Meditation/Consciousness

Vipassana – The technique of Gautama Buddha

http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/techniques/Vipassana.htm

The Great Awakening

We are living through the most exciting times in human history. Breakthroughs in every area of science are opening our minds to the beauty and mystery of the material world. At the same time technology is giving us the p…ower to make many of our dreams come true.

But what makes these times even more exciting is that we stand on the threshold of the greatest changes in human consciousness ever. Whether it is our relationships with our loved ones, our attitude to money, the ever-increasing pace of life, the environmental crisis, everything is pushing us to wake up to our full mental potential. We are being called to rediscover for ourselves the profound truths of which the great saints and teachers have spoken for thousands of years.

At their core, they all have been urging us to become wiser, more compassionate, more psychologically healthy human beings. To let go of our attachments to having things be a certain way, to be less materialistic, less egocentric, less greedy and hungry for power or status. And through this shift in consciousness to find peace in the moment — the inner peace we have been yearning for all along, but fruitlessly seeking in the world around.

This is the next great frontier; not outer space but inner space. The exploration and development of human spirit. This is not an exploration to be conducted by some scientists in a laboratory; it is an exploration in which we are all personally engaged, and it is taking place in the laboratory of life. And it is an exploration that is already underway.

Look at the book bestseller lists. Hardly a week goes by without at least half of the top ten being about some form of personal development. Look at television, the specials on healing, the success of Oprah. Look at the Internet, the plethora of sites devoted to spiritual growth of one form or another. This is what people are hungry for today; this is the direction the collective consciousness is moving in.

And look at kids today. I know many in their teens and early twenties whose values and wisdom far outshine the liberated thinking of a couple of decades ago. Those of us who lived through the heydays of the sixties might have thought our philosophy of life was pretty cool; and by the standards of the time it probably was. But place some of the wiser kids of today back in that world, and they would stand out as beacons of enlightenment.

Spiritual exploration is not just some lofty work, to be undertaken by some select few who have renounced the worldly life. Every day we have the opportunity to learn a little more about ourselves, to let go a little more of attitudes that no longer serve us, to step back and be a little less attached to desires. In every unexpected situation when the world fails to match our expectations, when what is happening is not what we think should be happening, we can remind ourselves that we have a choice. We can either see the situation through the eyes of fear – all the ways in which it could lead us to suffer. Or we can choose to see it through the eyes of love – as an opportunity for learning, growth and greater understanding.

This shift in perception is a foundation stone of spiritual work. If we practice this in every situation in which we find ourselves, with every person we meet, then we can move from being the victim of our thoughts and feelings to being the master of them. And through that help ourselves and each other to become happier, healthier, and more caring people.

Peter Russell

Meditation brings you out of the mob psychology. First it makes you human and then it takes you towards the superhuman, which is divine. But it is rebellion; hence the crowd has never been able to forgive meditators and it never will be able
I am not a pessimist, I am immensely optimistic, because i see humanity growing, coming of age. But it is a fact – even optimism cannot hide it – that mob psychology will never be able to rise to individual psychology. It may become a little better, but the difference between the the individual and the crowd will remain the same. When crowd psychology goes a little higher, the individual rebellion will also go a little higher. The distance will remain the same.
It is really a joy to rebel against all that is rotten and ugly, against all that is dead and stinking. It is a joy, it is a challenge, and it is a great opportunity to grow. Only individuals grow in godliness, and I insist and emphasize that only individuals can be religious; religion can never be a cult, a creed, a church. The moment it becomes a church, cult, creed, it is not religion at all. It is just camoflaged politics.

Osho

The impact of our actions, individually and collectively, is inconceivably vast. We can all appreciate, to some extent, the environmental impact of polluting behavior. But based on what we now know about the universe, the true impact of our actions is far broader. For example, chaos theory has established that even our most minute actions can have incalculably large effects. This places a great burden of responsibility on everyone. Exercising common sense consideration and care towards our environment is a good start. But if we really want to protect our planet against the negative effects of human behavior, we must bring our thinking and action into spontaneous accord with Natural Law. We must align our behavior with the universal intelligence that governs the universe and sustains millions of species on Earth. Fortunately, such spontaneously life-nourishing behavior is natural; the human brain physiology is hard-wired to experience Enlightenment–higher states of consciousness in which we directly experience, and become attuned to, cosmic intelligence, or the Unified Field in the terminology of modern physics. The development of our total brain potential, and the resulting expansion of human comprehension to be universal, should be the goal of education today.

The Unified Field is the deepest level of physical reality discovered by Science. It is a universal field of Nature’s intelligence that governs the vast universe with perfect order. Cosmic Consciousness is the state of Enlightenment, a state of human awareness in which the individual mind directly experiences (and identifies with) universal intelligence. In this state, the individual ego expands to become Cosmic. Such individuals are Cosmic individuals, and their actions are spontaneously supportive to all life.

