Meditation by Swami Virajananda Part -1
Meditation by Swami Virajananda
Article from Vedanta and the West, Jan-Feb 1949
To realise God an aspirant must have patience, perseverance, purity of body and mind, intense desire or yearning, the aggregate of the six attributes, namely shama (tranquillity of mind), dama (restraint of the senses), uparati (giving up attachment to objects), titiksha (remaining unaffected amidst all kinds of afflictions), shradha (faith in the words of the spiritual teacher and the scriptures) and samadhana (concentration of mind on the Chosen Ideal, or God).
Do not tell anybody else, except the Guru, the realisations and the visions, or similar experiences, that spiritual practices may bring you. Always keep your spiritual treasure – your inmost thoughts - hidden within you. These are not for vulgar gaze. These are your sacred possessions to be shared only between you and the Lord in secret. Likewise, do not talk of your defects and blemishes to others. You lose thereby your selfrespect and the respect of others for you. They are for you to confess to the Lord. Pray to Him for strength to overcome them.
When you begin meditation, first sit steadily for a while and watch the mind; let it wander wherever it pleases. Think that you are the witness, the seer. Sit watching how the mind floats and sinks, runs and skips; keep thinking, "I am not the body, nor the senses, nor the mind; I am altogether separate from the mind. The mind, too, is material; it is only a finer form of matter. I am the Atman (Self), the master; the mind is my servant." Whenever any idle thought arises in the mind try at once to put it down forcibly.
Ordinarily one breathes through the left nostril at the time of rest, through the right at the time of work, and through both at the time of meditation. The state most favorable to meditation is when the body and mind have become calm and there is an even flow of breath through both nostrils. But do not pay too much attention to watching your breath, nor make this a guide by which to regulate your activities.
Article from Vedanta and the West, Jan-Feb 1949
To realise God an aspirant must have patience, perseverance, purity of body and mind, intense desire or yearning, the aggregate of the six attributes, namely shama (tranquillity of mind), dama (restraint of the senses), uparati (giving up attachment to objects), titiksha (remaining unaffected amidst all kinds of afflictions), shradha (faith in the words of the spiritual teacher and the scriptures) and samadhana (concentration of mind on the Chosen Ideal, or God).
Do not tell anybody else, except the Guru, the realisations and the visions, or similar experiences, that spiritual practices may bring you. Always keep your spiritual treasure – your inmost thoughts - hidden within you. These are not for vulgar gaze. These are your sacred possessions to be shared only between you and the Lord in secret. Likewise, do not talk of your defects and blemishes to others. You lose thereby your selfrespect and the respect of others for you. They are for you to confess to the Lord. Pray to Him for strength to overcome them.
When you begin meditation, first sit steadily for a while and watch the mind; let it wander wherever it pleases. Think that you are the witness, the seer. Sit watching how the mind floats and sinks, runs and skips; keep thinking, "I am not the body, nor the senses, nor the mind; I am altogether separate from the mind. The mind, too, is material; it is only a finer form of matter. I am the Atman (Self), the master; the mind is my servant." Whenever any idle thought arises in the mind try at once to put it down forcibly.
Ordinarily one breathes through the left nostril at the time of rest, through the right at the time of work, and through both at the time of meditation. The state most favorable to meditation is when the body and mind have become calm and there is an even flow of breath through both nostrils. But do not pay too much attention to watching your breath, nor make this a guide by which to regulate your activities.
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