That is one reason the mantram can be of such help. When you repeat the mantram when you are angry, you are inserting it between angry thoughts and pushing them apart. The mantram acts like a traffic cop: “Okay, break it up!” Your thoughts slow down, and you begin to see things more clearly and understand what is the best action to take.
A person whose mind is slow lives in a wonderful world. He can cause nobody any harm; she can cause herself no harm. There is a sign in such a person’s mind to slow down traffic: “Go Slow, Children Playing.”
Too often, the situation is very different. We need a sign that says, “Caution, Adults Angry.” When adults are bursting out in anger, you need to be awfully careful. But when your own mind is slow, you will be calm under attack. You will be in control of your own responses. Then you will not be afraid of angry people; you will be able to face them with affection in your heart, security in your mind, and a quiet confidence that you can slow down their anger. Even a belligerent person can sense that you are remaining calm, so you not only remain free from anger yourself but help the other person to calm down too.
We are told that the mind and body are geared for either fight or flight. But there is a third alternative: we can face a difficult situation calmly, with compassion.
Mahatma Gandhi, who called himself a practical idealist, said that he wanted to live in peace not only with his friends, but with his enemies also. He knew that there were people who disliked him and opposed him, but he wanted to be able to love and respect them.
This is a sound approach to life. When you allow yourself to dislike someone, your peace is disturbed – not their peace of mind but your own. Tragically, we are bound to those people we dislike and shackled to those whom we hate.
It is essential to be able to slow down the mind enough that we don’t have an automatic negative response when facing criticism. If we want sound health and unshakable security, we have to learn to be loving and calm under all circumstances. We have to learn to be as concerned about the welfare of those who dislike us as we are for those who like us. And we have to be the same whether people respect us or censure us. A fast mind cannot do these things. But with a slow, calm mind, you can move into any situation, ready for anything.
We all need the protection of a mind at peace.
We all need the protection of a patient, unhurried, well-trained mind. If life were always pleasant, it wouldn’t matter so much if our minds were speeding out of control. But life has a way of presenting us with speed bumps. If you hit a speed bump at seventy miles per hour, you are going to be in the hospital. When life puts up speed bumps, we have to be able to slow down to get over them without injury.
Here is where you can use all the strategies I have given in the preceding chapters. When life throws up an obstacle – say, a problem that is getting unpleasant – don’t swell it with your attention. Put your attention fully on your work, work hard without thinking about yourself, and repeat your mantram in your mind whenever you can to keep hold of the center of stillness you tapped in the morning’s meditation. This simple strategy can keep your mind from speeding up under the pressure of any problem. At the end of the day, you will find that your problems have been reduced to a manageable size. Remember, problems have a way of swelling when we feed them with our attention; when they are starved for attention, they shrink or even go away.
These are valuable skills, which can free us not only from useless worry about today’s problems but from old memories and resentments as well. Older people particularly need these skills. It is sad to listen to older people talk vividly about events that happened ten years ago – often, as the Buddha says, about how someone abused them, someone injured them, someone robbed them. In people who dwell on such thoughts, the Buddha says, hatred, anger, and resentment can never cease.
Through years of practice I have trained my mind not to dwell on those thoughts, and as a result, they don’t come to me. Gandhi said that this can go to such an extent that thoughts like these do not come even in our dreams.
This strategy is particularly important in safeguarding ourselves from the suffering caused by negative emotions like depression, dejection, despondency, inadequacy, and guilt. Guilt, in particular, is one of the most burdensome banes of modern life. But it is only one more of the many tricks the mind uses to get us to dwell on ourselves. You will never get bored studying your mind. It always comes up with surprises, and one of the most unpleasant of these surprises is guilt. The mind starts singing its refrain – “How terrible you were that day! You should be ashamed of yourself! Don’t you feel embarrassed when you think about what you did?” And we fall in: “Oh, yes!”
At these times, the mind is only playing one of its favorite tapes. Imagine buying a new sound system, setting it up, and arranging your speakers to get the acoustics perfect; then you take out this old tape full of hiss and static and sit down happily to listen to the same old tired recording! Not only that, but you set it to automatically repeat itself whenever it reaches the end.
The first or second time, there may be a purpose in listening to this tape if it enables us to learn from some past mistake. But the tragedy of getting caught in a guilt complex is that we go on helplessly sitting there listening to this debilitating message as if to immerse ourselves in thoughts of how bad we are. When the mind plays what it likes, that is all we can do. But what a relief just to be able to reach over, press the Stop button, and give our mind a rest.
A mind at peace is naturally full of love.
Every human heart has a deep need to love – to be in love, really, with all of life. This is the kind of love that comes when the mind is still.
