Last sunday, one family came to ashram for darshan and blessings of P.P. Sri Gurudev. While having satsang with P.P. Sri Gurudev, they had one very important question, which was as follows:
Question: We had read "Chit Shakti Vilas" (this is an autobiography by Swami Muktananda baba; in english it is called as "Play of Consciousness") many times. We had even visited Ganesh Puri. But still we are not experiencing good meditation. How to meditate well?
P.P. Sri Gurudev's answer was along following lines:
Meditation doesn't come through reading books. If that indeed is the case, then we will be having lakhs of MUKTAS now. According to sage Patanjali, it is defined as thought-less state of mind. To get this state, people foolishly employ the mind to concentrate on an object. Meditation is a thought-less state of mind that is achieved naturally and spontaneously through Sadguru's GRACE. All other methods are not complete and they are bound to fail. So, don't waste time reading books and visiting places. Surrender to Sadguru and attain HIS GRACE. Then meditation happens naturally and spontaneously.
Upon hearing these words of wisdom from P.P. Sri Gurudev, I looked in to myself. Even I have this deficiency. I waste time reading books. What a timely warning from P.P. Sri Gurudev. I remember Swamiji once telling me the intent one should have while reading books. HE told that it is fine to read books for inspiration but not to learn techniques and experiences of the author (those are good for the author but not for everybody). But if inspiration comes from meditation, then what is the need to read a book for it. So instead of reading a book, one should spend that time in meditation (which for a devotee comes naturally through Sri Guru Smaran).
It seems Swami Muktananda baba used to carry a thick book whenever HE visited BHAGAWAN. After noticing this many times, once BHAGAWAN told BABA to stop reading books by terming them MATI (dust). HE told BABA to meditate and write a book on HIS own experiences instead of reading books tht explain others' experiences.
Question: We had read "Chit Shakti Vilas" (this is an autobiography by Swami Muktananda baba; in english it is called as "Play of Consciousness") many times. We had even visited Ganesh Puri. But still we are not experiencing good meditation. How to meditate well?
P.P. Sri Gurudev's answer was along following lines:
Meditation doesn't come through reading books. If that indeed is the case, then we will be having lakhs of MUKTAS now. According to sage Patanjali, it is defined as thought-less state of mind. To get this state, people foolishly employ the mind to concentrate on an object. Meditation is a thought-less state of mind that is achieved naturally and spontaneously through Sadguru's GRACE. All other methods are not complete and they are bound to fail. So, don't waste time reading books and visiting places. Surrender to Sadguru and attain HIS GRACE. Then meditation happens naturally and spontaneously.
Upon hearing these words of wisdom from P.P. Sri Gurudev, I looked in to myself. Even I have this deficiency. I waste time reading books. What a timely warning from P.P. Sri Gurudev. I remember Swamiji once telling me the intent one should have while reading books. HE told that it is fine to read books for inspiration but not to learn techniques and experiences of the author (those are good for the author but not for everybody). But if inspiration comes from meditation, then what is the need to read a book for it. So instead of reading a book, one should spend that time in meditation (which for a devotee comes naturally through Sri Guru Smaran).
It seems Swami Muktananda baba used to carry a thick book whenever HE visited BHAGAWAN. After noticing this many times, once BHAGAWAN told BABA to stop reading books by terming them MATI (dust). HE told BABA to meditate and write a book on HIS own experiences instead of reading books tht explain others' experiences.
