Meditation, some answers

In order to understand mediatation clearly, We have to understand mind and consciousness, thier default working characters, and their relation to each other. Mediatation cannnot be understood without this. This is precisely the reason why it looks wierd or useless to some people. let me state this as i found and understood.

Many intellectuals will object this and claim that i am stepping into religious zone but i am not. As i mentioned above that as i found and understood., means what my personal experiences told me, Not any religious book. That is altogether a deffernt thing that one may find something like that in some religious books also but i cannot help it.

Like most of the modern intellectual populace believes that mind and consciousness are the same thing but they are not. They are entirely two differnt entities but work with each other. Not only that, they cannot work without oneanother. Mind is a doing entity while consciousness in feeling entity. Mind collects all the data from the physical organs and think over it. Consciousness neither does anything in this process nor interfere. But, consciousness has the data of all the past experiences. Means, our memory in not stored in the mind but consciousness only. However, both these entities are that much intagled witheach other that for all practical purposes, they act as one not two. So, Mind think over whaever data it gets from the body, compare it likewise expreiences which are stored in the consciousness as it(Mind) has full access to that memory.

Meanwhile, consciouness does nothing but reamins a mere spectator in all this process but as mind goes through the anlysis of present and past ecperiences, Consciouness feels/rewinds all those instances and thus cased present and past feelings. Now, lastly, mind takes action according to those feelings and directs body to act accordingly. and, this process goes on and on throughout our life.

To understand this working and relationship of the mind and consciousness, I would like to put an analogy forth. If we think in the terms of a computer, body is hardware, Mind is software while consciouness is like a spectator/Oprator, who is looking at the screen.

One more issue is related and pertinent here, though somewhat outside the scope of the thread, But i would like to take that up right here.

As i said above that both of mind and consciousness exist and work in a very much amalgamated form and mind has access to what is stored in the consciouness. That is true for all prectical reasons but not entirely. The fact of the matter is that the mind does not have access to all what is in the consciousness but only a limited portion of it, though that limited access is enough for rourine woking but still incomplete.

If anyhow mind is able to get the full access of the consciouness, That is enlightenment, Nirvana or whatever one wants to name it. Believe me or not, it is as simple as that. There is nothing else to know or attain whatsoever. All information/Knowledge that the mankind wants to have, is right there, inside everyone. All we have to do is to get access to that. And, every quest will be over, right from big bang up to the God. Both of sicence and philosophy will be done.

And, that is precisely what the mediation is meant and designed for. Mediation enables mind to realize that consciounss is differnt from it and also gives access to that extent which is not possible normally.

I think that the theory part is over, so, from the next post. i will again go back to the mental exercise part of the mediataion, Unless any question from the readers comes by.

with love,
sanjay

i’m sorry… what? every quest will be over? i can think of 174 worldy problems that can’t be solved by meditating. power comes from the barrel of a gun, not from the end of an incense stick, sanjay.

last time i tried meditating i found myself saying ‘errrrrrmmmmm’ instead of ‘ohhhhmmmm’. explain that.

see this is what eastern mysticism has done to the western zeitgeist. it’s completely hijacked intellectualism with new age nonsense that either only distracts people from their real problems, or becomes a fashion trend for people who don’t have any real problems. if you find yourself believing that meditating will ‘help’ you, then buddy, you ain’t got no problems.

Yes, you are right. Like, meditation cannot teach you how to tide your shoelaces, or how to knot a tie.

Not at all, my friend, there is only one source of power and that is knowledge, nothing else.

What do you think that which are the ultimate questions for the philosophy and science?
There is only one which is- What is existence and why?
This quest is so vast that it covers all other enquiries of both diciplenes, like i said above from big bang to The God. And, mediation can answer this very question, and only it can.

Sorry, i did not understand what are you asking. Would you mind to elaborate!

with love,
sanjay

Here comes the practical part.

The first question comes to mind: how to do or start meditating?

I think that I should take one more point here before that. As i said before in this thread that mind and consciousness exist in very much amalgamated form in the body. As we all know that the mind is connected to each and every body part through nerves, thus being amagamated with the mind, Consciouness also spreads through the whole body. So, when we concentrate mind at any one point or thing, Consciouness has no option but to concentratrate itself too. Meditation takes advange of this default mechanism.

Now, let us get into the methodology of mediation.