The connection is simple. During meditation, consciousness quickly expands to experience universal consciousness (the Unified Field). The individual consciousness temporarily identifies with universal consciousness in the simplest state of awareness–the state physiologists call “pure consciousness.” Not all meditation techniques achieve this pure consciousness experience, however. My remarks pertain to meditation practices that provide this fundamental experience in an effective and efficient manner.

More than 50 studies, published in the world’s most esteemed scientific journals, have repeatedly demonstrated that group meditation can quell violence and war in war-torn areas. It defuses the acute religious, ethnic and political tensions that fuel social conflict. It has been shown to prevent global terrorism, and to reduce crime, domestic violence, and all negativity born of acute social stress.

When two nearby loudspeakers emit the same sound, these sound waves add constructively. They produce a sound volume equivalent to four loudspeakers (the square of the number of speakers, which is two). This is a universal principle of wave behavior. When a ripple in the Unified Field is generated by individuals in close physical proximity, the power of their combined waves grows as the square of the number of individuals. This is what the research confirms. Because of this, even relatively small groups can have enormous societal impact. Indeed, 8,000 individuals meditating together for extended periods can transform world events. This has been very rigorously demonstrated.

It’s not a matter of opinion. The scientific method provides incontrovertible methods of establishing scientific fact through rigorous experimentation. The efficacy of group meditation to reduce crime and war has been more extensively studied and rigorously established than any phenomenon in the history of social science. It is a scientific fact; there is no room for arguement.

The experience of pure consciousness is self-evident. Just as when you’re awake, you know you’re awake. If you’re not absolutely sure you’re awake, the chances are you are dreaming. Similarly, if you’re not sure you are experiencing pure, unbounded consciousness, then you’re probably not. It may be time to try a more effective system of meditation.

- John Hagelin Phd.

Khempo Yurmed Tinly 1 of 4

If one is ready to become a nobody then one will become the greatest. Be nothing then you are all, be nobody then you attain to tremendous extraordinariness. Just be empty and you will come to know the greatest in you, the highest in you. But remember; don’t be nothing in order to become the greatest, because then you cannot be nothing. To be nothing is not to be used as a means to become the greatest. The greatness is a by-product, not the goal, not the end. It is like a fragrance. The flower is the end, the flowering of your consciousness is all, and then suddenly there is fragrance. If you search for the fragrance you will miss the flower, and without the flower there is no fragrance. If you search for the flower the fragrance comes of it’s own accord.

If one is meek, humble, nobody, then the doors of the kingdom open, then you are a divine guest. Then suddenly you are raised to the highest pinnacle of life. But that is a by-product. To attain the kingdom of God is not a goal. Forget all about it. My whole teaching is just be a nobody. Just go on throwing out all the rotten furniture from inside your being and become utterly spacious. And that space is overflowing, overflowing with your being, because the being can grow, it has space to grow. The being can open it’s petals, it can become a thousand-petalled lotus.

And then there is a great dance inside and great music and great poetry and great beauty and grace. Then the whole imprisoned splendour is released because there is no barrier to hinder it. You become expansive. Life becomed an explosion of light, of love, of bliss.

Osho

@vizznou, take a guess, son? :)

“Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.”
- Diana Robinson

“Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man.”
- Benjamin Franklin

“One hour’s meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer”
- Mohammed

The beginning of Meditation

In order to understand meditation properly and to learn to meditate, it is important that we know how meditation started . Let us acquaint ourselves with the concept behind the origin of meditation.

Ever since the advent of humanity on earth, there are some questions that have kept bothering men of every time and era. Like who created the universe? How life came on earth ? What is the purpose of life? Why do we born and die? Is there any systematic plan behind all this or is it happening on its own ? The question ‘who made this universe’ has always raised curiosity among men of all times.

If you don’t now how to find a solution, the next best thing is to try to understand the problem from all angles. Often an honest effort to understand the problem itself can facilitate its solution. Therefore, a search on this line began in the world. To find the answer of the question ‘who created this world?’ people started finding some clues in the creation itself.

In this endeavor of finding some clues about the mystery behind Universe, two approaches were adopted. Firstly, there were groups of people who started looking for clues in the outside world. They went on discovering laws of nature, finding its various phenomena, inventing wonderful gazettes, machinery and electronic devices etc. Their entire research on the external world gave rise to science. Their constant endeavor resulted in unfolding of mysteries behind nature’s physical and biological laws. The development in science and technology around us that we see today is the result of the constant endeavor of such people. This ongoing research to unleash the secrets of nature is still going on.

