Books on Happiness / the happiness revolution - 2 students

eas of my mind and I gradually promoted myself to the arena of more dominating and more unwanted habits. The more I learned, the more I wanted to meditate. When meditation is an active process that builds your self-confidence and self-understanding, then no one will need to motivate you to sit down and meditate.

The story of the blanket with the grape juice stain has always been a vivid lesson for me. Outside of meditation, my progression of selftransformation was quickened by my conversations with mentors and by my e orts to compassionately guide my students and clients who were fixated on their tiniest stains of insignificance.

Each person’s su ering became a modern day example of the same su ering that I experienced in the

past. I found tremendous value in the stories of my students and clients. I learned to ask direct questions that revealed a clear depiction of their weaknesses and strengths. The more vivid the problem, the more obvious the solution became to both of us. These conversations became sacred - their time of personal despair became the key that helped them regain their righteousness and virtue. Their failures and eventual victories inspired us both. tory.

For over 20 years I have had the privilege of guiding and clarifying individuals’ experience from a wide variety of meditative traditions. Regardless of the origin of their training in meditation, they are all subject to the same universal guidelines. Those who have been actively meditating for years want to know why they are not achieving

the results they are seeking. And those who have never meditated, but want to manage their stress more e ectively, are filled with questions about why meditation is so important. Both practitioners and non-practitioners of meditation are seeking one thing: happiness.

Here is the bottom line: you have to be able to live with yourself. Regardless of your marital status or your occupation, there will be times when you will be physically alone. Those are the moments when you get to spend some extra time with your mind. Depending upon the relationship you have with your mind, your moments of solitude will either be pleasant or unpleasant.

Now, if the last two sentences piqued your curiosity, then you are probably ready to learn how to meditate. It is a fantastic voyage.

Imagine that you are going to embark on a magical tour of the inner workings of your life. On this voyage you will view the precursors to every success and delight that you experience. And you will view from concept to creation, how problems are formed that impair your self-confidence and compassion. Your journey will be in real time, allowing you to immediately feel the consequences of these inner workings. On this voyage you will also be provided with expert guidance from a variety of sources, including your meditation teacher, sacred texts and your own conscience. This expertise will o er you tips, techniques and insights on how to increase your joy, productivity and kindness. This is the voyage of meditation. You get to see the inner workings of your mind, up close and personal. That is why you must thoroughly understand the philosophy of meditation and the tools of meditation before you leave the “home port” of the external world.

Every year meditation is becoming more popular. It is in vogue at many levels of society in America and abroad. According to Newsweek (Aug. 29th, 2005), approximately 30 percent of Americans now say they practice meditation regularly. While more people are practicing meditation, I wonder what they are actually doing. To simply meditate aimlessly, without acquiring a joyful mind, is too easy and too common. You need a philosophy and time-tested techniques to succeed at this goal – the real goal of meditation.

While there is no certifying body for teachers of meditation, there is a living tradition of meditators that stands from the earliest of times. You may find great value in reviewing the literature of this science – the Vedas, Upanishads and Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Tripura Rahasya and the Puranas. These are the published “scientific journals” of the meditative tradition.

Many of these texts are records of conversations between students and teachers. In the days during which they were written, the only salvation from despair and inner turmoil was guidance from a person who had attained the very goal you were pursuing. It was a time and a place where students respectfully laid their confusion and misguided deeds at the feet of their teacher. In that moment, the student immediately sensed the unconditional love of his teacher and only in that atmosphere could he feel safe and secure enough to learn how to resolve the mortification and consequences of his own actions. These powerful conversations of transformation, healing and growth have been recorded and recited throughout history. These living stories bring to life the healing relationships between parent and child, student and teacher, guru and disciple. In many parts of the world, this kind of loving relationship is still kept alive and is still being recorded in stories saved through the printed word.

Thus far in this book, I have shared with you the secrets and shortcuts that enable you to maximize joy and minimize misery. These

methodologies will help you learn to identify more with your conscience than your mind, and eventually, you will merge the two. At the moment that this union is forged, all internal conflicts will cease and all personal confusions will end. Until this revelation dawns, you will need a guide. Until a living teacher appears, there are great conversations preserved in the spiritual literature that helped my patients and will help you. For what my patients were seeking is what you are seeking — happiness.

These stories continue to live because they address every issue and every dilemma that you could ever encounter throughout your entire life span. Every culture and every time period has recited tales blending history, technique and inspiration to their loved ones.

