Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.20010425174321.00699ccc@204.210.24.249>
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 17:43:21 -0700
To: <namaste@chopra.com>
From: Sathya <sathya@chopra.com>
Subject: Namaste- Meditation
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Moment by moment you await the understanding and spiritual perception,
peace and good to arrive from non-existence.

Non-existence, then is God's factory 
from which He continually produces goods.

He has caused what is non-existent to appear magnificently existent,
while the truly existent He has caused to appear as non-existent.

He has hidden the Sea, yet made the foam visible;
He has concealed the Wind, but displayed the dust.

The dust whirls in the air higher than a minaret:
does it rise by itself?  You see the dust borne high,
but the Wind you don't see, although you can surmise it.

You see the white-capped waves tumbling in every direction,
but without the Sea the foam has no way to move.

You see the foam by sense perception and the Sea by induction:
just as speech is manifest and thought is hidden.

--Jelaluddin Rumi





Dear Friend of Namaste,

Deepak Chopra shares with us, "If you were to ask me what was the most
important experience of my life, I would say it was learning to meditate."
Please enjoy the following piece about the practice of meditation and its
benefits, from The Chopra Center's beloved Director of Education, Roger
Gabriel: 

One day two spiritual students were having a discussion regarding the best
path to enlightenment.  The first argued that to be enlightened we have to
give up all our possessions and desires to live a very simple life.  The
second student believed that the path to enlightenment meant fulfilling all
our desires and having abundance in our lives.  After some discussion back
and forth and getting nowhere, they decided to seek the advice of their
guru.  Presenting themselves before him, the first stated his view on
enlightenment through renunciation.  The guru looked at him and said,
"You're right."  "But", said the other, "I thought fullness of all things
was the path of evolution."  Looking at him the guru again said, "You're
right".  A third student, who had been sitting at the back of the room
listening, now came forward and said to the guru, "Surely they can't both
be right".  To which the guru smiled, "And you're right too".

There are many different paths to climb the mountain and many different
techniques, all of which have their value.  The best meditation, like the
best diet or exercise program is, ultimately the one that works best for
us.  Many people will tell us that we have to meditate this way or that, we
have to sit in a certain position or do it at a particular time.  While all
of these instructions may have a value, it's important to do the best you
can and know that whatever you do is right.  Meditation is our path to
freedom, which comes from lightheartedness not seriousness, from
flexibility not rigid attachment to rules.  But we do have to do it.  If
we're just sitting at the bottom of the mountain unaware, we'll miss the
beautiful views from the top.

So what is meditation?  Meditation is anything we do with awareness of the
present moment.  If we live our life with awareness, our whole life can be
meditation.  For example, if when we are walking, we are aware that we are
walking, that becomes a "walking" meditation.  Of course, usually we are
thinking about where we're walking to and what we are going to do when we
get there, very little awareness is on the walking.  Or when we're eating,
if we are totally involved with the process of eating (seeing, tasting,
smelling, feeling the texture of the food) it becomes an "eating"
meditation.  However, when we eat, we're often watching television, reading
the newspaper, involved in a conversation or driving our car, doing
everything possible to keep us out of the present moment.  Our thoughts are
always taking us into the future or the past, away from the present.  But
it's in the present moment that we find our Spirit, our essential Being and
the force that animates all life.  In one of his songs, John Lennon wrote,
"Life is what happens when we're making other plans".

So how do we stop thinking and stay present?  Have you ever tried to stop
thinking?  It's impossible and the harder we try, the more thoughts and
noises keep crowding in.  In fact, the only way to go beyond thought is by
not trying, but by letting go.  Meditation is a time for "being", not a
time for "doing" and if you've ever wondered why we're called "human
beings" and not "human doings", it's because "being" is our true nature.
When we sit down, close our eyes and formalize our meditation practice, we
use anchors.  These anchors can be our breath or a mantra, something that
brings us effortlessly back to the present, whenever we realize we've
drifted away.

Most of us spend our lives looking outside ourselves for answers.  We buy
books and tapes and go to workshops, looking for someone to tell us how to
be happy, healthy, and more successful.  By connecting with the present we
turn our attention inward, away from all of the chaos and activity, and
contact the expert inside.  This is our soul, our Spirit, the perfect being
in each one of us, waiting to be invited back into our lives, waiting to
restore us to perfection.  We can think of meditation like going to the
bank before we go shopping.  If we want to have a fun day at the mall, we
need to have some money.  If not, then we can only window-shop, which soon
becomes frustrating and boring.  But this is exactly how most of us live
our lives  - window-shopping, wishing we were happier, healthier, more
successful, wishing we had what he or she has.  Meditation is the vehicle
that connects us to the bank we all have inside and allows us to bring the
wealth back into our lives.  The advantage of this bank is that it's always
with us, always open and always full.  We just need to take the time to go
there.  When we learn to meditate, we don't have to wear any special
clothes or change our diet, but we do need to find the time to do it.

Although, as we've discussed, meditation is really a spiritual journey
which reconnects us with our true essential nature.   In the West it has
come to be thought of as a technique for stress-management.  We are
constantly being bombarded with stress from work or family pressures,
environmental conditions, poor diet and lifestyle choices and a variety of
other factors, therefore releasing stress is essential for a healthy life.
Meditation takes us from activity into silence, giving our body a very deep
level of rest.  Rest is how the body heals itself. It does this by throwing
off the stress, fatigue and toxins accumulated during our life.  Thus
meditation serves a two-fold purpose, it gives us a direct experience of
our Spirit and in the process dissolves the impurities which are preventing
Spirit from shining forth in our lives.  Think of a cloudy day.  Where did
the sun go?  Well, it didn't go anywhere, we just can't see it because of
the clouds.  If every day were cloudy, we'd soon forget what the sun looked
and felt like and, after time we'd even forget the sun had ever existed.
This is what has happened to our Spirit.  Because of stress and fatigue,
we've forgotten it exists.  Meditation is similar to taking a plane and
flying through the clouds to re-experience the sun.  When we return to
earth we bring the memory of the warmth and light back with us and in the
process begin to thin the clouds.  Just the same, meditation allows us to
remember our true Self and removes the obstacles which prevent it from
bringing joy and fulfillment to every aspect of our life.

Here at The Chopra Center, meditation is the foundation of all our
programs.  Connection to Spirit provides the basis for any area of
self-improvement.  We recommend "Primordial Sound Meditation", a mantra
based technique, which has its roots in the ancient Vedic tradition of
India as a gentle, natural silent technique that can be easily learned and
practiced by anyone.  The word mantra means "vehicle of the mind" so it is
the anchor we use to bring us back into the present moment and take us on
our inward journey.  About eight years ago, Deepak Chopra revived this
technique from the ancient texts and called it Primordial Sound, as the
mantras are sounds, which help us to reconnect with our most primordial
level, where consciousness becomes matter.  Each mantra is selected
individually for the student based on the vibration in the universe at the
time of his or her birth, the moment of transition of consciousness to
matter.  The Chopra Center has trained hundreds of teachers worldwide to
share knowledge by bringing it to local communities.  Courses are offered
regularly at The Chopra Center and by these certified instructors (please
see http://www.chopra.com for an instructor in your area).  If you aren't
practicing meditation regularly, we invite you to contact The Chopra Center
or one of our instructors and take the first step on your path to freedom.


Love,

Roger Gabriel
Director of Education, The Chopra Center for Well Being     

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