What are the ways to cultivate the seed of meditation?
Q : Whenever I switch on the CD to go into meditation, it happens easily but without the CD, when I try to meditate, then so many thoughts start dancing in front of me. What should I do in this situation?
Rajendra Eknath Yadav
Answer Rajendra, I can understand that it is easier to meditate with the CD. When you sit without the CD, immediately there is a flood of thoughts and you are troubled by them. The truth is that you are not ready for meditation yet. I said this yesterday as well. With an impure mind and temperament, meditation is not possible. Meditation is only possible for a person whose mind is pure. What do I mean by purity? Purity means that you have to have a very-very firm resolution that it is only God whom you want - nothing more and nothing less. Purity means when you are sure that for you God and only God is the best and is worth obtaining and apart from this nothing else is important. Now, if someone says something good about you, you repeat those words in your mind. When someone says something bad to you that too becomes a loop and continues in your mind – ‘why did she say this to me’, ‘why did she say this to me’ are some of the examples in this context. Someone gives you respect, then the respect goes on in your mind. When someone insults you, the insult goes on in your mind. On top of that there are so many desires – ‘I should do this’, ‘I should buy this’, ‘I should meet him’, ‘I should go there’, ‘I should go for a holiday’, and the list is endless.
There is a good example about this. Lord Krishna in the Geeta speaks about a chariot having horses not only in the front, but at the back and on the sides and we are trying to whip the horses and make them run towards the direction they are facing. The horse facing right will go right; the one facing left will go left; the one facing south will go towards the South; the one facing north will go towards the North. The chariot is tethered to horses on all four sides and if all the horses start moving rapidly, then where will this chariot reach - nowhere. There will be a pulling from all sides but ultimately the chariot will not reach anywhere. Your mind is like a chariot, tethered to horses of desire. Some wishes say, ‘do this’, some say, ‘do something else’, ‘this has to be done, that has to be done’, ‘we have to go here, we have to go there’, ‘this is to be obtained, revenge is to be taken’, ‘that person has to be hit, that person has to be taught a lesson’. Until you do not come out of this turmoil in your mind, you will not be able to go deep into meditation. Though I advise meditation with CDs, there is a reason for that. If while meditating with the CD, you experience a certain moment in which you have a blissful experience inside, your running towards the world will cease in a moment - just in a moment.
The transformation always happens in one single moment. For a transformation, you do not need many years. Those who think that after years of spiritual practice, there will be some change in them then they are absolutely wrong because it does not happen like that. The mind changes in a jiffy. Suppose you were seeing a dream and somebody woke you up. How much time did it take you to break from that dream - as soon as the eyes opened, the dream was over. The dream of this world which you are watching with eyes open is exactly similar and will also break in a moment. This world is not more than the night’s dream. It is a lie, an illusion just the way the dream is. That is why I suggest that you meditate with the CD; listen to me again and again. Hearing something thousands of time may not have any use, but that one experience totally changes you.
Though Punjabi has become an international language nowadays with Punjabi words being used in songs, people seem to understand it or like the rhythm or beat. They seem to enjoy it. I sing a song in Punjabi. Listen to it and I will tell you the meaning. “I have changed. People meeting me and ask, what has happened to you? You have changed. Living with saints, I have forgotten the flock of crows. Listening to their words of truth, I have been transformed into a swan.” The crow is a sign of materialism. The crow eats rubbish. He snatches and eats. He is greedy and aggressive. The swan is a symbol of a great soul. It is said that if a swan is offered milk and water, it will drink up the milk and the water will remain in the vessel. This is a myth. Before I came into satsang – spiritual discourses, my intellect was like that of a crow. Greed, avarice, violence, anger, hate were my nature. Once I got caught in the colour of satsang, I became a swan. It does not happen literally, a crow remains a crow and a swan remains a swan. But it is a symbolism which has been used that earlier I was a crow but now I have become a swan. Earlier the intellect was of the world, now it is God’s. Earlier the intellect was of the body, now it is of my own bliss. Earlier the intellect was of desires and objects, now the intellect is of Brahmanand. There is a difference, there is a change. How did it happen? I used to go for satsang and sitting with saints, something has changed slowly.
Make your demeanor unattached; awaken discrimination in yourself, for that listening to satsang is very important. More important than that are the sadhanas (instruments) - pity, forgiveness, love, seva - selfless service or work without expecting return, self-study. So accept these sadhanas for spiritual growth. Nothing is going to happen just by listening. You have to clean up your mind. Even you do not sit in a dirty place. You need a clean place to sit. A dog sits after cleaning up with his tail. So is it not necessary to clean up the throne of your heart, for its God whom you want to invite and place. Right now there is attachment, ego and enmity; there is the fire of anger, how can God come and sit? It is therefore necessary to make your mind spotless. For that, it is necessary to do good deeds.
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