Meditation
There are many ways to meditate.
All of the following methods aim to promote stillness and wellbeing.
Follow the links to read more:
"Meditation restores our inner poise, inner peace and inner harmony through a simple technique whereby our awareness is drawn to a place of inner repose and stillness where we can be untroubled by the habitual activity of the mind."
"The still mind finds happiness in everything. We teach a mantra meditation from the Advaita tradition. It does not affect your religion or your own beliefs and is open to all people. It is easy to learn and does not involve special physical techniques such as breathing methods. It simply consists of the silent, inner repetition of a mantra for two half-hours a day, morning and evening."
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
"RajaYoga is an ancient system of meditation and spiritual understanding. It enables us to return to a state of inner peace, personal power and self-worth through re-kindling the soul's original qualities and virtues. It provides many answers to age-old questions relating to our identity and purpose and opens up a pathway to true peace of mind and a natural state of happiness. At its deepest level, RajaYoga Meditation is taught as a method of self-awareness, leading ultimately to self-realisation."
"In an ever-increasing global climate of chaos and change, the idea of taking regular short breaks to re-connect with one’s inner strength and values may seem far-fetched if not downright futile. However, taking just-a-minute each hour has been found to make the following 59 minutes calmer, more focused and more effective."
World Community for Christian Meditation
"Meditation, of course, is a Universal Tradition found in all the great religions. As such, it offers an important common ground for inter-religious dialog and a basis for peace in the world. Many Christians have been helped to recover contact with their own tradition of meditation, or contemplative prayer, because of the work of Fr. John Main, who is the inspiration of the World Community. His teaching of this ancient tradition of prayer is rooted in the Gospels and the early Christian monastic tradition of the Desert."
Mind and Life Research Initiatives
"The Mind and Life Institute is dedicated to fostering dialogue and research at the highest possible level between modern science and the great living contemplative traditions, especially Buddhism. It builds on a deep commitment to the power and value of both of these ways of advancing knowledge and their potential to alleviate suffering."
Respected BBC journalist Trushar Barot writes: "Crowded, noisy, smelly, boring. Those in the rat race put up with this on their daily commute to and from work.
It's hard to find a way out of the trudge of the daily commute, but some are finding meditation can help. And, don't worry, the lotus position is not a must."
Swamini Vimalananda: Chinmaya Mission
Meditation is prescribed as a balm to remove all the stress and strain of life. It is in fashion these days and every other person claims to be practising or propounding some new and original technique. It is therefore important to understand what the Scriptures and Realised Masters say about meditation.
The guru, sage Yajnavalkya, teaches his disciple, his own wife, Maitreyi. He instructs, “The Self should be realised. For that, one should listen, reflect and meditate.” Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.
Even though the Truth, the Self, is self-evident, we are unable to realise the same due to gross obstacles like dullness of the intellect (buddhi mandyam), attachment to pleasures (bhogasakti), objects (vishayasakti) and so on. There also exist subtler obstacles like non-comprehension of the existence or the nature of the Self or unavailability of the right means (pramana asambhavana), doubts regarding the Self (samshaya or prameya asambhavana) or a habit, accumulated from innumerable lives, of identifying with the not-Self like the body (viparita bhavana).
The gross obstacles are removed by spiritual practices like japa, asana, pranayama, practice of discrimination and self-control, and cultivation of qualities like tolerance and faith. The mind, thus rendered relatively pure, is prepared to listen to the scriptures from a qualified guru. When a disciple listens with faith, he understands that the import of the scriptures is: ‘I am not the finite entity (jiva) that I consider myself to be, but the Infinite Truth (Brahman).’
Listening thus with an open and prepared mind (shravana) removes the non-comprehension of the existence and nature of the Truth. Thereafter the knowledge is deeply and independently reflected upon (manana), until the seeker gains doubtless knowledge that ‘I am the Infinite Truth’. Even after this doubtless knowledge, we still live on with the notion ‘I am the body’, as against our knowledge ‘I am the Infinite Self’. To remove this obstacle one should practise nididhyasana or meditation.
It should be noted that without shravanam and mananam, nididhyasanam or meditation may not be very effective. It is difficult for a mind riddled with doubts to enquire deeply or gain firm abidance in the Self. Nididhyasana means a desire to meditate (ni + didhyasana).
The word ‘meditation’ – dhyana, comes from the root dhyai – ‘to contemplate’ or call to mind; ni means nitaram – continuously. Therefore meditation is the steady or continuous effort to contemplate or bring to mind one’s true nature. It is said: “The greatness of reflection is a hundred times that of listening to the scriptures, and the result of meditation is one hundred times more than what is gained from reflection on the words of the scriptures. However, the greatness or result of Self-Realisation is infinite.”
Hence, one should listen, reflect, practise meditation and realise the Self.
From ‘Meditation Techniques from Aparokshanubhuti’ a commentary by Swamini Vimalananda Saraswati, published by The Central Chinmaya Mission Trust in May 2006, which elucidates the fifteen steps to the Supreme that are described in the text.
Shanti Sadan: Centre of Adhyatma Yoga and Advaita Vedanta
"This Yoga is based on the philosophy of non-duality, Advaita Vedanta, which is taught in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita as interpreted by Shri Shankara.
The teaching is universal and is free from sectarianism and political or nationalistic bias. It encourages a love of wisdom and true spirituality, whatever its source."
"My preference would be to call meditation relaxation – conscious relaxation, chosen relaxation. These are words that are more universally understood, more comfortable. Constantly working toward the goal of discovering my own ability to reach a state of serenity, I have learned to meditate."
"The aim here is to create a repository of succinct, practical meditation methods, drawing from traditions ancient, modern, and home-grown."
Just This Day is not responsible for the content of external sites.
