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SWAMIJI SRI SELVAM SIDDHAR- DR
COMMANDER SELVAM - FAMOUS
NAGARATHAR SWAMIJI IN THE
WORLD

Meditation
 Param Pujya Swamiji Sri Selvam Siddhar


PARAM PUJYA SWAMIJI SRI SELVAM SIDDHAR


Small introduction and some ideas;-



The essence of meditation is awake non-striving.



As such, in its most basic form, it constitutes one of the
four natural states of the mind, the other three of which
are waking, dreaming and deep sleeping.



Briefly explained, waking is our “everyday” awake state
of mind, what you are in right now. Dreaming occurs
during a light stage of sleep, which is different from the
dreamless state of deep sleeping. And meditating
begins in the relaxed state of mind we experience
between full waking and dreaming.



First though, note the word "natural" in the
sentence, "Meditation constitutes one of the four natural
states of mind." This word suggests a couple of
things, like the possibility that there are other states that
could be considered unnatural - such as hallucinating or
lucid dreaming, for example. But more importantly it
suggests that along with waking, dreaming and deep
sleeping, meditating is an activity so natural to us we
don’t really need to be taught how to do it.



It suggests the possibility that we all already know how
to meditate, or at least that we don’t need to be taught
how to begin meditating.



Of course, that’s absurd! Don’t we pay good
money, sometimes even thousands of dollars, in order to
learn from expert teachers how to meditate? Isn’t it
common knowledge that mastering even the basics of
meditation requires many hours of dedicated practice?
And how about people who say they’ve tried to learn
meditation only to find they just couldn’t do it, it wasn’t
for them and, after all, they really don’t like to meditate?



Well, just because it’s natural and we already basically
know how to do it doesn’t necessarily mean we know
how to do it well, in the same way that many of us are
unable to sleep well. Nevertheless, the truth is, we all
already do meditate, and likely every day, just like we
sleep, dream and are awake every day.



The following suggestions will raise the hackles of
meditation teachers and practitioners everywhere but
activities like listening to music and (horrors!) watching
TV constitute the state of awake non-striving that is
characteristic of the meditative state of mind. That's not
to say that the teenager with her ears plugged into an
iPod or the house-husband glued to the tube for hours
on end are experiencing anything at all close to what
could be called a "high-quality" or deeply meditative
state.



In the same way that it's possible to eat low quality food
with little or no nutritional value, it's similarly possible to
practice a very low quality form of meditation that
provides little or none of the benefits of high quality
meditation and that could in fact be deleterious in the
long run to your mental well-being.



TV and music are, to put it bluntly, like the
McDonalds of meditation….



How about watching a sunset? Or sitting by a pool
enjoying a glass of wine? Or taking a walk in a quiet
forest? Or sitting in a cave chanting ommmmm?
Yes, all of these could provide contexts within which
a meditative state of mind can arise (well, maybe
it’s better to save the wine for afterwards). It largely
depends on what’s happening in your mind while
you’re there.




Let’s return to our definition of meditation for a moment, that the essence
of this state of mind is awake non-striving. This can be opposed to the
state of mind called waking, which we’ll sum up as awake striving. When
we are in the state of waking, we are always striving to do something, no
matter how insignificant it may seem. There is something we want to
do, and we are trying to do it. Typically it’s something like earning a
living, getting somewhere, learning something, acquiring something, or
even something simple like washing the dishes. We are striving, which
basically means we’re trying to do something according to a belief or set
of beliefs about how we think things are and how we think they should
be. And also about the way we think we should accomplish what we
want. This is crucial for the understanding not only of the waking state
but also of the meditative state. Because at the heart of every true
meditative state exists a relative absence of beliefs. This is crucial to
understand for a couple of reasons: one having to do with how we
meditate and the other with why we meditate.




Let’s deal with this question of how first, taking the example of
watching a sunset. We don’t have a lot of beliefs about how to
watch a sunset. It sounds absurd, in fact. In order to watch a
sunset, you don’t have to sit in a certain way, feel a certain
way, act a certain way. It’s not like washing dishes, for
example, where we each have our own particular set of beliefs
about the best way to do it, even if we hardly take any notice of
those beliefs. The sink full of water? A pot full of water? Rinse
first, then wash, then rinse? Just wash without rinsing first?
Scalding hot water? Luke warm water? Got to use gloves?
Gloves not important? And so on and so forth.



Marital dramas are built out of this kind of stuff! But no-one can
say you’re watching that sunset in the wrong way, simply
because, if you’re doing it in a fairly meditative, non-striving state
of mind, there is no right or wrong way to do it.




