Namaste Friends, Let me start by asking you 2 questions;
If your answer is No then you must read further, and if your answer is Yes then still you must read further to make sure your answer remains Yes in future too.
When you want to reach somewhere you must know the address and the route towards it isn’t it? Obviously Yes. If I want to go from Dallas to Houston , I should be driving southwards isn’t it? But what if I go West or East or may be North? Will I ever reach Houston? I will only be wasting my Time, Energy and Gasoline. Similarly in our lives we are in a constant struggle to find Bliss and Fulfillment, but to find that we must know where they are? What is the Address? What is the Route?? Actually, we all know where they lie. They lie in our Heart, where He lies. But Ironically, where do we search for them? In the Outer world, and that is by fulfilling our Desires, we believe fulfilling desires will bring us Happiness, despite knowing where the True Happiness lies we have been carrying on our journey in totally opposite direction, fooling ourselves all the while. “If I get the Job I will be Happy”, “ If I marry that Girl I will be happy”, “ Once my Son settles down in his Life I will be Happy” , “If X happens I will be happy, If Y happens I will be Happy” … There is no end to it Friends. You know friends, who do we cheat the Most in our lives? Its ourselves. Fulfillment of Desires is not Fulfillment in Life. The Happiness arising out of fulfillment of Desire is only so because our Heart is rendered Desire-less for a short While; another desire is always waiting in the Queue to make us feel Unhappy and Unfulfilled again.
Friends, Real Happiness doesn’t lie in fulfilling desires, that is just Slavery of Desires. Even after doing that all our life what is the Conclusion? The result is right in front of you. Real Happiness is in letting the Real Self express through the Body to the Outer world. My friends, realizing your True Self is Meditation, Being in Meditation is Being Happy cause that’s when you are your Real self. That is why Meditation is not a deed to be done, but it’s a State of Being. One remains in the Meditative state and does the things in this world. You must Let Meditation Happen and not try to “do” it.
When you try to “Do” something you get tired isn’t it? Because there are efforts involved. That’s why most people when Sit for Meditation, their legs go numb, their Hips pain, and all the Thoughts start crowding the Mind. The More you try to control the Mind more it wanders about; more you try to negate the thoughts they come back with even greater force, you end up becoming more miserable than you were before Meditation. Conclusion - Meditation is not my cup of Tea. This is not the way friends, do not fight with your Mind, cause if you do that your whole time will be spent on controlling the Mind and trying to tolerate the Pain in legs and hips.
Instead, start slowly start with just 5-10 mins and gradually as you progress increase the Time. If you are in a Guided Meditation class, release the posture if it gets uncomfortable without disturbing others. I will give you some tips which might help. When you Sit for Meditation in ‘Sukhasan’ or ‘Cross Legged’ position, make sure the weight is more on the Hips rather than the legs, this will prevent your legs from going Numb. Start by bringing your Mind on the breath, just observe the breath, do not concentrate, slowly bring you attention in the darkness in front of your eyes, and Mentally try to relax your whole body, from Head to toe, Feel the relaxation everywhere, let there be no tension anywhere, your Respiratory rate will slow down, your Mind will automatically calm down, Now, bring the attention between the eyebrows, if thoughts come just let them go by don’t give them any energy by linking one thought to another thought, just try to be a witness. You can try one small exercise, think about the past just 1 hour ago and scan everything that you did in that one hour until you came to the seat of the Meditation and then come right at this “Present Moment” , bring your mind “Right Here” in The Moment, right “Now”, The moment your mind comes in utter Present it will stop thinking, cause mind can only think about past or about future, In present it has nothing to think about. As the Mind achieves this thoughtless state , try to remain in this state and take it from there. Besides these, Meditation also helps us in Relaxing our Mind, In fine tuning our Understanding, It calms down our Mind a great deal. It helps us get rid of pent up Emotions by Emotional Cleansing, Youngsters develop the faculty of Concentration through Meditation. There are Innumerable other benefits of it, but of course the most Important benefit is that it brings us Close to ourselves. Remember friends, Meditation is a great tool given to us by our Great Rishis and Sages of our Country, It has great and boundless potential to turn our life into a great success, it can bring about Real bliss in our Life, which will never leave us. But that doesn’t happen in a Day, You should be persistent, Ideally you should practice Meditation at the same place and if possible daily at the same time and Create and build that Positive energy. But if that is not possible make sure you give at least few minutes daily, and See The difference it makes to your Life. I Guarantee you, You will be Happier than ever before. If you feel you need to learn more about Meditation, then you should seek this knowledge from a Teacher who can guide you correctly on this Path. Wishing you Great Success and all the Happines in life. Dr. Nilay Trivedi Ahmedabad, India. Website: www.ojaslife.org Email Ids: mail@ojaslife.org, info@ojaslife.org, ojaslife.org@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ojaslife Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/nilayojastrivedi