In this sense, Romeo and Juliet are in preschool as far as love goes. Men and women like Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Avila are the ones who truly know what love means.
I wish I could convey to you the endless romance of this love that flows from the still mind. If you can find joy in being in love with one person, isn’t the joy a millionfold greater if you can be in love with all?
When I travel on the freeways I see stickers that say “I love my dog,” “I love my cat,” “I love New York.” If I were ever to put a sticker on my car, it would simply say “I love.” That is our human legacy, which we claim when the mind is stilled. This is what the Bible means when it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Be still and know that we are all God’s children; then you will be in love with all.
You don’t know what real love is until you love all. When the mind is still, you see everybody as your own self. You see every country as your own. You will not be capable of harming anybody, even if they have harmed or hurt you; you will help even those who harm you. That is the nature of the love that flows from the hearts of people like Saint Francis and Gandhi.
All of us need this universal love, and all of us are looking for it – but we look for it somewhere outside. We don’t know that it can be found within, at the still center within the heart.
A still mind brings the infinite joy and love for which we were born.
When the mind is stilled, it is like crossing the timberline on a mountain peak. Mountain climbers will tell you that beyond a certain elevation no trees can grow. When the mind is stilled, no fragmentary, fraudulent thoughts can grow: no selfish urges, no resentments, no hostilities. All those who have become established in this state say on the basis of their personal experience that this is infinite joy and infinite love, for which all of us are born.
Great geniuses in fields like poetry, science, and music have experienced recurring periods of this stillness of the mind. Einstein recognized this when he said that the highest mode of knowing is the mystical. But while scientists and artists experience only fleeting glimpses of this stillness, it is men and women of God who are established in it always. They take a little of that healing stillness with them wherever they go.
In my lifetime, I have been privileged
to have seen several such men and women in India. One of them, Swami Ramdas, tells us on the strength of his own experience that we can never know what real joy is until the mind is still. Until then, he says, we are simply picking up a few crumbs of pleasure and trying to convince ourselves that it is joy.
We are not here to walk about pecking at crumbs like pigeons, Ramdas says. It is our destiny to fly. Not just the fortunate few, but every one of us has been born to soar. And until we do, we can find no lasting peace anywhere. In a different simile, Ramdas tells us that “the river of life struggles through all obstacles and conditions to reach the vast and infinite ocean of existence who is God. . . . It knows no rest, no freedom, and no peace until it mingles with the waters of immortality and delights in the visions of infinity.”
Similarly, Mechthild of Magdeburg, a Western mystic of the thirteenth century, described in beautiful poetry the immense benefits that flow from a mind at rest and a heart full of love. This is neither theory nor metaphysics, but a record of her own personal experience:
“Of the heavenly things God has taught me, I can speak but a little word, not more than a honeybee can carry away on its feet from an overflowing jar. . . . In the first choir is happiness, the highest of all gifts. In the second, gentleness. In the third, loving-kindness. In the fourth, sweetness. In the fifth, joyfulness. In the sixth, honorable rest. In the seventh, riches. In the eighth, merit. In the ninth, fervent love.”
I particularly like this phrase “honorable rest.” Mechthild is being very careful about her phraseology. She says not just “rest” but “honorable rest”: that is, resting at the center while contributing to life in full measure. When your mind is still, you can work hard and be active every day of your life and still be at rest, because you will not be working under the goad of personal ambition. That’s the secret of Gandhi, who worked for a selfless cause fifteen hours a day seven days a week even in his seventies but never got exhausted, because, he said, “I am always at rest.”
We are not here to peck at crumbs like pigeons. We are born to soar in freedom with a mind at peace and a heart full of love.
Many years ago our friend Mary asked Christine and me if we would like to go to Yosemite. “I think you will enjoy camping,” she said. “The mountains are beautiful this time of year.”
I was expecting a wilderness, so I was astonished to see hordes of people in a crowded campground. In fact, throughout that day we didn’t see much but cars and campers. “Why come to Yosemite,” I wondered, “when you can see all this in Berkeley?”
But that night, when people had finally gone to sleep and the cars and radios were silent, I emerged from my meditation to hear a little brook warbling past the tent, singing its song: Rama, Rama, Rama . . . “Where was this brook during the day?” I wondered. “Wasn’t it here then?” It had been there, of course; we simply hadn’t been aware of it. People, cars, and radios had drowned its sweet voice in their racket. Only when all of this had fallen silent could we hear the gentle, soothing sound of its music.
It is the same with the mind. As long as it is blaring as usual, we cannot hear the “still, small voice” inside. Meditation is for the purpose of quieting the tumult of the mind, so that, after a long, long period, when this cacophony has been brought to an unregretted end, we hear the healing silence that has been going on within us all the time.
