A lot of people take up meditation to experience peace of mind, and to improve their mental focus. The reflective practice has gained in popularity over the last several years, with classes held regularly in cities across the world. Videos and articles on meditation show images of people sitting with their eyes closed or half-closed, with a calm expression on their face. This leads many to believe that sitting in that manner is meditation, and that doing so will make them feel better, calm, and focused.
Such individuals take up meditation, and they sit down comfortably, eyes closed, with some focusing on their breathing. They wait for a beautiful experience, believing that sitting in this manner for long enough will enable them to become serene, happy, and more centred.
Even some who take to the spiritual path are not clear about how to meditate. They have received their basic spiritual lessons, and have learned that they are a soul, the non-physical, immortal, sentient being of light residing in and giving life to the body. The soul is the child of the Supreme Soul, and remembering Him with the recognition of this relationship enables us to connect with Him mentally. Then, when we think of God’s virtues, we can draw the same from Him.
When they sit down to meditate, these well-meaning souls either cursorily think of these facts or mechanically repeat them in their mind, while battling to keep other thoughts at bay, hoping that doing so will bring some results. Those who have joined a meditation class but are finding little success, may look at others sitting around them and wonder what they are thinking or feeling, and whether they are doing any better at meditation.
After months of ‘meditating’ in this manner without experiencing what they think they should, some who genuinely wish to have a positive experience venture to share their predicament with a kindly soul. “What exactly do you do in meditation”, is the usual question.
Meditation is not a passive exercise of sitting down quietly, with a blank mind, and waiting for peace and bliss to materialise.
It is the job of the mind to think, so trying to stop it from doing so will not work. In meditation, we choose our thoughts to channel the mind in a particular direction and create the desired experience. If I want to experience peace, I have to deliberately, purposefully, and with focus, think of peace. ‘I am a being of peace… I live in peace… my thoughts are peaceful… and so are my interactions with others…’. When we create such thoughts, and visualise ourselves as peaceful, we begin to experience peace. On the other hand, if I let my mind loose and it dwells on a conflict I have had with someone, then soon the mind will become a war zone as I replay the clash mentally, and I will end up feeling tense, irritated, and uncomfortable.
As our thoughts, so our state of mind and state of being. The longer I hold a positive thought in the mind, dwell on it, feeling the emotion it evokes, the stronger my experience. When I reflect on peace, God’s love, purity, and other virtues, and immerse myself in experiencing them, I the soul am nourished as my stock of these qualities, which are innate to every soul but lie unutilised if we do not tap into them, grows.
Regular practice of meditation and experience of the positive feelings it creates, gradually changes my way of thinking and behaviour. Over time, my stress levels subside, there is a greater sense of well-being, and improved mood regulation. Consequently, I am able to deal more easily with different people and situations. It is then that people say, and I myself recognise, that meditation has changed me for the better.
B.K. Surya is a Rajyoga teacher at the Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.