A Million Thoughts: Learn All About Meditation from a Himalayan Mystic

At the first chance of speaking after six long years, the first four words he uttered in front of his master were, “Bed is too hard.”

The master said nothing. Another stretch of six years ensued, at the end of which the disciple unable to contain his annoyance said, “Food is always cold.” Once again the master did not reply. Another six years later, the disciple said, “I am leaving you!” “Yes, be gone,” the master said. “All I’ve seen you do in the last 18 years is complain, complain and complain.”

One would think that if the disciple had just one chance of speaking to his master after so long, the four words could or would have had some veneration, reverence or gratitude for his master. It may also seem a little too harsh on the part of his master to act in the manner he did. But the truth is that the master knew something which most of us remain unaware of: a talkative mind. In all probability, that’s all the disciple contemplated on for 18 years – he thought about what wasn’t right. Rather than understanding the essence of meditation, he complained in his mind for eighteen long years.

The goal of meditation is not to sit stiff and become a lifeless serious yogi who fails to smile in the happiness of others or cry in their pain. It is to become an embodiment of love and peace. Love and peace don’t germinate in a compassionless or loveless heart, they don’t cultivate in a mind that is not ready.

There’s a reason why Patanjali put yama (moral injunctions) and niyama (fixed observances) long before meditation. He states in the Yoga Sutras:

ahimsa satyaasteyabrahmacaryaaparigrahahyamah.35

Non-violence, truth, abstention from stealing, continence, and absence of greed for possessions beyond one’s need are the five pillars of yama.

Regarding fixed observances, he says:

Saucasantosatapahsvadhyayaisvarapranidhananiniyamah.

Cleanliness, contentment, religious zeal, self-study and surrender of the self to the supreme Self or God are the niyamas.36

The path of yoga, according to Patanjali, starts with practising restraint and discipline. There’s a good reason for that. To begin with, a virtuous life leads to a calm mind, and it’s much easier to meditate with a calm mind. That’s not all, though.

The sages of the yore realized tens of thousands of years ago that not everyone who sought bliss needed to meditate. Many realized the same state by serving the mankind, or by doing devotional service, or even by leading a simple and meaningful life. Meditation is the means to an end. It is designed to lead you towards a calmer and even state. Such quietude doesn’t mean you become cold and indifferent and only focus on your practice of meditation. On the contrary, it helps you to feel the pain of others so you may share their grief, their sorrows. For meditation to truly work, a serious mediator ought to imbibe certain qualities. For, a virtuous life is the mother of meditation.

Compassion

A young man was mugged, beaten and left for dead on a street. As he lay there bruised, wounded and unconscious, a man passing by, who happened to be a psychiatrist, rushed to the victim. “My goodness,” he exclaimed, “whoever did this really needs help!”

The victim needs assistance and the culprit compassion, either way, they both need help. If the victim is not offered help, he may die and if the culprit is not extended help, he may kill someone else. At any rate, it’s a loss to our world.

Of all the virtues any human being can ever possess, compassion by far is the most important one. It is the seed of goodness. For compassion is love, it is forgiveness, it is at once divine. A path, no matter how good is its system of meditation or how erudite are its scriptures, that does not encourage and inspire you to be compassionate is not worth treading.

When I use the word compassion, I mean it in absolute sense which means that you show it to everyone to the best of your abilities. When we are compassionate or forgiving only sometimes, it means that we are doing so at our convenience, it means we still think that there’s a choice more reasonable than compassion. True compassion is not based on the cause or the action, it is simply a virtue, a response, an emotion, a feeling that we choose over any other.

The lives of the greatest sages have been full of compassion but one thing that stands out throughout the New Testament is the innocence and compassion of Jesus Christ, the messiah who became God’s lamb as he paid the price of compassion with his own life.

Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify Him!”

A third time he said to them, “Why? What has this man done wrong? I have found in Him no grounds for the death penalty.

Therefore, I will have Him whipped and then release Him.”