Value: Meditation - November 2025

First Week: Prepare to Meditate

The secret of success in meditation lies in the secret of living a successful life, a way of pure existence. The more one lives by the right values, the more one shall succeed in meditation.

- Swami Chinmayananda

The culmination of living right values is having a calm mind when you sit for meditation. A mind that has no regrets, repulsion or anxiety alone can easily settle down. Leave aside all your roles and responsibilities when you sit for meditation. It is an exclusive engagement of you with yourself.

Create the right atmosphere.

With the mind, we live every wakeful minute. With the same mind, we should sit for meditation as well. We cannot leave the mind aside. Therefore, do not suppress the thoughts that arise in your mind. Regularity is essential in any practice. Fix the time and place of mediation and try to maintain it every day.

Gurudev's advice: "Today, when you have ten minutes all to yourself, sit down and practice smiling in your mind. Watch what is happening. It does not matter if your eyes are open; simply watch the mind and make it smile. Drop all its worries for the time being. In a cheerful mind, there will be very few agitations. Each day, your mind will bring a different weapon, and from your armory, you must select the right weapon as an antidote. On certain days, for example, you will feel an attachment to the body. By relaxing the body to a large extent, your attachment to it will be temporarily released.

Relaxation before meditation is effected through a process called thought massage, by which the meditator, with closed eyes, sends his thoughts consciously down his body, mentally relaxing and massaging every muscle in every limb."

Choose the procedure

What to do:

• Keep your back straight with head, neck and trunk of the body aligned in one straight line
• Keep your eyes softly closed. If you wish to keep your eyes open, have your personal deity's form in front of you at the level of the eyes
• Meditation spot should be well ventilated with sufficient air flow
• Meditation seat should not be too hard or too soft to sit on
• Face the east or north direction
• After sitting in a comfortable posture, inhale and exhale slowly
• Stay as a witness to the mind and watch the parade of thoughts

What not to do:

• Do not lean on a wall or other support. If you are sitting on a chair, maintain an erect posture
• Do not consume any caffeinated drink before meditation
• Do not sit for meditation when you feel physically exhausted
• Do not have another person or pet in the same room who moves a lot or disturbs the atmosphere
• Do not face the south direction
• Do not have very strong light or incense burning in the room

Further steps will be discussed in the subsequent blogs...

 

Value: Bhakti - October 2025

Fifth Week: Bhakti is Mukti

No one will seek mukti, or liberation, if it does not represent independent and everlasting happiness. However, our pursuit of happiness often focuses solely on avoiding sorrow. At the bodily level, we seek happiness through comfort, convenience in daily life, sensory gratifications, and relief from illness. A mind that is free from sorrows and agitations is also considered a source of happiness. Achievements such as appreciation, authority, and fame are regarded as happiness when attained. Yet, is this kind of happiness truly mukti, or liberation?

Some people define liberation as the end of the cycle of birth and death. Others believe that reaching heaven, the abode of the highest happiness, signifies mukti; while devotees see it as being in the presence of God at His lotus feet.

Devotion without division is liberation while living

Liberation should be understood as something that is not determined by any place, time, objects, or circumstances. If it is determined by these factors, it will be temporary and no different from worldly pleasures and gains. If I like a particular place, say a serene spot in a garden facing the ocean, that happiness will be lost when it is occupied by someone else. If I like an object or a person, then space and time may not hamper that happiness, but it is limited by the person or the object.

Happiness is lost due to divisions. An Upanishad student inquired this from the Guru: 'The uncaused (eternal) happiness cannot be effect of the ephemeral actions. What is the source of that (eternal)?' (Mu 1.2.12). A devotee worships the Lord upon recognizing Him to be the uncaused happiness. Devotion leads such a devotee to continue live, enjoying this oneness with Him, losing all divisions. 

Living with unconditional love

If the liberation, or mukti, achieved by the saint is unconditional, the love he expresses in the world is also equally unconditional. For him, it is evident that the presence of the Self or pure consciousness is unconditional in all living beings; therefore, the love for that is also unconditional in the heart of the saint.

From his standpoint, every being is eligible to realize the divine presence of God, and the opportunity to do so should be extended to all. Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, during his entire life as a missionary, embraced everyone as his disciples or devotees, only to compassionately guide them to reach unconditional happiness through unconditional love.