In December of 2000 I visited a tiny village of fisherman living along the Ganges River outside of Allahabad. Seeing a small group of Westerners, the villagers gathered to greet us. Within moments, the village leader appeared, along with his council of musicians, inviting us to sit down and listen to the story of their town. They sang with power and delight about their mother - the river Ganges - and how she sustains their life by providing them with food, water and jobs. In the next hour, through the graciousness of an interpreter, I learned that their musical stories were filled with advice on ecology, respect, faith, relationships, honor and courage. There were historical facts, spiritual lore and an overwhelming gratitude chorused together with rhythm and dance. All the children were eager to embrace and recite the songs of their village. It was a symphony of timeless love.

Today we no longer gather around a community fire to share our dreams and recite the story of our tribe. We meet in co ee houses or online chat rooms to recite jokes from our favorite television shows and tales of our favorite rock stars. The oral tradition of knowledge today is commonly limited to local gossip, nationalistic pride or fractured theologies that separate us from one another instead of unify-

ing us all. We listen to iPods, satellite radio and television instead of speaking for ourselves and sharing the tale of transformation within our lives and the lives of our family. However, times are changing.

Teenagers now put their private thoughts online for all to read. They use the Internet to log the entries of their diary and they blog the news of their family to the world. The search for intimacy of thought and community is returning full force. Self-reflection is returning.

For many of my patients, it was their journals of private thoughts that led them to seek out instruction in meditation. Putting your thoughts and feelings into written words requires you to search and perhaps struggle for the right words that accurately convey your message. This forces you to clarify the true nature of your experience and your personal evaluation of that moment. Capturing your life on paper commonly reveals the answers you are seeking. Do not be afraid to express yourself in your own private manner. Sometimes the purpose of fear is to prevent questioning. Any fear that is questioned e ectively will cease to exist.

Meditation allows you to safely examine and question your fears. This gentle and objective examination will lead you to a deeper understanding of yourself – a self that is free of fear and guilt, shame and doubt. Meditation polishes your mind, allowing you to see the brilliance of love, compassion and wisdom. A patient once asked me how to surrender guilt. I told her that before you can surrender anything, you must clearly understand that you will be gaining much more of what you truly want by the process of surrender. You must realize that by giving up guilt, you will gain far more joy. Likewise, you will give up activities that have never led you to peace. You will never find time to meditate until you find an activity that never works for you and then surrender that moment in exchange for time to learn meditation. It is a gradual process.

In time, your own story will be one of triumph and joy.

THE OBJECT OF MEDITATION

The outcome of meditation, which is the process of paying attention, is dependent upon the object of the meditation. If your meditation posture is not comfortable, your mind may meditate on the uncomfortable sensations. If your mind is angry and upset, your meditation experience may be limited to the repetitive drone of the topics that have upset you. The meditative literature of the past recommends that teachers of meditation today should encourage the object of meditation to be a mantra.

A mantra is a sacred awakened sound that guides and protects the meditator from the subtle unhelpful impulses in his or her mind. The mantra also awakens and quickens your awareness of positive

qualities within you that may not currently be in your awareness. Cultivating your mind with the richness of courage, love, responsibility and insight allows you to be productive and delightful throughout your entire life. Your mantra guides you through all troubled times by revealing the insights and advice of your own conscience. Eventually the mantra leads you to a state of silence and satisfaction. In that culminating moment you experience the true nature of your own identity – the state of self-realization. The ultimate cure for all fear and stress dwells in this well of silence deep within you. To go there is to know the joy that answers all questions. Mantras unlock all doors and lift you over every hurdle as you seek out the silence within you.

Soham, pronounced so-hum, is the first mantra of a meditator. It has the very rare quality of flowing with your breath. When you inhale, you silently recite the sound of ‘so.’ During exhalation, recite the sound of ‘ham.’ Most mantras are independent of the breath, but not soham.

This mantra comes awakened and ready to use. It does not require formal initiation by a teacher or any external rituals. Just simply sit down and bring the mantra forward into your awareness. For those who are prepared for a more advanced practice of meditation, seeking out a teacher in the meditative tradition is recommended. If no teacher can be found, there are two other mantras that are also available to you in the public domain. These mantras, Gayatri and Maha Mrityunjaya, are also immediately available to you. They have a rich history dating back to the dawn of time. Here is an explanation of these mantras.

The Gayatri mantra is:

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah

Tat savitur varenyam

Bhargo devasya dhimahi

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat

The translation of this mantra is, “I meditate on the radiant and most venerable light of the divine from which issues forth the triple world – the bhur, bhuvah and swah – earth, space and heaven. May the divine light illuminate and guide my intelligence.”

