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  • Hari om Swamiji,

    yes that is very true. People think that if they reach the goal of life faster, then it is better. But, they forget that we need to gain stability to be who ew are and to stay at the level that we have reached. Otherwise, it is like climbing up a mountain and not being able to stay at the top because of not being prepared enough. If we are not stable in our practice and balanced in our understanding then we fall because we get caught up in the powerful web of maya.

    But, it all happens for the best. I believe that everything in life is a gift regarless of whether it is pleasure or pain. It may sound stange, but I am convinced that life events and challenges can be handeled more easily when we just recognize their reality in a non-judgemental way and try to move on in a way that promotes our spiritual well-being and evolution.

    I wish you a great day.

    Ommmmmmmmmm,
    haripriya-deepa
  • Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life - perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority.
    — Krishnamurti
  • Hari om Swami Saradananda ji,

    The transformation of doubts and fears through the means of meditation takes time. We cannot mechanically eliminate them because we all bear our own unique structures of vasanas within. Meditation purifies our inner impurities one by one. We may think that it will take ages for us to get rid of all our impurities. Well, it does take time. However, with consistent practice, we become stronger in every way and unfold ourselves to a feeling of happiness and contentment and this gives us new hope and gradually makes us forget our fears and doubts.

    Silent meditation is a good way to purify ourselves. But, the spirit of meditation should also accompany us in all our daily activities. For example, like when we do work, we can perform with 100% dedication and love. That way, the action becomes the meditation. Actually it is being focused and a form of concentration. However, as we continue in this pattern, we forget that we are the doers of the action and devote ourselves naturally to the divinity in us and in all. Then work becomes prayer, and fear and doubts have no place in this form of meditation in action. Doubts and fears are then weeded out so-to-say.

    As mentioned above, our vasanas determine how we see things. They determine how we choose to live or act and these decisions determine what we experience and they unfold our quality of understanding. Nevertheless, when we engage in satvic activities on a daily basis and as long as we practice yoga, asanas, pranayama, relaxation, meditation and kama yoga, our doubts and fears will surely be transformed, dissolved or eliminated. What is left is an open heart that is now empty to be filled with divine knowledge, love, strength, and bliss. Sat Chit Ananda.....

    Om shanti omm,
    Haripriya-Deepa
    • OM

      Nice answer - thanks. Too many people want instant results.
  • Namaste Saradanandaji,

    I believe that a person doing meditation should not do so for material or spiritual gains. Meditation should be done only to increase your awareness. Meditation to obtain inner peace, meditaion for eliminating fears, meditation for developing inner strength, meditation to attain moksha, meditation for inner purification etc. defeats the entire purpose of meditation.

    In certain areas results are important. I must eat nourishing food to have strength. We must have certain industrial practices to not pollute the planet and so on. There are many areas where we do things in order to get desired results. But surely the whole of life can’t be tied down to seeking results. I don’t breathe with the idea that it is going to keep me alive. I don’t love my wife or son with the idea that they will look after me in the future. I don’t open my eyes with the idea that I might see something of value. Breathing, seeing, listening, caring IS part and parcel of living. Results happen but are not central to the act.

    Now what is spiritual practice? Does it not point to an individual who feels limited, incomplete and wants some kind of projected result of peace or quiet mind, enlightenment, awareness or some such thing? By adopting certain physical and mental postures and repeatedly following certain methods, one hopes to come upon the opposite of that we are dissatisfied with. At the end of the practice one measures how far one is from the goal. The result one wants to achieve and practice one chooses are based on one’s present knowledge of what is right and beneficial. All practice is based on knowledge, hope for a result and involves time and measurement.

    Is this a fact or not? If it is, then there is a fundamental issue here. Is not spirituality about transcending thought, time and measurement and to come upon the timeless and the immeasurable? Also peace, goodness and love are intrinsic to the dynamic movement of life. Must we make continuous effort to be good? What is more important – to continue to make effort in whatever name and justify it; or to pause from ‘effort making’ and to observe the ‘effort-maker’ and to explore the source of effort-making?

    I hope i have not offended you. I am just trying to tell you what i believe in. If you meditate for the sake of meditation all your doubts and fears will cease to exist.

    Om Shanti
    meditation.in
    This domain may be for sale!
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