Learn to Meditate

Filed under Learn to meditate

Learn to Meditate: Members of the Meditation Group offer introductory lessons and also point out books or other material that might help new or more advanced seekers to deepen their experience.

The leader of the Peace Meditation Group a the UN was often requested to define  concentration, meditation and contemplation, and tell how they differ from each other. Below is an  example of his response:

 “Concentration:

“When we concentrate, we focus all our attention on a particular subject or object. When we try to concentrate, we have to feel that right in front of us there is nothing but that object. (Holding the petal of a flower) This is the petal. I have not to see anything else. I do not have to see my finger, or the rest of the flower. No, only this one petal. Feel that only you and the petal exist, nothing else; not the rest of the world. From this kind of concentration, you will get the essence, the quintessence of the petal.”

“Meditation:

“Let us not meditate on this petal. Let us try to meditate on something vast. When we meditate, let us see right in front of us the sea, or the sky, or the Himalayas. Concentration paved the way. While I was concentrating, I was not thinking of my students, my disciples or my friends. I was only concentrating my whole attention on the petal. While one meditates, one has to try to expand one’s consciousness to encompass the vast sea, or the vast blue sky. One has to expand oneself like a bird spreading its wings. We have to expand our finite consciousness, since just because we are bound, we are unhappy. If we can free ourselves from the meshes of ignorance, then we become all-pervading. We enter into the Universal Consciousness where there is no fear, no jealousy, no doubt, no fault. There is all joy, peace and divine power. In meditation there is no thought — no limiting thought, no destructive or undivine thought — no thought at all. That is why we can meditate on the vast.

“Contemplation.

Dr. Illueca, Former: President of Panama, President of UN General Assembly and Permanent Representative of Panama , Contemplating at his friend, Sri Chinmoy’s final resting place in Queens NY, 2007.

“When we contemplate, we have to feel our entire existence — body, vital, mind, heart and soul — as inseparably one. Again, we have to feel that we are not the body, and that we don’t have to be bound by the limitations of the body. I spoke just half an hour ago of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. These are all vague terms right now. But when we contemplate, our whole existence enters into the consciousness of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. By concentration we become one-pointed, and from meditation we expand our consciousness into the vast. In contemplation we grow into the vastness itself. We have seen the truth. We have felt the truth. But the most important thing is to grow into the truth. What we have seen and felt in meditation, we grow into and unite with totally in contemplation. At that time, when we look at our own existence, we don’t see a human being; we see something like a dynamo of light, peace and bliss. This is what contemplation does for us.

 

– excerpted from Sri Chinmoy, Earth’s Cry Meets Heaven’s Smile, Part 2, Agni Press, 1974. ….see page at:  http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/ecmh-187

 

 

 Imagination:

“Imagination helps the seeker in us considerably.

“Before we concentrate, in silence if we can imagine the blazing sun, the fiery sun, then it helps us considerably in our concentration. Like a magnet, the seeker in us pulls the power of the sun, the boundless power of the sun.

“Then, before we meditate, if we can imagine the vast sky, then the vastness of the sky enters into us and helps us considerably. It helps us establish tranquillity and peace in our mind, in our heart, in our earthly physical frame.

“And before we contemplate, we should in silence imagine the moon, the beauty of the moon, which is the emblem, here on the earth, of the Absolute Supreme. The beauty of the moon represents the Consciousness of the Divine Mother. The Mother aspect of the Supreme Beloved is embodied by the moon. So if we imagine the moon, then the beauty, delight, sweetness, nearness and closeness of the Absolute Supreme we feel operating in and through us. Or if we can imagine the most beautiful child on earth, and if, on the strength of our imagination, we can feel this most beautiful child in the inmost recesses of our heart, then it helps us considerably.

Sri Chinmoy, Palmistry, Reincarnation And The Dream State, Agni Press, 1977; go to: http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/prds-1

Kalpana Rath Kalpana Rath

O imagination-chariot

December 5th, 1998

Kalpana rath kalpana rath
Ogo kalpana rath
Eso eso neme ati druta bege
Dekhao nutan path

Translation:

O imagination-chariot, O imagination-chariot,
O imagination-chariot,
Do come down at your fastest speed
And show me a new way.

by Sri Chinmoy, Kalpana rath (imagination chariot), , 1999, http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/kric-12

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Books:

Sri Chinmoy’s writings on meditation

Most of the writings and links in this section are taken from the book Meditation: Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction by Sri Chinmoy.

Why do we meditate? We meditate because this world of ours has not been able to fulfil us. The so-called peace that we feel in our day-to-day life is five minutes of peace after ten hours of anxiety, worry and frustration. We are constantly at the mercy of the negative forces that are all around us: jealousy, fear, doubt, worry, anxiety and despair. These forces are like monkeys. When they get tired of biting us and take rest for a few minutes, then we say that we are enjoying peace. But this is not real peace at all, and the next moment they will attack us again.

It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace. If we meditate soulfully in the morning and receive peace for only one minute, that one minute of peace will permeate our whole day. And when we have a meditation of the highest order, then we get really abiding peace, light and delight. We need meditation because we want to grow in light and fulfil ourselves in light. If this is our aspiration, if this is our thirst, then meditation is the only way. (more)

Home study course

Meditation Videos

meditation-silence

Meditation Silence is a series of videos introducing aspects of meditation.

View: Meditatation Silence at Sri Chinmoy TV

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http://nz.srichinmoycentre.org/meditation/learn_meditation_online

 

med

Online Meditation Course

An Online introduction to meditation.

 

 

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