meditation

We are holding on to our thoughts

Why is the mind often into cravings and worries and is unable to simply be quiet and at peace? Why does it stay in feelings of unhappiness?

Babaji gives the example of someone who is holding on to a pillar tightly, shouting, ‘Help, this pillar is holding me, this pillar is holding me!’

Eventually a wise man approaches, calms the person down and assures, ‘It’s not the pillar which is holding you – you are holding the pillar’. The person realises that they had been the one holding the pillar all along, not the other way round. In so doing they are able to gradually let go.

Just like this, the reason thoughts remain in the mind is because we are holding onto them. We keep adding fuel to the thoughts, we keep entertaining them – this has become a habit within us. Even an unhappy feeling can remain there because we keep holding on to it and are unable to let it go.

What is required is a technique to enable us to let go and purify the mind of these thoughts. That is what this ancient practice of meditation is. When we practice regularly just to watch and not get involved in the thoughts, gradually they disappear. The mind becomes purified of its acquired habits which it had accumulated since time immemorial. The mind becomes cool, free from tension, fear and stress. We can apply the mind with our best concentration, unimpeded by distractions and also enjoy that real peace that hitherto had been so elusive to us. That peace is in fact the true nature of the mind when it is not holding on to thoughts.

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#letgoofthoughts

Our courses and sessions are designed to help you establish a daily practice.

How to not be fooled by the brain

The brain is a beautiful organ to live in this world if we are in control of it. However, sometimes what the brain reflects might not be the truth. For example, it might present something which is not true as a truth: a friend can appear as a foe and a foe as a friend. If we start believing that as the fundamental truth we get into trouble. We thus have to learn how to verify what is really true. How do we do this? As Babaji says,

‘Amongst millions of thoughts that are in your mind, there is one thing which is not a thought, which is not an imagined one; the consciousness of your existence. That’s what you get to see practically in meditation. That’s what you have to catch hold of, you have to reach that stage.’

So in meditation, efforts are made not to get involved into any thoughts. Slowly, through regular practice, the mind gets the upper hand and gets more and more quiet – it gets de-linked from the clutches of the brain. We will be the master; to use the brain as we wish, in the best way possible.

‘When the mind is purified and concentrated, you are able to apply the brain in a better way. You won’t allow the brain to fool you, but you will be using the brain. If you allow the brain to use you, then it will fool you.’ ~ Babaji

Click on the video to see Meditation Master Shiva Rudra Balayogi explain these points in detail.


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#bethemasterofthebrain

Our courses and sessions are designed to help you establish a daily practice.

No need to keep checking for progress

As we meditate, we should not be worrying about checking whether we are making progress or not as this in fact will hamper our progress.


Babaji says,

‘When you worry about progress your concentration gets distracted. If you have to stop and look back then your practice gets distracted. It stops so your attention goes somewhere else and in the process you get involved. You won’t be able to progress then. Say you are on a train from New Delhi to Bangalore. It is a super-fast express but if you want to get down at every station to find out how far you have travelled, how much you have progressed, you are likely to miss the train. You will have to stop there and wait for another train to come. So do not get off the train. You have to be sitting in the train. It’s like this. So you have to be practising constantly, simply. Practising is your duty.’

When we just pick up the practice of meditation by meditating everyday then it becomes natural to us, a way of life. We know that the meditation is doing us good, making our mind more peaceful and under our control. And when we set a particular duration we must have the discipline not to get up before that duration is over. If we start thinking, “Oh, it’s hard, I will stop now and do it later”, then our mind becomes a bit weak and lazy. But if we persevere with the time we have set no matter what is going on  in our meditation, then our mind will get accustomed to it. It’s simply the job that we do for our mind to become peaceful – we don’t have expectations how and when the results will come. That discipline and patience in our practice is so necessary. Then, before we know it, progress will have been made.

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#dailypractice

Our courses and sessions are designed to help you establish a daily practice.

To have peace you have to practice peace ~ A talk by Shiva Rudra Balayogi

The world always seems to be into conflicts caused by selfish and immature thinking of human beings. As Babaji clarifies in this beautiful public discourse given in Perth Australia in 2018, we all talk of peace but don’t practice peace. Since ancient times, spiritual exercises have been prescribed to keep our physical, mental and moral health intact. Meditation is one such method – by putting in dedicated, disciplined efforts and having patience, we can achieve peace for ourselves and become better human beings. Only through these self-efforts can a really civilized, harmonious world be achieved.

Training our mental stamina

When we start out in meditation, we need to have a positive attitude to keep going and not be worried that there might be many thoughts or not. This will train our mental stamina.

The instruction is to ‘just watch’. That means not to judge whether a thought is good or bad, whether there are any thoughts or no thoughts. If we think ‘Oh, there are so many thoughts, this is very bad’, then meditation can appear a struggle. But if we just keep putting in efforts, then it can be a fun process to keep the mind from getting involved in every thought that crops up.

This positive attitude will help us in our daily lives also – we can keep the mind at peace and not get ruffled by what happens around us.

As Babaji also reassures, no effort that we put in meditation will go to waste. It is like a term deposit. The fruits will be revealed in due course of time as our mind becomes purified of its habits and gradually more and more under our control.

All we need is that patience to keep going with our dedicated efforts.

#mentalstamina
#keepgoing

The Gap between the thoughts

Meditation Master Babaji talks about how inbetween all the thoughts that crop up in the mind, there is a gap, a space. That is the true nature of the mind – our attention goes to the gap when we simply watch in the meditation and do not analyze or judge what comes up.

“As the thoughts keep arising, millions of thoughts also come, but inbetween every thought, a small gap happens. That gap is the space. That space is the consciousness. When the thought comes, during that time of thought, that consciousness, though it is there behind that thought, it doesn’t appear to be there because your attention is drawn by the thought. But inbetween there is a gap.

