Meditation: Going Beyond Easy And Difficult

“A dream that I state, to live free and meditate
To become better and remove a trait, my dream to meditate
To be yours, to relate, a wish to meditate
Today I am doing great, because I love to meditate”

Veterans of meditation often talk about their blissful experiences with meditation, their ability to meditate on-demand and how life-changing meditation has been for them. However, before these blissful experiences and an expanded level of consciousness, every meditator has had their own journey, including having to deal with a range of thoughts, discomfort and frustrations. Yet, there is a quality that has made them into experienced practitioners and that is willingness and persistence.

Meditation is nothing but diligent practice – the way a violin student struggles for hours to master a melody, the way a novice in basketball tries to throw the ball into the hoop hundreds of times each day. When the practice sets into a routine, that is when the action starts making sense to the doer, just like meditation.

As a child, I used to see my mother practice her meditation with utmost diligence and I always knew someday that even I would take it up. I took my introductory sessions but didn’t practice seriously for a while. I always felt short of time and couldn’t accommodate my meditation practice into my daily routine. Two years down the line, I entered Kanha Shanti Vanam, the global headquarters of Heartfulness, and something changed within me. I knew it was time I had to start my practice seriously and with this affirmation, almost like a cliché, my life changed. It was as if time expanded and I could achieve much more than I had ever done in a day, with no stress at all.

There is another nuance of meditation that I find similar to the practice of basketball. When starting out, a novice practices shooting the ball from the first pointer line, and, after many frustrations and missed shots, he is finally able to get the hang of it. Once he has perfected the first pointer, he then moves on to the second pointer. Again, he is faced with more frustrations and missed shots until he gains mastery over that and then he moves on to master the third pointer, the half court, penalty shots and ultimately the full court. It is an expansion of the limit from where the ball reaches the hoop.

Meditation works in a similar fashion. Once we have gained mastery over a chakra or a point, we face the discomfort and frustrations of the next point. It is an ever-expanding state. If we leave it midway thinking that there is no change, we are missing out on a life transforming experience. It is not that veterans do not feel any discomfort. This discomfort becomes almost like a bliss as it is the mark of spiritual progress and advancement.

Suggested Read: Meditate to keep depression at bay

Meditation has become indispensable in my life. It has become instrumental to me spiritually and has even helped to remove certain traits and habits from my life. Though each meditation is different, some sessions are soft while at other times they feel tumultuous, I have learned not to be bothered by daily turbulences, because ultimately, meditation works in the long-run, and I have accepted it as part of my destiny.