Published in India by Jaico Publishing House
Worldwide publishing rights: Black Lotus Press
Copyright © Om Swami 2016
ISBN: 978-81-8495-945-1
Om Swami asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Contents
Home Sweet Home
Introduction
MIND, THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS
The Nature of the Mind
The Journey of a Thought
When Thoughts Become Desires
When Desires Become Expectations
When Thoughts Become Things
THE PATH OF MEDITATION
What Meditation is Not
What is Meditation
Four Stages of Mental Stillness
Six Principles of Meditation
ELEMENTS OF GOOD MEDITATION
Attention
Posture
Concentration
Mindfulness
Alertness
THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION
Before You Begin
Concentrative Meditation
Contemplative Meditation
Mindful Meditation
Observant Meditation
Spirited Meditation
VIRTUES OF A GOOD MEDITATOR
The Mother of Meditation
Compassion
Truthfulness
Gratitude
Empathy
Humility
Faith
HURDLES ON THE PATH
Physical and Environmental Hurdles
Emotional Hurdles
Restlessness
Dullness
Stray Thoughts
Random Images
Other Hurdles
SEVEN YOGIC PRACTICES
Ekagrata – Concentration
Trataka – Still Gazing
Shravana – Listening
Sankalpa – Resolve
Mauna - Silence
Ekanta – Solitude
Tyaga – Letting Go
MONITORING YOUR PROGRESS
Self-Awareness Journal
Meditation Journal
MEDITATION IN A NUTSHELL
The Two Paths
Silence and Awareness
Mental Exertion and Relaxation
THE REALIZATION
The Nine Stages of Bliss
Epilogue
Notes
Home Sweet Home
Have you ever unlocked the main door and entered your home after a vacation of two or four weeks? You are greeted by the smell of a closed home, a sweet smell of dust. You throw yourself on the couch and you let out a big sigh. You say, “Home, sweet home.”
No matter how beautiful the vacation might be, after a while you start missing home. You want to get back to a familiar setting. Your home may not be the plushest, it may not have the luxury of room service and housekeeping, and yet you feel most comfortable in your own home. There’s a natural ease, a sense of belonging, a different sort of freedom. It beats the luxuries of the five-star hotels.
The same goes for our soul as well. Our body is not its permanent home. Our individual consciousness is eternally trying to merge in the supreme consciousness. It wants to go home. It may not be an eloquent orator to tell you so clearly but that’s what it wants to do. Because we are beings of immense freedom and infinite potential, and here we are caught up in the petty tendencies and desires of our mind and body.
The soul wants to go back to its source. This is the most fundamental law of nature, of creation and destruction: everything must return to its source. Our body may be temporary, our minds conditioned, our consciousness a wary traveller, but our soul knows where it belongs.
That’s why every person at some point of time in their lives is forced to think about the meaning of their lives. Everyone, who’s experienced even a minute of fulfillment, embarks on a journey greater than their individual existence. That journey could be the path of Einstein or the passion of Christ; it could be the path of Buddha or the moksha of Vedas.
We may have forgotten our true nature, but our soul – eternal and unblemished – wants to go home. Until you show it the way, the restlessness in life will not go away. No pleasure or relationship can offer you permanent fulfillment because we are all on a vacation, and we are missing home.
Meditation is going home. It is going back to your source, where you belong, so that you are no longer what people tell you who you are, or what the world has made you to believe, or even what you think of yourself. Instead, it is to discover yourself, to get to your primal source from where bliss, happiness and joy flow constantly. It is to discover your original home, without the furniture of jealousy, covetousness, envy, hatred. A home with no walls of ego and anger. A place where your soul rests in peace, where consciousness flows unimpeded like the gentle Ganges murmuring on a sunny day.
Let me take you home. It’s a long walk, the path is arduous but it’s worth every step. You’ll discover that happiness is not a pursuit, it’s a feeling. On your way home, you’ll find that freedom is not a quest, it’s a state. You’ll understand that even the best resort can’t be your home. For, as Shiva, the foremost yogi said, “Things are not what they seem, O Goddess, for this world is like a dream.”1
When you get home, you’ll realize that your room of bliss has always been there. It’s your home, after all.
Introduction
Like a moth rushes into the fire without caring about the outcome, each one of us is attracted towards light. This attraction is innate. It propels us to constantly act towards a greater sense of fulfillment. Regardless of how you want it and whether you like it or not, the truth is you can’t run away from the two most fundamental elements of human life. The pursuit of happiness and the quest for freedom. From a sinner to a saint, a beggar to a billionaire – each one of us is working towards acquisition of happiness and freedom. And why not, for to be happy and free is immensely empowering.