Q&A: Do not give up

How can I maintain my enthusiasm to meditate every day? Some days I feel no inspiration to meditate at all.

Some days you do not want to meditate because early in the morning you do not renew your love, devotion and surrender to the Eternal Pilot within you. Every day your Eternal Pilot is ready to feed your inner hunger, yet you may not offer Him your gratitude even for a second. If you can feel a flood of gratitude flowing inside you, then easily you can have a wonderful meditation every day.

What should you do if you feel no enthusiasm or inspiration to meditate on a particular day? For a fleeting second remember what you were before you entered into the spiritual life. When you see the difference between what you were and what you are now, automatically a spring of gratitude to the Supreme will well up inside you, for it is He who has inspired you and awakened your inner cry, and it is He who is fulfilling Himself in and through you.

Another thing you can do is to think of a time when you had a most sublime meditation, and consciously dive deep into that experience. Think of its essence-how you were thrilled, how you were jumping with delight. At first you will just be imagining the experience, because you are not actually having that meditation. But if you enter into the world of imagination and stay there for ten or fifteen minutes, power will automatically enter into your meditation and it will bear fruit. Then it will not be imagination at all; you will actually be deep in the world of meditation.

There is something else that you can also do. Try to feel that the dearest in you-either your soul, or your Master, or the Supreme-is very hungry, and that you are in a position to feed your dearest with your meditation. Your soul, your Master and the Supreme are eternally one, but take them as separate individuals. If the dearest in you is starving and you are in a position to feed him, will you not do so? If you really call someone your dearest, your heart will compel you to feed him. After you feed him, he will give you satisfaction, and in that satisfaction you become eternal, infinite and immortal, When the child is hungry, the mother comes running to .. feed him. After the child is fed, he gives his mother a smile. The mother sees her whole world, the entire universe, inside the smile, because the child is her universe. So, when you feed the dearest and the dearest smiles, at that time you will feel that your entire world is smiling.

Every day you cannot eat the most delicious food. In the spiritual life also, especially in the beginning, it is next to impossible to have a most successful meditation every day. Even spiritual Masters have gone through dry periods in their inner lives. But even if the food is uninspiring, still you cat in order to keep your body fit. When you meditate you are feeding your inner being, the soul. If you cannot feed the soul most delicious food each day, you must not give up trying. It is better to feed the soul something than to allow it to starve.

To maintain your inspiration, each time you sit down to meditate in the morning you have to feel that you are continuing the journey that you have already begun. You should not feel that you are beginning your journey anew. No, you should feel that you have already made considerable progress and that today you will make more progress. And each time you make progress you have to feel that you have touched a tiny portion of the goal. In this way you will feel that you arc really advancing.

Even better, you should feel that your goal is not millions of miles away, but very close, right in front of your nose. If you always feel that your goal is within easy reach, but that you don't know where it is, then you will desperately cry for it and search for it. At that time, your inner being will be flooded with dynamism. If you feel that your goal is far, you become relaxed and feel that Eternity is at your disposal. But if you feel that what you want to grow into is just beside you, and that you only have to use your conscious awareness to grasp it and claim it, then you will eagerly jump into your meditation.

Long for anything divine and it will immediately start to approach you.

Only a very advanced seeker can maintain the same level of meditation each day. In the beginning you should be happy if you have a very good meditation even occasionally. When you do not have a good meditation, do not allow yourself to become a victim to frustration, for that will affect your ability to meditate the next day as well. You have to know that God wants your realisation infinitely more than you want it, so your realisation is His responsibility and His problem. If God has not given you a good meditation today, instead of getting angry or disheartened, try to feel that He is planning to do something more important for you in some other way. If you cannot meditate one day, feel that the Supreme wanted you to have this experience, and just offer your present achievement soulfully and devotedly at His Feet. Say to Him, "These are my possessions right now-unwanted possessions-and I am offering them to You. I place them at Your Feet." If you can offer your existence to the Supreme in that way, then you will see that your daily meditations will become most fruitful.

Q&A: Do not give up

How can I improve my morning meditation?

Every morning you have to offer your gratitude to God for having awakened your consciousness while others are still sleeping, and for all His infinite blessings to you. If you offer just a fragment of your gratitude, you will feel God's Compassion. Then, when you feel God's Compassion, try to offer yourself. Say, "I will try to please You only in Your own way. So far, I have asked You to please me in my own way, to give me this and that so that I can be happy. But today I am asking for the capacity to please You in Your own way." If you can say this sincerely, automatically your morning meditation will be better. God is ready to dawn in your mind's chaos, but being a perfect gentleman, He awaits your gracious invitation and precious dedication. How do you feel about collective meditation or group meditation? Individual meditation should be done early in the morning at home, when you are alone. But collective meditation also has its time. When you enter into the spiritual life you try to widen your consciousness. If you claim to be a member of a larger spiritual family, then it is your duty to be of service to others. When you meditate with others you can be of real help to them, and they can be of real help to you.

Nobody meditates well every day. Let us say that today you are in a very high state of consciousness, while the person who is sitting beside you is not in his highest consciousness. If both of you are meditating together, your aspiration and even your very presence will inspire and lift up that person. Then, tomorrow it may happen that you are not inspired to go high, whereas the other person is in a high consciousness. At that time he will be able to lift you up. So collective meditation is meant for mutual help.

You have to feel that collective meditation is like a tug-of-war. Suppose that you are in a very high state of consciousness and the seeker beside you is also in a very high state of consciousness. If ten persons meditate together and they are all in a very high state of consciousness, then it is like ten persons on one side in a tug-of-war against ignorance. Since ignorance is only one person, then naturally it will lose the tug-of-war. If you are meditating at home alone and are fighting against ignorance all by yourself, then you may soon become exhausted and give up. But if you can meditate with others, it becomes much easier.

When you meditate in a group, you have to feel your oneness with others. You should not feel that you are competing with anyone else, or that you are stronger or weaker than anyone else. Each individual has to feel that he is strong only by virtue of his oneness with the others. He has to feel that he is strong because he has become one with the aspiration of his brothers and sisters.

During collective meditation try to feel that others are not separate entities. Feel that you are the only person meditating, and that you are entirely responsible for the meditation. When everyone has entered into you, when everyone is flowing in you and through you, at that time you will get the maximum benefit from your collective meditation. If twenty persons are sitting together, they have to feel that they are only one vessel. They are not individuals; they have become one vessel, and they are one in their receptivity. But each one has to feel that it is his obligation and responsibility to do his part. You cannot feel, "Oh, since we are all one, let him meditate for me."

During collective meditation you should have a good feeling for the other persons meditating with you, but do not think of them specifically. If you think of someone in particular, and that person is not aspiring, then your meditation will be on that unaspiring person and not on God. You have to feel that the highest consciousness is the goal, the target, and you are aiming your aspiration-arrow at the target. On the outer plane, if one member of the team scores a goal, that is enough, But in meditation each person has to score. If ten persons can score at the same time, only then does the group get a very high mark.

Q&A: Do not give up

How can I always maintain a strong and intense aspiration?

The mistake that you and others make is that you have a fixed goal. If you come to a certain standard during your meditation, you feel that you have reached your goal. Or if you get a little joy in your inner life, then immediately you get a complacent feeling. You want to rest on yesterday's laurels. But I wish to say that our goal is an ever-transcending goal. Yesterday you got an iota of joy, and today you are crying to get that same iota of joy. But how do you know whether the Supreme wants you to have that iota of joy or whether He wants you go farther, higher and deeper?

In your case it happens that you always try to reach a particular goal. If you know how to run fifty metres, then after you have run fifty metres you feel that your part is over. But me Supreme does not want you to be satisfied with fifty metres. He wants you to run fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty-four metres. When you have a higher goal, automatically your aspiration increases. Otherwise, if you always aim at the same goal, you don't make progress, and it becomes monotonous. If you always go to the same place, after a while you don't want to go there anymore. But if you feel that your goal is constantly farther, higher, deeper, that it is ever-increasing, ever-ascending, then there is constant enthusiasm.

Joy is in progress, not in success. Success ends our journey, but progress has no end. When you have a fixed goal and you reach it, that is your success. After that, you are finished. But if you don't have a fixed goal, if your goal is going higher all the time, then you will constantly make progress, and you will get the greatest satisfaction.

So do not be satisfied with success. Aspire only for progress. Each time you make progress, that is your real success. Every day when you meditate, feel that you will go still deeper, fly still higher. Then you will be able to maintain your intensity and enthusiasm.

Simplicity, Sincerity, Purity

by Sri Chinmoy

There are quite a few meditation exercises a beginner can try. For the seeker wishing to enter the spiritual life, simplicity, sincerity, purity and surety are of utmost importance. It is simplicity that grants you peace of mind. It is sincerity that makes you feel that you are of God and that God is constantly for you. It is your pure heart that makes you feel at every moment that God is growing, glowing and fulfilling Himself inside you. It is surety that makes you feel that meditation is absolutely the right thing.

In silence kindly repeat the word "simplicity" inside your mind seven times and concentrate on the crown of your head. Then repeat the word "sincerity" seven times silently and soulfully inside your heart, and concentrate on your heart. Then kindly repeat the word "purity" seven times inside or around your navel centre, and concentrate on the navel centre. Please do all this silently and most soulfully. Then focus your attention on the third eye, which is between and slightly above the eyebrows, and silently repeat "surety" seven times. Next, place your hand on top of your head and say three times, "I am simple, I am simple, I am simple." Then place your hand on your heart and say three times, "I am sincere, I am sincere, I am sincere." Then place your hand on the navel centre, repeating "I am pure," and on the third eye, repeating "I am sure."

- from Meditation, Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction by Sri Chinmoy.

