"On Meditation" - Swami Muktananda

The Upanishads say that everything in the universe is in meditation. The earth is held in position by meditation, fire burns through the power of meditation, water flows through the power of meditation, and the wind blows through the power of meditation. Through meditation, the ancient sages discovered the various laws of society and how to govern so that everything functioned smoothly. In the same way, the secrets of the ancient sciences were revealed to these sages. Through meditation, they accomplished great tasks.

Meditation is such a great purifier that it washes away the sins of countless lifetimes and removes all the impurities and tensions which beset the mind. Meditation rids us of disease and makes us more skillful at everything we do. Through meditation, our inner awareness expands and our understanding of inner and outer things becomes steadily deeper. Through meditation, we travel to different inner worlds and have innumerable inner experiences. Above all, meditation stills the mind - which constantly wanders, which constantly causes suffering - and establishes us forever in the state of supreme peace.... Ultimately, meditation makes us aware of our own true nature. It is this awareness which removes all suffering and delusion, and this awareness comes only when we see our own Inner Self face to face.

Excerpts from "MEDITATE" by Swami Muktananda.

"MEDITATE"

Swami Muktananda

UBS Publishers' Distributors Ltd

by special arrangements with

Gurudev Siddha Peeth, Ganeshpuri

Pages 71

1991 edition - Prices Rs.60/-

Grateful thanks to Gurudev Siddha Peeth and UBSPD.

Gems from Paramahamsa Yogananda-1:

Very simply, all you have to do is to think away the thoughts you want to destroy, by replacing them with constructive thoughts. This is the key to heaven; it is in your hands.

Gems from the Bible-13:

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

Gems from Vedanta-7:

When man becomes a worthy channel, Divinity manifests of its accord in and through him.

Gems from Swami Chidbhavananda-2:

Man has a lot to learn from the bee. It lives for the collective good of the hive. Selfishness is alient to it.

Gems from the Bhagavad Gita-10:

The wandering senses carry one away from wisdom.

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-14:

There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point, that is the secret.

From my Spiritual Diary-48:

· It is only after the practice of intense tapas that men are freed of guile and stinginess. God vision comes to them who are free from crookedness and cunning. But in the name of simplicity, man should not become a simpleton. It is good to be a devotee, but to be a dullard. Know what is right and do what is good. (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa).

· Neither this person nor that person is the cause of anything; at the root of all is God. Everything has emerged from him. Never forget him, “from whom has streamed forth this eternal activity”…. Don’t pay much attention to external causes; rather, practice to see everything within. “Your lover is in yourself, and your enemy too is within you.” (A Hindi saying). “He himself is his friend, and he himself is his enemy(Gita VI.5)”. (Swami Turiyananda).

· Tapasya sharpens the mind, followed by longing. Then one can understand that this rare human body is perishable. Then one begins to long to finish it quickly. If this life is wasted, one cannot be sure when one will again be born in a human body. So one takes to it in right earnest. And giving up food and sleep, tries for it. One says to oneself with firm determination, “I shall get up only after THE GOLD HAS BEEN MELTED…. THE WATER HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE FIELD – only then shall I bathe and eat – such a FIRM RESOLVE one makes. Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to say: “I would lie down in the Panchavati night and day unconscious. Sometimes a snake would crawl over me and I would not take notice.” (“M” - Mahendra Nath Gupta).

· Don’t eat too much, and give up this craze for outer cleanliness. People with a craze do not attain Knowledge. Follow conventions only as much as necessary. Don’t go to excess. (Sri Ramakrishna).

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-13:

Teach yourselves, teach everyone, his real nature; call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come, when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-12:

Great convictions are the mothers of great deeds. Behind every great work there is this tremendous power of conviction. The world is shaped and moved by men and women of conviction.

How To-20: "How to become a Mahatma (Great Soul):"

How to become a Mahatma (Great Soul):

1. Prayer
2. Meditation
3. Repetition of God’s name
4. Exercise
5. Eating in Moderation
6. Eating nutritious and easily digestible food
7. Total avoidance of Fast Food and Junk Food
8. Drinking a minimum of 2 litres of water
9. Minimum six hours sleep
10. Avoidance of Over-indulgence in anything
11. Getting up before 6 a.m.
12. Reading uplifting and elevating literature
13. Avoidance of Stimulants and Spicy Food
14. Fasting for one full day every month
15. Including plenty of juicy fruits and vegetables and reducing
cooked food to the barest minimum
16. Company of the Pure-minded and Holy (‘Satsang’)
17. Observing Silence at least for an hour every day
18. Regular Walk in the morning and evening
19. Healthy Hobby
20. Social Service
21. Doing one’s duty sincerely and devotedly
22. Consciously blocking harmful thoughts from entering
one’s mind
23. Truthfulness in Thought, Word and Deed
24. Non-violence in Thought, Word and Deed
25. Non-covetousness
26. Non-possessiveness
27. Universal Love
28. Simple Living and High Thinking
29. Selfless Life and Selfless Service

From my Spiritual Diary-47:

… in this universe, the Divine manifests, expresses Himself as Knowledge in the mind, as Love in the Heart, as Power in our Life-impulses, and as Beauty in the Physical. And what is beauty? Beauty is a perfect condensation, a perfect coordination of everything that is involved. (M.P.Pandit)

If only you are awake, you can see the hand of God everywhere.
(M.P.Pandit).

This body has been given to us by God and we have no right to punish it by refusing to clothe it elegantly, feed it fully. We are asked to look upon the body as a temple of God. We have to treat as sacred, keep it pure, well-decorated. (M.P.Pandit)

Once you recognize that there is joy in life, suffering changes its complexion.(M.P.Pandit)

Nobody wants to die, nobody wants to leave this world; even the poorest man, even the man who suffers the most, does not want to die, because deep within him there is the joy of life. If you can total up all the suffering and all the happiness in this world, happiness will be found to be more, that is why there is a will to live. Nobody wants to end his life. This is the secret of life; there is joy hidden in life, and all our education, our culture, our religion must awaken this sense of joy, sense of happiness, sense of beauty in each one of us and to the extent we serve this ideal, we serve not only humanity, but also God. (M.P.Pandit)

What we are, what we think we are, is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind our surface mind, behind the thoughts and the emotions and helpless actions that we perform from morning till evening, there is a great belt of consciousness of which we are not aware. And still it is the impulses from these regions that influence us. (M.P.Pandit).