So slowly as you go on watching, watching, watching in the meditation your mind gains attention onto the gap, slowly forgets about the thought when it does not analyze, when it does not make a judgement. That is the idea of ‘just watch, watch, watch’ we keep repeatedly telling so to make you watch that space. When your mind watches that space, your mind also becomes that space, means both become consciousness and you realise they are both the one and same. That’s how pure consciousness appears and there is no more thought.”

~Shiva Rudra Balayogi

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#gapbetweenthethoughts

Practise peace and establish peace

When we look at this world, why is it that wars and conflicts are always going on? Why is there not peace in the world where human beings live in harmony, loving and respecting one another?

The problem is in the mind. As Babaji says,

‘It’s we human beings who make the world lose peace. We have to practise peace. We need to achieve peace for ourselves so that we can allow others to have their peace. We need to overcome the selfish and narrow-mindedness in us, everybody. Only then there is peace.’

~Shiva Rudra Balayogi

The practice of achieving peace for ourselves is the meditation. By bringing attention to this mind and adopting a proper technique to purify its habits, it comes under our control. It will not make us dance to its tunes anymore – gradually we will be able to restrain ourselves from going into negative emotions and succumbing to anger, selfishness and greed.

With a purified mind we can treat everyone with the same care and respect.
That is what are ‘moral values’, which Babaji simply defines as consideration for others.

‘Everybody gets peace. Everybody has justice. Not that you look after your own children in a different way and you scold others in a different way. So that is not justice. Justice means all are same. So you give peace to everybody. You give your love and care to everybody – that’s necessary.’

~Shiva Rudra Balayogi

Only when everyone practises and not simply talks about peace can there be peace in the world.

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#practisepeace

Watch the full video of Babaji talking about Peace in the world here.

First cleanse the mind and gain control

We may think that we can just go on thinking positive thoughts all the time, but it doesn’t happen like that. Due to the mind acquiring habits since time immemorial, unknown to us it will go into negativity also. The Meditation Master Babaji advises that we first cleanse the mind in meditation. Then as we gain control over our mind more and more, we will have the freedom to think in whatever way we want to think.

‘To visualize a positive or a right thing also, you need to have a control over yourself. Cleansing in this meditation means it is not making the mind totally blank or unusable. Mind is always usable, mind would be available to you. It would cleanse everything and you will gain control over your mind. Then after that you can try to visualize more positively. That will be more possible. You can think positively always, a larger cause, happiness of the entire world, all universe, that type of thing. Visualizing such things would be recommended, definitely.

So when you practice meditation, mind is at your disposal. Then you can think the best things. Otherwise if the mind goes out of control – though you want to think the best and good things, unknown to you it will jump into the bad things also. Sometimes if you observe, when you get up in the morning you would be fresh. Mind will be quiet for a while, you are enjoying a peace. Unknown to you, mind starts visualizing or thinking things. Nobody wants to think unpleasant things. They try to imagine the pleasant things, good and positive. But as the day passes by if you have observed, mind jumps into negativity also, positivity also. It gets involved into all sorts of dirty things unknown to you if you don’t have a control over your mind. So this is what will be possible through the practice of meditation.’

~Shiva Rudra Balayogi

#cleansethemindfirst
#controlofthemind
#positivethinking

Courage to change and serenity to accept.

Question: When you’re in a situation where you’re challenged more, what would you advise we do? It’s very hard then just to sit in meditation and watch, because there’s so much going on.

Babaji: I understand. Things may not be as easy as we talk. When a person lives in this world many things could be challenging. Constant practice of the spiritual exercises like meditation is though the final remedy. One has to take it as a challenge and regularly practice. That is why it happens. You see for example, if a war is declared suddenly then the army cannot go on practicing with their weapons. When the peace time is there they will always be exercising and practicing. That is why every time the spiritual exercises are very important.

Strongly, if you regularly practice by adopting the right technology, then you would be able to keep calm, you will be updating everyday because sometimes every day is challenging in life and you’ll be able to face things unperturbed, keeping your peace. When such a situation arises around you, simply by worrying, allowing the mind to become a victim you are not going to change the situation. Unnecessarily your mind also is becoming a casualty. If you start thinking positively and then try to keep the mind intact, maybe there is always a hope that you can try to handle the situation as much as possible. When it is beyond your capacity, you have to simply accept. Remember the old saying: “God, give me the courage to change the things that I can change, and give me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference”.

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#couragetochange
#serenitytoaccept

Think when you want to think. Be quiet when you want to be quiet.

‘This mind itself is made up of Consciousness, meaning where you apply it you become aware. Through practice of meditation, eventually one day, when you are able to achieve the total silence of the mind, when this mind becomes totally quiet, meaning it becomes quiet when it gives up all its imaginations, then automatically it becomes aware of itself because it is made up of that Consciousness. That Consciousness is automatically present, that is not a separate thing that needs to be generated or needs to be brought forth, or needs to be imagined, only the thoughts and visions. And only when we have to work in this world we have to imagine.

So thus when you practice this meditation, when you achieve that silence, that does not mean that you lose the ability to imagine or use this as a mind, it will still be possible, always be possible. You can remain a normal person in this world. When you practice meditation you will be able to imagine, you will be able to think, you will be able to be creative in this world, do anything that you want is no problem. Simply by the practice of this meditation, you are able to think when you want, imagine when you want and be creative when you want. When the job is over or when you don’t want, then you will be able to keep that mind to its quietness, to its silence. You will be able to keep yourself under control, not allowing yourself to become a chatterbox at all times, even when you don’t want.’

~Shiva Rudra Balayogi

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#thinkwhenyouwanttothink