Meditation and stress

[Guest guest]

I've been meditating on Amba for several months, for an hour and a half, chanting 2 malas of the Gayatri mantra. I used to get a good feeling from this, feeling that everything will be alright, if I continue in my meditation. Now, however, I feel ill, stressed out, and I've become more anxious. The meditation that I've been doing seems to have stopped working or is making things worse, and while I'm persevering in my meditation, I have become increasingly reluctant to do my meditation. I feel nauseous all the time because of high stress and anxiety. I keep praying to God to help me, but I feel like it's no use.

 

Any advice, and ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

[Guest guest]

"Forget the past that sleeps, and never the future think at all, but live in times that are with thee, and progress you will call".

 

This works for me, and I am certified PTSD victim, certified by Dept of Navy.

 

All stress, both sides of the coin (depression and anxiety) are related to not living in times that are right now. Depression is because one dwells on the past, is saddened about how thing may have been different. Forget it. The past is a corpse, and cannot be changed, even by the greatest of beings, lord brahma. Anxiety is worry about what will be. We cannot do much about that, either, other than go to the store and buy some milk, or pay the rent a month in advance. We dont have a future, we will be greatly disturbed by the real future of losing loved ones or our own forms to the big D. No wonder we need all these pills, thinking about the future.

 

No, stay focused on right this minute. There is a harmonium up on the table, and it needs pumping, this is the concern.

 

The bhaktivinode cure works for me, if I forget the past, Im so undepressed that I cannot even get angry anymore. And since Im so old and broken by twentyfive years of labor on nuclear bombs, I cant think about futures. Maybe Ill grab that harmonium and sing my future song, because anxiety is directly connected to the future.

 

Thatll be 100 bucks, please. (just kidding). ys, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

FYOO CHUR by mahaksadasa (from Kipu'ka) 1995

 

As a youth

All I wanted was the future

Always thought about the future

All my planning for the future

All my living for the future

 

Now it's here

And I paint it every day

But it's always day to day

Praying for another day

Alive for yet another day

 

Like the sea

Riders need a strong boat

Waves will never sink this boat

Gopal knows we need this boat

So He sends this mercy boat

 

All this future

Gave it up long time ago

Thought about it years ago

Now it's here but I have to go

The future is long time ago

 

Send the boat

Cause the future nevermore

Accumulate? I can't. No more

Future plans? I can't. No more

I want to sing and dance some more

Right now I need to love Jah more

 

Love Jah more?

Singing out His Holy Names

Hear from those who sing His Names

One God. One Love. With all those Names

Sing them all, those Holy Names

 

Govinda is sure Jah Name

Ramana is sure Jah Name

Krishna is sure Jah Name

King David sang His Holy Names

Solomon, wise, he sang His Names

He sends His sons to praise His Names

Who give their lives to spread His Fame

[Guest guest]

Might have to ask yourself what the goal of your meditation is.

If it's just to feel good then the lord in your heart may be sending you a message to increase that self centred desire to expand to making others feel good or better. If we are only aiming at feeling good, or even the bliss of mukti... liberation. Then ask what I will do with my liberation if i reach that stage. How do I utilize it in the service of others, God's representitives and God Himself. Devotees are not in chanting to take rather to give, that is the substance of devotion, and this is what brings steady and ever increasing inner fullfillment.

The ultimate goal of all meditation isn't peace, but rather service.

 

Another consideration of course is that it helps if Gayatri Mantra is received, heard and transferred first from a pure devotee who has the mantra living in their heart. It's not as general as the Maha mantra, we can get the outer shell of the mantra very easily over the internet but the inner substance is not so cheap for that takes sacrifice.

[Guest guest]

Listen to bhajans, make them the sound track of your life. Especially if you can listen to bhajans by sincere souls or advanced or were recorded in a nice Temple with heavy beautiful darshan of the Deity purifying everything.

 

"The group helps the individual and the individual helps the group" said one satguru. Is hard to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We can only go so far on our own. But the sants have written many beautiful devotional songs and poetry to help raise our consciousness.

 

Thus if you make the family of devotees your "group" to help you, by availing yourself of satsang, Temple worship, darshan of sants and Deities, observe holy days and fesitvals, and give generously seva and daana then that rounds out the program.

 

In Hinduism we have the Temples which radiate Darshan to us or healing vibrations of positive energy and love. Is there a temple you can go to? There are many online if you cannot. Then we have the scriptures of your tradition so those help the neurotic mind also to relax. Especially the words of any satguru, just open the page and get some good advice and love.

