With Swami Tadananda we uncover the essence of meditation, focusing on the crucial elements of posture and breath. Learn how an upright position and rhythmic breathing can revolutionise your practice, channeling the mind's scattered energies into a single, potent stream. In our conversation, Swami Tadananda shares his profound insights into the science of meditation, enlightening us on the little-known interplay between physical comfort and mental clarity. Visualize with us as we breathe in light and energy, and find out how you can access our guided sessions to enrich your daily meditative endeavors.
Together with Swami Tadananda, we personalise the spiritual journey, offering wisdom on selecting a meditation object that deeply resonates with your beliefs, be it a spiritual figure or a meaningful symbol. Discover how patience and the psychological significance of name and form can combat a wandering mind, strengthening concentration and focus. In the sacred sound of Om, we find a universal connection, a bridge to our higher spiritual self that transcends individual traditions. As persistent as athletes in their training, we explore the commitment to regular meditation, promising that your dedication will unveil the divine essence within, and leave you equipped for a more centered, peaceful life.
With Swami Tadananda we uncover the essence of meditation, focusing on the crucial elements of posture and breath. Learn how an upright position and rhythmic breathing can revolutionise your practice, channeling the mind's scattered energies into a single, potent stream. In our conversation, Swami Tadananda shares his profound insights into the science of meditation, enlightening us on the little-known interplay between physical comfort and mental clarity. Visualize with us as we breathe in light and energy, and find out how you can access our guided sessions to enrich your daily meditative endeavors.
Together with Swami Tadananda, we personalise the spiritual journey, offering wisdom on selecting a meditation object that deeply resonates with your beliefs, be it a spiritual figure or a meaningful symbol. Discover how patience and the psychological significance of name and form can combat a wandering mind, strengthening concentration and focus. In the sacred sound of Om, we find a universal connection, a bridge to our higher spiritual self that transcends individual traditions. As persistent as athletes in their training, we explore the commitment to regular meditation, promising that your dedication will unveil the divine essence within, and leave you equipped for a more centered, peaceful life.
Namaste, Ritam Listeners. My name is Sunil. I am with Swami Tadananda from the Ramakrishna Vedanta Center of Auckland, New Zealand. How are you, Swamiji? I'm good, Sunil. How are you? I'm good, thank you. In the last episode, you took us through a guided meditation sessihon for the very beginners. Today I would like to explore this further, but before you go into this, if somebody wishes to use this meditation daily, is there any other way they can access this guided meditation?
Speaker 2:
Yes, sunil, this is designed without any intro or outro so that people can download it from our website, vedantanz, onto their phones and then they can play it when they sit for their daily meditation, rather than coming to this podcast every time.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so there's another option. So this is for people that would prefer to have a hard copy of it, pretty much, or some copy of it on their phones, instead of trying to log in and find this in this episode. Okay, that's awesome, thank you. So let's go through the different elements of the meditation. Swamiji, initially, you asked the listeners to sit up in a particular posture. Is there a reason for this?
Speaker 2:
Yes, there is. During meditation, there is intense activity along this spinal cord and therefore it's important to keep the back in a relaxed, upright posture. That means it is not a good posture to lie and sit down or lie down on a sofa or in a bed, or sit in a chair reclining, or sit bending forward. It should be upright, but not a stiff posture like a Titan. It should be steady and it should be comfortable.
Speaker 2:
Sthiram, sukham. Sthiram means steady, sukham means comfortable posture, and of course you need to be able to sit in that posture for quite some time without aching in the knees or something like that. So if one can sit cross-legged on the floor, it's very good. That's a very comfortable, steady posture. Lotus posture Others are there for those who have the flexibility of the body, but those who are not trained to sit long on the floor, they can use a chair, but not a chair in which they will recline. This tool type of thing is best, where you have nothing to fall back into and so. But the important thing is that the back has to be upright so that the spinal cord is not under pressure. It's free within the vertebra.
Speaker 1:
Okay, all right, okay, thank you. Then we go into the elements of breathing. And you asked the listeners to breathe sort of quite deeply. Is there reason for that?
