Off late, I have been too busy juggling between career and personal front. I am so involved in my work, career, passions and planning that I don’t even realize that I am getting stressed. Corporate world is a maze that makes u find peace with success, money and sundry other materialistic things. We are all in the rat race, without even realizing it. We chase our dreams neglecting ourselves and our health. Health is both, your mind and your body. Now that we can’t quit the rat race, we at least need to understand how to make the best of our lives running this race. In simple words, we need to take care of both, our mind and body, if we want to run and win this never ending marathon of life.
I happened to talk about this to one of the most influential teachers in my life. His message was simple – “To look within and strengthen your mind and soul”. Being a great spiritual teacher and a meditator himself, he suggested me to meditate to bust the stress and strengthen myself.
With his permission (I really thank him for this. I got the permission to publish his Meditation Tips only after I promised to put these in practice. 🙂 ), I am posting a few tips that he has suggested me. I hope this will benefit you all (those who have questions, can leave a comment).
He says –>
” Though meditation is a vast subject, let me try to give you some idea about the essentials of meditation.
The whole idea of meditation is based on two important facts:
1. We become what we think. If we think we are pure, pure we become. If we think we are weak, weak we become. If we think we are divine, divine we become. And in meditation we try to think consciously, intensely and with great focus, of a symbol of God. Think of a form of God, say Siva, or a flame, and think of that symbol as full of all noble qualities—love, peace, joy, and fearless. As you go on thinking of that symbol, you absorb those qualities. As much deeply you are able to think of the object of your meditation, so much you will benefit from it.
2. You must recognise that there is a rhythm in life. We work and rest. We eat and digest. We walk and sit. We speak and are silent. No one can be doing any of these activities all one’s life. There is income and expenditure principle working in life. There is a rhythm everywhere. In nature also there is a rhythm—day and night, heat and cold, bitter and sweet and so on. In meditation, we try to repair our inner mind by detaching it from the activities of life, all its concerns and plans. THAT heals and strengthens us, our personality. This detachment of mind makes mind fresh and strong and that is what meditation does to us.
Please keep these two facts about meditation in your mind always.
Now some tips:
~~Try to fix some 15 minutes every morning, preferably after bath, before breakfast, for meditation. For this you may have to make some changes in your life-style. Be willing to make some practical changes like getting up slightly earlier and finding some time for meditation. Or you can meditate before going to bed. But then you must not meditate AFTER heavy meals. You will simply fall asleep!!
~~Sit straight, cross-legged. Keep your head, neck and spine in same line. You can sit on your bed itself, or use an small asana (carpet) for sitting.
~~Close the eyes, keep you hands clasped or keep them on thighs. Feel unrelated to everything in life. Do not answer to any thought or try to solve any problem. Try feeling unrelated, and relaxed.
~~Pray to the Almighty for strength, calmness, compassion, and direction in life. Do not ask for anything in particular. Just communicate with HIM, seeking His guidance and grace. Think of your mind becoming filled with divine light of the Almighty.
Focus on your breathing a little. Do not hold you breath. Just observe how air touches nostrils, enters and leaves your body. Just try to focus on it for 8-10 times.
~~If you have the habit of repeating any mantra you can repeat it or just say OM some times (some 30 or 50 times or more). And think of any form of God you feel attracted to, think of Him as sitting in the centre of your chest, full of light, calmness, and joy. Keep your mind on that form as long you can but never force yourself to meditate. If any day mind is unwilling to meditate, just mentally pray and repeat God’s name.
~~AT the end, fold your hands, pray for strength and purity and guidance and pray for the well-being of everyone, and slowly get up from your seat.
~~It would take some 15 minutes to go through this process. Do not increase or decrease the time but make it a daily and regular practise.
~~After meditation, you can also read from the Call to the Nation or any other elevating book and then start you day.
Hope these tips will be useful to you.”
I hope that it will be worthwhile to post this message here. These tips are great for techies and people from corporate world who always think they never have time.
Also, the book that he was mentioning, “Vivekananda: His call to the Nation“, is the greatest book that I have read in my life. It is a gist of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and life. It is a very small book, but it is a book that captures the very fundamentals of human spirit and life. To be honest, the book changed my life. Read it for sure!!!
Wish you more peace.
Facebook Comments