Meditation The Greatest Gift

You Can Ever Give Yourself

The gift of learning to meditate

is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life.

For it is only through meditation

that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature,

and so find the stability and confidence you will need

to live, and die, well. (Sogyal Rinpoche)

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Meditation is most necessary,

for only by meditation will all things come of their own accord. (Sant Kirpal Singh)

ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm

Meditation is a mental/spiritual technique for relaxing the restlessness of the mind

and freeing it from anxiety and stress. In its higher forms, it aims for the attaining

of peace of mind, inner silence and spiritual awakening. (Remez Sasson)

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We are sick with fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers,

of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas. Meditation is therefore the art of

suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous

audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin. (Alan Watts)

Despite the materialism of our modern century and the infernal noise of its

mechanical, industrial, nuclear, and military power, there still exist a few

representatives of that superior type of humanity who in silence inquire, meditate,

and pray. (Khaled Bentounes)

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Meditation is the expression of your true nature;

it is the activity which appeases your inmost desire. (Suzuki Roshi)

All meditation systems either aim for One or Zero – union with God or emptiness.

The path to the One is through concentration on Him, to the Zero is insight into the

voidness of one’s mind. (Joseph Goldstein)

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Recent studies in the field of science are confirming that meditation can improve

our physical and mental well-being. Besides having a positive effect on our body

and mind, it also helps us develop spiritually. Thus, meditation can help us in the

physical, mental, and spiritual spheres of our lives. (Sant Rajinder Singh)

As meditation deepens,

compulsions, cravings and fits of emotion

begin to lose their power to dictate our behavior. (Eknath Easwaran)

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In the center behind and above the eyes there is an aperture;

on this side of it is the material world, in which we are living now;

and on the other side is the astral world. (Baba Sawan Singh)

The Dawn of Light, 178

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj

Meditation is the process by which we withdraw our attention from the world

outside and our body and concentrate it at a point between and behind the two

eyebrows. By focusing our attention there, we come in contact with a current of

Light and Sound which will lead us from our physical consciousness into higher

consciousness, into the Beyond. (Sant Rajinder Singh)

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When the third eye opens, you see the Light of God within you. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/mt/single-eye.htm)

Just behind the darkness of closed eyes shines the Light of God. When you behold

that Light in meditation, hold onto it with devotional zeal. Feel yourself inside it:

That is where God dwells. If, on the other hand, you behold no Light in

meditation, then concentrate at the point between the eyebrows, and gaze deeply

into the darkness that you see with closed eyes. Try, by your devotion, to penetrate

that thick veil. In time you will surely behold the Inner Light, for it is ever there,

shining in your forehead. Just as all human beings have eyes, so does everyone

have this spiritual eye within his forehead. It awaits only his discovery in deep

concentration within. (Yogananda)

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One who beholds the inner Light may be grateful for several reasons. First, it is

the only occult experience of which it may be said that it is entirely without risk or

peril.

Second, it is the loftiest of all clairvoyant visions.

Third, it confers the feeling of perfect felicity, not in the worldly sense, but of an

ethereal unearthly kind.

Fourth, it is a direct manifestation of God to man, being the first of His

outpourings, hence an uncommon blessing, a grace.

Fifth, if it appears in consciousness as Power, the recipient may feel a tremendous

force, unknown otherwise, throbbing all around and within him, or a sudden

lightening-like flash of complete comprehension: he understands what neither

bodily sense nor intellectual faculty can understand – the supernatural meaning of

Spirit, of eternity, of transfiguration, and of reality. (Paul Brunton)

I went round the streets and squares of the cities of this world seeking Thee, and I

found Thee not, because in vain I sought without for Him who was within myself. (Saint Augustine)

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If, therefore, thine eye be “single” thy whole body shall be full of Light. (Jesus Christ)

The Kingdom of Heaven is within. (Jesus Christ)

Ask, and it shall be given to you;

Seek, and you shall find;

Knock, and it shall be opened to you. (Jesus Christ)

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It is an excellent time for meditative practices. Turning within and being aware of

the inner Light is a stabilizing force. When we experience our own inner Light, it

radiates outward to the whole world. Turning within toward the inner Light

projects an uplifting energy to those around us. And now is a time when the world

needs Light the most. (D.R. Butler)

Now the question comes: How to open that eye with which He can be seen?