Speaker 2:
Yes, we ask people to breathe deeply and in a rhythmic manner. Most people don't breathe properly, so imagine the lungs are like a bladder. Yeah, air is drawn in and then pushed out, in, held and exhaled, but many people don't breathe in deeply. That means the lungs don't inflate fully, and when the air is pushed out, not all the air is pushed out. Some residual air remains in there. That air would have a lot of carbon dioxide in that. So when you breathe in deeply, you are taking a lot of fresh air, and when you exhale deeply outside, you are almost pumping out most of it, and so there's a lot of exchange of oxygen in the system and your mind is alert. Your body is charged with that energy. The important thing is that, and the second thing is that we want to breathe in a rhythmic way. So the body and the mind are interconnected and the breath reflects very, quite a bit about the state of the mind. Breath is actually An activity that we see happening in the body due to the flow of the energy in and out.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
That energy is called prana. That's what we need. We either take the energy through food or through air, but that's what sustains the body and therefore, if somebody is suffocated within a few minutes he dies. Such is the cruciality, how cruciality is. So when you find that one is agitated, then the breath also becomes disruptive, shallow, rapid, and this and that. And when one is very calm and steady, then you will find the breath in that person is also very rhythmic. Just imaging somebody lying and sleeping. The upset is the most relaxed position and you see the breath is very deep and rhythmic. So since we are trying to control the mind and the flow of the breath has an effect on the mind, by making the breath regular and steady we'll have a calming effect on the mind. Okay, so you can imagine the old mechanical clock. If you open there, so many wheels are there, but deep inside there's the flywheel, the small spring that's moving the breath in our body is something like that, and if you can make that rhythmic, then the calmness flows out.
Speaker 2:
So before we start meditation, we try to regulate our breath. In the instructions that I have given, because it's a very short time, I just give you sufficient time to maybe take two or three breaths. But once one has become familiar with the process, spend a little bit more time on the breath to regulate it until you feel you have calmed down. Then you should proceed to the next step. That's one of the things about breath, about it being deep, rhythmic. And then we do a little bit of visualizing that we are breathing in light. The energy. Imagination plays a very powerful role in meditation, so that visualization that the light spreads through the body, through the cell, every cell becomes recharged with that energy, so that people are purifying, feeling good from within. All negativity, darkness, tension, confusion, everything is now dispelled and then you send that light out for the rest of the world.
Speaker 1:
So just leading up out of there to then talk about, obviously, your limbs, which are you imagine. Visualize that your limbs are strong and your body is strong, and that's the same part the energy is going through as you breathe.
Speaker 2:
Breathing imagination. Everything works on the body. Actually, the mind controls the body. So when we visualize something wonderful, that's what we become. So if we visualize that we're healthy, we become healthy. Actually, the mind creates the body ultimately. So if we keep on giving powerful, positive thoughts about ourselves I'm healthy, I'm strong, I'm piva, I'm eternal, I'm immortal, I'm full of wonderful divine energy, ultimately, what you think, that's what you become. And so you know, meditation is ultimately taking to the next level, saying I am the divine being. But thought is very, very powerful. So we should always be very careful about what we think of ourselves. As we think, so we become.
Speaker 1:
It's quite strong, isn't it? It's what we think we become. Yes, that itself is a separate episode. Yes, okay, thank you. And then we talk about that. We have prayers, right, prayers for all beings. Is that also linked?
Speaker 2:
Yes. So our meditation should not be a selfish thing for ourselves only. We are trying to pray for, or do a meditation for our own inner peace, because we are part of some universal being Like. There are so many millions of waves in an ocean. We as individuals are so many waves, but we are all connected by that ocean and through that ocean the whole world is ours. We interact with others, we give, we take. So if everyone around us is peaceful and happy, that feeds on to us. Yes, and so if in your family everyone is well, then there's peace and harmony in the family.
Speaker 2:
If one goes off the tangent and disrupts everything else. So it's good to pray for everyone, not only the ones whom we love who are all near India. Pray for everyone impartially, even the ones who might not be your best friends, who might have done harm to you. You might say, well, that's a bit hard, but you see, if you forgive them, if anything they have done wrong, at least it gives you that peace of mind During your meditation. That particular person will not intrude into your meditation process and begin to disturb you Because you have, right in front, said that, yes, I wish well for you also.