 

Then there is our diet, try to eat only sattvic foods and at least mentally offer the foods. Then there is music "which soothes the savage beast" to provide nice music therapy for ourselves. We also have aromatherapy in Hindusim we offer scented flowers to the divine, we wear the tilaka or the vibhuti and the kum kum, saffron and sandalwood paste. We smell the charitamrita, the incense, the ghee in the homa havana, the Tulasi flowers.

 

All of these things lift our consciousness. It is like a college program the spiritual path. To get college degree you have to take your Core Requirements as well as classes in your specialty area or major. So the individual things you do at home like gayatri are only one part of the curriculum of spiritual path.

 

Then there is the spiritual practicum exercises like to do daana or good works like help others, teach others, feed others, or help those who are doing that. Study your astro chart also to understand yourself and the challenges you are facing short term, medium term, and long term. Then you will be more kind to yourself you understand your strengths and limitations. You can be your own best friend.

[Guest guest]

 

"Forget the past that sleeps, and never the future think at all, but live in times that are with thee, and progress you will call".

 

This works for me, and I am certified PTSD victim, certified by Dept of Navy.

 

All stress, both sides of the coin (depression and anxiety) are related to not living in times that are right now. Depression is because one dwells on the past, is saddened about how thing may have been different. Forget it. The past is a corpse, and cannot be changed, even by the greatest of beings, lord brahma. Anxiety is worry about what will be. We cannot do much about that, either, other than go to the store and buy some milk, or pay the rent a month in advance. We dont have a future, we will be greatly disturbed by the real future of losing loved ones or our own forms to the big D. No wonder we need all these pills, thinking about the future.

 

No, stay focused on right this minute. There is a harmonium up on the table, and it needs pumping, this is the concern.

 

The bhaktivinode cure works for me, if I forget the past, Im so undepressed that I cannot even get angry anymore. And since Im so old and broken by twentyfive years of labor on nuclear bombs, I cant think about futures. Maybe Ill grab that harmonium and sing my future song, because anxiety is directly connected to the future.

 

Thatll be 100 bucks, please. (just kidding). ys, mahaksadasa

 

Well, I'm in my mid-twenties, and I'm completely lost as to what I should be doing. My goal in meditation is to have a clear mind and vision of what I should be doing. I need God's guidance, as I'm truly lost. Also, I meditate so God could make His presence felt to me, something that I'm increasingly thinking just isn't there. Meaning I'm losing faith that there is a God, and growing desperate in my search for answers. My mind is in a real fog, which I can't seem to get out of, and I have new worries adding to my already existing worries. All I have is doubt: about everything, including what I'm capable of and what I should be doing with my life.

[Guest guest]

 

Listen to bhajans, make them the sound track of your life. Especially if you can listen to bhajans by sincere souls or advanced or were recorded in a nice Temple with heavy beautiful darshan of the Deity purifying everything.

 

"The group helps the individual and the individual helps the group" said one satguru. Is hard to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We can only go so far on our own. But the sants have written many beautiful devotional songs and poetry to help raise our consciousness.

 

Thus if you make the family of devotees your "group" to help you, by availing yourself of satsang, Temple worship, darshan of sants and Deities, observe holy days and fesitvals, and give generously seva and daana then that rounds out the program.

 

In Hinduism we have the Temples which radiate Darshan to us or healing vibrations of positive energy and love. Is there a temple you can go to? There are many online if you cannot. Then we have the scriptures of your tradition so those help the neurotic mind also to relax. Especially the words of any satguru, just open the page and get some good advice and love.

 

Then there is our diet, try to eat only sattvic foods and at least mentally offer the foods. Then there is music "which soothes the savage beast" to provide nice music therapy for ourselves. We also have aromatherapy in Hindusim we offer scented flowers to the divine, we wear the tilaka or the vibhuti and the kum kum, saffron and sandalwood paste. We smell the charitamrita, the incense, the ghee in the homa havana, the Tulasi flowers.

 

All of these things lift our consciousness. It is like a college program the spiritual path. To get college degree you have to take your Core Requirements as well as classes in your specialty area or major. So the individual things you do at home like gayatri are only one part of the curriculum of spiritual path.

 

Then there is the spiritual practicum exercises like to do daana or good works like help others, teach others, feed others, or help those who are doing that. Study your astro chart also to understand yourself and the challenges you are facing short term, medium term, and long term. Then you will be more kind to yourself you understand your strengths and limitations. You can be your own best friend.

