This morning as I sat in meditation, I ignored some of the advice I am sharing here. Instead of focusing entirely on my meditation, I spent some time thinking about this blog. (Ah, how often we ignore good advice, even when it comes from ourselves!) Yet I hope some benefit will come from my well-intentioned restlessness. Anyway, here is what came to me.
Keep your temple clean. You would be shocked if someone threw trash into your meditation room while you were sitting there. So, train yourself not to do this. Our true meditation room is our consciousness, so the trash I’m referring to is those negative, downward-pulling thoughts such as anger, greed, lust, or worry. Durga Mata, one of Master’s closest disciples, said, “We are not responsible for the first thought that comes into our mind, but we are responsible for the train of thought that follows.” When an undesirable thought arises while you are trying to meditate, don’t invite him to stay as your guest, but immediately throw the rascal out. This is a habit that can be trained.
Sit still. Physical restlessness is easier to control than mental restlessness. Sitting still is not that hard to do: You just need to resolve not to move or fidget. Deeper meditations will follow.
“Eternity” by Nayaswami Jyotish
Open your heart to the Guru. Never hide or shrink from your guru. He or she is an extension of Divine Mother’s love and has only your best interest in mind. If you feel the Guru is judging you, it is a projection of your own mind. Of course, he will correct you, but that is different from judgment. If the Guru is no longer in the body, how will he correct you? Paramhansa Yogananda answered that question in his beautiful poem, “When I Am Only a Dream,” one of his loveliest offerings. Here are a few lines:
I will smile in your mind when you are right,
And when you are wrong, I will weep through my eyes,
Dimly peering at you in the dark,
And weep through your eyes, perchance;
And I will whisper to you through your conscience,
And I will reason with you through your reason,
And I will love through your love.
When you are able no longer to talk with me,
Read my Whispers from Eternity.
Eternally through that I will talk to you.
Unknown, I will walk by your side
And guard you with invisible arms.
In joy,
Nayaswami Jyotish
Listen to the audio version of this blog read by Jyotish, or download it as an MP3.
24 Comments
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish
I really enjoy your blogs and writings of wisdom but one enigmatic problem that troubles me is that I always difficulty in my mental visualisations when I concentrate or meditate is this normal , I can’t get to focus my thought in a meditative session
Please advise me
Thank you so much
Yours respectfully
Dr Dhruva Ramachandran
Thank you Baba!!! Bhagavanji was thinking those thoughts through you so that HE could reach out to millions and give some practical advice to us all.
Thank you for being channel of God’s wisdom .
With His Love,
Thank you Jyotishji,
This is very inspiring and helpful. Wonderful, simple steps that i can keep in mind. Om Guru.
Thank you for the audio reading :D it was great to hear you read Master’s poem especially.
beautiful, thank you! like having new furniture for my meditation room :)
aum guru aum
Very useful.I inspired very much.Jai girudev.
Jai bealoved gurudev yoganandaji.
Blessings dear one and thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Thank you for expanding this blog to include an audio version. In addition to listening to it here on the website, I have now set it up to automatically download in my podcast app on phone and can listen to it anytime.
Aum, peace. Amen! Thank you for your wisdom and insight. What was most helpful to me was to focus on one thing while meditating. And what Gyanamata said about thoughts. Blessings and joy to you, Jyotish.
Linda Hagen
Dear Jyotish & Devi: What a blessing to read this blog this morning. I have just a few minutes before I need to meet up with a friend. I was feeling annoyed with myself because the rain makes me sleepy and I did not leave enough time to do my normal practices. Your reminders of the deeper side of things is soooo helpful to us all. Joy and Blessings, Prakriti
Thanks for your friendship divine who are also your wise counsel to me very valuable at this time
In joy,
Rashmi
Thank you, Jyotish, for the practical and inspiring blog.
Thank you,a good,helpful post..and what can also be added is to include deep prayer before,during or after meditation.
Dear Jyotish ji
What else is there to say except say Thank you for such words of wisdom,
put in such practical and simple words. Yes, I do experience such roadblocks.
Your words will help towards the road to deeper meditation.
Syamal
Where can I get whispers to eternity in Kolkata,india
You can try online here: https://theanandastore.com/products/whispers-from-eternity
You can order it here: http://anandapublication.com/?product=whispers-from-eternity
Joy,
Radhika
ah — a christian minister said to me c. 35 yrs ago : “The bats will fly through your belfry, just don’t let them roost there.”
Took years for this to make the 12 inch drop — from head to heart.
35 years ago — I decorated the bat boxes with cafe curtains with ruffled edges and put a decorative welcome mat outside the door. :-)
The biggest learning was to not judge myself for my wandering mind – merely lovingly bring it back.
Beautiful, Jyotishji. AUM AUM AUM
Thank you so much ?
Very beautiful and left such a touch of love in my heart.
Sending my love to Devi and Jyotish ? bhajana
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for this lovely blog :)
Very helpful to deepen our meditation.
Aum….
Prem
Pranam Ji
Thank you for Inspiring all to stay Focused, and the Audio part is wonderful .
With Gratitude
R Sundararajan
Thank you so much, Jyotish! We all need reminders like these from time to time. <3