Meditation

Short description for the E2E smoke test article.

Real relaxation is about relaxing even in the middle of activity. You are relaxed even as you exert yourself. You are relaxed even as you are running. You are relaxed even as you are drained out. You are not waiting for a special activity like going to bed or sitting…

It is a very common and a very harmful misconception to take dhyāna as something. Dhyāna is nothing. Dhyāna is not an object. Dhyāna is not a thing. Dhyāna is not a routine, not a practice, not an exercise. Dhyāna, rather, is on all these things. Dhyāna is what…

Real meditation is the courage to let life change. If you keep meditating without allowing life to change, this meditation is merely self-deception.

And when I say life must change, I am not talking of something imaginary; I am talking of things very, very tangible. I am talking of your…

Questioner (Q): What is liberation?

Questioner (Q): I have a question on these four commonly quoted methods: śama (restraint), dama (taming, subduing), daṇḍ (chastising, punishment), and bheda (division, difference). None of these methods seem to work. What to do? How to understand these methods correctly?

Acharya Prashant (AP): There are an infinite variety of methods,…

चित्तमूलो विकल्पोऽयं चित्ताभावे न कश्चन । अतश्चित्तं समाधेहि प्रत्यग्रूपे परात्मनि ॥

cittamūlo vikalpo’yaṃ cittābhāve na kaścana ataścittaṃ samādhehi pratyagrūpe parātmani

This apparent universe has its root in the mind and never persists after the mind is annihilated. Therefore, dissolve the mind by concentrating it on the Supreme Self, which is

Questioner (Q): How does one know that she is meditating rightly? Secondly, I know that one should not be dependent on others and one's happiness should always come from within. Yet, my emotions erupt and I react due to the actions of the other person. So, how to stay detached…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, I have a question on these four commonly quoted methods- Sāma, Dāma, Daṇḍ and Bheda. I applied Sāma but it's not working. The other three I know nothing about, and are not working. No method seems to work. What to do?

Acharya Prashant…

Questioner (Q): A couple of days ago, I asked you a question regarding thoughts at the time of meditation, and you completely destroyed me, and I’ve been trying to assimilate what you had said. So, the point you had mentioned is that Meditation cannot be only a one-hour practice a…

Questioner (Q): Every day, like a lot of my day I do practices like I get up every day at 3:30 and do the full morning of practices and even during the day later in the nature...

Acharya Prashant (AP): Have they helped?

Q: They have helped and yeah I…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, while meditating I feel silence and joy for some time, but after that, I’m not able to continue it and start feeling uneasy and want to come out of the meditation soon. Why does this happen, and does it mean that I’m not reaching the meditative…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, one of the popular beliefs about meditation is that your mind will stop and you will not have any thoughts. A lot of the so-called Gurus say that your mind should be completely blank – no thoughts, and if any thought comes, that means, you are…

Questioner (Q): I have a question on my practice.

So, when I notice thoughts arising or the sounds of the cars, when I notice them in my awareness, I will ask, “To whom is this arising?” And sometimes I’ll go, "Oh! They will just disappear and won't bother me." And,…

Questioner: “Acharya Ji, pranam. In shloka 407 of Vivekchudamani, it is advised to dissolve the mind by 'concentrating it in the Supreme Self which is one’s inmost essence.' So, is this inmost essence the same as the I am—the natural sense of being felt in the heart? If so, is…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, why don’t you suggest meditation techniques?

Acharya Prashant (AP): When you were in the Ganga, were you querying about what water is? The fish asked the ocean, “So when am I going to be schooled about water?”

Acharya Prashant (AP): (Reads question) Mohit Sharma from the USA, “Pranam Acharya Ji, I am paying attention to what and how I do. I have observed four states of mind. Is it natural to observe this? Are these all the same or different? And by doing it, will I go…

Questioner (Q): Conventional theory around meditation is that it conditions the psychic apparatus so that we can move readily to see Atman. So, it’s not without value. You know, why are we here. Are we so deluded...

Acharya Prashant (AP): We are saying that falseness will be used to counter…

Acharya Prashant: Being in the right environment itself is Satsang. Satsang does not necessarily mean a gathering. Satsang means realizing what affects the mind and acting accordingly. Give the mind the right food, give the mind the right companions. The right companions of all kinds: right books, right food in…

How many hours do you spend meditating each day?

This is a trick question!

Whether you are “meditating” one hour per day or six, you are not truly meditating. This is because meditation is not something you do to escape life.

श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला।

समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि।।

śhruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niśhchalā

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, once I had the experience of the ‘seer’, but it remained only for few minutes. How can I be the seer forever?

Acharya Prashant (AP): And you are the seer of that ‘seer’, now that you are talking about it.

Question: What role does the word ‘meditation’ has in us increasing our chances of Liberation?

Acharya Prashant Ji:

If ‘meditation’ is Freedom from bondage, if that’s what your meditation honestly is, then obviously meditation will help in Liberation. But if meditation is just another thing, then what does it have

Question: Acharya Ji, does meditation help?

Acharya Prashant Ji: What you call as ‘Meditation’ does not help. What you call as ‘God’ does not help. What you call as ‘Religion’ does not help.

Question: Acharya Ji, I cannot really wrap my head around this when I say, “Okay fine, at this point that I am greedy for experiences, and I want to go out and may be get a massage for myself.”

So once I have understood that I am greedy for new…

Question: Acharya ji, how to bear prolonged Sadhana (spiritual discipline)?

