement
with the mind is an act of instigation-engagement, which means that the
“emptiness” and the “silence” get broken at moments by the engagement of the
mind.
- “Emptiness
of the emptiness” is the second step that arises spontaneously when the
very notions of “emptiness” and “silence” disappear, or rather when there is no
mental acknowledgement of emotions, thoughts or experiences. These periods of
“emptiness of the emptiness” in time become more frequent and longer lasting,
and they can not be defined with the mind, since the mind is then completely
subdued and registers nothing (it’s in the “neutral” gear). It can be said that
one “has the Consciousness” of that state, but not the memory.
It is not possible to define or measure, in
order that the process of awakening unfolds smoothly, how long and how often
one needs to be in the state of “emptiness of the emptiness”. These periods of
absence of emotions, thoughts and experiences are actually not periods at all,
because in this state time is not a factor. A mere spark of such a state is sufficient
for the process of awakening to ignite and begin its unfoldment.
[4]
One should
bear in mind that the absence of mind does not mean its total “submergence” in
God (Reality, Absolute, Self, I-AM-ness). Even though during deep sleep the
mind does “submerge”, the Life Energy does not. Therefore, to become aware of
emptiness is a step forward in an attempt to overcome this temporary
elimination of the mind, so that once we “come back”, our mind remains (even
for a moment) serene and engaged through awareness.
Every
God-seeker will sooner or later come across the “emptiness”, the “silence”, the
“emptiness of the mind” and the “emptiness of the emptiness”. Usually after
such experiences they make a decision whether they will take the path of:
-
renunciation, heading for some sort of seclusion – a desert, or a monastery…,
spending time in prayer or some other form of meditation, in an attempt to
maintain and prolong the state of “emptiness” and “silence”, which ultimately
means withdrawing from the mundane life, or
-
“the game of life”, in which they take an active role, transmitting
their experiences from meditations to others, primarily through their very
existence, but also through their activities.
Both decisions
are constructive and both lead to the same end – the Truth.
3.3.
Unification
A gradual
entry into a state beyond influence of the mind brings about a unification of
the individual and Infinite Consciousness. The process that started with the
knowledge: “I am not a physical body”, and continued on to the: “I am not my
emotions and thoughts”, finally ends where it had started, in Consciousness –
with the knowledge “I am not Consciousness”. This knowledge includes:
-
the realisation that any experience is possible through Consciousness,
and
-
that everything emerges from and dissolves in Consciousness, or rather
that the process that is unfolding starts off as an individual Consciousness (a
concrete process) somewhere in the Infinite Consciousness (Infinity, Infinite
process, without a beginning or an end), it runs its course in Consciousness
and finally ends there.
In this sense
– Consciousness
is a general factor of manifestation.
Unification
brings about a state of bliss (it can be closely described as “fulfillment”),
which again is only a mental concept aiming to describe something that can not
be described with the tools of mind. Therefore anyone who speaks of bliss, as
being their state-experience, most certainly has no knowledge of what it really
is and hence merely lives in the illusion of bliss, which in such cases is most
commonly paralleled with the calmness of the mind.
The true bliss
assumes a state that is beyond the concepts of conscious and unconscious, in
which there is no subject, and therefore no memory of blissfulness, since there
is no “one” to remember. Bliss is a
state without a subject – a state free from any subjective experience or
knowledge.
In realising
the Divine essence through its individual manifestation, man realises that
there is no individual essence as
such, and through such a loss of individuality man survives in God, in itself
assuming a total absence of individuality.
By realising
that our essence is in fact God, we transcend that very knowledge into
ignorance again (here, the term “blissful ignorance” gets a whole new, or perhaps
its original meaning!) because by dissolving in God we free ourselves form the
constraints of the notion that we are, or have ever been, separate from Him.
Unification is
an illusion, as there is no one to unify with anyone else.
Through
meditation one gradually realises that all processes are merely plays of
Consciousness. Senses, mind, intellect, etc, – they are all games of
Consciousness, and as such all are illusory – and it is this illusion that we
realise through meditation. It is possible to understand mentally various
processes that unfold during meditation, but it is necessary to go further, by
identifying with that which we do understand, and so be one with the processes
of meditation.
“After you
realise that with which you realise all this (the world), turn your mind inward and then you
shall clearly see (i.e. realise) the luminosity of the Self.”