The first thing to do here is to be into a confortable position. This may be of any type like sitting with crossed legs, sitting on the chair with legs down or even lying on the bed, either straight or at any side. Postures do not matter. Different people may feel comfortable in diferent postures. For myself, sitting does not work well so i lie down stright on my back. The only important thing regarding the postures which is important, is that once coming into the desired posture, you are not supposed to move your body, not even a bit, as long as you are meditating. This condition should not be violated otherwise that whole session would go in vain.

Now, let us assume that a person has gotten into his/her comfortable posture. The second thing to do is to close eyes. I also have mentioned its reason already in the thread above. The next thing is to find something to concentate upon. That object may be anything, a picture of anyone or sound byte. I can tell from my personal experience that a sound byte suits the most. You have to chose a small sound byte according to your taste. That may be a small mantra according to your belief, like Ya Allah, Om Namo Shivay or whatever. Please remember, It is not necessary to chose any religious thing, though that may be helpful but it also can be done without that.
The only important thing regarding the sound byte is that it should not be long, but consisted of merely 3,4 words, otherwise it would not work porperly.

After choosing a sound byte, you have to repeat it, slowy and alertly, preferably in the mind, though it may be difficult in the starting. You tounge will move slightly automatically even if you do not want. That is fine and no need to force the issue. And, you will realize that the image of the words of the sound byte will keep poping up before your mental eyes, as you repeat those. That is natural thing to happen. If you can focus on that images too along with the sound byte. that would enhance the speed of the process.

That is all you have to do, nothing else. Just keep repeating that sound byte in your mind, as long as you can. The process looks very simple on the paper but quite difficult to implement. The reason is our subconscious mind, which is forced to go against its own will by our effort to focus on one thing. So, subconscious will keep distracting from the goal . As the result, conscious mind forget what it was doing and go with the thoughts popping in the subconscious. This will happen again and again but you have to keep it bringing to that sound byte.

If one closely observes this struggle, he/she will be surprized to see how much is stored in the subsconscious and how it keeps popping up, even against one’s will. One will get totally unrelated waves of thoughts like from the childhood or what may happen in the distant future. This subconscious is an uncontrolable beast inside us and needs to be tamed down. And, if we keep patience, it will untimalely surrender.

There are some fine points and explanations are also pertinent here which i will take in the next post.

With love,
sanjay

Sorry guys,

My internet connection has got disturbed and it is not yet repaired due to lockdown. Telecom co people are telling that my connection will resume on monday.

with love,
sanjay

Oh dear… hang in there Zinnat.

Nooooo

Will this nightmare never end?

Lol

My connection resumed just now. I will post tonight or tomorrow.

With love,
sanjay

Just curious, how did you manage to post this?

By taking my laptop to a friend’s house at the other corner of the city, which is not possible in routine because of the lockdown.

With love
Sanjay

Thanks, I hope you had a nice trip back and forth.

I was thinking about starting a new thread about meditation but then i remembered about this thread which i left incomplete during corona times thus i am resuming this.

I would request those readers who are interested in the subject, to go through my previous posts in this thread again in order to have clearer understanding. New post is following in a day or two.

with love,
sanjay

m.youtube.com/watch?v=1W0Ovl3SQ4w

something to ponder on about life to continue meditation…

Before resuming the thread further, i thought that it would be useful to go through my previous post again and i found this.-

I think that it needs more clarification here in order to enable readers have clear understanding.

As it is generally believe, humans are not a singular entity but a three fold one. The innermost ingredient is consciousness, then it is wrapped by soul and then by physical body. Thus we are three folded. The soul is not consciousness. All of our three folds are made of different matter. Or, in other words we can say these three correspond to three different dimensions.

The consciousness is eternal and unchangeable. It does not do anything but just witness or feel whatever is happening to outer two bodies. As it is eternal thus it knows all, right from the its origin til now But it cannot do anything about it. The next layer is soul which is just like outermost human body but made of different matter which is subtler than our matter. Not only body but it also has its own mind. What we call subconscious is nothing but soul’s mind. Then comes the outermost layer which is human body, made of most crude form of matter which has its own mind too- conscious mind.

