Essence of Meditation
Ramesh Gautam / Norway
While trying to burn a CD on meditation from India, Eastern Harmony Meditation, I thought of the essence of meditation. We have had a long history of meditating. Several of our religious epics are the outputs from the great saints who passed a long run of their lives in meditation. Today the spiritual values from the Indian sub-continent safeguarded by the true spirit of the wholeness of life have been inspiratory for many who think of it.
We discussed entirely about meditation for two hours in our class today. Duka Pokharel, a Bhutanese girl, resettled in Norway, had just been back from a conference on meditation in Oslo, and our teacher’s devotion who had been to India and practiced a bit of it was fueling the discussion. A light meditation music was tuned, and the class seemed like a small temple.
Nevertheless, I reflected on ourselves. We have been slowly turning our deaf ears to matters like these. This means something old fashioned to our generation. The values from our world: positive thinking, discipline, respect, self-evaluation, truth and devotion, and many others have been among the guided paths for many around the globe. But we are far away from the tidings disseminated by the essence of this meditation. Mimicking of the so-called global culture has become phenomenal today.
On their parts, meditation was not so common in the west. Though the purity of mind, the spiritual strength, and the acute search for the truth had been an uprising, the magic of meditation was less explored. In 1968, The Beatles, a world-famous band from Liverpool, was in India for practicing meditation. Though its stay in India was not at significant length, it was seen that many of the compositions it made later were composed in India. They learned a great deal about music, too, from India. The Beatles’ being in India for meditation meant something to many, and meditation remained something to experiment with. Many are of the opinion that The Beatles accelerated the spread of meditation.
When asked by the teacher if meditation was a part of my life, I said, “YES.” When roots of meditation are brought into account, we can proudly say that our world is its creator, but when our grounds are considered, I question how discriminatory had we been. Our spirit of meditation was bound to a small circle. The narrowness of deserted conservative principles guided our thoughts, and we were taught that it was the ultimate truth. I dreamt about the essence of meditation!