How to handle a busy mind

Question: I have a very busy mind. It keeps wandering when I try to meditate. How can I meditate when I am not able to shut off my mind?

Sampriya: The short answer is: it is not possible or necessary to control your mind in order to meditate.

There is a persistent and pervasive myth keeping countless people from enjoying their own Meditation practice. It is the belief that one needs to empty or control the mind in order to meditate. This misconception is due to unfortunate translations and lack of understanding of the original yogic scriptures as much as to the nature of the mind itself.

The human mind is like a gigantic database that stores all the impressions, thoughts, feelings and conclusions accumulated during a lifetime. This enormous storehouse of information is in perpetual motion, incessantly churning and shifting its contents. Depending on the situation we find ourselves in, specific thoughts connected to memories and events will get activated and come to the surface every moment of every waking hour. Sometimes these thoughts are very powerful and persistent. They seem to have an energy of their own. At times they may even appear to take away our ability to remain calm or to function properly.

How can I meditate when I am not able to shut off my mind?

When we study the nature of the mind, we come to understand that it is not the thoughts themselves that constitute the problem, it is the belief that our thoughts and our identity are one and the same. Being identified with the thoughts as “my thoughts, coming from me”, we are convinced that they are real and true, just because they appear in our headspace.

In reality, thoughts are just movement in the mechanism we call the mind. Proper information and a bit of training will reveal that we are not the thoughts or the movement, but the one who is able to watch them. This Watcher or Knower being is the gift that is revealed in Meditation. It is our true “I” or identity, the Self. The Self or Knower-I is aware of the coming and going as well as the content of the thoughts - yet it is never affected by them.

In order to recognise the Knower-I in our own being, we need to close our eyes. Depending on our activities in the hours prior to sitting down to meditate, we may notice the presence of an impressive amount of thoughts fighting for our attention. This is the point where we need to apply the correct understanding of the ancient scriptures. Instead of fighting the thoughts or trying to control them, we choose to merely be aware of their existence without engaging with them.

The simple step of being aware as opposed to associating with the thoughts reveals the secret of our true identity, the Knower. It brings to light its presence that is able to perceive everything, while remaining forever free, uninvolved and never affected by the appearance or disappearance of thoughts. The Knower exists before thoughts arise, when they are present and also when the thoughts subside. If our attention is firmly established as the Knower - it doesn’t matter whether there is one thought or a thousand thoughts and there is no need for control. For the Knower, thoughts, their meaning, their presence or absence don’t have any power or influence. His natural state is unchanging Peace and Freedom.

Meditation is the practice where we recognise that we are the Knower in identify.

If you are looking for guidance in knowing yourself as the Knower, ask for a free 20-minute introduction to Private Meditation Mentoring with Sampriya

Why do we suffer?

Question: Even though I have been on the path of Meditation for a while, I am still suffering. Unease and worries are always in the background. They make coping with daily life a challenge. Is suffering a constant in human life?

Sampriya:

As human beings we don't want to suffer. From an early age we are told that we should have a good life; a life that is supposed to be easy and free from worries. Society tells us that in pursuing our wants and desires we can rightfully expect the results to be happiness and ease. Thus, when suffering does occur, as it inevitably will, we want to get away from it as quickly as possible.

Suffering comes and goes in a human life, whether our minds consider it fair or not, whether we try to avoid it or not. We suffer, when our circumstances and relationships don't meet our expectations and preferences. That is true for things as trivial as a traffic jam that keeps us from an appointment as well as for dramatic situations of loss - of a job, a home, of our health or of a loved one.

In most situations in life we think that we know what should happen and we have a precise idea of what the outcome should be. When we are confronted with the fact that life has different plans, and that these plans don't bend to our preferences, we suffer.

For suffering to occur, there needs to be an individual person, an ego that says "I exist and I want things to be this way". This I-sense is the human mechanism, the instrument that believes that: "I move the body and I determine what I think, what I believe and how I act." Unless we awaken to a higher reality, we believe this I-sense or ego to be our identity.

Can we reduce/overcome suffering with Meditation?

Through Meditation and the study of the science of Oneness, we discover that there is much more to us than this individual I-sense. When we close our eyes, we develop the ability to watch the movement of our thoughts, beliefs and feelings as the Observer or Knower. We tune in to the fact that the Knower who is perceiving the ever-changing comings and goings of the thoughts is unchanging. It is in fact the all-encompassing, infinite Self, the Eternal Presence or Pure I that is our true identity.

When our identity shifts from the individual I to the Self, thoughts, beliefs and feelings are no longer seen as belonging to me. As the Self, suffering is no longer part of our experience. As the Self we are aware of life and all its circumstances, but we are not affected by it. Without an individual I-sense with an agenda and expectations, there is just the flow of life as it presents itself. As the Self, we act freely, generously and with compassion, always in the best interest of all involved. For the Self there is no sense of suffering, because whatever happens is simply life unfolding as its own creation.

If you want to learn how to know your own Infinite Self and identify with it rather than with the individual I, contact Sampriya for a free 20 min. introduction to private Online Meditation Mentoring or e-mail her to be included on the invite list for one of our Online Satsang groups. The first Satsang is free and allows you to find out if our meetings suit you.

You are Pure Love

Pure Love is infinite and omnipresent. It has no beginning and no end. Pure Love is all-encompassing and all-permeating, free from need, want or expectation - it is Freedom itself. Pure Love is the Source of everything in manifestation, for it is the essence, the power and the expression of the Divine. Without Pure Love there is no world and no breath to give life to all the manifested beings.

Pure Love is the power that creates and animates every form, thought and movement. Through its power of creation, It gives life to all of manifestation yet it never becomes anything other than Pure Love.

To the human eye that which is Pure Love appears as a form. When we perceive the world, people and our own bodies through our eyes and senses, we only see the form, not the Pure Love that is its Source.

Because of this mechanism inherent to the human instrument, the division between Pure Love and who we perceive ourselves to be appears to be real. This is why we think that we are individual human beings, separate from the Source or Pure Love.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we spend our life attempting to undo the division and to regain our sense of wholeness. Having lost the knowledge that Pure Love is our very essence, we turn to ideas of romantic love that all of society, especially the entertainment industry, have been promoting incessantly. The myth that the perfect partner will fill our inner emptiness keeps us in an endless loop of hope and disappointment. We continually postpone being happy and fulfilled unless the perfect prince/ess charming appears. In doing so, we miss the opportunity to realize that wholeness and Pure Love is not something we receive from another person, it is who we are and always have been.

Meditation is the gift that allows us to remember that we truly are Pure Love. When we close our eyes, we have a chance to dissolve into the infinity of Pure Love and recognize it as our very of Being. When all the sensory perceptions, the thoughts and conclusions about our individual existence are absorbed in the space of Meditation, we remain as the wholeness of Pure Love that is our True Nature.

Use these links to learn more about Sampriya, Private Meditation Mentoring ,Online Satsang or our upcoming Bhagavad Gita Study Group