You are simply there. The sun is setting and you are watching it
do its thing. You might have some thoughts float through your
mind – about the office or your spouse or that jerk who did
whatever he did to you the other day – but those thoughts don’t
really take hold. Each one just sort of comes along and then
passes by and you return to watching the sunset. Perhaps a
particular thought comes along and you follow that one for a
while. But eventually, after awhile, you return to watching the
sunset, and you’re simply there, and the sun is setting, and all
you’re doing is watching it. And that is all there is to it. Because
the fact is, you are not really doing anything. No one can write a
How To book on doing nothing because there’s no way to say
how to do nothing. About the best one can do is give some
suggestions about ways to set yourself up that are conducive to
doing nothing and maybe a few more words about what it means
to do nothing and how when you think you’re doing nothing, you
may actually be doing quite a bit still. In the end, all one can do is
point to instances of doing and say, “That’s not doing nothing!”



Okay, now the question is likely coming up: “But why ever
would I want to sit around while I’m wide awake and just do
nothing? I can understand deep sleep – that’s doing nothing,
but at least I’m asleep and my body is getting its needed rest.
And I can also understand dreaming – that’s a kind of doing
something while I’m asleep and it usually feels right to do it.
And of course I can understand doing things while I’m awake,
because it’s the only way I’ll get food on the table and have
fun with the family. But doing nothing? While I’m awake?
What’s the use? What’s the sense?” All of which, of course, is
to ask why we meditate, which was the second question
raised above.



There are two ways to answer this question, the simple way
and the complex way. The simple way is to point to all the
obvious benefits one gets from deep relaxation as in the
article on this website,What are the Benefits of Meditation?"




The complex answer (which we'll just outline here) begins with
the admission that much mystery surrounds the mind and its
various states. For example, we don’t yet really know why we
dream. Many suggestions center upon the notion of the
subconscious mind in some way reorganizing itself. This
notion of reorganization can be usefully applied to all the
mind’s states. When we sleep deeply, for instance, the body
and its unconscious processes can be said to be reorganizing
their energies so that we wake up feeling healed and
refreshed. Similarly, while we are in the waking state of mind,
we are actively reorganizing our environment in various ways,
shaping it into forms that we hope will fulfill our needs and
desires. So we see a clear progression from deep sleep, to
dream, to waking:




·
Deep sleep => reorganization of the
body/unconscious mind



·
Dreaming => reorganization of the
subconscious mind



·

Waking => reorganization of the environment




What, then, is left out of the above schematic? Consciousness, of
course. And that’s precisely where meditation comes in. Through the
practice of meditation, consciousness is reorganized in such a way that it
can more adequately reflect reality, which effectively comprises all the
material of consciousness (if that seems like a circular argument, it is).
What this largely boils down to is the reorganization of our belief
structures so they not only more adequately reflect reality but also
eventually interfere less and less with our mind's ability to directly reflect
reality.In any case, for most of us a large portion of the time during which
we are awake is spent in this state of awake striving we are here calling
“waking”. And a far less portion of that time is spent on this thing we’re
calling meditating, a state of mind characterized by awake non-striving.
And that, of course, is how it should be. You’d eventually starve if you did
nothing but watch sunsets all day long – even if you watched them in a
profoundly deep state of meditation!



Joking aside, because we spend most of our awake
time striving, it’s only natural that when we turn to
meditating, we carry with us that element of striving –
especially if we’re doing something called “learning how
to meditate”. This simple fact explains nearly all the
difficulty people report when they try to learn how to
meditate. As long as we are striving to learn how to
meditate, our minds will be in direct opposition to that
which is supposedly being learned: awake non-striving.



Taking it further, any method that places the mind in a
striving mode in order to acquire or develop the state of
mind called meditation will fail to successfully teach
meditation. Many methods do just that:




·
“Now concentrate unwaveringly on the space
between your eyes.”



·



·
“Now visualize a six-pointed azure star rising out
of a lotus flower with one million multi-colored petals.”



·
“Now spend the next hour focusing on your breath.
And don’t move a muscle either, no matter how much
pain you’re in.”

“Now repeat the mantra 1008 times.”




The student may discover how to meditate more
effectively, but it will be despite methods such as these.
It won't be the method itself that teaches effective
meditation. This notion of effectiveness explains the
difference between a so-called "experienced" meditator
and a "beginner", in the same way that a "successful"
deep sleeper is able to sleep much more effectively than
someone who can't, and in the same way that some
strivers are able to strive for and accomplish what they
strive for more effectively than those who can't.




So what we’re going to do here is learn how to do what
we already know how to do but to do it more
effectively, more deeply and with a profound increase in
its quality. And the crucial two words we’ll be taking with
us as we begin that journey of learning are “awake” and
“non-striving”.



For More help call Swamiji Sri Selvam Siddhar @ 408
829 7780. Email: avtemple@aol.com

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