Speaker 2:
Yes, you see, it's a very powerful thing, because we don't want any negative ideas and thoughts and worries and things to enter into my meditation space when we are trying to contemplate on our own divine self. Yes, so we want to pacify them all and the best way to pacify them is to pray. Send out that positive energy and it integrates us, because the truth is that we are all connected and interconnected. In ignorance, we have done harm to each other or differences might be there, but they are trivial things, not make a big deal about it, and the connection is to do through the ocean. So that's why we approach to the divine presence that connects us all and say, through it, may all be peaceful, joyful, and you send your prayers in all directions, to all beings, plants, animals, whatever is there. Visualize that wonderful pure energy of love and compassion radiating from you for the good of the world. That itself expands our own heart. That is the benefit we want. Our heart should expand.
Speaker 1:
Wow, okay, these are now becoming individual topics. I'm writing them down for the future. Yes, we'll discuss them all. So we talk about the heart now, right, and you said, after we've sent the blessings, we've given our prayers, we now then turn our mind inwards into our heart. Why our heart? In no other part.
Speaker 2:
Yes, so the word we use, heart, should not be mistaken with the physical heart, the heart that pumps inside the body. The word, the Sanskrit word for heart is hridayam and it comes from the Sanskrit root words hrith I am. Hrith means the center, I am means this. So hridayam means the place where we feel this is the center of my being. We say from the bottom of our heart Right, that means from the deepest truth. Yes, okay, and so it's not the physical body.
Speaker 2:
In the advanced level or next level of meditation we'll talk about the physical body, the mental body, in the spiritual body. But what we are trying to say is that hridayam means the spiritual core of our being. The physical body is there. The subtle body is the mental body when we feel the sense of ego. So ego becomes a center of the mental body. But the ego is only a reflection. There is something beyond that and that is where the divine principle is within all of us. So we want to gather the mind, which is sort of extroverted focus inwards, and we'll have to give it some support, otherwise it will drift out again. Yes, so it needs to hold on to something, yeah, so that's why first we say in the center there's a beautiful lotus.
Speaker 2:
Visualize the light radiating out from in all directions. That means something wonderful is there in all of us. I want to connect with that source of energy spiritual energy.
Speaker 1:
So energy, when you say energy, that's when we bring in light. Yes, and it's all these very positive words used.
Speaker 2:
Energy is a very universal representation of something wonderful light dispels the darkness. So it doesn't have to be. We can use different forms, but that will depend on the spiritual tradition somebody belongs to, and within that particular tradition, what aspect of the divine that they have been praying and feel a closeness with. So we give that option. First we say it's a nameless, formless spiritual principle. But for the spiritual seeker that light can take some form and that form would be one's object of meditation. So if somebody is a devotee of Christ he says I'll meditate on Christ because to him Christ represents the divinity, the light in a human form. But for another devotee he might meditate on Rama Krishna, rama Krishna, it doesn't. There are all forms of the same formless being, but as we are brought up in a particular culture and tradition, the natural constitution of the mind has got something that we can take advantage of to focus our mind on.
Speaker 1:
Okay, All right, Okay, that makes sense. And while we're doing all of this, you also say you also talk about. No, you don't actually say it, but if the mind wanders away, we'll be doing the meditation.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that is a common problem with everyone and it's nothing to be wondered about. You see, look at the mind. Since our childhood, without much training, without any control, we have given it a free reign to go wherever and everywhere, wherever the senses are pulling on, whatever the mind wants to go. And now suddenly we hear that it's good to meditate and have concentration of mind. So we start practicing. But one should be very practical and reasonable, not to expect some magic will happen, because that the training as it has been, likewise the mind will behave. So we have to be patient with ourselves. We have to be realistic in our expectations, not suddenly expect after a week or two of meditation to begin to get perfect concentration. That takes a lot of hard discipline in any field, whether it's a sportsman or anything. Discipline is necessary, sustained perseverance is necessary for control to be developed. So that's why we give the mind one object of concentration as an anchor to hold the mind there. It doesn't matter what object, the important thing is to develop the concentration. By focusing on that one object, the mind will drift off and you have to bring it back. Drift off will bring it back.
Speaker 2:
So here we use a little bit of psychology. If you look at your mind, any thought and succession of thoughts one thoughts mind jumps to another one and another one, another one, and so thousands of thoughts are constantly romping in the mind space. What we want to do is to have one pointedness of mind, ekagramana, and therefore we give the mind one object of meditation and that should remain as an anchor. We should not choose one today and another one tomorrow, type of thing. And the other thing we know is that name and form are interconnected, cannot be separated. So if I use the word cow, immediately in your mind some image of a cow will pop up. If you see a cow somewhere, the word cow comes. The form and the name, nama and root are interconnected.
