MEDITATION – REALIZATION – LIBERATION by Nityananda Atman

MEDITATION – REALIZATION – LIBERATION

by Nityananda Atman

 MEDITATION  

To abide consciously in the Silence within is meditation. To concentrate the conscious mind in the Silence within is meditation. To concentrate the conscious mind in its source within is meditation. If meditation is deep enough we experience this Silence as deep Peace and Ananda -Μακαριότητα* (Greek word). 

*It is difficult to describe what Ananda is.  Ananda is not a state of happiness, joy or blissful exhilaration. When we experience the deep Silence and Peace of our Existence we experience together fullness, completeness, Μακαριότητας without any trace of pain or unhappiness. It is a state beyond words. I use the Greek word Μακαριότητα because I consider it is more close to the meaning of the Sanskrit word Ananda than any other one.

If our concentration in that Silence is not steady, meditation is interrupted by thought waves, emotions or perceptions. Thus we are in and out of meditation.

If our conscious mind is gradually absorbed more and more in the Silence within, then meditation becomes deep, profound and unbroken.

Unbroken profound meditation leads to Samadhi. Total absorption of the mind in the Silence within, is the state called Samadhi.

Samadhi is the culmination of all our conscious efforts to realize the truth. Samadhi enable us to experience directly ourselves as pure Consciousness.

AWAKENING

When by meditation, discrimination, self-enquiry or Samadhi happens to us realize that we are the Silence or peace itself and not the body-mind entity, this is awakening.

SELF-REALIZATION, LIBERATION

When the desires, vasanas, samskaras and ego dissolve totally, the abidance in the Silence and Peace within becomes spontaneous and steady. We experience effortlessly and without interruption the Peace and Ananda of our true nature.

This is Liberation in life.  We become a Jivanmukta (liberated one) free from birth and death and all kind of suffering.

HOW WE CAN EXPERIENCE THE SILENCE WITHIN

In order to be conscious of the Silence and peace within we have to still our mind or at least make it calm and tranquil. Occasionally some thoughts may come and go but they cannot produce great distraction to the mind.

When the mind is one-pointed, pure, calm and introverted the Silence that until now was obscured by the mental and emotional turmoil, becomes spontaneously evident and comes forth instead of being the background of our experience.

By continuous daily practice we can be established in the Silence within and gradually this meditative state can be our natural state. We can maintain this state not only in the fixed hours of meditation but also during our daily activities.

If our mind is pure, dispassionate and sattvic we can easily make it calm, quiet, still and can easily be aware of the Silence within.

If it is passionate, impure, rajasic and tamasic it is extremely difficult or impossible to make it so.

Deep, mental, emotional, vital and body relaxation can help us to make the mind calm, tranquil and focused.

We can use also as a focus point a mantra, the breathing process, a chakra, an affirmation, etc. in order to make the mind clear, one-pointed and calm.

Again, if our mind is pure and sattvic it is easy to make it calm and focused otherwise it is very difficult and takes a lot of time to achieve it.

So it is proposed to purify our vital, emotional, mental sheaths by various purificatory practices (such as prayers, mantra, kirtan, bhakti, rituals, affirmations, pranayama, satsang, study of sacred literature, hatha yoga, Sun salutation etc.), before we try to achieve the meditative state and do meditation or self-enquiry as our main practice,

It is necessary to eliminate the tamas and rajas gunas and increase in the greatest possible degree the sattva guna.

It is necessary to observe every day moment to moment our mind, heart and vital in order to become aware of all egoic impurities and eliminate them from our psych.

Of course we have not to wait until our mind to be very pure in order to start with meditation or Self-enquiry. 
From the beginning of our spiritual journey the practice of meditation can be a part of our daily sadhana but not the main one. For example in the beginning we can spent 80% in purifiacatory practices and only 20% for meditation.

Keep in mind that all kind of spiritual practices give tangible results if we do them with some degree of concentration, devotion and faith. 
By doing every kind of spiritual practice with concentration or even by doing every mundane work with concentration we train our mind and make it fit to succeed in meditation or self-enquiry. 

 Everything depends on our sincerity, the longing to realize the truth here and now and the faith or confidence to us and God.

May God bless you to be free in this very life!

 Peace, love, harmony