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Friday, November 13, 2015

SELF DISCOVERY & MEDITATION by Atman Nityananda



Meditation is neither a mean to avoid face the challenges of every day life nor a way to concentrate the mind in one point in order to avoid see our mental and emotional disorders. It is not a technique (like a pill) that can make us happy immediately.  In reality we cannot meditate profoundly if we are not conscious of what governs (dominates) our mind and heart and by proper means or methods get free from them.

Real meditation is to rest effortlessly with a still mind in our essence (awareness) as the essence itself (as awareness). But due to the ego and the samskaras and vasanas that are stored in the chitta, the mind is almost always extroverted, distracted and ever identified with something. Thus it cannot stay even for a moment in its source (Atman, awareness) and experience the peace, the bliss and the freedom of the Self (Atman).

Thus meditation and especially in the beginning is a mean to put a break to the externalization of the mind, to turn it inwards and bring light to what happens in our inner world.

It is a mean to stop the identification with the contents of the mind (tthought, emotions, imaginations), to calm and pacify the mind.

It is a mean to watch dispassionately the mental and emotional waves that appear in the surface of the mind-lake.

It is a mean to be more conscious of the contents of the mind and discover the conditioning patterns that is behind the thoughts and emotions that appear on the surface of the mind and dissolve them by appropriate means.

Finally it is mean to rediscover our essence (Self, Atman), the centre of our existence and be established in That (Self) experiencing always peace, bliss and freedom eternal!

Mantra meditation

Among many techniques of meditation, I consider meditation with mantra as the most effetive one for the majority of aspirants.

The mantra has a great potential to elevate the vibrations of the mind, (filling it with sattva) and thus to quiet the mind and bring it in a state of clarity and peace.

In the long run the mantra becomes a powerful dinamic force which purify the vital, emotional and mental sheaths and eliminates the egoic tendencies and vasanas.

The mantra also serves as an anchor to keep the mind introverted, focused and alert. By hearing attentively the inner sound of mantra (when we repeat it mentally) we keep our attention focused and alert and at the same time we have the opportunity to be aware of the inner silent space where the sound of mantra dissolves and appears as we keep repeating it.  

If we repeat the mantra for a long time gradually the repetition becomes effortless, the inner space of silence becomes more and more evident and it comes to the foreground instead of being in the background of our experience. In this mental state real meditation begins.

If our concentration is steady enough, then we can abandon the mantra and remain focused in the inner silent space. The meditation becomes more and more profound to the extent that our attention is withdrawn from the sensory perceptions and the body sensations and is absorbed into the silent space within. 

We have to continue our practice (normally it takes many years of intense and regular practice) until the mind will merge completely in its source the silent awareness, (this is called Nirvikalpa samadhi). In the profound Nirvikalpa samadhi the meditator and the object of meditation (Self, Atman) become one (nondual state of Oneness) and all vasanas and ego itself is fried out in toto.

With the death of ego liberation or Self-realization is attained and we are free from all suffering, birth and death and we enjoy peace and bliss eternal.

 Peace, love, harmony