Silence
Meditation is not as difficult as many think. However, to meditate, one needs to be comfortable with silence, and for many, silence is foreign. The TV or radio is always on, or the mind is constantly thinking and creating thought waves.
Thought forms that run rampant in the mind limit our free will. We think that if we worry, we will be able to hold our lives together. Attempting this, we habitually reconsider daily concerns with no resolution, with no purpose other than to occupy the mind. The recurring thoughts feed new anxieties. Only when we become aware and control them will we truly have free will.
Our thoughts travel in circles, repeating and looping into familiar patterns of thought waves. Picture yourself dropping a pebble into a quiet lake; it creates a circular wave pattern that continues until it reaches the shore or is interrupted. Our thinking runs in the same manner. Often, people are unable to fall asleep because their minds are so active, looping back to the same concern.
When the mind is looping continuously, it needs to be observed to be changed. Only when we shift our attention with intention can we disrupt the idea cycle. We can break that flow by concentrating on something else. Meditation helps us to silence the chattering, unproductive flow and direct our thoughts mindfully.
We must also be aware that we are influenced by others’ thoughts. Our minds attract vibrations like those it sends out. Imagine a figure 8 placed sideways in an infinity loop. Our thoughts flow from us in this infinite loop, pick up similar vibrations from others, and come right back to us. Sometimes the vibrations of others are so strong that we will change our minds.
Have you ever noticed that lifting a depressed person out of their gloom is difficult? It takes effort to maintain one’s own optimism. In the presence of an angry person, we might take on their agitation. Our mind is swayed, and we find ourselves exhausted, our energy depleted. Conversely, when we are happy and full of joy, everyone we meet adds to that joy. Our vibration is so high that when someone makes a negative comment, we do not respond, because our vibrational field only accepts the same vibration.
Understanding these two concepts—how the mind loops or falls into familiar neurological pathways, and how it is a magnet for similar vibrations makes us realize that the mind is not necessarily doing what we would like. It has its own process, and we need to monitor it.
This concept of awareness, control, and quietude of the mind may be foreign. It requires effort and mindfulness to allow the mind to be still. Our society encourages an active mind, a mind easily led to opinion and judgment. We begin to believe what we are told. We lose our ability to think critically. We also become better consumers when our minds are active. We lose our freedom, our free will.
By becoming aware of the mental process and trying to harness the mind, we can free ourselves to be free agents. In yoga, the goal is not to stand on one’s head. It is “yoga chitta vritti nirodhaha,” to gain complete control over the mind waves, to be present in one’s mind.
Another challenge is that our ego does not want us to have control over our minds. For the most part, we are unaware of how greatly our subconscious and unconscious minds influence us. Would you ever get into a running car and sit helplessly by with no control over the accelerator, brake, or steering, while it revs up and follows its own route? Of course not, but this is the level of control we relinquish to our subconscious and unconscious in directing our moods, days, and life.
We might resolve today to make changes but put them off. Then we judge our behavior, further disempowering ourselves. This is why we need to make a concentrated effort, in self-kindness, to practice being silent and quieting the mind. At first, it will require willpower. The more we try it mindfully, the easier it grows. Practiced regularly, it will become habitual.
To begin with, you might mimic nature: start the day quietly, move into the busy hours, and wind down in the evening. Birds follow this pathway—these laws or modes of nature, called gunas—but we humans have stopped. In truth, everything on the planet must follow the gunas; these attributes govern and motivate nature. Everything is under their influence. Balancing them, we have a happy and healthy life.
The morning hour before sunrise is the hour of Brahma or God, when our mind will easily fall into silence. In the morning, we are in sattva yug, when everything is fresh, pure, and beautiful. Look to the birds. In the morning, they sing the glory of God. Then during the day (raja yug), they forage for food. Raja yug is heat, and it creates more activities, work, and desires. In the evening (tama yug), the energy is withdrawn, and one becomes tired, inert, not wanting to initiate anything. Birds tuck their beaks under their wings to sleep.
For us to take back our power of life and mind, we need to learn to be silent. Let us wake up a little before everyone else in the morning and sit in appreciation of the glory of the Divine. In a few minutes, we can offer gratitude for the gifts of the day, after which the mind should be in a more peaceful state.
Mark Becker once wrote an article: “I Learned to Meditate from my Mother.” He stated that she rose every morning and sat in silence with her coffee and a cigarette. I’m not suggesting we take up smoking, but sit peacefully and enjoy the coffee, or walk in the fresh air, before the hustle and bustle of daily life takes our minds away and takes control of our lives. This simple ritual will empower us. It will give us insight into who we really are and our heart’s desire. Eventually, it will lead to meditation.
