Am I Meditating Effectively?

This audio with Shree will allow you to understand the system of meditation as described by the Eight Limbs of Yoga of Patanjali. You will receive the clarity of your practice so that you can be certain that you are doing all that is necessary to receive the maximum benefit from your meditation. When you meditate on the Knower you are in the samadhi state, or the fourth state of consciousness which is recognized by you are peace, ease, and serenity.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Sri.

Am I meditating effectively?

How can you get the maximum benefit from your meditation practice?

The question,

Am I meditating effectively and getting the maximum benefit from my meditation,

Is often asked by those beginning meditation,

But it is also asked by more advanced meditators.

When someone asks if they are walking correctly,

An expert can easily watch and see how the legs and hips move and give them the answer.

Meditation,

However,

Is focused on that which is formless and it is done inside,

So therefore no one can watch you and give you the answer to this question by observing you.

As you meditate with closed eyes and watch the inner spaces that are formless,

You can easily get confused as to what is supposed to be watching and what is supposed to be happening in your meditation.

You may then ask the question,

Am I meditating correctly or at all and am I getting the most results from my practice?

For a human being,

Most tasks are done while working with objects,

Persons or thoughts,

And by doing the task effectively,

You achieve the desired result.

In meditation,

You are practicing non-doership.

You are observing the one who is knowing the object's body and thoughts and you are observing the space in front of your closed eyes,

The inner silence.

From the perspective of non-doership,

The inner watchfulness is opened.

This is called pratyahara in Patanjali's system of ashtang,

Eight limbs of yoga,

And this is the inner turning of attention.

So you are no longer keeping your attention outward through the senses such as the eyes and the ears and the nose.

Now you have turned all those senses inward toward your own true self,

The very being that you are.

Then you easily move into what is called dharana or concentration,

Cultivating the power of attentiveness,

The inner watchfulness.

And from that inner watchfulness,

You move into dhyan,

Which is the meditation itself.

Meditation is allowing the attention to flow towards the source and it culminates in samadhi,

The eighth limb,

Which is the complete evenness of the intellect or the vision of oneness.

If you are not experiencing more ease and peace in your life,

It is because you are never leaving the waking state except when you go to sleep.

This is not your fault as the very human condition is to live in just three states of consciousness,

The waking state and then you go of course into dreaming at night and sometimes you're in deep sleep.

When you begin to turn your attention to the knower of these three states through your meditation practice,

Then you begin to open to the fourth state or meditative state.

If this has not come,

Then more practice of course is essential for it to unfold.

If you take up the practice of ashtanga yoga or the eight limbs of yoga,

You are systematically moving into the meditative state by first purifying the body and mind,

Cultivating easiness in your body through hatha yoga exercises,

Purifying the nerve channels through pranayama or the regulation of your breath.

Through this practice your mind will become still and you will more easily be able to bring the attention to the source of your thoughts.

Then through this practice you can discriminate between what is your changing mind,

Which you notice in the waking state,

And what is that unchanging self that is there always also but it is in the fourth state or when you close the eyes and just watch that space rather than watching the mind.

Then through the practice of the Vekkyati or perfect discrimination you will experience your own peace which is forever shining inside.

Meditation and perfect discrimination allows one's attention to flow towards the source and culminates in that samadhi,

The complete evenness of the intellect,

The vision of oneness.

When the attention moves inward and leaves the gross sense level,

You realize that your enjoyment is not coming completely through sensual experiences.

You turn your attention to the source of your thoughts and feelings and come to know the source of your being.

So if even right now you just close your eyes and you notice that there's a blue-black space in front of your closed eyes,

You see that you are that space that's underlying everything that remains when you're not focused on any thoughts or feelings or sensual pleasures.

You begin to learn how to just tune in to the pure being,

The pure space that you are.

Sometimes listening to one of these audios often will allow you to just move into that meditative space just through the language that leads the attention away from all those thoughts and feelings and sensual experiences into the fourth state of consciousness.

You can still watch the beautiful sunset and have the sensory experiences and appreciate everything in life,

But you can also know when you're not in the sunset,

Wherever you are,

That sunset or that peace or that freedom is right there within you.

So then even when you're in a beautiful sunset or mountain scene or in front of the ocean or river or lake,

You know that you are the one who's watching.

You have to be there first in order to experience the beauty or the magnificence that you experience through your senses.

So you're no longer dependent on only the senses.

You can use them,

You can appreciate them,

But you remain the knower,

Which is already free from the sense of needing anything to be complete,

Needing anything to see that beauty,

Needing anything more than what you already are or already have.

When you're established in the fourth state of consciousness,

You can communicate more effectively with others and you become more compassionate.

You'll see everyone as your own self.

You can accept whatever is happening in your life that is beyond your control.

You no longer rely solely on worldly experiences for your satisfaction and happiness.

You have a well,

A deep well of happiness inside,

And you are now tuned into it.

That eternal well is completely fulfilling and satisfying you,

And you can act with ease and overcome all of life's obstacles.

Continue your meditation practice and keep knowing yourself as the knower.

The more you are in touch with you,

The very knower,

The more you can transform your waking state and live in the fourth state,

Living your true life free from pain and suffering that is experienced in the waking state.

Through this practice of transformation meditation or knowingness meditation and speaking about this or teaching it to others,

You will begin to more and more live in this vision of oneness with joy and peace.

So you can just take some time now just to allow everything you've heard to sink in and just know that that discrimination between what is mind,

What are thoughts,

What are problems,

What are agitations,

What are situations in your life that at this moment you can't control,

You can move towards doing things,

That's all you can do.

And behind all of that,

Behind all of that waking state,

Which seems so real,

Body,

Mind,

Emotions,

Is you,

Which is unmoved,

Which is pure,

Which is free,

Which is forever.

And the mantra can be repeated to help you with this.

To know yourself as that knower,

Which is immortal,

Which is blissful.

It's not the mind because you can watch the mind.

It's not the body because you can watch the body.

It's not the emotions because you can watch the emotions.

You can watch your thoughts.

You can watch your feelings.

You can watch it all.

But you are the very watcher,

The very knower.

So now you're moving from mindfulness to true knowingness that you are pure,

Free,

Forever,

Whole and complete,

Right now,

Completely fulfilled,

Completely satisfied.

There's nowhere to go.

There's nothing to do.

There's nothing that will make you more.

There's nothing that will make you less.

So the very mantra of the whole Om Purnamadah is the truth.

And I'll just sing that for you to continue to meditate as long as you'd like or listen to the sounds of this mantra,

Which is ancient,

Which brings you into the peace of your own self.

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnahat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevahavashishyate.

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnahat Purnamudachyate.

Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevahavashishyate.

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnahat Purnamudachyate.

Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevahavashishyate.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.

May this peace of the knower of your own self be with you always.

Om Shanti.

Om Peace.