Don't Stop, Don't Stop
Meditator asks: I recently discovered your 7 point mind training meditations based on Atisha's writings and wanted to ask you when done what next; how do I keep training my mind? Maybe this is your question too. Listen and Meditate along. ====== Join me in a 30 min meditation session every day at 7 AM CET on my website. Each session is unique, starts with a 5-10 min discourse, followed by 20 min Guided Meditation.
Transcript
Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily morning live meditation session with me,
Dhyansa.
Today is the last session before we take a short break.
We have been on a tremendous journey since last 50 days,
Continuity that we have built for ourselves,
For our daily practice.
So I wish you that in this break you still maintain the practice and when I rejoin back on 7th of August,
We maintain the continuity,
We take this continuity on a daily basis.
For today's session,
Before we get into the meditation,
Before we sit in silence,
Let me take a question from one of our meditators.
Perhaps you also are facing this question in your practice.
The meditator asks,
I recently discovered your 7 point mind training meditations based on Atisha's writings and wanted to ask you when done,
What next?
How do I keep training my mind?
Seems like a valid question.
If this question is arising before you have even tried meditation,
Before you have even gone into the 7 point mind training of Atisha,
Then this question is purely arising in the mind.
If this is the case,
If this question is in the mind,
You have to see that some things you have to do first.
You cannot convince the mind and let the mind decide about everything,
Even about the topic of meditation,
Even about going into your own being,
Because mind would never want to do that.
Mind is in the seat of the king right now.
Why would it want to step down?
See that this training by Atisha or by Patanjali or by any other meditation master who gives you a way to train your mind,
It's essentially to put your mind in its right place.
And that right place is not at the top,
Is not at the seat of the king with the crown.
It is a utility that you have when you need to use the mind,
You use the mind,
But your heart,
Your spirit,
That is what needs to be ruling your life,
That is what needs to be deciding about things in your life.
So if without even trying,
You are wanting to convince your mind,
You are wanting to tell the entire project plan to your mind that this we will do now,
This we will do later,
And never leave the shore,
Your boat is tied to the shore all the time,
How can I tell you,
How can anyone tell you what is in the deep ocean?
You have to let your boat take off the shore,
Go a few miles in the deep water,
And then you see,
Then you know what to do.
This journey is to be unfolded and not to be planned all upfront.
What next?
How do I train my mind afterwards?
See that as you go through this journey,
Then you will know more about your mind,
You will know more about your conscious mind,
You will know more about your unconscious mind.
The first thing that will happen is,
You will know about your conscious mind.
So you will know what are the problematic areas,
What are the obsessions,
What are the diseases,
What are the ill health,
And things that you are carrying in your mind that are not allowing you to be at peace.
So you will be able to identify those and in your practice,
You will know what to constantly touch upon,
What to do,
What to perform,
What to improve,
And you can take this in your daily life.
Because remember,
Aatishya,
Patanjali,
Any meditation master,
Whatever we are discussing in these sessions is not just relevant for the practice,
It is relevant for your daily life.
So you have to take the practice to your daily life.
What next?
Take the practice to your daily life.
So in case you have already tasted,
In case you have already gone through the mind training of Aatishya,
See that you have to take the practice,
The learnings that you have from the practice to your daily life.
Secondly,
While you are going through these trainings,
There is still a lot to unfold.
In the first go,
In the first contact,
In the first sight,
In the first hearing,
Not everything unfolds immediately.
So when you go over and over again,
You see new things unfold for you.
Lots of things which are deep in your unconscious,
They start surfacing.
And from your own inner space,
You start encountering something you had never imagined that this is present in you.
And then you will go back to these points by Aatishya,
Or by Patanjali,
Or by any other meditation master,
And start applying those principles,
Those practices,
Those points to new situations which you had not imagined.
And let me tell you a short story.
Three men,
Italian,
French and a meditator,
They met on a plane,
They were going in first class,
They met on the plane at the bar,
They had a few cocktails,
And they were talking about many things,
About business,
About this and that,
And after several drinks,
The topic of how their lives at home is,
It came up,
And the Frenchman said,
You know,
After being completely drunk,
He said,
Last night I made love to my wife four times.
And the other guy said,
Okay,
Great,
Very impressive.
What happened in the morning?
And the Frenchman said,
In the morning,
My wife said,
I love you very much,
She made a crepe for me,
And she said,
I am going to be with you all throughout this life.
Listening to this,
The Italian,
He said,
You know,
Last night I made love to my wife six times.
The Frenchman asked,
What did your wife say in the morning?
The Italian said,
She said,
You are the love of my life,
Not only for this life,
But for all the lives to come.
I am so happy with you,
I want to be with you forever and ever,
Not just in this life,
But for lives to come.
