I. Renunciation
Let the yogi…remain in seclusion, alone, with the mind and body controlled, free from desire, and having no possessions.
Here we have a description of the practise of meditation for a man who has given up the world. We are trying to find the higher consciousness whilst living the workaday life of people who live in large cities during the modern era – not by running away to monasteries or retreats or jungles or mountain caves, but whilst living in the world. Admittedly that is harder, much harder. Destiny has presented us with this existence and we have to go through with it and make the best of it. No need to dream that one day when we escape it all. we shall find a quick and easy road to spiritual freedom. It isn’t that easy. Wherever you are – escape to you will take your faults with you, your mental habits will go with you, and they will remain as strongly with you in the wilderness or the mountain cave as they will in the cities.
The real battle takes place in your mind. So retreats are helpful temporarily, but not as permanent lodgings. You are better of making your own retreat where you are cutting a half-hour of your day and shutting yourself up for that time period.
For the one on the path of renunciation, however, all worldly and family ties must be given up. He must not engage in business nor maintain a household. He must be totally free to devote himself to finding mental equilibrium through mental effort. He must not be anxious about possessions, nor be troubled by desires for them, thus leaving his mind completely free to turn inwards.
Having in a cleanly spot established in a firm seat, neither too high nor too low, with cloth, skin, and grass.
His work now is to make the mind one pointed, sitting motionless for many hours daily, practising concentration of thought. The practise of keeping the body motionless is not an easy, but it is the first struggle. When the exercise is mastered, then he passes onto the practise of concentration. Keeping himself erect and motionless, he must close his eyes and look at the tip of his nose and endeavour to keep his mind still. He must not eat too much or too little. Eating too much will make his body coarse and heavy, whereas as eating too little, the resulting hunger will disturb his mind. Nor must he indulge in too much sleep nor remain too wakeful. He must be moderate in all things. His aim is to save his energy for mental things.
He must restrain his thoughts and concentrate them in a logical chain on one subject. Later he learns to keep them on one point. The concentrate mind has been compared to a lamp sheltered in a spot in which it does not flicker. The object of these exercises is too draw the mind inwards. away from the body, senses, and look back upon itself. To do this successfully it requires constant practise but by constants and discipline of the wavering mind, it will be found that thoughts can be kept quite and still.
At this point the mind must be kept without thoughts, utterly quiet. This is a state of meditation, where you feel that you have become body less. The surest means to success on this path is constant, regular practise, together with indifference to quick results. One must not become disappointed when one does not attain any results. Success comes quite suddenly and when one least expects it.
To Be Continued….
