Meditation
Emptying yourself… emptying your personhood…
"You are not a person who is free, but free from the person- Freedom itself!" (Nisargadatta Maharaj)
After His enlightenment Siddharta Gautama has been wondering around India. The Light shining through Him was simply blinding, people could not but simply notice this. On one occasion Buddha was approached and asked:
"Are you god?"
"No", he replied.
"Are you a saint?
"No", the prince replied.
"Are you a prophet?"
"No, I am not a prophet."
"Then, who are you?".
"I am awake", the Buddha said calmly.
The word "Buddha" means the awakened one. To be truly alive each passing moment, to be effortlessly awake to everything that is happening around and inside of you every second is the only meaningful way to live. Meditation teaches you precisely this.
With or without meditation, life will keep testing you, it will keep throwing arrows at you. However, when you start practicing real meditation, there will be a dramatic shift in your response to the challenges that life throws at you.
'In life, you can't always control the first arrow", Buddha said, "however, the second arrow is your reaction to the first one. This second arrow is optional." This is not about denying your initial reaction but about the choice you have in how to proceed in life next and avoid all unnecessary suffering. Meditation is of utmost importance in cultivating this awareness.
There are many schools of meditation, many different traditions, some even say, it's a "pathless path". Eventually, they all lead to the same, helping you sail through life without being bogged down by what is being thrown at you… in full awareness, equanimity, untouched (or almost untouched:)… in addition to reaping the fruit of side affects: inner peace, self-love, self-acceptance & compassion towards others.
It is not a path of escapism. In fact, it is Living Life with full involvement but no more entanglement… when past pain, memories (good or bad), future anticipations, fears… don't "stick" on you, don't linger in you for prolonged periods of time. No matter what, you don't lose your "Dao" 道 ("The Way", "Inner Balance"). "Pleasure or Pain, Loss or Gain, Praise or Blame, you remain equanimous", as per Lord Krishna's teachings to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita.
Your relationship with the world and everything around you and within you gradually starts to change. It's a journey with no destination… not measured by linear time. But in order for YOU to be able to actually understand all this, it is imperative to step down from the mental plane of philosophy and actually make that first step happen- doing it & experiencing it all for yourself…. finding that place within yourself that surpasses all mental reasoning & understanding.
Only then, you'll be able to truly tap into the God's Light within. Did the Christ not say, "I and the Father are one"- to show that there is no separation, no distance between You and God. You are a bubble of infinite potential, able to project and manifest anything you aspire for. You are a fragment of God, an embodiment of the very same Light. Meditation is the key in helping you dissolve into that magical space, called "home"!