The meditator was silent,
So men asked,
How many times did you make love to your wife last night?
The meditator said,
Once.
The Frenchman and the Italian,
They both laughed.
They said,
Okay,
What did your wife say in the morning?
The meditator said,
Don't stop,
Don't stop.
This is what I also want to tell you with meditation,
Don't stop,
Don't stop.
Build this journey,
Build a continuity in your journey.
Don't look for an end,
Because there is no beginning,
There is no end in this journey.
You are falling back to your true nature.
You are in every step of this journey,
With every practice,
With every unfoldment,
You are falling more and more back to your true nature,
To your true self,
To your inner being,
To your inner space.
And once you are there,
There is nowhere to go.
You are home,
There is a continuity,
So don't stop,
Keep on going.
And when you are in your true being,
Meditation still continues.
You remain silent,
You remain aware,
You remain a witness of this life,
Sitting in your being,
Seated in the truth of your being,
In your true self.
And from that point of view,
From that seat,
Just witnessing the entire life becomes a meditation.
So don't stop,
Keep going,
Keep meditating,
Keep learning,
Keep unfolding,
Keep letting,
Putting your mind in its right place,
Your heart in its right place,
Your spirit in its right place.
For today's meditation,
Let us ensure that we are having a continuity in our silence,
Having a continuity in our meditation.
So let us emphasize this aspect of the meditation practice,
While you are sitting in meditation,
Bring your awareness to your breath.
And the way you are aware of your breath is to be aware of the continuity of the breath.
In the beginning,
You will see that your awareness is somewhat there on the breath,
And then there is a distraction,
You bring it back to your breath,
And then you are slowly,
You are feeling,
You are establishing a continuity in the awareness of your breath.
And that continuity becomes such that your breath becomes one.
Not just the inhalation,
Not just the exhalation,
You start to feel that there is a circular continuity in your breath.
If you have established that,
Then you start to feel that even that circular nature is somewhat put into the background.
And all you feel,
All you see while observing your breath in silence is that you are there.
That breath is there,
You are there,
The movement starts going into the background,
And silence starts coming in the foreground.
And when that switch starts to happen of the movement going in the background,
Silence coming in the foreground,
Pay attention to the silence,
Be aware of the silence and see that silence has no beginning,
No end.
It has always been there,
It is there now,
It will be there in future,
It was always there.
So what has happened is you are suddenly aware of it.
Everything is pushed into the background where it belongs,
And your inner silence,
Your inner peace is in front of you.
Stay in that continuity of silence.
Stay in that spread of silence which is infinite,
Which is continuous.
And if you can let go of even the idea that the practice is going to end at any point,
When you also keep that slight intention that the way I am sitting,
It will be like this,
Without a definite end in mind,
Without a definite time in mind,
You are thrown into the present moment,
Into this very moment,
And you live really moment by moment.
See this mechanism happening in meditation today,
And take this to your daily life,
If you find it working for you,
If you get the taste and the knack of it to enter the present moment,
To enter the daily silence.
With that,
Please close your eyes,
Take a posture that is comfortable for you.
Take a nice deep breath,
Inhale from the nose,
And exhale from the nose,
Allowing your body to rest,
Your mind to settle,
And your awareness to turn inwards towards your breath.
Observe your breath,
The flow of your breath.
Making sounds Keep a natural flow of breath.
Don't try to modify the breath.
Really observe your breath.
Bring your mind.
Your awareness from all directions to your breath.
And observe the flow,
The continuity in your breath.
Don't strain yourself.
Simply observe your breath,
The flow,
The continuity.
Allow the breath to form a circle.
With no beginning,
No end.
Awareness on the continuity of the breath.
And observe the flow,
The flow,
The continuity.
As the breath becomes silent,
You notice the silence arising in the foreground.
Be aware of the silence.
And in the background,
Your breath flowing in a circle,
In continuity.
And in the background,
Your breath flowing in a circle,
In continuity.
Awareness more and more on silence.
Noticing.
Noticing the infinite in silence.
This silence has always been within you.
Remain aware of the silence,
Of the continuity,
Of the presence of the silence in you.
Thank you.
Stay in this silence without expecting it to end.
Without planning it to end.
Stay in it in this moment.
Stay in it.
Stay in it.
Leave all effort.
Just carry this awareness of silence,
Of this continuity of the infinity,
Of the presence of the silence within you.
And very gently and slowly,
You may open your eyes.
Not losing the awareness of inner silence,
Not losing the continuity that you have recognized,
Realized in your being,
In your inner space.
And taking this awareness to your day,
To your daily routines,
To your practice.
And keep on learning,
Unfolding and going further,
Deeper in yourself.
I will see you on 7th of August at 7am Central European Time to continue our journey with Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Namaste.