I have inertia in moving along the spiritual path. One day I sat down to read Jiddu Krishnamurti for MAG (Month of Awakening) session, and I read him for hours. I really enjoyed and felt at peace, yet I never…

Questioner: Pranaam Acharya Ji. Why does spiritual sadhana take long to complete?

Acharya Prashant: The condition you have come to, is not sudden. It has taken millions of years of evolution for you to come to this state. It’s a very, very old habit. It is like dust that has…

Questioner: Recently, I came across an article on psychedelic drugs. I was surprised to know that a large part of the spiritual community consumes such psychedelic drugs, and claims that it has helped them immensely to remain in a peaceful state.

I was even more surprised to find that many…

Questioner: Pranam, Acharya Ji.

As information, I know that I am not the body and mind. But I still am living as the body and mind. I am too lazy in following any dhyan vidhi (meditation technique). Is it necessary to follow vidhi (technique) for that realization?

Acharya Prashant: It is true, where there is no action, there is no effort, but is it also true where there is no effort there is no action?

Is that true as well?

There is something called effortless action as well.

Do you have the Buddha nature? Moo. Neither “Yes” nor “No”. If you say, “Yes”, then you mean that you, as you are, you as you think you are, have a Buddha nature. No, no way! The way we have built ourselves up, the way we have conceptualized ourselves, there…

Questioner: When we meditate regularly, we start losing let’s say the desires, or I want to do this and goals and everything. But, then it’s kind of equal to, to become passive in life. So, can you say something about that? Because being passive also feels like…

Acharya Prashant: You…

Acharya Prashant: Kundan (questioner) has asked for these four terms: ‘awareness’, ‘intelligence’, ‘attention’ and ‘understanding’.

The word awareness is meaningful in only in the context of the word consciousness. Consciousness is a divisive phenomenon. To be conscious of something is to be something and know the other thing.

Questioner (Q): Is meditation required?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is meditation?

Q: It’s like concentrating on breathing.

L: Sir, you said that the choice of being in deep contentment and in abyss lies with us. Is it really the case?

Acharya Prashant: Yes, yes there is this choice.

See, the choice has to be there because you as you are you, take yourself to be the chooser.

Questioner (Q): In analyzing, in concluding what you are saying, I miss the flow. What am I doing wrong?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You are ‘trying’ to keep pace with the speaker. See, what happens in a really truthful discussion is that the speaker is still but the audience is habituated…

Questioner (Q): The mind’s function is to think. So, what does it mean to be really free from the mind?

Acharya Prashant (AP): It means that even when you are thinking, thinking has not become too important for you.

Acharya Prashant: The ‘Who am I’ inquiry is a simple method. In fact, the simplest of methods. So simple that it cannot even be called a method. And it is often misunderstood. *‘*Who am I’ is not a question. It cannot be a question because we are already full of…

Questioner (Q): Sir, several times you have said, “Just stand apart and let the mind function. Let the thoughts run wild if they want to.” I don’t get that. The mind is already running wild all the time. How to stop it? How do I look rightly at things? How…

Question: Sir, could there be an alternative to fear? Like I see in my life that I have been running after something and I realized that this thing is not fulfilling. But, I was so much influenced by the society that I ran after some other thing and again found…

Question: You have said, “Awareness is untouched by problems. No matter what, good or bad, be aware.” On the other hand you also talk of complete immersion. These two seem to be contradictory.

Speaker: First of all, be a little immersed so that you do not misquote me. I…

The highest virtue is not virtuous Therefore it has virtue The lowest virtue holds onto its virtue Therefore it has no virtue The highest benevolence acts without purpose The highest righteousness acts with purpose The highest ritual acts, but since no one cares, it raises its arms and use force…

Questioner: How to meditate? Whenever I try to meditate, I get stuck with thoughts, relevant and irrelevant.

Acharya Prashant: Meditation is a huge myth!

Given what you are, you will continue doing what you are, even when you are ‘meditating’. Your act of meditation will be as per what you

Question: I have been reading Osho’s book ‘Vigyan Bhairav’ and in this book Lord Shiva explained 112 meditation techniques to keep the mind in present. However, Osho has also said that, “meditation is a quality of being that you bring to the act”.

I am confused as Osho has…

Questioner: Nisargadatta Maharaj says to be constantly in the “I am” realization. What does that mean? What is this “I am” realization? This he said was the mantra that his Guru gave him and this was also the advice that he would give to all his listeners. He used…

Questioner: When I observe then my mind that was calm, at least at the periphery shakes. So, how to observe?

Acharya Prashant: That is the whole point of observation; to really come to learn the facts, to really know what is going on. Observation is not meant to comfort you.…

Question: Sir, in your blogs it is explained that the mind goes behind what it values, which is what ‘I’ value. But sometimes it happens is when I restrict it not to do certain things; there is an even greater temptation to do those things.

I was reading the…

Questioner (Q): Sir, does fulfillment come by experiencing everything completely?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is everything? Do you have to go somewhere and experience it, or is it anyway happening daily? Whenever somebody says, “I need to go out and experience”, then he is directly suggesting that, “Right now life…

Question: I read somewhere that when a person dies, the stream, of which it was a manifestation, still goes on. What is the process of this stream and how does it manifest itself?

Sir, is there life after death? What sort of knowledge passes on at the time of enlightenment?…

Question: Dear Sir, we have been talking about how to use the ‘higher’ desire of brahman as a broom to clean up all the desires and then to burn the broom itself. Do you think I should simply sit back and read without this burning desire, this lust for knowledge,…