HOW FREQUENTLY SHOULD WE MEDITATE AND FOR HOW LONG?

[Guest guest]

HOW FREQUENTLY SHOULD WE MEDITATE AND FOR HOW LONG?

 

Youth from Region 1 asks:How frequently does one have to meditate—both in the

morning and evening? And for how long, in order to derive joy from it?

 

This question is put due to your own limited understanding of meditation. The

meditation you are thinking about is the one bound by time and space: " I

meditate between four and five in the early hours of the morning. I meditate

once again in the night between seven and eight, " or whatever you may say. This

is only a limited meditation, within the framework of time.

 

Further, you could say, " This is my meditation room. This is the place where I

meditate every day most religiously. " This is the second point of your idea of

meditation—referring to space. Space and time are the two binding factors, as

you currently understand meditation.

 

But true meditation is beyond time and space. Time and space are two aspects

that relate to the mind. When the mind is off, when the mind is in trance, when

the mind is withdrawn in deep sleep, what is the time and where is the space?

When you are sleeping in the night, unmindful of what is happening around you,

do you know the space where you are? Do you know the time where you are? So,

deep sleep is beyond time and space because, in that deep sleep state, the mind

is totally withdrawn. Even in this waking state, even now, there can be

withdrawal of the mind or true meditation. But if you limit meditation to time

and space, it is no meditation at all.

 

On the other hand, maybe for beginners, it is a good idea to practice like that.

One may do it that way initially; but that is not the final form of meditation.

In fact, the whole life is meditation. Life is meditation! Whatever you do is

meditation. A state when you forget yourself—that is meditation! A state where

you get yourself involved and identified with the job totally, that is

meditation. If you are a computer man, as you work with your computer, you are

totally into it . . . one with that only. That is meditation.

 

As a doctor, the way he handles a patient—the examination, diagnosis, treatment,

prescription, all of that in its totally—is his meditation. A teacher, as he

teaches in the classroom, forgets himself, his family, his family problems, and

his ailments. He gets lost in the art of teaching, disseminating knowledge to

the students who are sitting in front of him. So teaching is his meditation.

The job of a doctor is meditation. The job of a computer engineer is meditation.

So meditation means `totality of existence'. When you are totally into it,

completely into it, losing all sense of time and space, it can be called

meditation. That is the very definition of meditation, which you will understand

as time passes, and in particular, as you gain more experience.

 

Therefore, this is not a job or anything like an activity that is limited to

morning and evening only. If you look at it like that, then what would you do

during the rest of the time? You stop meditation. So, what do you mean by

meditation? What you think of as meditation is not meditation in the true sense.

 

If this meditation, as you understand it, is true, then Lord Krishna should have

asked Arjuna, " Meditate, my boy! You don't need to fight. " Or Rama should have

said to Anjaneya (Hanuman), " Please meditate! You don't need to go to Lanka to

fetch Sita. "

But instead, they wanted them to take to activity. While Hanuman was travelling,

he was totally involved in thoughts of Rama; that is all. While Arjuna was

fighting, he had nothing other than the command of Krishna in his heart. So in

Arjuna's case, fighting was his meditation; while in the case of Hanuman, the

search for Sita was his meditation.

 

Develop along these new ideas of meditation, so that you never limit meditation

to a particular place and a particular time.

 

Ram Chugani

Kobe, Japan