[5]
Through
practicing meditation, all gained knowledge (which can only ever be relative,
as it is of the mind) departs into “ignorance” and that is the final result
that can be reached through meditation.
It is
impossible to become “perfect” through meditation, as nothing manifested by its
very nature can be perfect. However, through unification it is possible to
attain a kind of flawlessness in which there neither is, nor has ever been a
beginning or an end.
At the end of
the meditation process, the realisation happens directly. From then on no proof
is any longer required, even if it would be possible to provide one, or indeed,
if there was anyone who could provide it, or anyone whom it could be provided
to. Once realised, the state of God (Reality, Absolute, Self, I-AM-ness), in
which even for a moment there is no individuality (or even better - a state in
which time and space are absent), can never again be lost. In this way we
realise the freedom from any type of bondage-slavery-attachment – we realise
our true nature. And yet, as there is no slavery (without individuality there
is no one to be enslaved) there is also no liberation – freedom from all bondage is man’s
natural state.
In one’s life
realising God through self-realisation happens automatically, so that He is
“seen” in all as One. In this way one’s own self-realisation also reflects as a
self-realisation of all beings.
“In fact there
are no others who need to be helped. Because, a self-realised person sees only
the Self.”
[6]
4. Recommended meditations
A) Observation
-
“Observe” with your eyes shut your physical body.
-
“Observe” the mind (the process of appearance, duration and
disappearance of your emotions and thoughts).
-
Acknowledge with your mind the “emptiness” – the moments when there is
no emotions and thoughts.
-
“Observe” yourself “observing” the mind.
-
“Observe” yourself “observing” the moments of absence of emotions,
thoughts and experiences – “observing the emptiness”.
-
Unify with the “process of observing” (unification of individual and
Infinite Consciousness).
-
“Dive” into the state without individuality – without memory.
B) Exploration
Investigate
yourself (through self-search, self-questioning, descending inward…) regardless
of what sort of concept you may have about the process; even better if there is
no concept at all. Exploration is best practiced through questions such as:
-
Who am I?
-
Where do I come from?
-
What is the source of all
creation?
-
Who is asking these
questions?
-
What is Reality?
-
What is illusion?
-
What is my true nature?, and so on.
Chose one of
the questions, ask yourself it and then surrender… All of the above can be
called on, or similar ones, although we’d like to point out that it is best to
chose one and stick with it for some time, not only in one sitting (several
tens of minutes) but also in your practice over several days, months and even
years.
C)
Surrendering
Surrender
regardless of what sort of concept you may have about the process; even better
if there is no concept at all. Surrendering is best practiced through
affirmations:
- “I am God”
- “I am Absolute”
- “I am Reality”
- “I am the Self”
- “I am that I-AM”
- “I am the one that is”
- “I am”, etc.
Say or better
still think of one of the above affirmations and then surrender to it… All of
the above can be called on, or similar ones, although it is the best to chose
one and to stick with it for some time, not only in one sitting (several tens
of minutes) but also over several days, months and even years.
Observation,
exploration and surrender are good to combine at the beginning stages, and then
it will all channel through surrendering (a state of flow) towards an overall simplification so that it becomes one
sentence or even one thought. In this way a possibility for the mind to remain
in the source will continue to grow.
The best
meditations are those where you yourself choose one sentence or one thought.
Emotions and
thoughts can come and go, but if you use the questioning and affirmations
continually, the attention will not be swayed, since the mind is being
collected in one thought.
“Do I have to
show you the way in your own house? It is in you.”
[7]
D) The
dynamics of meditation
The dynamics
of meditation is a term we use when we refer to the processes that are linked
with meditating during the day:
-
In a so-called “waking” state: observation, exploration and surrendering
will bring about a spontaneous self-awareness, which will result in “serenity
of the mind” and with the “mind engaged through awareness”.
-
Immediately before sleep: put yourself to sleep with one of the above
affirmations – “I am God”, “I am Reality”,…
-
Sleeping and dreaming: at first channel yourself with one of the direct
prayers: “I pray to God to awaken my sleeping”, “I pray to God to awaken my
dreaming”…, and later, the awakened sleeping (“I am asleep, and I know that I
am sleeping”) and awakened dreaming (the so-called lucid dreams – “I am in a
dream and I know that I am dreaming”) will unfold by themselves and without
meditation. The dreaming will vanish spontaneously.
