Raja Yoga - Regaining Awareness

RAJA YOGA - MEDITATION

REGAINING AWARENESS

Meditation is not a process of emptying the mind of thought, It uses the natural endowment of the soul as a take-off point into the consciousness of the true self.  I climb a well-prepared ladder of thoughts and eventually climb beyond it into the pure experience of what I really am.

Churning over these pure and real thoughts can occupy the soul for long periods of time. The deeper significances of Raja Yoga will be unfolded, but on the basis of what has been discussed so far, as you should be able to experience the self as a soul, and discover some of your unique potential powers.

First comes the realisation: I am a soul, I am mind, intellect and sanskaras. My ears, eyes, nose, mouth, are just the organs through which I can enjoy life. Due to body-consciousness and the build up of past negative sanskaras, I have been trapped by the five vices:

• anger,
• greed,
• ego,
• lust and
• attachment.

I now possess the knowledge that will free me from my cage. I have the key. I am a soul, "a bird".

Knowing this, I am not bound by physical laws. I can detach and fly at the speed of a thought, to the soul world, where I can easily experience my original state. I must realise that it is impossible to have "peace of mind" if I cannot have detachment from the body.

During the initial stages of meditation many wasteful thoughts do come. This is due to the soul's long-standing habit of thinking aimlessly. The mind has been attracted or repelled by everything and everyone. The soul has been buffeted around from one experience to another, one scene to another. I must break the negative cycles of worry, doubt and confusion within, by recharging the soul with my own original attributes of peace, purity, love and joy. I must make sure the engines of my senses are not burning up the vital fuel of inner peace.

The soul does not grow or diminish but only experiences change in its happiness or unhappiness, peace or peacelessness, etc. The very word "peaceless" suggests that I was at some stage peaceful. I now know that I had peace in the soul world. I can see how peace it is the real "oxygen" for the soul. When I do not have it, I choke and gasp and look for it everywhere. I must look upon all my relatives, friends, associates, as souls also coming from the soul world. We are all fellow souls.

Meditation or Raja Yoga is the means to channel good thought energy into one's moods. It means to turn the thoughts away from those of anger, greed and frustration to a far higher level of peace and contentment.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO CONTROL THE FLOW OF THOUGHTS?
Before doing any action we first have to think. . . .yet how much time do we spend developing the thinking faculty, the mind? With a little knowledge of the power of thought and soul-consciousness, I can remove all inner storms and enjoy a tranquil existence. With knowledge I can control any mood and bring enormous benefit both to myself and to all others with whom I have contact.

As was stated, we spend most of our time searching externally for fulfillment. This means that the soul becomes totally at the mercy of what is going on externally.

If the scene is unpleasant or even if something very minor goes wrong, I become worried and upset. Through the practice of soul-consciousness and meditation, I can remain strong and content, come what may, I am a soul and I have my own store of peace from which I can draw at any time. I do not need to practice complicated breathing exercises or strenuous physical posturing. I can draw on my own experience of just being a soul wherever I am, countryside or city, home or work. Thus meditation is a continuing experience rather than a static one.

The understanding of the self as a soul is the foundation of all spiritual experience. If you have practiced some form of meditation before, it is likely that you were asked to concentrate on a flower, a dot on the wall, the picture of some great saint, a candle flame or maybe even to endlessly repeat some words which are little understood. To concentrate, I must have a focus that is certain and easy to visualise. Very simply and naturally, I, the soul, on the wings of my thoughts can fly to my eternal and highest home and experience my original attributes.

As I begin to practice soul-consciousness, I learn to detach myself from the diverse and difficult situations around me and turn naturally to my home and the Father of all souls who dwells there. The mind becomes automatically controlled by this flow of peace. With the fundamental understanding of the distinctions between soul and body, the spiritual and the physical, I begin to meditate.

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