The important thing to understand here is that the soul is not eternal. Though it is made of different and subtler matter thus improved version of human body, but still not eternal. It takes birth and dies just like human body but its life span is very large in comparison to ours, so large that in a manner of speaking we call it eternal but not truly eternal in its strict sense. It feels pain and pleasure just like us. What we consider gods or higher supernatural entities, as mentioned in almost all major religions, are nothing but souls freed or not wrapped from human wrap. In other words, we can say that a god resides in each and every human.

Then comes consciousness. As i said above it is eternal and unchangeable but not a doing entity. It does not do anything, not even thinking but just feels. It does not have any mind on its own but permanently connected to soul and human minds. To be more precise, mind is part or rather anomaly caused in consciousness though separated thus it is also eternal like consciousness but unlike it, mind is a doing entity and does all the thinking. Because of being eternal, and also having its default nature of thinking, it never stops thinking, no matter how hard we try. Its this very nature cannot be undone by any effort or means. The only thing we can do to tame it, is to keep it engaged in something.

And, that is precisely what meditation is.

with love.
sanjay

Meditation! the answer… sit down, shut up, stop gassing, and start meditating.

…and, I thank you.

Magsj,

For clarification, i am not asking to anyone to pick up meditation. That is not my intention. That entirely depends on one’s choice. I am addressing only those who are already interested and looking for more understanding of the subject. Given my experience, i think that i can help them to some extent.

with love,
sanjay

Let us resume.

Contrary to what people generally think, meditation, especially the initial phase is totally areligious. It is not unreligious but areligious only. Means, its initial phase has nothing to with any particular religion but purely a mental exercise. So it does not matter at all what is one’s belief, faith or ideology, the result will be the same.

As i mentioned before in this thread, meditation starts as a purely mental exercise. Concentration is its cornerstone so it does not matter from where that concentration comes. It could be anything, right from any religious figure or any other thought about any person/object. The only think that is required is that thought must be strong enough to overcome all other thoughts. Now, the natural question that comes to one’s mind- why it is so?

To understand this. we have to go back to the cross section of humans. Humans are three folded entity, having two bodies with their respective minds. We have control over only human mind((conscious), not soul’ mind( subconscious) while subconscious mind have a lot of control over conscious mind. It is almost one way traffic- from subconscious to conscious. We have to convert to into two way traffic. That is first goal of meditation. And, no further progress is possible achieving it. So, how can we do it?

As the soul’s body is more powerful than human’s body, thus, without any exception, thus, it is the conscious mind that decides our basic initial nature. Then, we come into the contact of different circumstances and our conscious mind gets affected by those and learns/changes accordingly too. As both minds are connected somehow so that change in the conscious mind affects its subconscious counterpart too, thought that much but still changes. But, if we keep repeating a particular mental behaviour or exercise either forcefully or by circumstances with conscious mind, later or sooner, subconscious mind also adapts it. This is precisely how we form habits.

Mind also behaves like body. As we know that if if we use a particular body part or muscle again and again, it becomes stronger than comparison to others. We see it in the case of body building. The same happens in the case of mind too. If use conscious mind again and again in a particular manner, it starting becoming stronger and stronger. On the other hand, Subconscious mind becomes weaker by the same degree. And, if we keep doing it long enough, the time comes when conscious mind becomes strong enough to tap and change subconscious mind. The first goal of the meditation completes here.

So, all that brings us back to choosing and using a particular set of conscious mind’s practice. Given all that which i mentioned above, we have to find any such practice which we can use to make conscious mind stronger. And, there is only one way of doing it which is to keep it engaged in any particular thought so that it can not roam anywhere else. That is meditation.

So, it does not matter what one chooses as an object or subject of concentration, the result is going to be the same. The only thing that is required is to keep one’s eyes closed while doing so. Otherwise, odds are in the favor that it would not work.

I will take this further in the next post.

with love.
sanjay

If it is necessary to keep eyes closed (and I assume also in a calm environment) aren’t people who have a medical condition of anxiety prevented from accomplishing meditation?

Zazen is the meditative practice of being close to and in front of a blank wall and staring at it for hours (eyes open).

Personally, I think meditation is just engaging with the world and different perspectives. The echo chamber (you and a blank wall) isn’t going to teach you much other than what you learn from trying it once or twice.

Closing your eyes? Similar concept to zazen, but what bubbles up can be more distracting than zazen.

Only a very select group in the human species has the time to meditate as you’re suggesting.

Rather, one should learn that you are always meditating. This is called ‘mindfulness’.