 

 

A jyotish told me that all obstacles in my life were supposed to be removed from my path in these years, that I'm past the negative shani phase. Except I feel more hopeless right now than ever before, and things haven't been going well for me. Also, I just don't know what to do now or how to do it.

[Guest guest]

What you described sounds like just slow down and accept yourself and all of your feelings. Also eat good diet and exercise. A diet lacking in essential trace nutrients and lack of exercise can affect our moods.

 

One satguru said that this is good to write out in times of don't know what to do: "I am a wonderful being with a special mission to fulfill." Write it out regularly. Then you will attract into your life the right conditions to do what you were sent here to do.

 

I have found that even when I tried to run away from the Divine and have nothing at all to do with anything spiritual, then the Divine is very tricky. The Divine can outrun us and so fast that is standing right in front of us and we crash into our Istha Devata.

 

So even you have doubts then even why not stop for awhile and examine everything? Because if there is a God, then God is Love. Love does not mean force people to do whatever if they no longer get good feeling from it. Love is patient and kind.

 

Also one satguru said safest mantra is AUM [even if all you do is listen for it in the world all around you] and safest Deity is Ganesha [even if all you do is have picture]. Because you cannot make offenses to AUM or Ganesha.

 

This teacher was saying that some people get highly sophisticated mantras and sadhanas which traditionally would require a huge support network to go with it. But if you lack the support network that would traditionally go with it, which can then result in the type of feelings your describe.

 

Is like you buy a college level textbook but without all of the facillities of the college, the professors, the classmates, the lectures, the field trips, and tests. Then get depressed, "I wonder why I do not understand this curriculum." If only have limited supports then just simplify your sadhana

according to one satguru.

[Guest guest]

 

What you described sounds like just slow down and accept yourself and all of your feelings. Also eat good diet and exercise. A diet lacking in essential trace nutrients and lack of exercise can affect our moods.

 

One satguru said that this is good to write out in times of don't know what to do: "I am a wonderful being with a special mission to fulfill." Write it out regularly. Then you will attract into your life the right conditions to do what you were sent here to do.

 

I have found that even when I tried to run away from the Divine and have nothing at all to do with anything spiritual, then the Divine is very tricky. The Divine can outrun us and so fast that is standing right in front of us and we crash into our Istha Devata.

 

So even you have doubts then even why not stop for awhile and examine everything? Because if there is a God, then God is Love. Love does not mean force people to do whatever if they no longer get good feeling from it. Love is patient and kind.

 

Also one satguru said safest mantra is AUM [even if all you do is listen for it in the world all around you] and safest Deity is Ganesha [even if all you do is have picture]. Because you cannot make offenses to AUM or Ganesha.

 

This teacher was saying that some people get highly sophisticated mantras and sadhanas which traditionally would require a huge support network to go with it. But if you lack the support network that would traditionally go with it, which can then result in the type of feelings your describe.

 

Is like you buy a college level textbook but without all of the facillities of the college, the professors, the classmates, the lectures, the field trips, and tests. Then get depressed, "I wonder why I do not understand this curriculum." If only have limited supports then just simplify your sadhana

according to one satguru.

 

 

For a while my meditation was giving me great results. I was feeling more calm, peaceful, more able to cope and I was patient with God and had the conviction that I was taking the right steps to realize whatever destiny I have. But now these feelings are replaced with extreme anxiety and stress. I feel like I'm standing still in life, that God has withheld his hand from me or perhaps that He doesn't exist so he can't possibly help me. In which case, I end up feeling I'm going on the wrong path, that I'm wasting my life pursuing God and should be devoting my time to academic pursuits.

 

I've actually tried setting God aside for a while to pursue my future, with unfortunate results, as my mind is clouded and I can't seem to get past the need to search for God first before I truly become adept and able to help others. I've become increasingly sensitive to my environment, discontent, restless, and more desperate for God's help after my meditation lately. I've begun to re-evaluate all my beliefs, all my aspirations, all my ideas about who I am and I have no answers, just questions and doubts. I've lost any conception of my core self, I have no idea what is truth or false about me anymore. This is the worst I've felt in a long time, and I feel like there is no way out. However, this is not the first time I've felt this way, although this is the most severe case I've had. My earlier times I've felt this way, I would stop meditating for a while and try to do something else, but without any results. That's why I've been persisting in my meditation this time around despite the feeling that I'm going to succumb to stress, because stopping meditation just means no more progress for me, and I'd still be stagnant and I'd still have no way out.

