Meditation is dhyan. It is going within self and being in awareness for a period of time. We meditate with a mantra, or breath or sacred words. Whatever method we may follow, the result is same. We do the mantra, or watch the breath or think over the sacred words with awareness. The mind will definitely run about and whirl around. But we sit in one place and keep doing what we have to do and sooner or later, the mind calms down. The speed at which the thoughts are created and rush about decrease and with regular practice we have periods of time when there are very few thoughts in our mind and we are wholly at peace.
Meditation is not difficult or complicated. It is just that most of us do not understand what meditation is. Meditation means being aware or conscious. It is not concentration or focus on anything. Meditation helps us develop concentration. We train our minds daily to keep on doing the mantra or watch the breath despite the mind trying its best to disturb us and drag us away from the mantra or breath. We learn to keep doing what we have to do, despite the cries and urges of the mind. When we get up from meditation and move on doing our daily routine, we are able to apply the same technique. We are able to pick a task and complete it despite the mind urging us to keep the work down and go online or gossip on the phone or chat with our neighbor. This ability is called concentration and it comes with meditation. But meditation is not concentration. Meditation is being in awareness and not reacting to the mind.
Meditation teaches us to live in awareness of now. We train ourselves not to live in the past or in the future. The average man spends his entire lifetime living in past or in future. He lives in conjectures and ifs and buts and whys. He is unable to enjoy the present moment and beauty of life as it is now. A housewife will be preparing and serving breakfast but rarely her focus in on the taste of the hot delicious food she had made. Her thoughts will be on lunch preparation, what to make and which ingredients to buy and how to prepare. When she sits to eat lunch, her focus is on dinner and not on the lovely taste of the food she is eating. By doing so, she lives in the future and does not enjoy the present. Meditation trains us not to live in past or future, or react to thoughts of past or future but be in awareness of now. So the stranglehold of the past and future is loosened and we are able to breathe freely and relish life as it is now.
The quality of our thoughts governs our life. When our thoughts are full of anger, lust, hatred, jealousy, vindictiveness and attachment, we are unable to live in peace. Our body reacts to such thoughts, our blood pressure shoots up, the digestion is affected, the endocrine glands are hit and do not function normally, our muscles are knotted and painful, our head aches and our sleep and rest are disturbed. Our relationships with everyone around us gets blown off due to the stress of our thoughts. We can neither eat or sleep or love or live in peace. When we learn to meditate, we learn to be in awareness and not react to the thoughts that rush through us and torment us. Our body and mind are in a state of rest. In the state of Samadhi, there are no thoughts and the body and mind are relieved from enormous pressure and stress. During such times, the body and organs get rejuvenated.
Meditation trains us to relax our body and mind by not reacting to our thoughts. It teaches us to focus on the task at hand despite the pulls of desires of mind and body. It teaches us to observe our thoughts and think and act and not react. Hence we have a better chance at maintaining loving relationships. The vibrations of the mantra chanted during meditation have their own effect and help us to raise our levels of consciousness and enter the realm of thinking and living with divine wisdom and love. Meditation improves all aspects of our life. Let us meditate regularly and reap the blessings of meditation. Let us practice the SitaRam mantra japa, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru and receive divine grace and blessings.
