Preksha Dhyana

Anjay Mohnot

Beginning to Meditate ?

Lesson 7- "Discipline" in Meditation

It is very important to decide exactly what you are going to meditate on before beginning. Then stay with the decision throughout the meditationand make every effort to avoid the tendency to become distracted andtake off in a new direction. The Shum language as a tool for guiding the meditator is very helpful because the individual's awareness is precisely held within the chosen area. This is similar to how we must discipline ourselves to be successful in outer activities. To become distracted is unacceptable. Successful people finish what they begin. It is possible to learn to meditate extremely well but be unsuccessful in practicing it if the meditator allows himself to become sidetracked once the inside of the mind has opened. To be successful one has to be very, very firm with oneself when beginning a meditation. Each meditation must be performed in the way it was intended to be performed when the meditation was begun.

To be successful in meditation, we have to bring the mind into a disciplined state. Indisciplined people can never be told what to do, because they will not listen. Their awareness is wafted around by every little fancy that comes along. Those who really want to make progress in meditation and continue to do so and better themselves year after year after year have to approach this art in an extremely positive and systematic way. Here, again, the Shum language can be a great help. A devotee must be determined to go deep within and realize the Self, but some may give up along the way. This is because at times the shakti power became very strong within them and their inner nerve system was not ready to receive the impact. Others were successful because they were more disciplined, and when their inner power came up, they enjoyed its intensity by holding it steady within the spine. They rested in the bliss of awareness, aware only of itself. They then continued the meditation as planned after the power began to wane.

Remember, when the kundalini force becomes strong within you during a meditation, just sit and be aware that you are aware, a blissful state called kaef in Shum, the language of meditation. You will feel very positive and experience yourself as a great, big ball of energy. When the energy begins to wane, try to absorb it into every cell of your external body, then continue your meditation exactly where you left off.

In this way, you will build a strong, disciplined nerve system and subconscious mind. This will lead you naturally onto the next inner plateau, then to the next and the next. Never allow yourself to be complacent in your spiritual attainments. Always continue to strive. Even rishis, swamis and yogis who have totally realized Supreme Soul, continue to work on themselves from with themselves. They don't let down, because if they did it would be many years before they had the next experience of the timelessness, formlessness, spacelessness of the unspeakable Supreme Soul experience. The message, therefore, is, at the beginning of meditation and at the end, keep striving. Don't turn back but proceed with confidence.