What is meditation?
Misconception is what surrounds the term “meditation”. The first misconception is that the word “meditation” itself has nothing to do with the act it describes. We cannot connect the word itself with the act of sitting still with one’s eyes closed. So when we say ‘meditation’, what exactly do we mean? What should Shooters know about Meditation
Most of the time when people think of meditation they think of the act of “dhyan”. If we consider that this is in fact right then one cannot actively try meditation. No one person has the ability to do meditation and this is why most people find it hard and fail to do it at the beginning. However, if we try to be meditative instead of meditating we may succeed. Most of you reading this will have their thoughts jumbled up at this moment so let’s untangle them one by one. Meditation is not an act one can excel or perfect. Rather it is a specific quality that a human can possess if they cultivate their mind, body, emotions and energies properly. This may seem like a very confusing and extremely difficult thing to do. This is when an example will come in handy to explain what exactly we mean when we say this. Imagine you are a farmer who is trying their best to try and have a successful crop. A plant will not grow and blossom flowers and produce fruit just because you want it to. You need to provide a nourishing environment and atmosphere for it to grow. You need to fertilize the soil with manure, nourish it with water and sow in healthy seeds to get favourable results. Similarly if we create a nourishing and warm atmosphere within ourselves, meditation will flow through us naturally just like a flower blooms to a well nourished and healthy plant.
Why is meditation so hard?
A question that is as common as the common cold when the topic of meditation comes up is, “Why is meditation so hard?” The answer to this question is simple, our mind is the master of us and it doesn’t like being still. So how do we solve this problem? The answer to that is also just as simple. We need to become the master of our mind.
When we meditate we first learn how to keep our body still. When this happens our mind is also forced to be still. The reason our mind doesn’t like being still for even short periods of time is because it slowly starts to collapse and instead of being the one in control, it starts to become enslaved. Before we are truly meditative in nature we need to gain control of our mind and enslave it. Our mind is currently the boss of us and we need this status quo to change. This will only happen when we meditate and become more meditative. Once we are the rulers of our mind our endless suffering will end. The mind is a terrible ruler but a wonderful slave.
Why is meditation so important?
Most of us have lived our lives perceiving the world only through our five senses – sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. What if we told you that we can perceive ourselves and the world with more than just these five senses? What if we told you that we have the ability to better perceive the world and ourselves through these five senses? What if we told you that the only way this can be achieved is by becoming meditative? If we are willing to dedicate just a couple of minutes of our daily lives to sit still and open our minds to the inner workings of our own body and mind we will be able to reach an unlimited level of perception. “Why is improving our perception so important?” one may ask. Well the thing is, that which is beyond our perception does not exist for us. We can only experience and handle those things which we are aware of and can perceive. If we take this into consideration then we are unaware of a large part of ourselves. In today’s life we are so busy trying to experience the many wonders of the outside world that we have forgotten the access code to what is within us. If we are truly able to fully perceive that which is within us, then and only then, will we be able to perceive the outer world better and be better prepared for what is about to happen in our lives. With better perception of the happening around us we will be able to handle the things that come our way more maturely. If we improve our perception we will be able to enhance the experiences we have through our five senses as well.