My first experience with Meditation

Course: Meditation and Tension free life – residential course - I

Venue: Shrutisagar Ashram, Phulgaon: 412216 Dist: Pune, Maharashtra, India

By Param Pujya Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati

Profile: http://www.shrutisagarashram.org/swamiji.html
Main website: http://www.ShrutisagarAshram.org
Store website: http://Store.ShrutisagarAshram.org

I attended above course for two days in Shrutisagar Ashram and it’s my pleasure to pen down my experiences about the course and its usefulness in daily life of professionals like me who are living busy urban life.

When I first heard about this meditation course, many questions came to my mind.

• How is this course different from other meditation courses?
• Why should I attend and spend 2 days in my life? 
• Will it give me peace of mind in my daily life?

Being director in multinational company at Bangalore, I am living fast paced lifestyle as many other professionals. In this flat world, we are always connected 24x7 to the rest of the world and still trying to maintain work-life balance. While juggling with many demands at home and work; peace of mind is a distant reality. Though we have surpassed Time in terms of material comforts with advancement of science and technology; we are lacking significantly when it comes to mind and its control. With the quest about mind control/ its peace and living happy life; I registered for this course.

 At the start of the course, Parampujya Swamiji told us to switch off mobile phones for 2 days and remain in silence during the course. We are continuously interacting with outside world but we forget to listen to self. He told us to be with self; enjoy serene environment of ashram; trees; flowers; birds; river and nature around us. He also explained us importance of being alert/aware even while doing routine things like eating; walking. Our inward journey started…..

There are many meditation techniques/ kriya and there are multiple ways it has been taught. Parampujya Swamiji told us that meditation is a step by step process and not a technique. It is a state of single pointed mind or alert mind leading to higher state of awareness. He not only explained theory in absolutely logical and scientific terms but took us through all the steps of meditation together in typical “Gurukul” teaching style.  In my mind, this was one of the purest and the most original form of meditation and Pranayam based on Vedic tradition. Let me give you glimpse of all four sessions one by one….

Parampujya Swamiji focused first session on our body. Though our body is our main interface to the rest of the world, we take it for granted. We talk, see, hear, smell and feel through five sensory faculties. In computer terminology, like keyboard/ mouse, we have five input/output devices. All these senses collectively generate five dimensional image of every situation/scene happening outside of our body. The amazing thing is that this “body camera” is loaded with film or memory at the time of birth and it advances to next frame for each event capturing five dimensional pictures till our death. Our science is yet to create five dimensional movies! Isn’t it? Parampujya Swamiji taught us right body posture for meditation; helped us to relax each part of the body. With all our input/output devices powered down, our body’s interaction to the outside world stopped and we took our first step towards inward journey.      

The second session was on Pranayam. We come into this world with first breathe in and leave the world with last breathe out. However this just process by itself is not Pranayam. Pranayam is actually control (Ayama) of breath (Prana). One can control the rhythms of Pranic energy with Pranayam and achieve healthy body and mind. Breath is link between our body and mind. It is a means to understand our own mind. Hence there is direct correlation between breath and mind. If we are angry, our breath becomes faster and if we are calm, our breath is normal. So if we want to control mind, we need to learn to control our breathing. It is as simple as that.  Of course, there are various types of Pranayama and they are done in different ways. All these Paranayamas are important and have various physical benefits to keep our nervous system as well as body healthy. Parampujya Swamiji taught us Vedic Pranayam. Our breath (breathe in &out) is not of equal duration. Also we don’t observe our breathing. In this Pranayam, we become observer of our own breathing initially; then we count numbers (called as मात्रा) while breath in and we count the same मात्रा while we breath out. We should have single pointed focus on breathing. It was our great privilege as Parampujya Swamiji himself was guiding us through the process. This form of Pranayam has also mentioned in Srimad Bhagavat Gita.

स्पर्षान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यान चक्शुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः |

प्राणापानौ समौ क्रुत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ ||५.२७||

We started moving towards next subtlest part of the body; our own mind in the third session. For any situation around us, our mind attaches emotions to it and we either become happy or sad. It has been said – “मन: एव मनुष्याणां कारणम् बन्धमोक्षयो:” As we all know that if we can manage our own mind, we can manage any situation in our life. However it is easier said than done. “How to control our own mind?” is an eternal question for human since its existence. Even Arjun asks this question to Bhagvan Sri Krishna almost five thousand years back –

चञ्चलं हि मन: कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवत् दृढम् |

तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ||६.३४||

(The mind is unsteady, tumultuous, powerful, and obstinate! O Krishna, I consider the mind as difficult as to master the wind!)

