|
How to Meditate A Beginners Guide to Mantra Meditation
according to Yogic tradition |
|
The aims of Meditation:
A tale is told about an old lumber jack who lived alone in the forest
with no family or sons to help him with his work. One night the old man prayed
for a son to help him with his hard work, as he was getting too old and with
only little strength for cutting trees. In the morning, as he woke up, he saw a
grate ape standing in his house. “I am the son you’ve prayed for!” said the
ape. “I shell do as you’ll ask me to.” The old man thanked the lord for he’s
blessing and put an axe in the ape’s hand. “Cut a tree for me!” said the old
man and the ape immediately went out to the forest and began cutting down a big
tree. The old man was glad. Now he can finally relax he’s old body while the
ape is doing all this hard work. The ape finished cutting the tree very quickly
and then came to the old man asking him for more trees to cut. The old man told
him to cut the trees over there and the ape began working again, cutting the
trees with grate speed and enthusiasm and piling them up. As he finished the
old man said: “That’s enough for today! You can cut more trees tomorrow!” But
the ape insisted cutting more trees. He continued cutting more and more trees.
All day long and all night long the ape was cutting trees and the old man was
afraid there won’t be any more trees left in the in the forest. He again prayed
for a solution for his problem. And again he’s prayers were answered. In the
morning a grate tree stood in the forest. The ape raised he’s axe and tried to
cut down that tree. But no matter how much he strike the tree would not fall
down. And so the ape continued cutting that tree and that tree stood still. And
so the ape was always happy and so was the old man.
The old man is the Self. The ape is the Mind. The tree is
the Mantra.
Meditation is meant for
restraining the mind. The mind is meant to me a tool in our hands, in the hands
of the Self. Our mind always wants to be occupied, doing something. Never stop
thinking in many directions. In doing so, it is something coming to a situation
that instead of the mind being a tool in our hand, the mind is in fact dragging
us along after him. This leads to many complications which are very disturbing
for our inner peace. The wilder and uncontrolled the mind gets, the more we are
disturbed.
In the Katha-Upanishad the body
is compared to a chariot. The senses are compared to the five horses that drag
the chariot. The intelligence is the driver and the mind is the reins. The self
is the lord of the chariot, the passenger. The chariot is meant for driving him
to the right place. He is doing so by controlling the drier which controls the
mind which restraining the horses from going in different paths, the objects of
the senses, and thus dragging the chariot off it’s right course.
Peace of mind is important for focus. This is very important for our
journey to self realization. A controlled peaceful mind is our driver to self
realization, to spiritual realization. But just as a controlled mind is our
best friend, so can an uncontrolled mind be our worst enemy. Therefor, a
peaceful state of mind is very important for spiritual awareness. The calmer
and more focus our mind gets, the easier it is to see through inside, into the
self, our spiritual core, the soul. And inside it we find our true spiritual
aim. This is the state which Yoga defines as salvation.
The use of a mantra:
The mind in its moving is compared to a wind blowing. It is impossible so
just catch the wind. Like so, it is almost impossible to stop the mind from
thinking. Some practice meditation that is meant for getting the mind to a
complete stop. To get the mind to be completely clear. But since it’s the
nature of the mind, and of the self for that matter, to always be in action, it
is an easier way of meditation to concentrate the mind on a certain object.
Just as a thousand objects are seducing the mind away to the wrong path, so can
one spiritual object of thinking keep the mind away from external seductions
and concentrating it on the right track.
Aside from the technique of meditation on void, emptying the mind
completely, there is another technique of meditation meant for concentrating
the mind on that is spiritual. The object of the mind in such meditation is the
supreme, God, or whatever you want to call the absolute spiritual being that is
the source and meaning of all creation. Instead of fighting the mind, trying to
get it clear, the one who practice this meditation is trying to focus his mind
on the supreme, on God, and thus using it as a tool in he’s spiritual practice.
The mantra is used by pronouncing it again and again and by so
concentrating the mind on the sound vibrations of the mantra. What is
pronounced by the mouth is influencing the mind. By the right pronunciation,
the right state of mind is accomplished. Manas
mean “mind” tra means to liberate or to
restrain, to control.
A Mantra is usually a sacred word that represents the supreme.
Usually it is a sound that represents the name of God in its meaning. It is not
a sectarian, “religious” god, rather then a personal spiritual conception of
the supreme. As
shown by research, meditation on that supreme does wonders in keeping the
practitioner relaxed and tolerant to outside stimulations. In this state, not
only the mind reached the state of peace, but also it reaches the spiritual
goal of self realization.
Type of mantras:
The word
Meditation on
Another mantra which consisted of the word
A very powerful mantra mentioned in the Kali-Santarana
Upanishad is the mantra called the Maha-Mantra,
meaning “the greatest and most sacred of all mantras”. This mantra is thus:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Hare Rama Hare Rama,
Rama Rama Hare Hare
In this mantra, the word
How much should I practice?:
The practice of meditation should be done with grate devotion and with
consistence. It is recommended to clear a certain amount of time in every day
and dedicate it to meditation. If you can dedicate one hour a day for your
meditation, that is wonderful. But ever if you can only clear 15 minuets a day,
you should still be consistent in your practice daily.
A common way to measure the amount of mantra practice is the use of japa-mala, rosary prayer beads used to count the
mantras. The japa-mala in Yogic tradition is
108 beads on a string with the edges of the string tied in a knot through an
extra 109th bead. When sitting down to practice your daily mantra
meditation, simply hold the first in the line of beads in the japa-mala and thean chant
the mantra once. After that continue to the following bead and chant again and
again and so on through all 108 beads. When you get to the 109th
bead, don’t chant on it. Instead, turn the japa-mala
around and start a second round. This way you can decide on a certain number of
rounds you should do every day and estimate how much time you need to clear for
this practice.
And also remember to take the state of mind accomplished in this practice
all through the day. Don’t let the meditation end when you stop chanting and
get up. Remember the goal: spiritual life.
Difficulties in practice:
Since the mind is hard to restrain, the act of concentrating on the
mantra may seem hard at certain times. It sometimes seem that you have to sort
of “whiplash” the mind into concentrating on the mantra rather then following
different objects. But the further you practice, the better your concentration
will be.
It will also seem at certain periods of time that your daily practice is
some sort of a chore that you must do unwillingly. That is the result of lack
of concentration on the mantra. The state of awareness to which this practice
is leading to is spiritually natural to us. Therefor it should be naturally
attractive to us. But the material inclinations of the mind to pursue a
different path are disturbing to this state. Imagine the mantra chanting as a
river trying to flow and the disturbances of the mind as obstacles in the
river. In order for the river to flow freely you have to flow more and more
water to wash away the obstacles.
There are no shortcuts. The more devoted you are to the practice, the
more you’re elevated your consciousness will be. If you’ll abandon your
concentration and just unwillingly count your mantras on the japa-mala, you will not be able to be coherent in
your daily practice and eventually abandon it completely. You should not
contemplate on those precious moments you lose trying to concentrate your mind
on the supreme, moments that could have been dedicated to selfish thoughts.
Rather you should embrace the grater pleasure you get by taking your
concentration away from the self and into the other. That selfless pleasure is
your motivation in keeping your practice.
(
Please comment and share experiences
on: bhakta_omer@yahoo.com
If you enjoyed reading
this page please share this information with others.