-
In deep sleep: the mind remains, but subdued, almost as if it is not there; you do
nothing meditation-wise. Here, there is no knowledge of time, space and life’s
processes. The remaining knowledge (awareness) is that of: the so-called
unconscious, the infinite emptiness, the individual and Infinite Consciousness,
Oneness and the continuity of Consciousness throughout the three states – the
“waking state”, during sleep and in a “dream state”.
In time, the processes of the so-called
waking state, sleep and dream state harmonise, and the differences between them
eventually disappear. In this way:
-
at first, the deep sleep,
sleeping and dreaming merge into a state that closely resembles that of being
in a half-asleep (“snooze”) state – a state in-between the dreaming and the
waking reality. Then to this merging…
-
…is added the so-called
waking state, only so that finally the whole process to ends in…
-
…an unobstructed, unbroken,
continuous state of Being.
Through the
process of meditation, while earnest seeking, one’s own essence “surfaces”
spontaneously, and so does all else in the manifested world, by which the very
need of meditation finally vanishes.
Happiness –
regardless of how we may define it, is our spontaneous nature.
5. Meditations in practice
(practitioners’ experiences)
Many years of
work and collaboration with meditation practitioners, or better still their own
experiences in working on themselves, point to certain tendencies. In this
chapter we shall present their main aspects, in hope that they will serve as
practical pointers for others when using these meditations. The two main
categories of approach to one’s practice are:
-
self-search: “Who am I?”
-
devotion: “I am God (Reality, Absolute, Self, I-AM-ness, I am that “I
am”, I am THAT)”.
1. During the
first several months, and perhaps even the first year, the practitioners have
mostly been combining the self-search with the devotional practice (the
so-called statements or affirmations) with the process of observing, in such a
way that there was a constant questioning (or a thought): “Who am I?”
They’d wait for some time
(mostly for several minutes) and if the answer wouldn’t “arrive” of its own,
they would conclude by mentally forming a phrase or thinking: “I am God”, “I am
Absolute”, “I am Reality”, and so on; the main common point here is that they
would have each chosen just one of the above affirmations and stuck to that one
– either God, or Absolute, or Reality…
2. After
several months to a year, the practitioners would have chosen one of the two
forms: the self-search or the affirmations, and would remain with their choice.
Nearly 70% of
practitioners chose self-search and the remaining 30% had opted for one of the
given affirmations.
During this
period most of them, from time to time, had also used another special form of
questioning:
“Am I this body, or am I not
the body, or am I neither one nor the other?”
“Am I this mind, or am I not
this mind, or am I neither one nor the other?”
“Am I this awareness, or am
I not this awareness, or am I neither one nor the other?”, etc.
Directing
their attention in this way had resulted in elimination of the extraneous
emotions and thoughts and in the experience of there being this “one self” that
is observing the physical body and the mind as mere manifestations. In the
later stages, that “one self” at moments had also started to disappear.
3. During
their practice most of the meditators have experienced difficulties in successfully
surrendering and/or keeping their attention/concentration on their chosen
meditation due to volume and/or type of thoughts and emotions or else due to a
sudden attack of sleepiness (like a light semi-conscious snooze).
Various
methods have been utilised for regaining their concentration and state of
surrendering. Here are the most common ones:
a) following the breath
- through various yogic breathing methods, some with and others
without visualisation
b) visualisation
- of the tip of the nose
- of the “third eye” from inside the head (as if one is looking
from the brain towards one’s “third eye”)
- of the so-called spiritual heart (roughly the area of the
fourth chakra)
- of the top of the head (roughly the place of the seventh
chakra)
c) thought
- Who is it that’s
loosing concentration?
- To whom are these thoughts
happening?
- Where do I come from?
For example:
we are meditating on “Who am I?”...;
as we experience the loss of concentration-surrendering, one of the breathing
techniques, or the visualisations, or the thoughts is utilised for about 1-2
minutes; then back to: Who am I?... We carry on like this as many times as we lose the concentration-surrendering.
The same
approach applies if using one of the affirmations.
4. By meditating
in this way most practitioners have managed to bring themselves into shorter or
longer periods of the flow state –
i.e. the state of complete identification with the process of meditation.
Bringing oneself into this state could not in itself lead to the “state without
memory”, but it would have removed the obstacles to its spontaneous occurrence.
Translated by
Dušan Đurović, 19th May 2009.