Faith is supposed to complement, and not replace, our actions.
Ultimately, we are responsible for the choices we make.
Faith is the understanding that not everything is in my control. I’ll do everything in my reach to do whatever I can about things that are in my control and leave the rest in the hands of this vast universe. As Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in The Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
There were only two things that helped me walk the path of meditation even though I had no significant results for many years. The first was my determination. I wanted to be sure either way. I wanted to be sure if meditation was what all it had claimed out to be or it wasn’t; I didn’t want to quit midway. The second, and more important, it was faith that kept me going. A simple belief that effort never gets wasted. In one form or the other, the consequences of any action don’t perish. Nature registers every little karma. I had this faith that if I kept digging patiently, one day I would hit a source of pure water. I did. You will too if you keep going.
Physical and Environmental Hurdles
Can you learn swimming without ever jumping into a pool? I think not. If you are serious about swimming then you need a certain fitness in your body and access to a river or pool where you can put your learning to practice. Until you actually start swimming, you won’t know what swimming is about. To champion it, a bit of guidance, right fitness and right environment is necessary.
It’s no different when it comes to meditation.
Especially if you wish to master the concentrative meditation where good posture is a non-negotiable requirement, excellent physical shape is a must. Equally important is a conducive environment. As it is, it’s a hard task to quiet one’s mind. If there are external distractions or sounds at that, it will become nearly impossible to meditate.
Long before I went to the Himalayas for my intense meditation, I used to have noise-cancellation headphones and an iPod mini. I would put in my favourite music, slip on my headphones and just immerse myself in meditation. It was the best I could do to cut out any external disturbances as much as possible.
In the beginning stages of meditation, feel free to adopt whatever method works for you. Be it meditating in the dead of the night when it is quieter or simply focussing on music.
Eventually, as you intensify your practice, you’ll benefit much from parking yourself in a quiet spot which is safe, clean and conducive and meditate there. If you are serious about competing in the Olympics, you’ve got to practice in an Olympic-size pool. Physical hurdles are of two types: bodily and environmental.
All physical ailments and diseases represent bodily hurdles.
They could be in the form of obesity, stiffness, disability or any other limitations that prohibit the meditator from sitting still. In case a disability is permanent, a meditator may tread the path and perfect himself using other forms of meditation. Such a practitioner need not worry about concentrative meditation.
Any of the five systems of meditation can lead one to the dawning of the realization as long as one persists right till the end. Ailments such as asthma, flu, gastritis, sinusitis, headaches and epilepsy can be hurdles in concentrative and contemplative meditation. This body is a divine blessing. No sadhana is possible without a fit body. A sincere meditator takes good care of his body. The yogis are fastidious about diet and exercise because these two elements play the greatest part in maintaining physical fitness. A fit body is essential for a serious aspirant to face the rigours of meditation. It is no secret that when we exercise, even though we may feel a bit tired, we experience a certain freshness. No matter the nature of your meditation, a lethargic body adversely affects the quality of your meditation.
Environmental hurdles include challenges concerning the actual place, surroundings, people, animals and weather conditions. A sincere meditator, the one who is in for the long haul, should carefully select a place for meditation. It should not be noisy but somewhat comfortable. It need not be luxurious, in fact, material luxury can be distracting for a beginner meditator.
There it should be easy access to water, food and other basic necessities.
When I meditated in the Himalayas for many months, the greatest challenge was posed by the rats. Even though I was practically in a place covered in snow, the rats were omnipresent. I would see bear marks just outside my hut in the morning or at times the wild boar would snort around loudly. The other hindrance was from spiders; I used to sit for very long periods and they would crawl up and weave webs around my face and limbs. The third greatest challenge was from the incessant chatter of birds. Some birds were so loud that it took me time and intense concentration to be able to go past their tweets (they knew about tweeting long before Twitter came into being!) and focus on my object of meditation. I used to virtually sleep on the floor and the weather conditions were extremely harsh.
There was a time I meditated in a slightly warmer place and there I was plagued by snakes and wild lizards. Once I chose the plains and it was hot, infested with scorpions. There was no respite from these wild creatures wherever I chose to meditate but I would like to add that the forces of nature, the lineage of gurus really take care of a true seeker.
Throughout my meditation, not one wild animal – a snake, scorpion, rat, giant spiders or a lizard – ever harmed me. Not even once. This is ultimately what meditation is about – experiencing and living in divine union. For, if you truly see God in all creatures what’s there to worry then? And if you don’t, what’s there to see then? My suggestion is to carefully choose a place that offers you quietude and is inhabitable.
Emotional Hurdles
It is normal to experience intense feelings while meditating. They can range from hysterical joy or laughter to acute resentment and everything in between. From the perspective of meditation, all emotions act as hurdles. It’s like a sprinter must not celebrate before he crosses the finish line. Any emotion, no matter how joyous or sorrowful, will distract the athlete. Such is the case with meditation too.
Both negative and positive emotions distract and make a meditator restless. The type you are holding a session on (whether concentrative, contemplative, mindful, observant or any other type) is immaterial. Anything that deviates you from your focus is a hurdle. If you do your meditation correctly, you become a reservoir of positive emotions naturally. During the meditation, however, it is important for a meditator to stay perfectly even. To that effect, there are eight worldly emotions, categorized into positive and negative, that are detrimental to good meditation.
The Four Positive Emotions
When a positive emotion is triggered, you feel happy, good, important, motivated and strong. You feel like you can take on the whole world. You are the same you, but something within you changes when you experience a positive emotion. There are four types of positive emotions:
Pleasure
All sense gratification, everything you do and experience through your body for joy, falls under this category.
Praise
If you or your work gets recognition or appreciation, you naturally feel good.
Gain
This is when you believe you have made a gain, material or otherwise. It could range from winning a lottery ticket to killing a mosquito; one may boost your bank account, and, the other may satisfy your ego.