Stop Living the Lives of Others!

When you watch someone crying, you also feel like crying. Even if you don't know why that person cries, the very sight of someone crying makes you feel the same way. Even if you see someone crying in a movie or a TV serial, you feel like crying. Why? A feeling is contagious. What if you see someone laughing? You feel laughing too. What if you see someone getting angry? You feel angry too. You happen to watch a sexy scene in a movie, and you feel sexy too. In short, all feelings are contagious. You see someone, and his/her feeling gets transferred to you. It is so simple as that. Every single day you see a lot of people in real life as well as through visual media. The moment you see each of them, your mind shares his/her feelings. Thus each and every day, your mind shares and carries the feelings of a lot of people in varying degrees.

This is how the human mind works, and we can't stop the mind from doing this. Actually there is no need to stop the mind from doing this. This is an amazing ability of the human mind. But the problem lies elsewhere. Along with the feelings of all the people you see, your mind also has your own feelings. Are you able to distinguish between your own feelings from the feelings of others? A lot of people are not able to do so. They often mistake the feelings of others as their own feelings.

Feelings are very important because your words and deeds are firmly based on your feelings. Your life is based on how you feel. If you can't differentiate your own feelings from those of others, you mistake their feelings to be your own, and your life will be based on their feelings. Instead of living your life based on your own feelings, you will live the life of others based on their feelings.

This is true not only about your feelings, but also about your mood, attitudes, and thoughts. All these are contagious. The people you see in your everyday life transfer their mood, attitudes and thoughts to you. If you cannot distinguish your own mood, attitudes and thoughts from those of others, you will be terribly confused, and you will have no control over your life. You will be living the life of others based on their thoughts and feelings and attitudes.   

So how do we solve this problem? We need to consciously learn to gain some control over our mind so that we can differentiate our own feelings, thoughts, attitudes and mood from those of others. This is the one basic skill that all people need to learn in order to live their life. The importance of learning this skill has been recognized in almost all the human civilizations. It occurs in almost all traditional cultures and communities though it is known in different names such as meditation, yoga, and prayer.

Traditional Christianity suggests prayer every three hours, that is seven times a day. Islam suggests prayer five times a day. Hinduism suggests prayer at least two times-- morning and evening. These religions have realized the importance of keeping the mind in control so that we can have our own thoughts and feelings, and our own life.

I am not suggesting that we need to blindly follow our traditional religions. All I am suggesting here is that we need to learn to keep our mind in control so that we may live our own life rather than the lives of others.

Read an article here on how to gain control over our mind.
 

How do we Listen to God?

An Introduction to Christian Meditation

Recently when I sent out an invitation for a workshop on meditation, I received an angry response from a young lady. It said,

I've heard of this meditation where you concentrate for long periods of time over "Nothing". It's a Hindu concept so in other words you're promoting practices from a pagan religion. You will never have control over your thoughts so it's much better to give that control to Jesus and give up your ways of leading people astray and wasting their time by helping them to concentrate on "nothing".

Instead of responding to her personally, I am choosing to write this open response because she has voiced her opinion about meditation representing a large movement within Christianity. Although I am a Christian too, I am not affiliated with that movement. My attitude and approach to meditation is very different from that of this young lady, and here I am making an attempt to explain how I differ.

This young lady correctly understands meditation as an exercise of human mind when she defines it as “concentration on nothing for a long period of time”. This exercise helps me control my thoughts, feelings, and desires rather than they control me. She would agree with me in affirming that all people need to gain the ability to control one’s own thoughts, feelings, and desires to lead a successful life. The difference between us is in our understanding of how to achieve such control. She believes that I should not even try to control my thoughts, feelings, and desires; all I have to do is to let Jesus control them for me. Trying to control one’s own thoughts is unchristian or even anti-Christian according to her.

Controlling my own thoughts and letting Jesus control them may sound contradictory, but on close examination we can realize that they are complementary. If I want to give the control of my mind to Jesus, I must request Jesus to do so. How would I communicate with Jesus? I must have the ability to focus my mind, see Jesus in my mind, and communicate my innermost desire that I want Jesus to be my Lord. Thus even if you want to let Jesus control your mind for you, you have to take the first step of focusing your mind in order to make that connection with Jesus and communicate your intention.

What is Meditation?

A Christian is someone who accepts Jesus as his/her lord. He chooses to live according to the will of God rather than according to his own will. But this does not mean that he will evade the responsibility to live his life. I understand that the ability to control my mind is just another skill like the ability to write, to ride a bike, to swim, to type, to dance, or to play music. How did I gain the ability to read and write when I was a child? It took several years of regular practice and effort. I couldn’t hand over the responsibility of reading and writing to Jesus. I needed to learn to read first in order to read about Jesus. How did you learn to ride a bike? How did you learn to swim? How did you learn to use a keyboard to type? All these skills required a lot of time, effort, and patience from you. The ability to control and manage our mind is just another skill we can and should learn. Actually all people can control their mind to some extent, for without it, living would be impossible. The ability to control our mind better can make our life easier and more successful. Meditation is nothing but the training and practice that makes it possible.

If meditation is nothing but an exercise, one might wonder why it is associated with religion. A skill such as swimming or riding a bike is not associated with any religion, but why this skill? According to the young lady, it is “a Hindu concept”. In my understanding, meditation is promoted not only by Hinduism, but by all the religions in the world in various forms with slightly diverse meanings. A simple search online will reveal that meditation exists in all religions. They promote meditation because it is beneficial to human well being as individuals and as communities. Even people without any religion promote meditation.

Meditation in Christianity

The young lady is not aware that meditation is central to Christianity as well. Meditation exists mostly as a part of prayer in Christianity. Prayer is defined as communication with God. A communication involves not only speaking to God but also listening to God. We can’t listen to God with any of our five senses; we need to focus our attention to a sixth sense within us in order listen to God. We need to withdraw our attention from our five senses, our thoughts, and our feelings, and we need to listen intently for the voice of God. Such listening to God keeping the mind still and withdrawing our attention from our five senses is meditation. Unfortunately, in many present-day churches, prayer means nothing more than talking to God. They tell God whatever they want to tell, and leave it there without caring to listen to what God wants to say.

It is not possible to talk to God all the time; but it is possible to keep our mind receptive to God all the time. This is probably what St. Paul meant when he exhorted Christians to pray ceaselessly. Keeping the mind focused, receptive, and attentive all the time is the goal of meditation. The liturgical worship of traditional Christianity is structured in such a way as to help the participants to have a communal meditation. Traditionally, Christians pray seven times a day. In the modern evangelical churches, Sunday worship and other prayer meetings consist of meditation of the scriptures punctuated by devotional songs. In many of them, the congregation sits while listening to a sermon, but stands up while they sing the devotional songs. When an entire congregation on their feet raises their consciousness and flow upon the tide of a melodious devotional song, it is an excellent example of a communal meditation.

The young lady defines meditation as concentration on nothing. I think this is an excellent definition. In our day-to-day life we pay attention to various things around us. When you watch the TV you pay attention to what you see on the screen. When you talk to your friend on our phone, you pay attention to what you hear. When you eat your food you pay attention to how it tastes. But when you are having a conversation with God, where do you pay attention to? You can’t listen to God with your five senses. You can’t listen to God with your thoughts or feelings. Then how do you listen to God? You need to withdraw your attention from all the five senses. You also need to withdraw your attention from the thoughts and feelings that pass through your mind. When you withdraw your attention from all these, where is it now? The young lady is absolutely right here. Our attention is on nothing. When we keep our attention active and alive, but keep it withdrawn from everything we usually pay attention to, a sixth sense slowly becomes active. We begin to listen to God.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Jesus told us. God is like the Sun. We can’t look at it straight. We can only see the reflection of the Sun in clear water. Similarly, no one can see God straight, but we can see a reflection of God within us if we manage to make our heart clear and pure. Meditation is nothing but sweeping our heart clean from all thoughts and feelings that disturb it.

The psalmists exhort us to look at God. Look to God that you may be radiant with joy. Ps. 34: 5. Then you will gaze on the Lord’s beauty. Ps. 27: 4. The psalmist also confesses, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Ps. 42:1. For God alone my soul waits in silence. Ps. 62:1. These are some of the ways in which the psalmists have described and explained meditation.

Before conclude, I must say that I feel sad at the young lady’s approach to other religions. Hinduism is the way of life of a billion people in the world, and it produced such jewels like Gandhi, Tagore, and Vivekananda. All religions exist for the well-being of humankind. How would a Christian feel if he/she happens to hear a similar derogatory comment from a Hindu about Christianity? Jesus advised us to treat others as we want others to treat us. If we talk respectfully about people of other religions, they would be respectful to us as well.

For further reading:
Dr. Joseph Thomas  Rev. Dr. Daniel Thomas  Edith Schlosser  Daryl Sanders  World Community for Christian Meditation

A Guide to Yoga from a Christian Priest

Meditation, A Technique to Keep you Happy and Healthy, published by CSS Books, Tiruvalla in Kerala, India, is the sixth book from Rev. Dr. Daniel Thomas, a former professor of Religious Studies at Vanier College in Montreal, Canada, and a priest of the Indian Orthodox Church. From the kind of books that came from this author, one can see that he is someone with a universal outlook. The first one, published as early as 1964, was on Sree Narayana Guru, a Hindu saint who lived in Kerala in the last century. The next ones are: The Concept of soul, The Fundamentals of Indian Culture, Towards a Peaceful Society, and Meaningful and Fruitful Life. All these books are addressed to an audience beyond his own community. This sixth book, on meditation, has flowered out of his life-long study of Indian Philosophy as a student and as a professor and out of his own active practice of meditation.

Dr. Thomas started meditation from his college days in UC College in Alwaye in Kerala. A college-mate, a Brahmin, was his guru. Together they practiced meditation every morning in the bank of the River Periyar. Later he had the golden opportunity to meditate with Sadhu Mathai, the founder of the Christhava Ashramam in Manganam, in Kerala for a year. As a research student in CISRS in Bangalore, he had the opportunity to stay with Swami Chinmayananda in Mumbai for three weeks. He had also the opportunity to stay with Swami Nitya Chaitanya Yati at Varkalai, Kerala for a week. Later as a professor in Mount Allison University, and in Vanier College, he taught courses on Eastern Meditation. After his retirement in 2005, when he became the vicar of a parish in North Virginia, he organized a mediation class at his residence, and it met weekly for an hour. This book on Meditation has evolved from the notes he prepared in those days.

The book starts with a definition of meditation. After briefly touching on the life of the ancient civilization which gave birth to meditation, he elaborates upon the merits of this practice. In the next chapter he presents what he calls a preliminary knowledge of the nature of human mind, which is helpful for a practitioner of meditation. In the next few chapters he elaborates upon the question of how to practice meditation. After devoting a whole chapter examining the practice of meditation in the Christian religious tradition, he concludes the book with a fifty-page long commentary of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Defining Mediation, Rev. Thomas claims that medi-tation refers to the midst or the center within us. Meditation, he says, is a journey to one’s own inner soul to discover its essential divine nature. By regular practice, we attain single-mindedness. It also leads to an awareness of unity with all that exists. Meditation is a mind-training technique used in almost all the religious traditions. The fathers of Eastern Christian church used meditation as a means for theosis, which is divinization or continuous growth toward God. The western Christian tradition also used meditation as an experiential access to God. Modern western medical system promotes meditation as a means to relieve stress and depression.

At the beginning of the last century, an ancient civilization was unearthed in the Indus valley in North India. The importance given to a healthy life-style was clearly seen in the excavation. From among the artifacts unearthed were seals that depicted yogis seated in padmasana, the lotus position of yoga. With the focus on the inner soul, and with the practice of yoga, they had a life of quality.

Patanjali probably lived in India almost at the same time Jesus lived in Palestine. In his Yoga Sūtras he codified the royal or best (rāja) yoga practices, presenting these as an eight-limbed system (ashtānga). Based on the Sāmkhya school of philosophy, the focus is on the mind. Patanjali divided his Yoga Sutras into 4 chapters (pada), and each chapter has about 50 verses (sutras).

1. Samadhi Pada. Samadhi is the blissful state in which the yogi is absorbed into the One. The author describes yoga and then the nature and the means to attain samādhi. Yoga is defined as the restraint of mental modifications: "Yogaś citta-vritti-nirodhaḥ" All wandering thoughts cease, and the mind is focused on a single thought (ekāgratā).
2. Sadhana Pada. Sadhana is practice or discipline. Here the author outlines two forms of Yoga: Kriya Yoga (Action Yoga) and Ashtanga Yoga (Eightfold or Eightlimbed Yoga).   Kriya yoga, sometimes called Karma Yoga, is also expounded in the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is encouraged by Krishna to act without attachment to the results or fruit of action and activity. It is the yoga of selfless action and service. Ashtanga Yoga describes the eight limbs that together constitute Raja Yoga. The eight "limbs" or steps are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
3. Vibhuti Pada. Vibhuti is power or manifestation. Supra-normal powers (siddhi) are acquired by the practice of yoga. The temptation of these powers should be avoided and the attention should be fixed only on liberation.
4. Kaivalya Pada. Kaivalya stands for emancipation, liberation, and used interchangeably with moksha (liberation), which is the goal of Yoga. The nature of liberation and the reality of the transcendental self is described here.

Coming from a professor of religious studies and an active practitioner of yoga, this book is an excellent introduction to Yoga. The willingness of Dr. Thomas to learn the spiritual practice of Hinduism should be emulated. If all religious leaders have such willingness to learn from others, our world will become a better place to live.

Meditation Made Easy

What follows is a simple and easy-to-remember set of information and guidelines to meditate effectively. Let us ask three questions on meditation here: what, why, and how. We need to know what we mean by meditation and why we do it before we ask how we should meditate.

What is Meditation and Why do we Meditate?

Meditation is a mental exercise in order to strengthen the mind and the mental skills. A skill is an ability to do something. By mental skills we usually mean thinking, feeling, and willing. Underlying these three skills, we have three other skills – memory, awareness, and focusing attention. Meditation is primarily to improve these three skills. Once we have better ability to remember, focus our attention, and to be aware, we will be able to think, feel, and will better.

A skill can be maintained and improved by regular practice. If we need to develop the ability to focus and be aware, we need to practice these skills regularly. Without the ability to focus our attention, our mind will be filled with involuntary thoughts or inner chatter. With regular practice of focusing our attention, we can get rid of the chatter, and make the mind clear. With a limited awareness, our world will be very small. We can improve our awareness by sharpening our senses, and our world will get larger. Similarly our ability to remember can be considerably improved by practice.

How should we Meditate?

1. Free the Mind by Relaxing the Muscles

This is the very first thing to be done in any meditation session. Usually we keep our nervous system connected to our muscles to react to any emergency situation that might occur at any time. When we relax all the muscles in our body, we withdraw our mental energy from the motor nerves, and we let our mind free. We have to sit somewhere calm and quiet making our subconscious mind believe that we are fully safe. Then we may relax our muscles one group at a time, and finally all the muscles at once.

2. Improve the Skill of Paying Attention

We can improve our ability to focus our attention by consciously keeping the attention on something—a sight, a sound, a feeling, or an activity. A simple way might be to pay attention to breathing. If the mind wanders to thoughts, just be aware of it, and slowly the mind gets cleared of all thoughts, and stays steady.

 

3. Sharpen Awareness by Focusing Attention on Senses

We expand our awareness by focusing our attention on our senses. We become aware of our surroundings with our five senses. By focusing on each of our five senses in turn, we can expand our awareness.

Sit somewhere calm and quiet. Pay attention to an object in front of you. Close your eyes, and try to see it in your mind as clearly as you can. Open your eyes and look at the object again, and then close your eyes and try to see the object in mind more clearly. Now pay attention to the sounds you hear; try to hear all the minute sounds that fall on your ears. Now pay attention to your sense of taste; consciously taste with your tongue inside your mouth. Now pay attention to your sense of smell; consciously smell with your nose. Finally pay attention to the biggest sense organ – your skin. You may feel your body part by part beginning from the feet, and later you may feel the whole body at once. Finally, you may also try to withdraw your attention from all the senses.

4. Sharpen Memory

In order to improve your power of memory, you may consciously force your mind to remember things from the past. You may sit or lie down, and try to remember the events that happen to you from the time you wake up that day.

Conclusion

All these together need not take more than ten minutes at one time. But doing it regularly once or twice everyday is the key to success.