He says, when you close your eyes, there is darkness. Look penetratingly into it;

put your whole attention into it. That is knocking on the door, you see, and it shall

be opened. You continue to look directly into that and you will find Light. Who

will see that Light? Your very Self. Tulsi says, “How to penetrate this darkness?

Sit at the feet of a Master - He gives you a boost, you see Light." Is it not

wonderful? Is it not a miracle? What more miracle is required? (Sant Kirpal Singh)

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This self-originated Clear Light, which from the very beginning was never born,

is without any parents. This Clear Light has not been created by anyone, has never

experienced birth and has nothing in it that could cause it to die. Although it is

evidently visible, yet there be few who see it. Although it exists in everyone

everywhere, it has gone unrecognized. And yet you go on hoping to attain some

other fruit than this Clear Light elsewhere. Even though it is the thing that is most

essentially yours, you seek for it elsewhere – how amazing! (Tibetan Buddhism)

If you were able to go inward right now and waken your sleeping Buddha,

what would you find? Tibetan Buddhism says that at the heart of you, me, every

single person, and all other creatures great and small, is an Inner Radiance that

reflects our essential nature, which is always utterly positive. Tibetans refer to this

Inner Light as Pure Radiance or Innate Luminosity; in fact, they call it Ground

Luminosity because it is the “bottom line.” There is nothing after this, nothing

before this. This luminosity is birthless and deathless. It is a luminescent

emptiness, called “Clear Light,” and it is endowed with the heart of unconditional

compassion and love. (Lama Surya Das)

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The point is that you are seeing something beyond nature, beyond the existential,

beyond the psychic, beyond even cosmic identity. You are starting to see the

hidden or esoteric dimension, the dimension that transcends nature. You see the

Light, and sometimes this Light literally shines like the light of a thousand suns.

It overwhelms you, empowers you, energizes you, remakes you, drenches you.

This is what scholars have called the "numinous" nature of subtle spirit. Numinous

and luminous. That is, no doubt, why saints are universally depicted with halos of

light around their heads. That is actually what they see - Divine Light. (Ken Wilber)

Human industry must be joined to grace if the spiritual eye is to be opened.

So long as the eye which looks upon time fills itself with things and usurps the

conscious field, that spiritual eye which looks upon eternity can hardly act at all:

and this eye must not only be opened, it must be trained, so that it may endure

to gaze steadfastly at the Uncreated Light. (Evelyn Underhill)

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The experience of divine Light is no hallucination but an actuality, an entirely real

one, even a thrilling one. If the Light is not resisted, by timidity, ignorance, or

egoism, it will work upon the entire human being, radically transforming his

outlook, life, and consciousness. (Paul Brunton)

And so it came…It tiptoed itself into my heart, silently, imperceptibly, and I

looked at it with wonder. It was a still, small Light, trembling softly. It had the

infinite sweetness of a first love, like an offering of fragrant flowers with gentle

hands, the heart full of stillness and wonder and peace. (Irina Tweedie)

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Generally, the seeing of Light during meditation is a favorable sign of present

experience or good omen of future experience. It indicates that meditation in depth

is being attained, or will be later. The Light may seem spread out in space or as a

thin ray alone. It may appear as a tiny black-centered sun or as a large round ball.

There are still other forms--such as lightning and stars. Generally, too, there will

be a living dynamic quality in it, a movement, a winking, and a fiery flickering.

This Light is the penultimate experience on the mystic's way. He finds himself

totally lost indeed but lost in the most dazzling Light. The ego seems to have

vanished: infinity and universality of being have replaced it. Ecstatic rapture fills

him. Is it any wonder that the Greek Orthodox Church mystics of the first few

centuries believed this was the ultimate experience of pure Spirit, the final union

with God? Yet it may not last, cannot last, must come to an end. It may have held

him for one or two minutes only or it may have done so for a longer period. It may

never recur again in his whole lifetime--this is so in most cases--or it may come

several times more. But it stands as a landmark until the end of his years.

Where the Greek Orthodox Church regards the Light experience as the highest

point reachable by man, the Indian Philosophic Teaching regards it as the last stage

before the highest. For anything which is "seen" implies the existence of a "seer"

as separate from it. This is not less so even in the case of the Holy Light. Not

seeing but be-ing is the final experience according to this Teaching. "You have to

go beyond seeing and find out who is the `I' who experiences this Light," said

Ramana Maharshi to a disciple. (Paul Brunton)

No man who has lived through a temporary spiritual experience

is ever likely to forget it. His days will be haunted until he sets out

to seek ways and means of repeating it.

(Paul Brunton)

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To have one eye glued on the enchanting pleasures of the flesh

and with the other expect to see a spark of Eternal Bliss

is not only impossible but the height of hypocrisy.

(Meher Baba)

Overcoming and giving up outward tendencies, stilling the mind and dying while

alive is not easy. The inner gate opens only when the outer gates are closed. There

is no other way to get in. People wish to continue to run out through the outer

gates and also wish to get into the inner. This is impossible. Two things cannot

happen at the same time. One is to be given up to achieve the other. (Baba Sawan Singh)

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In my travels I spent time with a great yogi. Once he said to me,

“Become so still you hear the blood flowing through your veins.”

One night as I sat in quiet, I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast

I know it is the source of all of us. (Mirabai)

I am blind and do not see the things of this world; but when the Light comes from

above, it enlightens my heart and I can see, for the Eye of my heart sees

everything; and through this Vision I can help my people. The heart is a sanctuary

at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and

this is the Eye. This is the Eye of the Great Spirit by which He sees all things, and

through which we see Him. If the heart is not pure, the Great Spirit cannot be

seen. (Black Elk)

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This is the only way to explain existence, to overcome sadness and grievances,

to banish death and misery, to find the right path, to realize Nirvana - it is correct

meditation. (Buddha)

The attainment of the one-pointedness of the mind and the senses is the best of

austerities. It is superior to all religious duties. (Sankaracharya)

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If the mind can get quiet enough, something sacred will be revealed. (Helen Tworkov)

When you meditate,

the silence of the senses illumines the presence of God within. (Gurumayi Chidvilasananda)

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After half a century in psychiatric practice, I know without a doubt that the source

of addiction is spiritual deficiency. Irrespective of whether we are religious or

atheist, all human beings are spiritual by nature and spirituality is the cornerstone

of our recovery. (Dr. Abraham Twerski)

Among all my patients in the second half of life there has not been one whose

problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. (Carl Jung)

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In God alone is there primordial and true delight,

and in all our delights it is this delight that we are seeking. (Saint Bonaventure)

To know the sweetness of the Infinite within us,

that is the cause, the reason, the purpose,

the only purpose of our being. (Nicholas of Cusa)

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Regular meditation opens the avenues of intuitional knowledge,

makes the mind calm and steady, awakens an ecstatic feeling,

and brings the practitioner in contact with the source of his/her very being. (Swami Sivananda)

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

When you realize the unborn, uncreated, unconditioned,

you are liberated from everything born, created, and conditioned. (Buddha)

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Between God and spirit, there is no other obstacle but that of a veil of the mind.

