i am often approached by friends and colleagues who want me to “teach them how to meditate”. Usually when they approach me with this request they are panting and ranting due to being majorly stressed out, completely overwhelmed, or just craving some semblance of peace in their otherwise volatile lives. They have observed me being subjected to similar types of stresses, burdens and chaos that they are afflicted by, but with a relatively more peaceful mind. Since it is no secret that i meditate, they easily make the connection that meditation is beneficial and so they ask me to train them in this discipline. Of course, most of these friends would prefer some sort of magical mantra or sitting posture, either of which they could learn quickly and do for five minutes per day or less, but since that is not the way that it works, they generally give up before they start.
The truth is that the essence of meditation does not really reside in merely uttering syllables or in special sitting postures; it resides in the consciousness that drives us to do the things we do. Although mantras and suitable environments certainly have a positive affect on our consciousness, the essence lies beyond these mechanical things. And just like anything else in this world, meditation can be either material or spiritual.
For a very brief time in the 90’s i was an awning salesman. Prior to this job, awnings were not a part of my world-view beyond the simple knowledge that they provide shade. Although i knew they existed i didn’t really notice them on a daily basis, but when i became an awning salesman i had to learn about my product. So after much scrutiny of fabric samples, design implementations for special features, and the mechanics of the production and installation process, suddenly i saw awnings everywhere. Even though i was traveling through the same neighborhoods and cities as before where they never caught my eye, i found myself noticing every single awning around me… the good ones, the bad ones, the new ones, the ones that were falling off buildings… i could even recognize just by the design and quality whether an awning was built by the company that i worked for or by someone else. This is meditation.
There are numerous things around us at all times, but we do not notice all of them. It is only the things we have assigned some sort of value to (positive or negative) that we notice. The things we do notice are a result of our having meditated on them. So everyone is already meditating… businessmen meditate on money, parents meditate on protecting their children and keeping them under control, hunters meditate on their prey, alcoholics meditate on booze, couture junkies meditate on fashion, etc.
So everyone already knows how to meditate.
The problem is that if peace is truly their goal, these people have not been properly meditating. As i mentioned earlier, meditation can be either material or spiritual, as always, the determining factor which separates these two is consciousness. If the goal behind our meditation is to personally gain control over something it implies that we view our self as the center of our own universe. This is material meditation and can only lead to ultimate frustration since we are unable to truly control anything. But if our goal is to understand the world as it is with God in the center, then our meditation is spiritual. It is only when we understand our constitutional position as a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and therefore live our lives in such a way that we recognize and acknowledge His supreme position that we can attain peace.
Peace comes when we step out of the center… when we stop trying to control and enjoy. If one’s goal is to be peaceful while selfishly enjoying or controlling, one will most certainly fail in an extravagantly miserable way. The harder we try, the bigger we fail.
Peace is attained when we recognize that the actual occupier of the center is much more qualified than we are. In fact He is the only one who is qualified. When we stop trying to do God’s job and simply assist Him according to our capacity and His desires, then peace occurs. A child “waxing” your car with gravel-filled mud is not peaceful, and the world run by our unqualified selves is equally as painful and chaotic. Even though our intentions in trying to control something beyond our understanding may be noble, the result is that we just keep adding to the real problems. And even though we are having fun and we think we and doing a terrific job, it is only because we do not understand the consequences of our careless, selfish and misguided action. And so we keep wiping gravel-filled mud across the Lord’s really nice paint job.
So the meditation part is easy… everyone does it. But until we step out of the center we cannot expect to find a truly peaceful situation.
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