Speaker 2:
So we use that psychology thing and say I'll give my mind one name and its corresponding form and keep the mind in that loop. So we'll observe the mind, what is thinking? I'll talk about that. But make sure that as the thought rises it finishes. When it finishes I should catch it and connect to the rise and keep it in the loop. Right, okay, now that's much better than the thousands of thoughts. Yes, still a thought is there.
Speaker 2:
But it is now getting focused. We are using it to harness that energy inside. So we training our mind. Actually, it is training the mind.
Speaker 1:
The mind is like scattered in all direction.
Speaker 2:
See, yes, natural mind is scattered. So I gathering the mind to one point. It is like the sunlight that's coming down when it's scattered it, and you put a piece of paper out in the, in the lawn, nothing happens. But if you can focus that light, using a magnifying glass, on one point, that intensity of that light and heat will put that base piece of paper on fire. Yes, okay, now our minds, if they're scattered, dispersed, then it lacks that intensity. What we're trying to do is train that mind to develop that concentration, and that same mind will be used throughout your day in various other things, and you'll find that the output of your mind in everything will be so much better and superior. Right, so these are the benefits of meditation.
Speaker 2:
That's why people do meditation, that's why it's become a Even from a non spiritual point of view all great thinkers, scientists, had this one quality tremendous amount of concentration, where they could gather their whole mental powers and focus it on whatever is the subject matter they study. But when we talk about meditation, we have a spiritual object of meditation. That is what differentiates it from any other ordinary concentration of another guy who's studying a physical world, right? Yes, okay, wow, that's so. You asked about the question, this mind that drifts off. It's a common thing. So it's a topic that we need to explore. But the two things are there.
Speaker 2:
One, give your mind one form, something that is attractive to you, so the mind doesn't have to be forced to think about it, right? You see, if you love somebody, you don't have to tell I have to love, remember that person. In nature, it comes to your mind again and again and again. So, because it itself is attracting your mind, your mind likes it to be in that state. It gives its joy. So some spiritual ideals should be represented by that object and it will have a name, which would be the mantra of the Divine being or the name of the Divine being. While that repetition is happening, we have to keep in mind that I am not the mind. I am an observer of the mind. I am being separate from the mind, and the mind is there. I am watching what's happening in that mind space. I have given one object to it and I am asking that mind to keep on repeating All the time. I am an observer, spectator.
Speaker 1:
And as it wanders off, you go. Oh, hold on.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Listen to me, come back, yes.
Speaker 2:
So that observer is called the Buddha, the power of discrimination, who is separate from it. So when you're repeating the mantra or visualizing the form and keeping your mind there, one part of the mind is sort of repeating the thing. We call it the active mind. The other part is the witness, the observer, who is the, which is the reflective mind, the observer mind, During meditation. We want to strengthen this Buddha. How we can that? And the stronger the Buddha becomes, the more control it will be able to exercise on keeping the mind. So when you say, oh, my mind is restless everywhere, what we are trying to say, my Buddha is very weak, it's not able to hold it in one place. The observer is very weak, he's not able to control that thing. And the solution would be strengthen the observer. And so this exercise, exercise is what we brings out, power we talked about earlier in those episodes. So this is like the gymnasium exercise, okay, pumping the iron. Here we are holding the mind in one point. Mind wanders away, I bring it back. The mind wanders away, I bring it back. It's like we're doing the gymnasium exercise. Gravity pulls the object down, I pull it up, it pulls it down, I pull it up. In that process the muscle develops in you. So this exercise of again and again bringing the mind focusing on the object gradually develops this Buddha power and it becomes easier. You know, in the beginning lifting a 5 kg in the gymnasium was painful. After two months it becomes easier because the muscles have developed.
Speaker 2:
So as we practice the meditation, in the beginning don't bother about it where the mind is going or how restless it is. We assume that it's very restless. It will happen like that. That's the starting point. But we'll focus more on our exercise. Let's do this correctly. In time the change should come. So two things have to do Patience, perseverance, regularity. Discipline has to say you can't just say I'll just do it today or tomorrow, my mind is not ready, and when it becomes better then I will meditate. It's like somebody who goes to the ocean says too many waves, I'll not swim now. Let the waves disappear. It'll never disappear. You have to get into the wave, jump into it, have to swim. So two things have to do One.
