WHY MEDITATION?

Many people have asked me, “What is the benefit of meditation?” I can simply say that

meditation has opened a door to reconsider the habit patterns of the mind. It has enabled me to look at mind’s tendencies, without a sense of fault or weakness, but simply as the mind’s design. And particularly, meditation has shed light on the false premise that problems have their cause in situations, resulting in a transition of awareness, which gives rise to be empowered in any situation.

A beneficial direction of enquiry is to examine the conditioning process of our childhood.

Sifting out our learned knowledge from the pure canvas of knowing, upon which the

conditioning was painted, reveals something so fundamentally pure and free – our essential nature.

As children, we all grew up with pressures to learn, to attain, to progress, to perform, to be independent and to serve others. As a result we are busy running to achieve goals set by others, who themselves had not attained a worry-free state! Although elders set a course for success in life, one doesn’t know why they are running and where they are going. Without the light of awareness, we lose sight of our purpose in this life.

Meditation is not a practice to add yet another layer of something to learn, think of,

experience or even know. When we are brought to a point in our lives where it has become obvious that the mind meanders in a labyrinth of duality, seeking solutions to an enduring sense of problem, meditation is offered as a directive by those wise ones, who are liberated from worry. Therefore, sit and be still for some time, disengage from the senses and watch the mind.

How can Meditation be the Direction out of the Maze of Uncertainty

and Bring Solutions to Practical Problems?

To watch the compelling nature of the mind and not engage in finding solutions to our

situations within the labyrinth, the running stops, the confusion dissipates, and the anxiety

subsides.

The child who is afraid of a ghost under the bed screams out in an irrational panic. The wise parent lifts the bed-cover and says, “Look, see! There is no ghost.” And then the child, seeing for herself that there is no ghost, is reassured and can sleep peacefully. In meditation we strengthen the inner wise parent, which allows a kind of sifting process, to expose the mind-ghost distinct from the purely known – the Being.

A person without this direction is compelled to act on the doubtful, destructive, worrisome

or fearful thoughts that come like uninvited ghosts in their mind. Meditation builds clarity

and thereby a power that you are not bound to act on what the mind is saying. When yousee that the mind’s story is in a constant push and pull in relation to people and situations, it is a liberation to know that mind can never describe ME – who is pure and free.

What is the Meaning of Pure?

The Sanskrit word Shuddh means pure. The word pure, from a Vedic perspective, does not mean virtuous or sinless, but rather it means unable to be changed or modified. Like water – whatever you do with water: boil it, freeze it, confine it in a jar, merge it with the ocean, send it down a river, or throw it off a cliff and call it a waterfall, it is still water. H20, the nature of water, remains as water, whether you mix dye in it, stir sugar in it, squeeze lemon in it, or even pollute it completely.

A mantra from Vedic wisdom, “OM Nitya Shuddh Buddh Mukt Swarupay Namaha”, means that my true nature is eternal, pure, and free awareness. This is the true description of our essential Self. And so, as we examine how the mind was built in us, simultaneously we realise that before we were conditioned, mind was not there. Also when we sleep, mind is not there. This observation reveals our pure awareness that has remained forever unmixed with the imaginary personality that was developed as a tool to tackle life’s difficulties and yet failed us completely.

The Pure Awareness Remains Unmixed from the Mind

Just as the Driver is Unmixed from the Car. Observe the minds’ story as merely a description of the body-mind self, and you recognise awareness to be unchanging, unmixed, ever-present. The body and mind is our car, and our awareness is the driver of the car. The car has a certain nature, a perfect design to navigate our world. Just as we see the features of a car, we can observe certain patterns of the human personality. The mistake, or, rather, the cause of struggle, is when one expects the personality patterns to describe awareness, the driver.

And so this distinction, between the appearance and pure awareness, has become a most valuable signpost, able to point you to recognise the true awareness, distinct from the mind, which poses to be you, and remains limited to describe only the created features, the personality of you.

When my car breaks down, if I know the cause of the break-down is in the engine, I will not get out of the car and blame the road! When we seek unity and harmony within the story of our situations, which is to try and fix the car by examining the road, we miss the place of resolution, which is in the awareness that is unmixed from the built-up story of the mind.

Knowing this, we act with certainty, doubtlessness, compassion and clarity according to the situation in front of us, not according to the built-up patterns of conditioning, which are mixed with erroneous and unfounded fear, desire, worry, and agitation. If one does not examine the mind, to see that mind is our vehicle, then we remain small and bound to thestory that the mind tells, being well aware that that story rounds in a sense of problem and the frustrating efforts to solve it.

The Perspective Through Meditation – a True Gift

It is a most empowering perspective that has unfolded over these many years of regular

meditation and enquiry, that meditation reveals the tendencies of the mind, relieving the

struggle to need to improve, evolve, or remove the mind, in order to know that I am forever free. This perspective is a true gift to know that the nature of mind is, and will remain as it is. Then I am free to drive this body and mind car, for I know where I am driving it and for what reason. And when I arrive at my destination I am free to get out of the car and rest in the comfort of my true home.

The mind does not disappear, but we can dare to lift that which has covered the pure

awareness, and see that mind is not to be feared, it is a brilliant and wonderful vehicle for living this most precious and glorious life. Meditation is an awakening to the recognition of your pure awareness. Do not accept the mind’s sense of problem, sense of lack, or state of worry, for that story does not describe You, the free, pure, eternal Being.

Those brilliant minds, awakened to enquire, are at a profound crossroads. Walk in the

direction of non-acceptance of mind’s story that projects a shadow on Life. Shine your light and be free from mind’s imaginary shadow.

-Shikhaa