We often hear about meditation as a kind of ritual that is performed in a certain position, at a certain time, with a certain mantra, etc. There are many different techniques of meditation, ways, but there is another important factor - this is the state of meditation itself.
The state of meditation is the sensation of activity in the body, mind and emotions under your control. This lack of fuss, anxiety, irritability. A herd of mammoths can run past a person in a state of meditation, but he will not blink an eye.
This state of detachment is not in the sense that a person does not participate emotionally in what is happening around, but in the sense that he controls any manifestations of emotions, but at the same time, detachment allows him to constructively make decisions based not on personal interests, but on the basis of interests. universal proportions.
Well, by the way, it's still early days. Let's take a look at what meditations are!
According to the level of energy, there are three stages of meditation: tamasic energy is the energy of complete tranquility, but not in the sense of pacification, but in the sense of complete zero - oblivion, apathy, inertia. The activity of the physical body brings the body out of the state of tamas, from the state of sleep. A person who meditates from a state of tamasic energy simply sleeps - his energy has frozen, turned into jelly, he wants to sleep or is already asleep and sees a dream about how he meditates.
A person is in a state of tamas after sleep, after eating tamasic food, or, even worse, overeating when he sits in front of the TV or computer for a long time, or lies on the couch.
In this state, meditation will be very sluggish - it will not give sensations, except as a sense of accomplishment to the homeland. Before meditating, you need to get out of this state - to cheer up. Jog or walk at a brisk pace, do yoga, dance, perform various strength exercises. In general, to swing the energy, to bring the body out of the state of tamas.
Only this does not mean that a five-minute warm-up will be enough - you will feel how your state has flowed from apathetic to a state of cheerfulness, freshness, clarity. And then the second stage of meditation begins.
Rajas is a state of full activity of both the mind, emotions and body. In such a state, a person wants to engage in activities, the energy in his body is seething, wants to break out, wants to express himself in some very important matter - whether it is washing socks or an agreement with a large company. The mind is always busy with active activity - “I don’t remember if there’s enough potatoes or I need to go to the store to buy… and I changed my child’s underwear today or not… but in that show the host had a blouse with such a lace collar for me…”, or - “… the car takes to the right, or the wheel is lowered, or it is necessary to go to camber,… I won’t go where I did last year - it’s expensive and there is a big queue… or maybe there will be the one that arrived in the red car - so juicy,… interestingly, the blonde from the next doorway looks at me all the time and smiles … and so on ad infinitum.
The mind is agitated, it is at the peak of activity, the body does not sit still, emotions are ready to splash out. In general, you sit and wait when everything is finally over.
In order to get into the state of sattva, certain breathing techniques help. Sattvic energy is very close to the state of cosmic ecstasy, bliss, euphoria. In this state, new ideas are born, creative inspiration appears. You go to the level from which you can see the solution of many problems as if from above, with an open mind, without identification.
But to come to this there are three more levels of sattvic meditation. At the first level, feeling calmness and peace in the body and emotions, the meditator observes how his thoughts flow past him like clouds in the sky or how he watches them like passers-by from a window. He does not identify himself with thoughts - he watches how one thought gives birth to another, that gives birth to the next, and so on. Try to find a gap between you and the thoughts themselves - here you are, but the thoughts are independent of me.
Having passed this step, the practitioner of meditation suddenly finds such a line, crossing which he finds himself as a kind of observer outside his own body. He reveals himself as a being of subjective reality, separate from the objects of the physical and mental world. He is not a body, and the world is not reality, but only an interpretation of the world, created by random circumstances in certain conditions. And then at the third level you find yourself only as a point in space, as nobody, as a spark, as a spark of consciousness. You feel how in the endless emptiness the ocean of the universe opens its arms, and you are drowning in its bliss. You understand that you have not only become nothing, emptiness, but always have been and only accidentally mistook an illusion for reality.
Perform the following breathing technique - a calm, deep breath, the same calm deep exhalation. Breathing in the abdomen, continuous and even. Constantly observe the breath as it enters and exits. Keep your focus on breathing. Do not wait for the result - totally become the observer of your breath - "I am the One Who Watches the Breath".
Just do not think that it is easy - tune in to the fact that by starting to meditate, sooner or later you will come to a state of meditation. Maybe after a while of regular practice, not right during the practice, but when you are walking down the street and enjoying the clean, fresh air after the rain, you suddenly want to stop from the sudden surge of experience. You look at the world, but it is completely different - it seems to have slowed down and everything breathes with love.
Or you look at any person, and he suddenly becomes incredibly beautiful - you see in him the embodiment of God himself. Or suddenly, somewhere, you heard the rustle of the wings of a dove flying by and this sound suddenly stops the world - someone paused, and you just watch the sun slowly sinking behind tall buildings. Be sure - this is it, the same! Stop, close your eyes and go deeper into yourself - don't let it slip away!
