Meditation is very important practice in yoga in aid to quieten the mind, dive deeply and embrace the inner beauty; the eteranal peace; the infinite consciousness; the divine true self, and that’s what’s called: Self-realization.
Deep inside we are infinite; divine, where we are connected with everything and everything connected with us; where we are one with all. The true meaning of yoga is oneness or unification between the external smaller ”I” and the internal infinite ”I”. Since we are already infinite deep inside why can’t we see it then!
The answer is simple, as to see the bottom of a pond the water needs to be clear with the surface still!
To see our infinite form and divine beauty we simply need to quieten the mind and make it still, and this should not be done by suppressing the mind, but by understanding it and channeling it, then it is easier to control it and calm it down till it becomes still, allowing us to go beyond the mind, towards that inner infinite self.
When dealing with the mind it is important to understand three things bout how it works:
1- The mind cannot stop thinking, it has always to think of something.
( Close your eyes for few minutes and try to empty your mind from all the thoughts. Can you do it? even when you feel like having no more thoughts, aren’t you thinking to yourself that you are not thinking? That is still a thought! You are thinking that you are not thinking)
2- The mind cannot think of two things at the same time.
(Close your eyes and for few minutes think of two distinct thoughts, like the taste of strawberries and the taste of broccoli. Can you hold your mind on these two thoughts at the same very moment?)
Sometimes we think that we have many thoughts in the mind at the same moment but in fact the mind is just jumbing very fast fast from one thought to another. Well, that is good news! You can now replace all the thoughts that you don’t like by the thoughts that you like depending on what you want to hold into your mind.
3- The mind will take the form of its object of thinking. As you think so you become!
(Close your eyes and for few minutes and think of a happy event happened recently to you! How do you feel? Aren’t you feeling happy? haven’t you become happy?)
Choose your thoughts carefully! If you think that you are miserable, unhappy, unlucky and unloved this is what will you become, but instead if you think that you are happy, lucky and loved this is what will you become.
Using these three principles of the mind, meditation will be designed not by trying to stop thinking which will not happen as long as the mind exist since it has always to think of something, but instead of that a one single thought will be chosen as an object for the mind through meditation, and this thought has to be selected carefully since as you think you will become. And since the mind cannot think of two things at the same time so whenever the mind wonders around simply you can bring it back to the thought of the meditation. Through this all the three principles of the mind are taken into consideration and the mind is dealt with in a channeling way instead of suppressing it.
The spirit of this meditation methodology is manifested through the use of Mantra.
Mantra is a sanskrit word/s which is a collection of different sounds, with a specific meaning and a significant rhythm.
The sanskrit word ”Mantra” has two syllables; ”man” which means ”mind” and ”tra” which means ”to liberate”.
Thus the meaning of ”mantra” is ”that which liberates the mind”
Mantra is recited internally through meditation listening to the sound of it and focusing the mind on its meaning allowing the mind to flow with the meaning and rhythm of the mantra.
The meaning of the mantra is what the mind wants to become, and that is infinite. In every human being there is longing for infinity, we are all knowingly or unknowingly longing for infinity, where we are free from all the boundaries and nothing can limit us.
The rhythm of the mantra helps to mind to quite and still when the mental waves are brought into parallelism with the wave of the mantra. The mental waves are short and distorted while the wave of the mantra is a straight line. By bringing the mental waves into parallelism with the mantra wave the mental waves get straighten up until they are completely straight and that is when the mind is absorbed into infinity, a state which is called ”Samadhi”
The mantra which we use in meditation is ” Baba Nam Kevalam” Which means ”Infinite consciousness is all there is” or in another words; there is nothing but infinite consciousness; that is: everything is made of infinite consciousness.
Reciting the mantra internally during meditation as if you are listening to the sound of it while occupying the mind with its meaning, focusing on it and allowing the mind to flow with the rhythm of the mantra, will slowly bring the mind into stillness and the more the mental rhythm is straighten up into the rhythm of the mantra the more inner bliss is experienced.
As you think you become! When the mind is focused on the thought of infinity it starts to expand until it eventually becomes infinite itself.
During this process the mind will try to wonder around, running away all the time as it is used uncontrollably to do, but remember that the mind cannot think of two things at the same time, so simply keep bringing the mind back into the single thought of the mantra, even if you have to do that for the whole meditation session. By bringing the mind back all the time to the thought of the mantra you exercise the mind and make it stronger which will allow you with time to hold the mind longer into the one single thought of the mantra without drifting away. It is a practice which requires determination and regularity. Just imagine the mind as a muscle to be trained, with regular practice and patience you will achieve what you aim at. To achieve the desirable results and to ensure the steady expansion of the mind meditation is recommended to be practiced twice a day. Meditation is an expansion of the mind and a food for the soul. The same way we are concerned about giving food for our body so we need to be concerned as well to give food for the mind and for the soul.
It is a matter of making meditation into daily habit before you will find yourself able to set down twice everyday for meditation without much of bargaining inside the mind whether to meditate or not, such a question will not arise once meditation has become a daily habbit for you. The best way to do that is to made a decision that you will not take breakfast nor dinner before you are done with meditation. This will make it easier for the mind to surrender into your will as it wants to enjoy food. It is also recommended that meditation is done on an empty stomach so you can raise your energy up to the brain without conflicting with the digestion process when the blood flow and energy is focused on the digestive process.