Some tips and guidance to starting meditation

The subject of this article is the basics of Meditation.

I was reading Osho Rajneesh just now and one thing he was stressing is that the attitude we have is very important. He says that it is necessary to start with a very optimistic attitude. Whatever are your goals for doing meditation be optimistic that you will achieve them. You may want to be able to relax, to experience inner peace, to quit smoking, to sleep better or to achieve the ultimate. These are all worthy goals and you are worthy of them. You deserve these achievements; you deserve to enjoy these experiences.

If you are optimistic then you will charge each cell in your body with optimism. Osho says that if you take the first step with optimism then the last step will also be possible with a sense of accomplishment. Whereas if you are negative then each and every cell in your body will also be negative and you are doomed to failure.

Another point made by Osho is that you must stress on the experience that you have gained and dwell on them instead of thinking of all that you have not managed to achieve. Suppose you have been able for a few moment – perhaps just a minute or so – to achieve the state of No Mind, when you are not disturbed by any thoughts. Dwell on that experience – be happy with it instead of being caught up with you desires and thinking about all that you have not achieved. Osho says that he once met a person – a Sanskrit scholar – who attended a 3-day camp under him. At the end of the first day she came up to Osho and said – "I have not experienced the Divine in this whole days' meditation." This is exactly the wrong attitude to have. In the first place experiencing the Divine is a very worthy objective and all things worth doing are difficult. In the second if you get down and beat up on yourself because of your expectations it will act as a barrier to your progress. You may get discouraged and decide to give up your meditation practice. Be optimistic certainly, but beyond that watch what happens and be happy with what you have attained.

Osho compares this with sitting in a room with complete darkness. Then all of a sudden a ray of light can be seen in the dark room. You can have 2 different attitudes to the ray of light. You can say – "This is just one ray of light and the rest of the room is in darkness." And you can grow discouraged. On the other hand you can say – " It is true that there is darkness all around me but there is also this ray of light and if I follow this ray I may be able to reach where the Sun is."

Osho says that this is the attitude to have. As long as there is even a slightest ray of light concentrate on that. Do not look at the darkness surrounding you. This will lead to positive visions, a positive attitude and optimism.

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