Have you ever used a garden hose? If not go and find one after you have read this blog.
When you water your garden or wash your car with a garden hose you can turn the end nozzle to vary the way that the water flows from the end. If you close it down the beam of water become tighter and more concentrated until it is like a single line directing all of its power onto one spot. If you reverse the process and open the nozzle the bean of water becomes wider and wider. The more you open it the wider the beam until it becomes like a fountain with water splashing everywhere.
It is the same with your mind. When the beam of your thoughts is open and uncontrolled your thoughts are all over the place just like a fountain. Your thoughts will dash from one thing to the next. Often the next thought is in your mind before the previous one has completed. Mind and thoughts become like the fountain splashing every where.
In meditation, whatever the technique, you begin to turn the nozzle of your mind, concentrating your thoughts, closing the fountain, until, in time with some practice your are able to concentrate your mind and begin to focus.
Meditation is both a state and a technique
The technique of meditation leads to the state of meditation. The technique is the daily practise that enables you to learn to concentrate the beam of your thoughts, until, in the state of meditation all thoughts have ceased, the hosepipe nozzle is completely closed and there is a movement from doing to simply being. This void of thoughtless peace I call ‘The Knowing Silence”. It is that space where there is no beginning and no end, a place where time ceases to exist. So that when you enter the void you might be there for seconds or hours, it is as though no time has passed at all.
Meditation is the tool that enables you to take control of your mind
In my yogic/ayurvedic training the language of Sanskrit uses the the word ‘Chit’ to mean pure thought. When we use Chit our thoughts are concentrated and pure, it is the moment just before the nozzle closes and we enter the void. The word ‘Chittam’ describes the state of mind when the nozzle is fully open and meaningless thoughts are spraying all over the place. Chittam is all the gossip, news, television and radio programmes, described by my teacher as ‘rats droppings’. It is a certain truth that the more we develop Chit the less Chittam there is in our lives.
Meditation is the tool that enables you to take control of your mind and close you mental nozzle stopping it from a spraying a fountain of non productive thoughts to become a focus and effective beam of thought and energy. When you invest the time in meditation you do more not less, you become more effective more of the time, and you stand a better chance of achieving all that you desire from your life.
If you are new to meditation then might I suggest you try my free Morning/Evening meditation mp3s? They have been downloaded hundreds of times and the feedback I receive is that they are very useful and a great starting point.
Be happy,
Sean x
