Self Awareness Through Meditation

Author(s): Ranjitsingh Kumat
Publisher: Ranjitsingh Kumat

Page 44

ENLIGTENMENT AND BLISS THROUGH MEDITATION
ambitions. On a smaller scale, people cheat, steal, adulterate, transgress law, attack or murder to attain their desired goals of amassing wealth and power. The race to amass more than the neighbour continues and the ambition to be richer and richer is never fulfilled. Thus the search for pleasure, through fulfilment of desires, invariably results in pain and suffering. The desire to acquire, possess and remain attached with the worldly things is the sole cause of our suffering. We labour hard to acquire and we feel the pain of having no rest in the process. Once it has been accumulated, we have the worry to protect it. And if, for any reason, it is lost or dissipated, we again suffer as we resent the loss. We forget that all these material things are momentary and ephemeral. No one has been able to carry these possessions with him after death. Why are we wasting so much time and energy to amass wealth which is not going to remain with us permanently? To be able to end one's suffering, one has to become aware of one's true being.
INWARD JOURNEY
In order to know our true self, the journey has to be from the outer to the inner world. Without going into oneself, one cannot realize the true self. This calls for meditation and inward looking attitude. So long as we do not turn inwards and apply brake to the wanderings of mind in the outer world, we cannot feel quiet, peaceful and serene. The purpose of meditation is to turn inwards and concentrate to become aware of one's own self. Who am I? Where have I come from and what is my destination? Once we start enquiring into it, we shall become aware of our true self. The purpose of meditation has been lucidly explained by Shri Nisargadattaji Maharaj in the following words:—“The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness. Incidentally, practice of meditation deeply affects our character. We are slaves to whatever we do not know; of what we know we are masters. Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its causes and its workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the unconscious dissolves."46
MEDITATION
Mahrishii Patanjali, the saint who initiated the most popular principle and practice of Yoga' has defined Yoga as the restraint or control of proclivity of mind. The habit of the mind is to wander—in the past or the future or