Meditation
is a means of elevating the mind to Divine consciousness, for reaching the
ultimate goal of life, which is Divine Love for God. All day long people work
and live in a material environment that pulls their minds towards the world.
Meditation fills the mind with devotion, detaches it from the world, attaches
it on God, and results in the purification of consciousness. This surcharging
of consciousness through meditation benefits one throughout the day.
Consider the
analogy of milk. If you pour water in it, the milk is unable to remain separate
from it and retain its pure identity. However, if you keep the water separate
from the milk and convert it into yogurt, and then extract butter from the
yogurt, that butter can then challenge the water, “Mr. Water! I will sit on
your head and float. You cannot do anything to me. As long as I was milk, you
would mix within me and dilute my concentration. But now, I have become butter,
and thus I am immiscible.”
Similarly,
in isolation from the disturbing elements of the world, if we learn to focus
our mind on God for some time, it will help us in sustaining Divine
consciousness throughout the day, even while working in the world. Like the
sandalwood tree, we too will live in the world but not let the world live
within us.
chandana viṣha
vyāpai nahīñ, lipaṭe rahata bhujaṅga
“Although
the sandalwood tree has venomous cobras lying encircled around it, their poison
does not affect the tree.”
Meditation
has innumerable other benefits too. Modern scientists estimate that we use only
three percent of the mind’s potential. The reason for this is that our mind is
scattered, and it keeps flitting from topic to topic and thought to thought.
But if we can learn to concentrate our mind, we can increase the utilization of
our mental and intellectual faculties.
Meditation
also has a very salubrious effect on physical health. Most ailments have their
roots in the mind. When one harbors poisonous thoughts, of hatred, envy,
anxiety, tension, fear, etc., it disturbs the mental sheath (one of the five
sheaths in the body). This disturbance is then passed on to the prāṇic sheath,
which then manifests in the physical sheath of the body as disease. Meditation
on God heals the various ailments of the mind, resulting in enhancement of vital
energy and the improvement of physical health as well.
I just had the good fortune of attending one of Swamiji's programs in which he conducted a Meditation benefits. It was an extraordinary experience and I could feel an inexplicable joy in my heart. Thank you, Swamiji!
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