 

 

Unfortunately, there has been a pattern of good feelings followed by some ill feelings caused by external or internal causes. I've taken up meditation and given up several times in the course of several years.

 

One time about two years ago, I really thought that God had sent me a messenger in the guise of a swami. I met him in the most unlikeliest of places (at least I considered it highly improbable), in a subway station, on a day when I felt particularly depressed. My train that day wasn't working and smoke was coming out of the tracks in that station, when I met the swami. He gave me a Hanuman pendant and said he saw my future, and I'd be a great man who would be really generous and I'd get a really good job in a year or so. He told me he ran an ashram in Hardwar, for the orphans from the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat and he showed me pictures of the ashram. I gave him $5, and just thanked him for his message. At the time I met him I was awestruck, amazed that maybe God sent him to me. He asked if I believed in Krishna and in Shiva, I said yes, and he said that Shiva would help me, and not to lose hope. Unfortunately I'm losing hope even more than ever, I feel swamped by negative feelings, even though I keep trying to do good, and even though I keep trying to persist in my meditation, while at the same time having an eye on my future. I've taken small steps to advance in my future, but I don't have a clue as to what I should be doing, whether what I'm doing is right or wrong. All I'm doing right now is helping out the community as a volunteer. I have aspirations to go into science, but my mind and heart are not completely in it or anything else, everything that I think about I'm of several different minds about, I'm beset with anxiety and fear of the future. I still am seeking peace of mind from God, but while I was getting it in the beginning of each time I began my medtation, over the course of a few months, it starts going sour.

 

The prophecy that the swami told me, I don't think has come to pass either, and that has only increased my doubts. The previous year I had gone on a pilgrimage to Ambaji and prayed there, but I feel God hasn't answered any of my prayers nor will He. I feel completely lost, yet I still pray to God. I thought maybe that God was just testing me, that if I keep praying He'll have to answer me, He'll have to help me, no matter how low I go, but I'm near the end of my rope now.

[Guest guest]

Try this website, it's free!

 

www dot astro dot com

 

It has daily horoscope, future forecast, natal chart psychological profile and much much more all for free.

 

Will help you to understand yourself, your present situation, and future trends.

[Guest guest]

Vitality

This influence stimulates your physical vitality, giving you the chance to work hard and accomplish much. Your health is good during this time, and you are able to approach everything you do with vigor and self- confidence. And this carries over to the psychological level as well, as an ability to assert yourself toward others and stand up for your views in any controversy. New opportunities to be personally effective often open up under this influence. For example, in your job you might get a chance to take on an important responsibility, which will lead later to a promotion or increased salary. This is a good time to demonstrate that you can work on your own and do it well. But you can also work with groups now, because your energies complement the group's energies.

 

This is what it says for my personal daily horoscope.

 

In some sense, I guess it's right, though I doubt its accuracy a lot, since right now I'm under great emotional, psychological, spiritual, and intellectual duress.

 

While I'm more comfortable interacting with others to a certain extent, I also have lost my way as far as goals and objectives are concerned. I'm not employed, I'm just a volunteer at a hospital right now. My doubts about what I'm going to do in life are multiplied to a great deal, and I'm truly in a fog as to what to do. I've been meditating to get in contact with God, or whatever can be called God, to try to understand what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, yet I have no idea still. While I meditate I get a temporary sense of peace and stillness it has no lasting effect, and soon after I'm beset by anxiety and stress all over again.

 

I had a jyotish who also said that I was supposed to come into my own, that this period of my life was supposed to show great improvement as Sani is not negatively influencing me anymore, but I feel like that's not true at all. I've tried taking steps to advance just several months ago, and I failed miserably, which upset me greatly. At the time I gave up meditation, but I've been meditating again since a few months ago, on a consistent basis, around the same time every day. Initially, I felt everything was going to be alright, but now I feel as lost as I ever was before. And this is causing me to be even more distress as the things I had hoped would happen which was to heal spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically and get guidance from God on what I need to do (all of which I expected meditation to help me with), just isn't happening and it feels like it's not going to happen.

 

I believe I really need this stuff to happen for me in order to be able to focus on my tasks at hand. Right now, I constantly worry as to whether I'm doing the right things, either in meditation, or in life in general.

[Guest guest]

I think i understand where you are coming from. I mean regardless of how much "love" i have for god. I think one and a half hours every day will drive anyone crazy. What i mean to say is, that maybe you are doing it out of haste by being adamant that you'll see god. I mean if it were that easy, the whole world would be in bliss by now. So don't loose heart I would say, start in small measures. With the right intention, the right doors will open.