Meditation-Silence: video podcast

“Successful meditation entirely depends on our inner cry. When a child is hungry, really hungry, he cries. He may be on the first floor and his mother may be on the third floor, but when the mother hears his cry she comes down immediately to feed the child. Let us take meditation as an inner hunger.” —Sri Chinmoy

“When we start meditating in silence, right from the beginning we feel the bottom of a sea within us and without. The life of activity, movement and restlessness is on the surface, but deep below, underneath our human life, there is poise and silence.” — Sri Chinmoy

“When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence—our true existence; that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt and worry and all the earthly turmoils will just wash away because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim, but leave no mark. So, when we are in our highest meditation, we feel that we are in the sea and the animals in the sea cannot affect us.”

"When you breathe in, try to breathe in as slowly and as quietly as possible. The highest type of spiritual breathing is to breathe in so slowly and quietly that if somebody placed a tiny thread in front of your nose it would not move at all. Again, it is most important that this breathing be done in a very conscious way, not in a mechanical way. While breathing in as slowly as possible, feel that you are breathing in not just air but cosmic energy. Feel that tremendous energy is entering into you, and that you are going to use it to purify yourself: your body, vital, mind and heart. Feel that there is not a single place in your body that is not being occupied by the flow of cosmic energy. It is flowing like a river inside you."

"Some breathing exercises are of real help to meditation. Pranayama is a traditional system of controlled breathing in India. Prana is the vital energy, the life-breath; yama means control. Pranayama is the control of the life-breath. The very first exercise you can practise is to repeat once, as you breathe in, the name of God, the Supreme, the Christ, or whomever you adore. This breath does not have to be long or deep. Then hold your breath and repeat the same name four times. And when you breathe out, repeat two times the name or mantra that you have chosen. You inhale for one count, hold your breath for four counts, and exhale for two counts, inwardly repeating the sacred name." "When you say the name of God, immediately God's divine qualities-Purity, Peace, Love, Bliss and many others-enter into you. Then when you hold your breath, these divine qualities rotate inside you, entering into all your impurities, obscurities, imperfections and limitations. And when you breathe out, these same divine qualities carry away all your undivine qualities."

Please try to imagine a lotus inside your heart. Then try to imagine that the lotus is not only inside your heart, but that your heart itself is a lotus. When you look at the lotus or imagine the lotus, try to be deeply absorbed in the beauty of the lotus. It is your own heart-lotus. Then your mind will have no time to roam. When you enter into a garden, you look at the flowers and enjoy their beauty and fragrance. At that time you do not pay attention to anything else. You have no thought. You are only enjoying the experience that the flowers are offering. In the same way, try to be deeply absorbed in the lotus which is inside your heart. Then a day will come when you will see that this lotus is not a flower at all-it is your heart itself, which is full of beauty and fragrance. If you start appreciating the beauty and fragrance of your own heart, then there will be no time for your mind to think of anything else.

"Why do we meditate? We meditate because this world of ours has not been able to fulfil us. The so-called peace that we feel in our day-to-day life is five minutes of peace after ten hours of anxiety, worry and frustration. We are constantly at the mercy of the negative forces that are all around us: jealousy, fear, doubt, worry, anxiety and despair. These forces are like monkeys. When they get tired of biting us and take rest for a few minutes, then we say that we are enjoying peace. But this is not real peace at all, and the next moment they will attack us again. It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace."

Through concentration we become one-pointed and through meditation we expand our consciousness into the Vast. But in contemplation we grow into the Vast itself. We have seen the Truth. We have felt the Truth. But the most important thing is to grow into the Truth and become totally one with the Truth. If we are concentrating on God, we may feel God right in front of us or beside us. When we are meditating, we are bound to feel Infinity, Eternity, Immortality within us. But when we are contemplating, we will see that we ourselves are Infinity, Eternity, Immortality.

Through concentration we become one-pointed and through meditation we expand our consciousness into the Vast. But in contemplation we grow into the Vast itself. We have seen the Truth. We have felt the Truth. But the most important thing is to grow into the Truth and become totally one with the Truth. If we are concentrating on God, we may feel God right in front of us or beside us. When we are meditating, we are bound to feel Infinity, Eternity, Immortality within us. But when we are contemplating, we will see that we ourselves are Infinity, Eternity, Immortality.

When we meditate, what we actually do is enter into a vacant, calm, still, silent mind. We go deep within and approach our true existence, which is our soul. When we live in the soul, we feel that we are actually meditating spontaneously. On the surface of the sea are multitudes of waves, but the sea is not affected below. In the deepest depths, at the bottom of the sea, it is all tranquility. So when you start meditating, try to feel your own inner existence first. That is to say, the bottom of the sea: calm and quiet. Feel that your whole being is surcharged with peace and tranquility.

When we meditate, what we actually do is enter into a vacant, calm, still, silent mind. We go deep within and approach our true existence, which is our soul. When we live in the soul, we feel that we are actually meditating spontaneously. On the surface of the sea are multitudes of waves, but the sea is not affected below. In the deepest depths, at the bottom of the sea, it is all tranquility. So when you start meditating, try to feel your own inner existence first. That is to say, the bottom of the sea: calm and quiet. Feel that your whole being is surcharged with peace and tranquility.

When we concentrate we do not allow any thought to enter into our minds, whether it is divine or undivine, earthly or heavenly, good or bad. The mind, the entire mind, has to be focused on a particular object or subject. If you are concentrating on the petal of a flower, try to feel that only you and the petal exist, that nothing else exists in the entire world but you and the petal. You will look neither forward nor backward, upward nor inward. You will just try to pierce the object that you are focusing on with your one-pointed concentration. But this concentration is not an aggressive way of looking into a thing or entering into an object. Far from it! This concentration comes directly from the heart, or more precisely, from the soul. We call it the soul's indomitable Will, or Willpower.

When we concentrate we do not allow any thought to enter into our minds, whether it is divine or undivine, earthly or heavenly, good or bad. The mind, the entire mind, has to be focused on a particular object or subject. If you are concentrating on the petal of a flower, try to feel that only you and the petal exist, that nothing else exists in the entire world but you and the petal. You will look neither forward nor backward, upward nor inward. You will just try to pierce the object that you are focusing on with your one-pointed concentration. But this concentration is not an aggressive way of looking into a thing or entering into an object. Far from it! This concentration comes directly from the heart, or more precisely, from the soul. We call it the soul's indomitable Will, or Willpower.

"…Only if we feed our inner life, our outer life will acquire its true meaning. We do not fail to feed our body three times a day. In our interior, though, there is a divine child known as our soul; we fail to find the time to feed this child. The soul is the conscious agent of God within us. So long as this ‘child – soul’ is empty, our outer life will remain empty too. It is impossible for any inner cry to be left unheard…" - Sri Chinmoy

"…Only if we feed our inner life, our outer life will acquire its true meaning. We do not fail to feed our body three times a day. In our interior, though, there is a divine child known as our soul; we fail to find the time to feed this child. The soul is the conscious agent of God within us. So long as this ‘child – soul’ is empty, our outer life will remain empty too. It is impossible for any inner cry to be left unheard…" - Sri Chinmoy

"…Only if we feed our inner life, our outer life will acquire its true meaning. We do not fail to feed our body three times a day. In our interior, though, there is a divine child known as our soul; we fail to find the time to feed this child. The soul is the conscious agent of God within us. So long as this ‘child – soul’ is empty, our outer life will remain empty too. It is impossible for any inner cry to be left unheard…" - Sri Chinmoy

Listen to the silence... Within you is a vast inner world just waiting to be discovered.