If this veil were to stop fluttering in the breeze of desires, as it does at present, the

spirit can take in directly the Cosmic Energy from its very source. (Sant Kirpal Singh)

When the time arrives for you to leave this life for another life, if you wish to go to

a beautiful and soulful world, then you will need a valid passport, and that passport

is your meditation here on earth. (Sri Chinmoy)

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If you really want to rid yourself of present bad habits you have no greater recourse

than meditation. Every time you meditate deeply on God, beneficial changes take

place in the patterns of your brain. (Yogananda)

When you come in contact with Light and Sound Power within, you have not to

adopt any virtues, but everything, all virtues, will come within you of themselves. (Sant Kirpal Singh)

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Learn to penetrate within yourself, your deeper, almost unknown self. It will need

patience to return day after day; not stopping until the truth is reached, the peace is

felt, the blessing descends. It will need perseverance until the source of the

strength is found. Thereafter it will take you over: this is grace. But remember -

with each return from the day's efforts you will be confronted by the world again,

by its harsh reality yet glorious beauty, its stark conflicts yet benign interludes.

So know this world in which you have to live, its petty minds and noble souls.

Learn from both. And when you have seen enough of the world's surface,

ask for its tremendous secret. (Paul Brunton)

Each man has a private door opening on to the Eternal Brightness.

If he will not press and push it open, his darkness is self-doomed. (Paul Brunton)

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Pure Meditation Practice

Shunryu Suzuki

In Hinayana Buddhism, practice is classified in four ways.

The best way is just to do it without having any joy in it, not even spiritual joy.

This way is just to do it, forgetting your physical and mental feeling, forgetting all

about yourself in your practice. This is the fourth stage, or the highest stage.

The next highest stage is to have just physical joy in your practice. At this stage

you find some pleasure in practice, and you will practice because of the pleasure

you find in it.

In the second stage you have both mental and physical joy, or good feeling. These

two middle stages are stages in which you practice meditation because you feel

good in your practice.

The first stage is when you have no thinking and no curiosity in your practice.

When you are tired of sitting, or when you are disgusted with your practice, you

should recognize this as a warning signal. You become discouraged with your

practice when your practice has been idealistic. You have some gaining idea in

your practice, and it is not pure enough. It is when your practice is rather greedy

that you become discouraged with it.

When we practice meditation we just practice it, And whether we find joy in our

practice or not, we just do it.

Repetition, for no special purpose and without end, is the way to follow the cosmic

order. The point is not to look for something, but to practice. Continue until you

reach your coffin. If you practice every day, after a while you no longer have to

think about practicing or decide or want to practice. So repetition is very

important. (Suzuki Roshi)

We can say either that we make progress little by little, or that we do not even

expect to make progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each

moment is enough. (Suzuki Roshi)

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Meditation: A Portal to a New Dimension Andrew Cohen

One of the many miraculous functions of meditation is that it is a portal to a

different dimension.

When you go deeply into the meditative state, your awareness detaches itself from

the thought-stream. Then your identification with emotion, memory, time and

body begins to fall away. You become aware of something very mysterious.

Imagine that you had been fast asleep in a small dark chamber and then you

suddenly awakened to find yourself floating in the infinite depth of a vast, peaceful

ocean. You literally become aware of a new dimension, when moments before you

had experienced yourself as being trapped, a prisoner of your body, mind and

emotions. When you awaken to this new dimension, all sense of confinement

disappears. You feel that you have access to the whole universe and also to that

which the universe exists within. You're aware of body, mind, time, and space, but

there's another dimension that extends in all directions, unlimited by any of it.

Meditation is the portal to this dimension, a door to the realization of limitlessness.

Why is this experience significant? Because the infinite context you awaken to is

not just a quiet place inside your own head. It's a deeper dimension of reality

itself. Life, death and everything in between, reality as a whole -- the seen and the

unseen, the known and the unknown, all that ever was and ever could be -- is made

up of both the manifest and the unmanifest. But most of the time, all we are aware

of is the manifest dimension, the domain of time and space and becoming.

Meditation will give you the direct, conscious experience of the unmanifest

dimension, which is the ground of being itself.

The "ground of being" is empty. It is an objectless, timeless, spaceless, thoughtless

void. But everything that exists has come from this no-place, including you and

me. Paradoxically, while empty, this no-place is pregnant with infinite, unborn

potential. It is the ground we all emerge from, the womb of the entire universe.

When something came from nothing, 14 billion years ago, the nothing didn't

disappear. That unmanifest, unborn dimension is the ever-present ground out of

which everything is arising in every moment. And meditation allows you to know

this ground within your own experience.

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Even in the awareness of the body and the movement of thought, beneath it all, in

the state of meditation, you become conscious of a current of stillness that is the

echo and the reflection of the ground of being. There is a great mystery there. In

the infinite depth of that emptiness, there arises a knowing, a pure knowing itself

that seems to answer all our questions and relieve us of all our existential doubts.

Whenever we journey far enough beyond the conditioned mind -- beyond thought,

beyond form, beyond time -- we will always discover this same mystery. That is

why we meditate, so we can awaken to the instantaneously liberating nature of the

ground of being. The more profound is our experience of the ground of being, the

more we begin to emanate that mysterious knowing which is enlightened

consciousness itself.

If you want to find God,

hang out in the space between your thoughts. (Alan Watts)

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Jyoti Meditation Instructions: An Introductory Meditation Technique

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji

Jyoti Meditation (light meditation) is an introductory practice

used in Science of Spirituality—Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission

that anyone of any age can try on your own. The full

meditation technique used in Science of Spirituality, which

leads to inner experiences of spiritual realms of light within, is

called Shabd Meditation or Surat Shabd Yoga as is practiced

by people all over the world.

A good analogy to understand the joy of meditation can be

found in the reports of those having a near-death experience, or NDE. In such

experiences, someone who underwent a physical trauma or accident may have

undergone clinical death. As doctors and medical practitioners worked on their

body, the patients experienced floating above their body and watching the

procedure being done on them. Some floated through walls to witness friends and

relatives in other rooms, what they were doing, wearing, or saying, and later, when

the patient was revived, what they saw and heard were borne out to be true. At

some point, those describing the experience report going through a dark tunnel to

emerge in a world of light.

There, they met a being of Light who embraced them with more love than any they

ever experienced in their physical life. The joy they felt in this world of light was

so tremendous many did not want to return to life. During this time, they no longer

felt any pain. The light was bright and intense but not scorching. This experience

was so loving it transformed their lives and they realized how important it is to be

loving. They returned to their body as it was not their time to die, but they were

transformed by the experience. They no longer feared death and knew that there

was more to life than their physical body. They knew they could exist beyond this

body.

According to a Gallup Poll, over thirteen million people reported this near-death

experience. The good news is that people can experience the realms of inner light

through mediation without the trauma of a near-death experience. This bliss and

love can be ours any time we want through meditation. When we tap into this place

of peace and calm, we naturally are beyond the reaches of stress and anger. We are

in a place of joy and bliss that lasts with us even when we come out of meditation.

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To get started with the Jyoti Meditation practice, which anyone can try on your

own at home or anywhere you like, sit in a comfortable pose, most convenient to

you, in which you can sit still for the longest possible time. While meditating, it is

not necessary to hold hands or touch anyone else, as any movement brings your

attention back down into the body, distracting from concentration at the seat of the

soul, also called the third eye, single eye, shiv netra, divya chakshu, ajna or aggya

charka, tenth door, or daswan dwar (located between and behind the two

eyebrows).

Close your eyes, gently, as you do when we go to sleep, but remain wide awake.

Closing your eyes keeps you from being distracted by the outer sights of the

physical world. With closed eyes, focus your attention in front of you. Do not put

pressure on your eyes. Also, do not raise your eyes upwards towards the direction

of the eyebrows as that puts pressure on your eyes and forehead and can result in a

headache. Rather, keep your eyes focused gently in front of you and look into the

middle of what appears within. Keep gazing horizontally, focusing about eight to

ten inches in front of you with closed eyes.

