Hi my friends,
Today I want to discuss the role of meditation in leading to
enlightenment or jumping off the cliff.
How much does one need to meditate to get to the ultimate
goal? Is it countable in days, months or years?
This is a question many get in starting with a practice of
meditation.
Well, the surprise answer is, enlightenment has nothing to
do with what many take as meditation.
You may meditate the major part of your life and end up not
knowing what enlightenment is all about!
There may be another who has not heard of what meditation is,
who suddenly succumb to enlightenment in the matter of a few moments.
What is the difference?
Let’s look at it.
Meditation is another
activity just like practicing a
sport, musical instrument or exercising.
Meditation may not take those who practice it towards
enlightenment, but it will have other beneficial results as above activities
would have on one.
Let’s take a closer look.
What is meant by meditation?
A whole array of activities is meant by the word meditation.
On one hand there is the fixing of focus on a subject and on the other letting
mind wander free and watching what is happening.
These are two main branches of meditation
found in Buddhist thinking. I believe many meditations found in other traditions
may involve mainly the fixing of attention part.
So by practicing of this meditation, is not one moving any
closer to enlightenment? You may ask.
Well, unfortunately ‘they do not’ my friends. One can start
a meditation practice and end up being at the same position in relation to
enlightenment as one was at the point of start after many years of practice.
However, meditation can be a change of lifestyle to one, a
new experience that will have the same effect as a vacation would have on a
busy person.
On a vacation one may make new discoveries, get to know new places
and overall relax, in the same way a fruitful meditation practice allows one to
make new discoveries, get to know new areas in oneself and relax one’s hectic
life.
How much chance is there of one getting hold of the most
precious gem in the world when on vacation?
There is the same chance of coming
across enlightenment in meditation.
By meditation here I mean the formal practice of it, which
you do by sitting down in a designated position trying to direct your attention
as specified by the instructions received from someone.
My friends, you may as well engage in other relaxing
activities, be it playing a musical instrument, painting a picture or even
fishing with a rod. These activities are also done with a pre-planned schedule
and structure, they are relaxing and fundamentally have the same purpose and
effect in their function as what meditation does to the meditator.
So the meditation practiced by many is nothing different
than another playing a guitar or may be watching a film in their function as
activities.
If standard meditation does not help, what is the course of
action required to follow for someone intent on enlightenment?
My friends, for the greatest human experience to dawn, one
needs to work on expanding one’s understanding.
For this one needs to have an extremely open attitude towards one’s
being.
Unfortunately this attitude is usually barred right at the
start of standard meditation when a framework is introduced into it. One only tries
to make all one’s discoveries within this frame.
In many cases, the activity of meditation is
inseparable from its religious frameworks where all one’s expectations are laid
out before one starts, leaving no room for new discoveries.
When one attaches oneself to a thought system, one’s ability
to be open to one’s experiences is lost.
How can you run into a closed barrel
and expect to find the sky. It is impossible.
How can one be open to one’s being?
To be open my friends, one does not need to
be sitting down. The enlightenment may
dawn at any moment one is awake, it is highly unpredictable, and always shows
up at the least expected moment.
This is because dawning of enlightenment is not a moment willed by one but it comes totally
against one’s will; or one’s belief of the existence of any will, to be exact.
With any will being present, the enlightenment
gets no room to enter, and without will one would not meditate. Therefore it is
a tricky situation.
If you want to be enlightened, you need to start creating
space for the great nature to arrive in you, and this requires a sense of
acceptance as well as free investigation to find out the depths and widths of
your own being.
This investigation is always possible in the presence of consciousness;
it is independent of any body posture, or any concept structure. So you do not
need to belong to this or that religion or any other prerequisite.
It is a wonderful
phenomenon that only relates to just
being, regardless of its goodness or badness. You become no longer yourself
but part of great nature where you really belong.
So investigate, be free and be open to create space for the
great nature to settle in you to make you a happy being.
Thanks my friends.
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