By learning to meditate and enjoying the eternal joy that lies within, we get protection from temporary sorrows of life, writes Sant Rajinder Singh
While growing up, we are taught how important our physical and mental development is. We begin to believe that happiness only lies in developing ourselves in these two areas. Life becomes like a rat race in which we try to meet our physical needs for food, clothing, shelter, and comfort, along with sensual enjoyment, possessions, and love. We spend time developing our intellect by receiving a good education which leads to a rewarding career. We engage in hobbies and pastimes that bring enjoyment to our mind. We look for happiness in meeting our emotional needs for love and companionship through our relationships with our family, friends, and loved ones. We look for a companion in life, and ultimately marry and raise a family. But does anyone ever teach us that happiness lies within our own selves? It has been the role of the spiritual adepts, saints, and mystics to awaken us to the reservoir of this bliss-giving nectar within us.
The way to tap into this pool is simple. It is only a matter of our attention. We can direct our attention wherever we wish. We can place it on our body. We can focus it on our mind. Or, we can concentrate our attention on our soul. Unfortunately, since childhood, we have been trained to focus ourselves on our body and mind. Our senses naturally find it easy to become involved in the activities of the world through our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin. Our parents and teachers have never taught us how to focus on our soul. Had they done so, we would have been proficient by now in tapping into the source of consciousness and bliss within.
Instruction in how to place our attention on our soul is the domain of spiritual teachers. From an adept, we can learn the simple process which can help us experience the pure bliss of our true nature. We call this process concentration or focusing our attention. But its most popular name is meditation.
Meditation is easy. Spiritual teacher Sant Kirpal Singh used to say that it is like closing one drawer and opening another. During the time of meditation, we merely put our thoughts of the world and our problems in one drawer and close it. Then, we open the drawer of meditation and concentrate only on that. When the meditation is over, we can then open the drawer of our thoughts and worldly problems and deal with them.
Meditation entails focusing one’s attention at the seat of the soul, located between and behind the two eyebrows. If we can stop putting our attention on our outer eyes and ears for a while and concentrate at the seat of the soul, we will tap into the source of happiness and bliss awaiting us.
Spending two hours concentrating on the eye-focus each day will help our attention withdraw from the body. Generally, our sensory currents which give us sensation of this physical world are spread out through the body. As we concentrate at the seat of the soul, the sensory currents start withdrawing from our extremities. They come up from our feet and legs to our trunk. Eventually they are totally concentrated at the seat of the soul. Once at that point, a vista of divine light and celestial sound opens up for us. We witness the light and sound which is emanated from God at the dawn of creation. Like a current, this stream flows out from God through all the regions. It also returns to Him. When our soul comes in contact with this stream, it can travel on it back to the source.
The journey begins at the third eye. By putting our attention there, the soul begins its voyage to the ultimate source of happiness. This is what meditation is.
God and the soul are eternal. They are all conscious, all bliss, and in a perpetual state of happiness. When we are in that state all our desires and longings for the things of this world dissipate. Our worldly desires become mere trifles when we experience the astounding joy within. At some time in our lives, we experience some great euphoria, such as when our team wins a football game, or we get a long-awaited raise, or we have any of our dreams fulfilled. For that moment, we are so lost in joy that all other problems suddenly seem like a trifle. We put these former difficulties aside, for we do not want to be distracted from the moment of glory and happiness. This is just a small example to show how tapping into happiness can keep us in permanent bliss so that the problems of the world fade away.
Those who learn to meditate can switch their attention to the source of happiness within even in the midst of sorrow. True, they still undergo the outer pains and sorrows of life, but they are not affected by them. They are drinking from the inebriation from within that cushions the pain and takes their attention off their sufferings.
There is nothing magical about meditation. It is something every person, from a child to an elderly person, can learn. Had we learned how to focus our attention within during our youth, it would have become a habit by now. We would be able to do it at will anytime we wanted. But it is never too late to learn this practice. By learning to meditate we can perfect the art of directing our attention to the source of happiness within us. Then we can drink from the eternal pool of happiness at any time. Outer sources of enjoyment may be taken from us, but we have access to an eternal bliss we carry within.
We realise that this world is but a passing show. The ecstasy we experience within fills us with happiness and we are able overcome our problems. As we meditate and come in contact with the source of love within, we begin to spread it to others. By following this path, we will always be in tune with the happiness within and will radiate it so that the people we come in contact with absorb it. So, we can spread joy wherever we go.
The writer is a spiritual leader
