What is Meditation
Meditation is the primary tool you can use to create miracles for yourself. In short, it’s a time set aside in order to practice quieting the mind, but it’s more than simply a practice. It is an experience, an awareness, a way of perceiving and also a way of life.
As you learn to slow down and quiet the mind, with earnest practice you will eventually get to a point when you can completely stop your thoughts and it’s this that will act as a catalyst of experiencing the miracles of light.
As Rama said: “if you meditate, then the real miracle is the transformation of your awareness field beyond the body. Beyond the body there is light, infinite light, and enlightenment – oceans of light, continents of light, universes of light. Reality is a perfect light. It frees you from the limitations of this world, from the ugliness, from the unhappiness of limited perception. That’s the greatest miracle.”
With practice, we can all experience that light ourselves, and once we do, we immediately become free from the limitations of this world, from all the unhappiness or suffering that people with limited perception go through day after day. The miracle is stepping out of this, experiencing the true essence of life.
At the beginning of meditation, we try to slow down our thoughts, and as we advance our goal becomes to completely stop them. Stopping thought is a miracle in itself: when the mind becomes silent the world stops, time stops and everything stops. Nothing matters and you merge with light.
At the beginning of meditation, we try to slow down our thoughts, and as we advance our goal becomes to completely stop them. Stopping thought is a miracle in itself: when the mind becomes silent the world stops, time stops and everything stops. Nothing matters and you merge with light, you merge with the true essence of life.
“Meditation is a journey, a journey to the other side. The other side can’t be explained – the mystical worlds, the timeless, miraculous worlds of light. But they can be certainly, most certainly, experienced by you.”
There are many kinds of meditation techniques, but the ones described here were recommended by Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz, as being the most beneficial for beginners and intermediate practitioners in Western Societies. Meditation simply allows you to shift your awareness field from this world into other dimensions.
At this day and age, learning to meditate well is not easy. If we lived on a planet which was not overcrowded and with people who all had happy thoughts, it would be. But since this is not the case, we have to compensate and find ways that make the learning process more efficient.
Meditating to certain music (music created in higher dimensions) such as the music created by the band Zazen, will help you focus during meditation and will assist in making the mind quiet.
“If you meditate, then the real miracle is the transformation of your awareness field beyond the body. Beyond the body there are oceans of light, continents of light, universes of light. Meditation frees you from this world.”
Meditation Practice
The following are the steps to a meditation practice that you can start with:
1. Find a quiet place to sit down cross legged on the floor or sit on a chair, making sure that you sit with a very straight back.
2. During meditation the focus is first on a navel center (which is a couple of inches under our navel) then the heart center (the center of our chest) and then the third eye (in the forehead between the eyebrows and a little above).
3. Depending on how long you have been meditating you could focus on each of the energy centers for a few songs each. For example, 2 songs for the naval chakra, 2 on the heart chakra and 2 on the third eye.
4. Keep your focus on the Chakras (energy centers) while you meditate. If your mind wanders off just get back to focusing on your chakra without getting frustrated.
5. Never judge your meditation. Meditation takes time and perseverance and you shouldn’t expect too much too soon.
6. Meditate every day, twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. After a while, with the practice of meditation you will be able to experience the positive effects that it brings to your life – more clarity, wisdom, power, light.
Reprinted or included here with permission from The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism