Why Is Meditation Always A Struggle?
Regularity is “extremely essential” before starting any kind of meditation. Why regularity? One must remember that meditation and its process are related to the mind entirely. The mind is a subtle body just like the physical body of a human being. The human body consists of both of these.
In order to keep our physical body fit and healthy, we read lots of articles, watch videos and collect lots of information through various means, consult specialists and follow them strictly. We exercise regularly at home, go to the gym, and maintain a proper diet according to the instructions. Thus we are serious about training our physical body in a certain way.
Similar precision is required to train our mind also before beginning. Like reading devotional books, getting engaged in spiritual activities, praying for the good of others, always remain in companionship with noble, virtuous and spiritual people; get associated with saints. After following these things, one has to fix a time and place for meditation with selected cushions and clothes.
In short, just as the physical body requires fresh food to remain fit, the subtle body (mind) also requires healthy and pure thoughts for serenity.
People Acknowledge Meditation To Be Difficult
Here is a basic and fundamental understanding of how to do a guided meditation. Fundamentally, it is a process of self-realisation hence it is quite essential for everyone to know what lessons to learn before starting meditation. It is extremely useful in all aspects of life personally and professionally if done correctly and carefully.
First and foremost, there are certain rules to be noted essentially and must take care of all over the places before you sit in, which makes meditation far easier. If you strictly follow these rules meditation will become effective, joyful and peaceful. If these they are taken for granted, then meditation will always remain a kind of a struggle.
If GOD exists then I must be able to see, if there is anything like an immortal soul I must feel it through this path of seeking experience.
Religion is a subject of knowledge through practical experience and not a belief or faith at all. It is not undoubtedly very old; it’s more or less taken for granted and understood. Nevertheless, for many centuries religion is not just for belief because there are thousands of examples of so many saints generation after generation who are enlightened and seen GOD within their respective traditions in India. Thus they have seen GOD.
There are various and certain methods about experiencing these realities and we must go through all the processes step by step, a set of psychological exercises which if you practice sincerely and honestly you will realize. GOD does exist in the path of devotion if we get true knowledge. But our problem is we have no faith in GOD and do not believe, instead we laugh at it by declaring them whimsical and mythological.
The one and the only solution to this problem is we must have unbroken faith in the existence of GOD, instead we do not like worshiping and refuse to surrender. The language of ancient scriptures is paradoxical and very hard to understand. So after reading them, without the proper teaching and guidance of unselfish GURUS, we rigidly start believing the perceptions that strike our minds from them. One must search for such a GURU who has studied the scriptures deeply, have in-depth knowledge and is only interested in providing “TRUE” teaching instead of having the intention of gaining something from the disciple.
Our minds are so much restless and because of that stormy nature we cannot see the divine truth as it is in the path of meditation, this is the pattern. If we make an honest attempt to concentrate, focus, and calm down the mind, then we will definitely be able to see this truth for ourselves. We will experience it and then stop arguing anymore. It is easily possible to argue with someone’s experience but when you experience this truth to your gratification then you will agree personally. So it’s the path of experience and why we fail to experience it right now because our minds are scattered. We are not focused, not concentrated, lost in worldly pleasures.
There are specific methods to focus or concentrate our mind and then we will realise. There are many such methods not only in the Eastern religions but in all religions. These are the various foundational methods of meditation available to us for thousands of years. Religions like Buddhism and Jainism specialize in a variety of meditative methods and in Hinduism, the PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS, the Yoga Philosophy, the Saankhya Philosophy, and The Vedantic Philosophy. Especially among them, Yoga Philosophy is a specialisation on meditation, most popular and widely accepted all across the globe.
Meditation is the most popular subject nowadays. It’s so popular among the global population but also universally acknowledged to be difficult. People feel it to be extremely troublesome because they can’t sit for few minutes silently. There are so many techniques of meditation across different traditions. Unfortunately, it’s a commercial supermarket of techniques available to us today. In present time The Buddhist Vipassana Meditation has been developed into modern mindfulness. It’s a huge industry in the US alone. People are so crazy about it regardless of knowledge hence it has become a multi-million to a billion-dollar industry.
Now meditation mindfulness, meditation is taught in corporate offices for relaxation, in schools and colleges for concentration, better life and bright future, in jails for rehabilitation in terms of removing aggressive behaviour, cleansing the impurities of the mind, softening of stubborn mind etc. and the military too to develop mental power to cope with the most dangerous conditions and how to face life-threatening situations. You will find meditation everywhere.
Sometimes you will find meditation rooms in corporate buildings and most of the things you know here are techniques of mindfulness meditation. Tantrics (in India basically) have their own techniques of meditation, very unique. The Kashmiri Shaivism has a wide range of very sophisticated techniques of meditation.
A book called Vigyaana Bhairava details about 112 dharnas (which are basically techniques of meditation). The Tibetan Buddhists teach a variety of visualization techniques, a variety of sophisticated meditation techniques. Vaishnavas even have their meditation techniques of visualization of the deity. Every devotional tradition in Hinduism has its own what are called “Dhyaana Slokas” (Meditation Verses) on how to visualize the deity.
People in the olden days were inspired by those verses to draw pictures or images, forge idols and the tradition continue ever since. Then of course the most popular yogic technique of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. The Jains have their own body of meditation techniques. It is believed that a branch of Sikhism has its own special version of Kundalini Yoga and thus there is a whole range of techniques.
You will find meditation techniques beyond India even. If you know about a very beautiful book titled “The Way Of A Pilgrim” from the Russian Orthodox Church. Where people are taught the Jesus Prayer, the prayers of the heart which they have to repeat and Lord Jesus have mercy upon them as they repeat. The book will leave a significant impact on your mind when you read it with lucid description; it’s just like mantra japa (chanting of verses).
When someone in a very simple way throughout all the ups and downs of life, goes on repeating that, their mind always remains focused on that and the experiences they get are completely transcendental, beyond imagination and explanation. So meditation is a worldwide phenomenon with many techniques.
