In a previous article, I presented a simple technique for meditation. In the technique presented therein, when the mind seems to drift too far away from the object of meditation, we go through a cycle of body awareness, breath awareness, third eye focus and finally go back to mantra meditation. We repeat this process as often as it becomes necessary so we can help calm the mind.
Why does the mind keep drifting away from the object of meditation? Because that’s just the very nature of the mind. All its life it has been given the freedom to jump from one topic to next, from one thought to next, all in quick succession. When no other activity is going on, it likes to daydream and think about pleasant things, either in the past or projecting them into the future. When we try to engage the mind in some productive activity, it knows how to find an excuse to stay off-topic and focus on some negative feelings from the past or some worry about the future.
Swami Vivekananda likes to compare the mind to a monkey who by its very nature is highly restless all the time, jumping all over the place. However, he says imagine a monkey that has had a couple of drinks, so it is intoxicated. On top of that, imagine that the monkey has been bitten by a scorpion. Swami Vivekananda write, "The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How to control such a mind!"
In our meditation practice, we are trying to bring the mind to a state where there is less agitation and more peace and quiet. However, in our endeavor to steady the mind, we cannot use any kind of force to quiet the mind. The mind is like a child – the more you try to control it, the more violent it gets. Instead, we need to use a touch of "gentle friendship" toward the mind. Remember, the mind has had a free ride so far. It has always been in control of our actions and behavior patterns. As kids we knew how to manipulate our elders in getting what we wanted. As adults we are a slave of the mind. The mind knows how to convince us to eat unhealthy food, or do things which are not in our best interests.
Now that we have decided to sit for meditation, it is not going to be easy to control a mind which has had the upper hand all its life. If we use force, it is going to rebel against us and do exactly the opposite of what we want it to do. This is where we need to use some very gentle cajoling of the mind and very gradually train it to learn how to calm down when we sit for meditation.Â
Let us assume that we have picked the sound of the word "love" as our mantra for meditation. So for our meditation session, we begin to chant the sound of "love" in our mind. When we observe the mind drifting away to other thoughts, we need to gently bring it back to the chanting of the mantra. There will be occasions when we would suddenly realize that the mind has been away from the mantra for a long time. At that time, we can again apply the technique mentioned in my previous article.
It is only through a long, sustained, regular practice that we can gradually train the mind to stay focused on the mantra for some length of time.
If you have a regular practice of meditation please share your experience below. I would love to hear your feedback on the present article.
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