It is amazing that we as human being are still struggling with the same question even after so much has been changed during all these years. As we turn inside, the more subtler it becomes, actually it becomes more powerful. We can imagine this with the example of atom bomb – the smaller the size; the most destructive/powerful it is! 

Parampujya Swamiji was at his best when he explained anatomy of mind. According to him if we can understand functioning of mind; understand mind’s problems, it is easier to come up with simple practical solutions which can help us to control mind. Below are few useful tips to study/ develop mind -

·         चञ्चल मन – Always in the past or in the future!

o   Study to live in the present tense? Encash every moment!

o   In technical terms of five dimensional SLR camera of our body – “What you see is what you get”, always sync up our mind with our five senses!

o   Develop absolute alert mind; always concentrate on work in hand; develop “work is workship” habit

·         Expecting mind – Always expect results! If I like result, I am happy otherwise I am sad.

o   Develop accepting mind – “आगते स्वागतम् कुर्यात”

o   In management/sports terminology – enjoy your game; give your 200%; don’t focus on results

Parampujya Swamiji told us not to change the world; change our perspective towards looking at things. The most powerful process that he taught was not to suppress thoughts in mind; not to force mind but to just witness our own thoughts.  It is like we (as spectators) watch movie. When we get attached to characters from movie, we are part of the movie. But here we are aware that I am watching movie as third person and the characters from movie are not real, the scene come and go. In the same way, observe our thoughts; they come and go. Of course our mind itself is witnessing this process with single pointed focus.  Another example is that of India’s president watching republic day parade. Mr. President is static at one place taking salute from troops as they march past him one after another.   

The last session in our meditation journey was to be with self; enjoy the state of silence. All thoughts stop for fraction of a second, this is the state beyond mind. There is no mind at all in this state. We all have experienced this state when we go to deep sleep. In deep sleep state, there is no outside world, there are no five senses and body, and there is no mind too. We say that we slept like log of wood when we wake up. We forget all our worries/tension, we feel refreshed when we wake up.  However the big difference in meditation is that we are absolutely alert and aware. This is the state of silence! This is the state of joy! This is the natural state of self!

In the normal understanding, we assume that we have the body and mind in one dimension. We tend to forget that there are layers. If we become aware of these layers; then we can start crossing these layers to look deep inside us. In meditation, we start looking inward instead of looking outward. This is like moving inside of big south Indian temple where we cross multiple halls; keep moving through multiple doors as we move towards गर्भगृह where idol of deity is installed. Let me quote one verse from Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

ईन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मन: |

मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धे: परतस्तु स: ||३.४२||

(The senses are said to be superior (to the physical body); the mind is superior to the sense faculties; the intelligence is superior to the mind; but the self is superior to the intelligence)

Parampujya Swamiji guided us through this course for two days; opened up all layers; explained us with authority; gave us enough time for all our questions during each session and in सत्संग. We were in completely different world for two days. We also could see life in an Ashram. It was simple life in every aspect, yet there was discipline throughout the day. The most precious part of the course was to have personal meeting with Parampujya Swamiji for any doubts/ questions including meditation process.  

The next question was on how to practice after the course. Will I be able to devote special time for meditation? The answer was simple! You can practice any time; any place even in office chair. The next day, I did my meditation on airport; seating in a chair while waiting for boarding. I followed Parampujya Swamiji’s instructions. It was wonderful experience; mind became stable in ten minutes; started observing thoughts; after some time all thoughts stopped; 2-3 times this state changed; I enjoyed this state for an hour. I felt happy and amazed by the power of this simple process! I strongly believe that we can devote at least 10 minutes a day for meditation in our daily busy life. It will give immense benefits like reduced stress, healthy mind, inculcate positive attitude in daily life and improved concentration. 

I strongly recommend this course for anyone who wants to learn meditation directly from authority figure like Parampujya Swamiji.  

Vivek Sabnis

Director, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Bangalore

Cell: +91 9880002099

Email: vsabnis02@yahoo.com

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/viveksabnis