But, apart from these seekers who tried to find the truth in the external perceivable world, there were another seekers who thought in a different direction. These people were of the opinion that if some creator has created this world, then the same creator must have also created them. So, in a way, they should also be a part of this creation. So instead of going deeper into the depth of outside world why not go within themselves and look for some clues, some hints there ? So they started experimenting on themselves and got involved in inventing various methods for going within. This endeavor of going within gave rise to meditation and later to religion. ( Now that’s a different thing that today religion has become more dominant and meditation – which gave rise to all religion- has become a small part of it.)

In ancient times, people used to believe that everything in this world was made up of five elements – earth, water, air, fire and space. Then scientific advancement began and as more and more discoveries came into light, it was found that the whole universe was made up of 108 elements. However, after going into the inner intricacies of these 108 elements, it was found that all elements were same and were made up of atoms. The difference in elements is because of the arrangements of atom in them. On further research, it was found that even atom was not the basic unit of everything. It was rather electron which was the building block of everything. However the discovery of electron gave rise to a difficulty.

Electron, though considered as the smallest unit of particle, does not fully exhibit the nature of a particle. It is neither stable nor unstable. It is moving as well as not moving. Sometimes, it acts like a wave and sometimes it behaves like a particle. It was very difficult for scientists to exactly define the nature of the electron. Therefore, a new term was coined – “Quantum” -dual , the one having properties of wave & particle simultaneously.

But as more and more researches on electron are being done, it appears that at a very subtle level, electron is nothing but an infinitesimal energy particle. It is the energy which transforms itself into electron and subsequently into matter. The famous equation of Albert Einstein, E = MC2 also reinforce the fact that all matter and energy are interchangeable into one another.

Let me come again to those people who adopted the second approach of going within, They started researching on their body. They moved their attention inwards and started developing techniques of penetrating deeper into their inner existential identity. These efforts gave rise to meditation. All the meditation techniques and yogic exercise are result of this endeavor taken by millions of those avid curious people who dared to go within.

In their meditative state, these people realized about this energy field of consciousness which pervades the whole cosmos. In the deeper state of meditation one realized about the omnipresent element of all- the self. In reality what is present everywhere is not energy but pure supreme consciousness which pervades the whole universe. Sooner or later science will also agree ( by going into the depths of energy) that everything in this creation is nothing but pure consciousness. This pure and supreme consciousness is everywhere and when someone says that God is everywhere, inside you outside you, they are pointing towards the self. In the deeper state of meditations anybody can feel this supreme consciousness.

http://www.meditationiseasy.com/mCorner/how_meditation_started.htm

Is the New Age a religion? Like the more classical religions there would seem to be a number of beliefs associated with ‘new age thinking’ — reincarnation, homeopathy, astrology, tarot, palmistry, crystals, angelic beings, chakras, dowsing, ley lines, radionics, precognition, channeling, reflexology, spiritual healing, Atlantis, levitation, rebirthing. The list could go on and on.
This is the creed of the New Age. You do not have to believe in all of them; but you should, if you are to be an accepted member of this growing band, not profess disbelief in too many of them.

Holding on to a belief is, however, the antithesis of spiritual development. Through our beliefs we fix onto a particular perspective of reality. We filter out those facets of reality that disagree with our views of how things are, and in doing so we miss the whole. Yet has not spiritual growth always been about an awareness of the whole — an expansion of consciousness?

Inner awakening involves stepping back from beliefs and assumptions. It is about seeing reality as it is; not through the lens of preconceived ideas. Yet too often our need for security leads us to turn our paths of liberation into yet another belief. We turn our spiritual discoveries into doctrines and dogmas. We create another church.

Time and again spiritual teachers have sought to help us break free from our prejudices and assumptions — break free our belief that it is through material salvation that we will find the inner peace we seek — break free from the boundaries of our ego.

This is the ‘new age’ that we truly aspire to. Not a new age founded upon some new set of beliefs — a new set of doctrines and dogmas. But an age in which our minds are free from prejudice, and our hearts are free from judgement.

Such an age would indeed be new.

Peter Russell

The Wanting Mechanism

What is one of the most important factors in keeping us diverted from meditation in the here and now? Look inside your mind and find the wanting mechanism. The wanting mechanism continuously constructs images of new experiences the mind desires, derived from memories of the past. The mind becomes enamored with these new fantasy images and is diverted from what actually is, here and now. The eternal cosmic consciousness exists here and now, never in the future, and never in the past. Future and past are illusory and do not exist in any real physical form outside of projections of the mind. What exists now is everything, and you already have it. You only need to become conscious of your own wealth.