Look lovingly into the middle of what appears in front of you. At first, you may

see either darkness or light, sparks of light, pinpoints of light, flashes of light,

circles of light, or light of any color, such as red, orange, yellow, blue, green,

purple, violet, white, or golden color. No matter what you see, continue to gaze

into the middle of what appears. You may see inner vistas such as an inner sky,

clouds, stars, a moon, or a sun.

While gazing into the middle of what appears, you may notice that your

mind distracts you with thoughts. You may find that the thoughts distract you from

gazing within. You may find that you cannot silence your mind to continue

meditating. To help keep your mind from distracting you, you can mentally and

silently repeat any Name of God with which you feel comfortable. This repetition

should go on mentally, and not aloud, as you continue to gaze. This silent

repetition gives the mind something to do so that it does not send thoughts to you

that can distract you from meditating. As your attention converges at the third or

single eye, you may then see inner lights. These lights are a reflection of the lights

of the inner realms. By gazing deeper into the middle of that light, you can tap into

the spiritual treasures within and enjoy the profound peace, joy, bliss, and

happiness unlike any found in this world. Those who meditate are permeated with

a divine love that engulfs and fulfills them. The beauty of meditation is that this

joy can remain with you even after you resume your daily activities.

May you find this meditation helpful in improving the health of your body, mind,

and soul.

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Tips for Meditation Sant Rajinder Singh

Just as in any new activity we are learning, it takes time to develop the habits and

strength needed to grow in our new endeavor. The same is true with the art of

meditation. With meditation, we are learning to still our body, shut out the world,

and still the mind. These are new exercises, and it takes time to develop new

habits.

Here are some tips for your meditation practice.

Try to meditate at the same time each day. Early in the morning after you have

rested is best before you begin the day.

Find a spot and sit in the same place every time you meditate. Make this a sacred

place, a place of prayer.

Meditate when you are wide-awake and do not meditate on a full stomach as this

may cause you to be sleepy.

Set a spiritual atmosphere before meditation by reading from the scriptures,

singing a spiritual song, saying a prayer or poem. Try to put yourself in the mood

of devotion and longing for God.

Sit with all humility knowing that it is God's will to bless you with divine

experiences.

Start with shorter sittings and build to a half hour, an hour, and eventually two or

more hours.

Leading an ethical life creates the conditions conducive to meditation. The number

one helping factor in developing one's spiritual practices is the guidance of a

living, spiritual Master, one who has completed the course of meditation and who

is competent to give direction along the way. (www.sos.org)

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There is only one failure in meditation: the failure to meditate faithfully. (Eknath Easwaran)

The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy.

If, then, you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that

reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn’t belong to the soul. (Yogananda)

Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal bliss and supreme

joy in the end. (Swami Sivananda)

Meditation is an effort in the beginning. Later on it becomes habitual and gives

bliss, joy and peace. (Swami Sivananda)

In the Buddha's life story we see the three stages of practice: Morality comes first,

then concentrated meditation, and then wisdom. And we see that the Path takes

time. (Dalai Lama)

The first stage is a bit difficult, for it is crossed with struggle. The journey beyond

is pleasant. The karma and the struggle are interdependent. When the karmic debt

becomes light, the progress will be rapid. (Baba Sawan Singh)

Don’t feel badly if you find yourself too restless to meditate deeply. Calmness will

come in time, if you practice regularly. Just never accept the thought that

meditation is not for you. Remember, calmness is your eternal, true nature. (Yogananda)

All the instances known to history show that no one has ever progressed to the

highest conscious self-awareness without the help of a Master. It is rather a

Fundamental Law that no one can snap or pierce through the inner veil without the

active help and guidance of a Master-Soul. If anybody can do it by himself or

herself, let him or her try and see if he or she can do it. When one does not hesitate

in learning a thing which one does not know in this world, why should one have

any qualms in one’s search for something that belongs entirely to spiritual worlds

within? Even if as a result of some reactions of past lives, one may have some

experience of his own, he will still require someone to guide him to further

progress on the Path. (Sant Kirpal Singh)

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Kirpalct@yahoo.com