Purifying the Mind

by Sri Chinmoy

The mind is almost always impure, and it almost always brings in unaspiring thoughts. Even when it is not doing this, the mind is still a victim to doubt, jealousy, hypocrisy, fear and other undivine qualities. All negative things first attack the mind. The mind may reject them for a minute, but again they knock at the mind's door. This is the nature of the mind. The heart is much, much purer. Affection, love, devotion, surrender and other divine qualities are already there in the heart. That is why the heart is much purer than the mind. Even if you have fear or jealousy in the heart, the good qualities of the heart will still come forward. But again, the heart may not be totally pure because the vital being is near the heart. The lower vital, which is situated near the navel, tends to come up and touch the heart centre. It makes the heart impure by its influence and proximity. But at least the heart is not like the mind, which deliberately opens its door to impure ideas. The heart is far better than the mind. And best is the soul. The soul is all purity, light, bliss and divinity.

1. Becoming the soul

In order to purify your mind, the best thing to do is to feel every day for a few minutes during your meditation that you have no mind. Say to yourself, "I have no mind, I have no mind. What I have is the heart." Then after some time feel, "I don't have a heart. What I have is the soul." When you say, "I have the soul," at that time you will be flooded with purity. But again you have to go deeper and farther by saying not only, "I have the soul," but also "I am the soul." At that time, imagine the most beautiful child you have ever seen, and feel that your soul is infinitely more beautiful than that child. The moment you can say and feel, "I am the soul," and meditate on this truth, your soul's infinite purity will enter into your heart. Then, from the heart, the infinite purity will enter into your mind. When you can truly feel that you are only the soul, the soul will purify your mind.

2. The inner flame

Before you meditate, try to imagine a flame inside your heart. Right now the flame may be tiny and flickering; it may not be a powerful flame. But one day it will definitely become most powerful and most illumining. Try to imagine that this flame is illumining your mind. In the beginning you may not be able to concentrate according to your satisfaction because the mind is not focused. The mind is constantly thinking of many things. It has become a victim of many uncomely thoughts. The mind does not have proper illumination, so imagine a beautiful flame inside your heart, illumining you. Bring that illumining flame inside your mind. Then you will gradually see a streak of light inside your mind. When your mind starts getting illumined, it will be very, very easy to concentrate for a long time, and also to concentrate more deeply.

3. Purifying the breath

Before you start your a meditation, repeat "Supreme" about twenty times s as fast as possible in order to purify your breath. Feel s that you are really growing into the very Breath of God. Unless and until the breath is purified, the mind will not s remain one-pointed.

4. God wants me, I need God

Focus your attention on a picture. You can look at your Master's picture or you can look at yourself in the mirror. If you concentrate on your own reflection, feel that you are totally one with the physical being that you are seeing. Then try to enter into the image that you are seeing. From there you should try to grow with one thought: God wants you and you need God. Repeat: "God wants me, I need God. God wants me, I need God." Then you will see that slowly, steadily and unerringly this divine thought is entering into you and permeating your inner and outer existence, giving you purity in your mind, vital and body.

5. Asserting control over the mind

You can tell your mind, "I shall not allow you to go in your own way. Now I want to think of God." Repeat the name of God inwardly or aloud. Then say, "I want to have purity in my whole existence." Then repeat "purity, purity, purity." At that time you are not allowing your mind to think of impurity or of any other thing. Don't give your mind a chance to wander; simply utilise your mind for your own purpose. You have millions of things to accomplish in and through the mind. But the mind is so naughty and mischievous that if you don't utilise it, it will utilise you.

6. Throw them out

Each time an undivine thought enters into your mind, throw it out of your mind. It is like a foreign element, a thief, that has entered your room. Why should you consciously allow a thief to remain in your room when you have the capacity to throw him out? When an undivine thought enters into your mind, just capture the thought and throw it into the blazing fire of your inner aspiration.

7. Strangling bad thoughts

When a thought comes that is not pure, good or divine, immediately repeat the word "Supreme" very fast. The Supreme is my Guru, your Guru, everybody's Guru. Repeat "Supreme" very fast, and each time you use the word "Supreme," feel that you are creating a snake that will coil around the undivine thought and strangle it.

- from Meditation, Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction by Sri Chinmoy.

Invite Your Friends

by Sri Chinmoy

Feel that you are standing at your heart's door and that you have invited love, peace, light, delight and all your other divine friends to visit you. But if complexity, insincerity, impurity, insecurity, doubt and other negative forces appear, please do not let them enter. Try to feel that both the divine qualities and the undivine qualities have taken the form of human beings, and that you can see them with your human eyes.

Every day try to invite one friend to enter your heart's door. This will be the beginning of a divine friendship. One day you will allow only your friend love to come in; the next day you will allow your friend joy to come in. After some time, you will have the capacity to invite more than one friend at a time. In the beginning you may not be able to pay attention to more than one friend at a time, but eventually you will be able to invite all your divine friends at once.

- from Meditation, Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction by Sri Chinmoy.

Europe

Americas

Oceania