Wanting is part of life, creativity, family building, wealth creation, and the survival instinct. In the sense of preserving the human race on planet earth, wanting is a very good thing. In the sense of an individual becoming an awakened Buddha, wanting is a hindrance. Wanting creates duality, the wanter and that which is desired. The essay, Call For a New Buddhism, touches on this issue. Siddhartha Gautama taught that desire is a root cause of suffering. But who was he speaking to and who can actually take the last steps to enlightenment by dropping the wanting mechanism totally?

Not wanting means not wanting anything, not just dropping the desire for sex, money, and power, but also dropping the desire for truth, justice, family, and nation. It is not what you want that matters, it is the wanting mechanism itself that is the barrier. Deep meditation is a giant leap beyond logic and the norms of society. It is dissolving into infinity and oblivion and not coming back. Very few humans have been able to manage that radical transformation totally and that is why enlightenment will always be an extremely rare phenomena.

If everyone in the world suddenly became enlightened, in my opinion, the human race would come to an end. There would be a lack of sufficient desire to keep people motivated enough to have families, raise children, grow crops, and protect society from all the natural threats, from disease to ecological disaster. That said, I certainly believe that enlightenment is a desirable goal for those who really want it. But you can see the impossibility of the situation. When you “want” enlightenment your wanting mechanism is still active and enlightenment will not happen to you. So we can breathe easy that everyone in the world will not become enlightened, all at the same time, anytime soon.

The need for meditation many people feel is beyond normal logic and beyond the scope of words to fully express. I can tell you that a key to experiencing superconsciousness, from the moment you wake up in the morning until the moment you fall asleep at night, is to step back from the wanting mechanism. This stepping back is only possible for those who have reached at least the fourth stage (see The Seven Bodies). Otherwise you will not have the energy and clarity to see the wanting mechanism and realize what is involved in turning it off. You will suppress desires and live a false life because you have not yet found the inner key, which is an intense form of self-observation, not suppression. Therefore, in a way, I am stating publicly that which should remain unspoken. If you try to artificially stop wanting when you are in the first body you will never reach the second body. Even in the third body this method of not wanting will only slow down your progress, because it will be a false effort.

I do not know how long it takes for this process of stepping back from the wanting mechanism to become 100% effective. As an ordinary student, I am only now, after decades of effort, beginning to make any real progress with it. I felt obligated to mention this esoteric topic because this Web page was constructed to convey all of the best methods and the most usable of the secret teachings. Ending the wanting mechanism had to be mentioned and those who are ready for that step will find that it brings time to a halt, annihilates the future and the past, and expands consciousness to the far reaches of the universe. It is a silent, inner explosion.

Ask yourself these questions.

1) If you want something, how can you stop thinking about it?

2) If you don’t want anything, what is there to think about?

3) If you don’t want anything, is there anything to be angry about?

4) If you don’t want anything, is there anything to make you unhappy?

5) Rocks and other inanimate objects do not want and do not suffer, but they are unconscious and dead. How does a living human being enter a no-wanting state while fully conscious and filled to the brim with life energy? That is the incredible contradiction and difficulty in becoming enlightened.

At some point on your own noble path you will see very clearly that wanting is a barrier. That realization may hit you suddenly like a freight train (my blood is still on the tracks) or gradually creep into your consciousness over time. Only when you see it clearly on your own should you try to step back from the wanting mechanism. Until that right time occurs you will be needed to save this beautiful planet earth, to raise families, and to be good citizens. Take meditation one step at a time. Do not try to imitate the final steps into the abyss while you are still at the foot of the mountain.

- Christopher Calder

Disciples in the past have created organizations. That was their relationship, that “we are Christians,” that “we are Hindus,” that “we belong to one religion, to one faith and because we belong to one faith, we are brothers and sisters. We will live for the faith and we will die for the faith.”

All organizations have arisen out of the relationships between disciples. In fact, two disciples are not connected with each other at all. Each disciple is connected with the master in his individual capacity. A master can be connected with millions of disciples, but the connection is personal, not organizational.

Disciples don´t have any relationship. Yes, they have a certain friendliness, a certain lovingness. I am avoiding the word ´relationship´ because that is binding. I am not calling it friendship even, but ´friendliness´ ― because they are all fellow travelers walking on the same path, in love with the same master, but they are related to each other through the master. They are not related to each other directly.

That has been the most unfortunate thing in the past: that disciples became organized, related amongst themselves, and they were all ignorant. And ignorant people can only create more nuisance in the world than anything else. All the religions have done exactly that.

My people are related to me individually. And because they are on the same path, certainly they become acquainted with each other. A friendliness arises, a loving atmosphere, but I don´t want to call it any kind of relationship. We have suffered too much because of disciples getting directly related to each other, creating religions, sects, cults, and then fighting. They cannot do anything else.

At least with me, remember it: you are not related to each other in any way at all. Just a liquid friendliness, not a solid friendship, is enough ― and far more beautiful, and without any possibility of harming humanity in the future.

Osho