This mantra is traditionally called the Mother of the Vedas. The practice of this mantra enabled the sages to receive the revelation of all other mantras. This mantra calms mental noises, washes o karmic impurities, purifies ego, sharpens the intellect and illuminates the inner being with the light which flows directly from the source.

The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra is the means for attaining victory over death, disease, and sickness. The word “maha” means great, “mrityu” means death, “jaya” means victory. This is a healing and nourishing mantra, cultivating the healing power within.

This is the mantra:

Om Tryambakam yajamahe

Sugandhim pushti vardhanam

Urvarukamiva bandhanan

Mrityor mukshiya mamritat

The translation of this mantra is: “I meditate on and surrender myself to the Divine Being who embodies the power of will, the power of knowledge and the power of action. I pray to the Divine Being who manifests in the form of fragrance in the flower of life and is the eternal nourisher of the plant of life. Like a skillful gardener, may the Lord of Life disentangle me from the binding forces of my physical, psychological and spiritual foes. May the Lord of Immortality residing within free me from my death, decay and sickness, and unite me with immortality.”

You may not notice an instantaneous transformation from reciting these mantras, but their e ect is immense and everlasting. The process

of purification with mantra meditation begins in the deep subconscious and gradually pervades all aspects of your personality. You become new and fully transformed from inside out. According to the sages, there are two ways you can overcome obstacles to your spiritual awakening. The first method is to clear away the hurdles by overcoming your weaknesses and consequently gaining inner strength. The second method is to clear away the hurdles by making the strong part of yourself even stronger and consequently attaining freedom from weakness.

The Gayatri mantra uses the first method – it clears away the hurdles by overcoming weaknesses. The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra which is mainly used for healing, uses the second method. It clears away the hurdles by making the strong part of ourselves even stronger. The Gayatri mantra focuses on cleansing, while the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra focuses on nourishing. Ultimately, you achieve the same goal.

Proper pronunciation of all mantras is very important. You are welcome to request an audio CD of these mantras from my o ce. You can reach me online at www.AliveandHealthy.com.

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Once a mantra has been received, the student of meditation starts to dedicate a self-selected time to regularly meditate on his mantra. A consistent daily practice of meditation will gradually lead you to true self-understanding and self-transformation. You can easily understand and experience meditation. Eventually you will match the experiences of the great meditators.

Let’s meditate right now.

Bring your awareness to your forehead, the area between your two eyebrows. Start with your awareness there as you gently close your eyes and begin breathing in a smooth, rhythmic fashion through your nose. As your breath becomes smooth and continuous, become aware of your mantra. Remember the sound of “soham” and let it begin to blend in with your breath. Remember the sound of “so” during inha-

lation and the sound “hum” during exhalation. Let these two sounds soothe and massage your breath.

Hear the sound of “soham” in the sanctuary of your mind. Silent to the world, but within you a cacophony builds of spiritual awakening and renewal. As your mantra guides you deeper within, occasionally thoughts and ideas will surface. Witness them as they rise and dissolve. There is no need to get involved with thought patterns.

Meditation is your time to practice dealing with your own mental tendencies and impulses. When you disconnect yourself from your external relationship with your senses, it is only natural that the stored impressions in your mind will come forward. That is why solitude can be either pleasant or tormenting, based upon the skill an individual has in dealing with his or her mind. It is a learned skill. Solitary confinement to the prisoner is hell, but to the meditator it is heaven. It is only a di erence of skill levels.

Give your mantra a higher priority than the thoughts, feelings and memories arising within. Do not allow the thoughts to a ect you. Continue to breathe and keep the mind focused on the mantra. After 10 to 15 minutes, gradually conclude your meditation. Take a few moments to enjoy the calm stillness of your meditation.

Stillness in meditation will give you physical delight. Even if you are pretending to meditate it will help. Try to understand the conscious part of your mind - it is your constant companion. Learn to refine your entire mind (both the conscious and subconscious parts) by gently training yourself to be still. You will stumble many times, but if your goal is clear, providence will guide you. All problems of stress are created and cured by your breathing mechanism. Keep breathing and the stress will lessen. Soon it will be gone.

You may want to track your progress in a diary. By writing down your observations once a week, you will clearly see how your life is transforming. It is the questions you ask yourself that reveal these data. Did thoughts surface during meditation? Did important thoughts