Speaker 1:
This reminds me of when I was speaking to some colleagues and they kept on saying I've tried meditation For a few days. I tried it, it just didn't work for me. And that's just basically. What you're saying is that it won't work. It doesn't work for everyone like that.
Speaker 2:
Unless somebody is a very spiritual, highly advanced spiritual soul who is coming in this world but has lifetimes of spiritual practice behind them. But everyone has to struggle through that. So let's not even talk about that complaint. Okay, you're not going to listen to it. We expect that. We understand it will happen, but we will focus on the proper remedial steps. Two things are there again, because this is a real challenge Sitting, breathing all this is just preparation.
Speaker 2:
Here, the wrestling with your own mind is happening. We'll give our mind one object with a name, which is the mantra, the name of the divine that we want to concentrate on, and we'll be separate observer of the mind while it is going in the loop. For example, the mantra could be Om Namah Shivaya. I'll watch very carefully how the word Om Namah Shivaya I'm observing the unfoldment rolling in full of the mantra.
Speaker 2:
In the beginning everything might seem to be fast, but as a concentration develops, you'll find that the unfoldment of that mantra tends to sort of slow down. It will become like a slow motion thing and you can see how the Om Namah Shivaya, the whole mantra, is rolling slowly and you're observing that and you're vigilant this is the word. You're vigilant when the Shivaya, namah, shivaya comes, and at that point you connect the tail of the snake to the mouth of the snake. Okay, so it continues in there. The risk is that the jump happens at the junction when one thought ends and the next one starts, and that's where it requires that vigilance, to just make sure that it doesn't catch another tail and run off somewhere else. Okay, yes.
Speaker 1:
That's right. So when people don't have mantras, there will be a lot of listeners that have not been initiated into any sort of spiritual life yet, have just started listening to our podcast, and what would you recommend for them?
Speaker 2:
Well, if they are from the Hindu tradition, they would at least know the very general Gayatri mantra. It's a very powerful mantra. Learn the meaning. It's available on the internet. We can have an episode on that separately sometime.
Speaker 2:
Otherwise, somebody who is not exposed to the tradition can use the mantra Om, just the word, just the word is a mantra itself. It itself is a mantra. It's Shabdha Brahman, the supreme being, and we can have a session on that. But, very briefly, all the words that can be spoken in any language by anyone else. If it's all compacted together in one bundle, okay, the summation would be Om, because when we speak, as I'm speaking, different words, at one end of the mouth is open, ah, and it could be at the other end, closed, mm, and the impulse of the ah rolling forth on the board of the sounding board of the mouth rolls through ah, ooh, mm. And so within this, om.
Speaker 2:
That is the matrix in which all the alphabets and everything is contained and as such, this is the best symbol, sound, symbol of the most universal force there. It's not a Hindu thing. The other thing is that that sound is present, constantly happening in the, in every individual, every living being. It rises from the navel upwards ceaselessly without anyone prompting it. It's called anahata dhvani.
Speaker 2:
So basically, that is there all the time at a subtle level happening, and when we consciously repeat the mantra Om with great concentration, then the this physical part begins to tune in and resonate with the subtle dimension of our own being. So you can see how we use that sound to connect and resonate and tune into that higher spiritual dimension, which is my own self really. Yes, initially we are thinking that we might be praying to some God out there, but the real God is our own higher self. But when you objectify him, then we give him different names in different traditions. But reality is that it's your own higher self and the name of the sound form of that is Om. That's why all mantras start with Om. Okay, Excellent.
Speaker 1:
Yes, vaisammaji, we are at time now, so we would like to finish this episode. Any last words.
Speaker 2:
Practice, practice, practice. Don't worry about the results immediately. No one becomes bodybuilder overnight, but if you persevere, then from within that strength comes. What we are trying to do is awaken something that's already ours, but it requires the exercises. Meditation is that exercise. Let's do this with great regularity. Perseverance, increase the stamina, gradually move from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to 15 minutes, and the results will begin to show.
Speaker 1:
Excellent. Thank you, vaisammaji. Thank you Vaisammaji, one last time.