How to Meditate - some important advice

In this article I will not tell you how to meditate but give you some tips and advice on meditation. But please read on, what I have to tell you is important to your practice.

I will not tell you how to meditate because in the first place I am not a master – just a student like you. Secondly I read a story that is applicable in this scenario.

A doctor was asked how long it would take for a student to learn how to remove an appendix. The doctor replied - it will take me 5 minutes to show you how to remove an appendix but it will take me 4 years to teach you how to deal with all the things that can go wrong. This applies to this situation.

So the important thing is to go to a master – some one who can not only teach you how to meditate but will also guide you in avoiding all the pitfalls and the inevitable difficulties and questions which will arise. Going to a master is also important because you will then belong to a community of meditators. It is easier to keep up your practice if you belong to a group that shares your interest and that can encourage and support each other.

At the end of this article I will give you some links to web sites and resources which will meet your needs and tell you how to meditate.

But what is the purpose of meditation. Learning how to meditate properly will result in you being more self aware, happier and more at peace with yourself. You will be less in the grip of the stressful, anxious ego. These are result that I have experienced myself as I have done my meditation.

A story is told by Osho Rajneesh that God wants to meet us and so he goes to the place where he expects to find us – in the Here and Now. But He never finds us over there. We are never in the present moment – we are always in the grip of our ego, of the mind, occupies by past memories or future dreams. Learning how to meditate properly will result in your being present in the Here and Now more and more often.

It is a process that Eckhart Tolle calls – dis-identification with the mind. Most of us are caught up with our thoughts; we are not able to free ourselves from them. Learning how to meditate will result in your being more of a witness to your thoughts and feelings. This will result in your being happier and more at peace with yourself.

This requires you to practice stopping your thought and feelings so that you can witness them. In the Buddhist meditation tradition, meditation is divided into Samatha – which means stopping and Vipassana – which means insight. Vipassana or insight meditation is what will result in transformation but Samatha or stopping your thoughts so that you can witness them is also important. Indeed it is a pre requisite to Vipassana. You will gain much from the practice of Samatha itself. All the benefits I spoke of earlier will be yours.

Here are some resources which will teach you how to meditate-

1) Vipassana as taught by S N Goenka. Please visit this site http://www.dhamma.org for full details. It is however a demanding course. You will have to undergo a 10-day course where you meditate for more than 10 hours every day. After the course you are expected to practice for 2 hours daily in order to make progress.

2) Transcendental meditation. Please visit this web site – http://www.tm.org This is less demanding and you can learn the method in a few hours. You are advised to practice for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. This may be more suited to you if you lead a hectic and busy life.

3) Paul Brunton has written 2 books, which expound a method of meditation that he learned from Ramana Maharishi – one of the most venerated sages of modern India. These books are The Secret Path and The Quest of the Overself both available at Amazon. This is a powerful technique and is completely safe to learn from a book and practice in the initial or intermediate stages. It is also suited to the needs of the modern age, as it requires only 30 minutes during the day.

4) Some of you may be interested in visiting the Rajneesh Ashram in Pune India where many innovative and dynamic forms of meditation are taught. Please visit http://www.osho.com
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you.

Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.

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