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Spirit News Blog - Meditation
Forgive, You will have happiness. Forget, You will have satisfaction. Forgive and forget, You will have everlasting peace Within and without.
- Sri Chinmoy
If anyone speaks ill of you, Praise him always. If anyone injures you, Serve him nicely. If anyone persecutes you, Help him in all possible ways. You will attain immense strength. You will control anger and pride. You will enjoy peace, poise and serenity. You will become divine
- Swami Sivananda
"Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others' shortcomings and by harshly examining our own."
- Paramhansa Yogananda
More Inspirational Quotes
Photo by Pranlobha, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
"No matter which path you follow for meditation, the first and foremost task is to try to make the mind calm and quiet. "
- Sri Chinmoy [1]
Beginners to meditation find that when they sit down to meditate their mind is akin to a mad monkey; no matter how hard we try, the power of the mind's thoughts seem to make meditation most difficult. However, it is possible to have a completely clear mind. It is not easy, but there are various techniques that can be used to quieten the mind. These are some techniques that I recommend.
1. The Source of Thoughts.
Whenever a thought appears in your mind, ask yourself - where did this thought originate from? Try to dive deep into the source of this thought. When you follow the source of your thoughts you realise that our real essence is not mental thoughts; there is something beyond thought. This is a powerful technique for calming our mind because we realise there is a separation between what we are and our thoughts. When we feel thoughts as separate from our identity it is easy to stop them completely.
2. Will Power.
Another technique to stop thoughts is to use the power of our will. Develop the determination to stop all thoughts completely. Feel like you are vigilantly guarding your mind. As soon as a thought appears stop it entering. If you like you can imagine throwing it out of your mind completely. The important thing is to not allow any thought, whether good or bad.
Ananda are a group of British musicians, dedicated to playing the spiritual music of Sri Chinmoy. There music is ideal for meditation.
- Listen Now - - (Apple Quick Time m4a)
- Listen Now - - (iTunes m3u)
- Listen Now - Real Player format
Ananda Music website
More selections of Meditation Music
Meditation Silence is a weekly podcast of meditation videos. They offer simple guidance about meditation with spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy
This week is an exercise to try and control the mind. Meditation Silence 7 - The Heart Lotus
"Please try to imagine a lotus inside your heart. Then try to imagine that the lotus is not only inside your heart, but that your heart itself is a lotus. When you look at the lotus or imagine the lotus, try to be deeply absorbed in the beauty of the lotus. It is your own heart-lotus. Then your mind will have no time to roam. "
Watch Meditation video now uses Apple Quicktime
Modern life with all its distractions and features seems particularly unsuited to silence. Even if we have actual outer silence our mind is rarely silent. If we analyse our thoughts there seem to be a never ending stream of worries, anxieties, and regrets.
In meditation we try to do a very difficult thing - silence our thoughts completely. It is difficult only because we are so unused to this idea. The mind is so used to thinking that it is easy to think our existence is defined by our thoughts and this must be our only existence. To quote the famous saying of Descartes “I think therefore I am” However meditation teaches that what we are is unencumbered by thoughts. The real “I” is our self which is beyond thought.
Researchers led by Prashant Kaul of the University of Kentucky, investigated whether meditation could help people become less tired in the afternoon.
The students were asked to undergo a series of tests and then have their responses measured. The study found that alertness was the highest after meditation, followed by caffeine and then exercise. Napping had the worst results.
The findings of Prashant Kaul were recently submitted to a conference for the Society for Neuroscience.
Previous studies have shown that when meditating although people are awake their are similar brain patterns to sleeping.
Some adepts in meditation are known to need very little sleep having become able to draw in cosmic energy.
See: NY Times for more information
"Meditation and music cannot be separated. When we cry from the inmost recesses of our heart for peace, light and bliss, that is the best type of meditation. Next to meditation is music, soulful music, the music that stirs and elevates our aspiring consciousness. "
- Listen To Esraj playing of Sri Chinmoy (m4a format)
- Listen To Flute Music and Conch by Sri Chinmoy (m4 a Format)
- Selected Meditation Music with a variety of audio formats
- Spiritual Music with Indian Flavour
The inmates of Gwalior Central Jail recently had a day long session of taking lessons in spiritualism, relieving stress and how to shun violent tendencies by a visiting team of volunteers representing a New York based organisation.
The inmates serving various jail terms in the Gawlior Central Jail attended a six hour long session on spiritualism to develop and realise their inner selves. It was organised by the Krishna Bhavnamat Sangh, the New York based voluntary organisation.
The nearly six hour long session was attended by almost all of the 2,800 inmates. About 200 jail staff was also present during the programme.
The initiative was taken to make them learn how they can rehabilitate themselves in society after being released. Inmates were motivated to participate in spiritual meets to overcome emotional stress and sense of guilt.
People who meditate say the practice restores their energy, and some claim they need less sleep as a result. Many studies have reported that the brain works differently during meditation – brainwave patterns change and neuronal firing patterns synchronise. But whether meditation actually brings any of the restorative benefits of sleep has remained largely unexplored.