When we can rest our mind at will, still our mind at will, we live in a world that is one. Today we don’t see the world as it is; we see only conflict, separateness, and ceaseless change. As the Bible says, we see “as through a glass darkly,” because we look through the distorting glass of a hurried mind – a mind subject to the fog of anger, fear, greed, and all the other negative emotions that are part of the human condition. As William Blake says, “When the doors of perception are cleansed, everything appears as it is, infinite.”
You and I, when the mind is still, see that the mountains and the seas, the forests and the rivers, the animals and the birds, the trees and the plants, all nations, all races, all men and women and children, are one. Once you see this in the silence of your heart, you will never be the same person again. You will return from this summit of spiritual awareness full of practical wisdom, passionate love, and untiring energy which you will want to use for the benefit of all.
APPENDIX
Passage Meditation:
An Eight-Point Program
The Eight Point Program: An Overview
1. Meditation on a Passage Silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world’s great religions. Practiced for one-half hour each morning.
2. Repetition of a Mantram Silent repetition in the mind of a Holy Name or hallowed phrase from one of the world’s great religions. Practiced whenever possible throughout the day or night.
3. Slowing Down Setting priorities and reducing the stress and friction caused by hurry.
4. One-Pointed Attention Giving full concentration to the matter at hand.
5. Training the Senses Overcoming conditioned habits and learning to enjoy what is beneficial.
6. Putting Others First Gaining freedom from selfishness and separateness; finding joy in helping others.
7. Spiritual Fellowship Spending time regularly with other passage meditators for mutual inspiration and support.
8. Spiritual Reading Drawing inspiration from writings by and about the world’s great spiritual figures and from the scriptures of all religions.
Meditation & Related Skills
Slowing down, as I have presented it in this book, is one of the points in the Eight Point Program I have developed and followed myself for a fuller, healthier, more spiritual life. The other points have been touched on in this book as well. If you are interested in the full program, you will find a summary on the opposite page. Each point is explained in detail in my book Passage Meditation, as well as on the Web at www.easwaran.org/meditation.
When this Eight Point Program is followed daily to the best of one’s ability, as I can testify from my own personal experience, it is possible for everyone to lead a secure, healthy, selfless life. Even a little such practice will begin to transform your life, leading to profoundly beneficial changes in yourself and the world around you.
If you’d like to get started with meditation or the mantram right away, here are my instructions :
How to Meditate
The heart of this program is meditation. The principle of meditation is simple: we are what we think. When we meditate on inspired words with profound concentration, they have the capacity to sink into our consciousness, alive with a charge of spiritual awareness. Eventually these ideals become an integral part of our personality, which means they will find constant expression in what we do, what we say, and what we think.
Half an hour every morning, as early as is convenient, is the best time for meditation. Do not increase this period; if you want to meditate more, have half an hour in the evening also, preferably at the very end of the day.
Set aside a special place to be used only for meditation and spiritual reading. After a while that place will become associated with meditation in your mind, so that simply entering it will have a calming effect. If you cannot spare a room, have a particular corner. Whichever you choose, keep your meditation place clean, well ventilated, and reasonably austere.
Sit in a straight-backed chair or on the floor and gently close your eyes. If you sit on the floor, you may need to support your back lightly against a wall. You should be comfortable enough to forget your body, but not so comfortable that you become drowsy.
Whatever position you choose, be sure to keep your head, neck, and spinal column erect in a straight line. As concentration deepens, the nervous system relaxes and you may begin to fall asleep. It is important to resist this tendency right from the beginning by drawing yourself up and away from your back support until the wave of sleep has passed.
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Once you have closed your eyes, begin to go slowly, in your mind, through one of the passages from the scriptures or the great mystics that I recommend for use in meditation. I usually suggest learning first the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. As you go through the prayer, let each word sink like a jewel into your consciousness.
In memorizing the prayer, it may be helpful to remind yourself that you are not addressing some being outside you. The kingdom of heaven is within us, and in this prayer we are calling deep into ourselves, appealing to the spark of the divine that is our real nature.
While you are meditating, do not follow any association of ideas or try to think about the passage. If you are giving your attention to each word, the meaning cannot help sinking in. When distractions come, do not resist them, but give more attention to the words of the passage. If your mind strays from the passage entirely, bring it back gently to the beginning and start again.
When you reach the end of the passage, you may use it again as necessary to complete your period of meditation until you have memorized others. It is helpful to have a wide variety of passages for meditation, drawn from the world’s major spiritual traditions. Each passage should be positive and practical, selected from a major scripture or a mystic of the highest stature. Many beautiful passages selected from the world’s great spiritual traditions can be found in my collection God Makes the Rivers to Flow, as well as on the Web at www.easwaran.org/passages.
Take Your Time Page 13
