Impression And Expression

Do not make an effort to impress others, or to express yourself. Your effort to express yourself becomes an impediment. Your effort to impress someone also becomes futile. If you do not try to impress, expression comes naturally. When you come from the self, your expression is perfect and your impression lasts for ages.

Often you don't seem to have a control over your impressions and expressions. Wisdom is selecting your impressions and expressions. Enlightenment is when you do not take any impressions at all, whether good or bad. Then you "master" the art of expression. Many impressions in the mind cause:

• Confusion
• Distraction
• Chaos
• Lack of focus
• and finally, derangement of the mind.

Nature has inbuilt in us a system through which it releases some of the impressions - through dreams, and through meditation.

Excessive expression loses the depth and luster, the serenity of yourself. Meditation erases the impressions and improves the expression.

Source: http://www.artofliving.org/impression-and-expression

Meditation musings

10 Tips to get started with Meditation

"Meditation is the art of doing nothing." ~ Sri Sri

So how do we do nothing?  Here are a few simple steps to follow as a beginner to meditation.  As you become regular with your practice, you are sure to go deeper and deeper.

1.  Choose a convenient time - Meditation is essentially a relaxation time; so it should be done entirely at your convenience.  Choose a time when you know you are not likely to be disturbed and are free to relax and enjoy.

2.  Choose a quiet place -  Just like a convenient hour, choose a place where you not likely to be disturbed.  Quiet and peaceful surroundings can make the meditation experience more enjoyable and relaxing.

3.  Sit comfortably - Your posture makes a difference too.  Make sure you are relaxed, comfortable and steady.  Sit straight with your spine erect; keep your shoulders, neck relaxed and eyes closed.  

4.  Keep a relatively empty stomach -  A good time to meditate is before having a meal.  After having a full meal, You may doze off while meditating.  At the same time, do not starve yourself either; a good time to meditate is about 2 hours after having a meal.

5.  Start with a few warm-ups -  A few minutes of warm up exercise before sitting for meditation can help improve circulation, remove inertia and restlessness and makes the body feel lighter.  

6.  Take a few deep breaths -  A few rounds of deep breaths or Alternate nostril breathing before meditation is always a good idea as a preparation for meditation.  This helps to steady the rhythm of breath and leads the mind into a more peaceful meditative state.

7.  Turn on a guided meditation -  As a beginner to practice, it's a good idea to start off with a guided meditation.  You only need to close your eyes, relax and follow simple instructions as you hear them and enjoy the experience.  

8.  Keep a gentle smile on your face - You will notice a huge difference.  A gentle smile throughout keeps you relaxed, peaceful and enhances your meditation experience.

9.  Open your eyes slowly and gently - Don't be in a rush to open your eyes towards the end of meditation; open your eyes slowly and gradually and take your time to become aware of yourself and surroundings.

10.  Experience the freshness and enjoy your day – Meditation is like an instant energy booster. A few minutes off your daily schedule to charge you up for the rest of the day. Take that time out and experience the wonders of meditation for yourself.

Article: Meditation makes us more compassionate

We will share news articles and studies related to Meditation once a week.

It's always great to read new studies and news about something positive.  The topic of Meditation and compassion was in the news recently.

Study: Meditation may make us more compassionate

Enlightenment is present in you as a seed !!!

What we need to understand is that we should know that we already have what we want in life. You start with this intention, ‘I already have what I want’, then what you want will fructify easily. Thinking, ‘I have it’, is like sowing a seed. Once you sow a seed, then you put water and manure and it will sprout and grow. So you know mentally that the seed is there. Same way, whatever you want to achieve in life, know that you are that and you have it. If you think, you don’t have it then only lack grows.

That is the reason why people who have money keep getting more money and those who do not have; they don’t get because they keep saying. ‘I don’t have, I don’t have’. So the mind goes in the direction of lack.

Do you know, whenever things were not there at home or when we would ask for chocolate, my grandmother used to always say, ‘It is in plenty, in abundance, we will go to the shop.’ For someone who listens to it, it appears completely absurd. We never heard her say that we don’t have.

So that ‘lack’ consciousness should go and you should feel the abundance. So whatever goal you want to achieve, first know that you have it, you have achieved it, and then put your effort to achieve it. Effort should be put, but only effort will not work. Before effort, there should be the seed of the goal as well. So, the goal is already present in the seeker. The goal is not somewhere out there and you have to try to reach it, no! Just relax; the goal is here and now. So, Enlightenment is present in you. If you think you lack it, you are never going to achieve it. You should know that it is present in you as a seed. You should know you are already a yogi and keep doing yoga, you will find perfection in it. If you think you are not a yogi and then try to achieve yoga perfection it is not going to work. So know that the seed is already there.

So, if you want to be a businessman, put the seed, ‘I am a businessman’, and then work towards being a businessman. It may appear very absurd. Usually people think, ‘I don’t have and so I have to achieve’, but seldom are they able to do it. The secret of success is in the understanding that goal is already present in the seeker.

So, today you got a very big secret knowledge. ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 

"What is Liberation ?"

Q: Guruji, what is liberation? Why do people seek it, and from what are people seeking liberation? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Suppose you are made to sit on a chair for 10 hours, and you are ordered, ‘You should not get up from the chair.’ You say, ‘Please, my legs have gone to sleep. Please can I wake them up?’ Will you say this or not? That is seeking liberation. 
You just ask children the day their exams are over, ‘How do you feel?’ They come home, throw their books on the couch, and they sit on the couch and watch television. You say, ‘How do you feel?’ They say, ’Aah! Liberated! Done!’ 
Liberation means feeling, ‘I am done! I have done what I needed to do. Finished!’ 
Total satisfaction; total freedom; there is nothing more to be done, nothing to be compelled to do. 
‘I have achieved what I want. Inside I feel free.’ 
Liberation is always attached with bondage. When there is bondage, then to get rid of bondage there is liberation. 
We are born by our own mind, our own desires, our own cravings, our aversions. When cravings and aversions are gone then you feel that freedom from inside, that simplicity! 
Everyone has experienced some degree of liberation in life, somewhere or other. But when it becomes a permanent reality in life, your whole energy changes, and nothing whatsoever will bother you. Nobody can take away your smile from you. Nobody can change you by any stimulant. Nobody can push any buttons. Do you see what I am saying? 
There is no button left to be pushed. Otherwise, in life our buttons keep getting pushed by small little things. A little thing goes wrong and that is it!

" Gautam Buddha teaching Art of Meditation to Ananda"

Once Gautam Buddha was going to another village with his disciple Ananda.
On their way, they came across a small water stream. However, they proceeded further.
It was a hot day and the sun was blazing.
After around half an hour, Buddha sat down under a big tree and asked Ananda to bring some water from
the stream they had crossed few minutes ago.
In the meantime, a bullock cart had crossed the stream making the water muddy.
When Ananda reached the water stream, it was muddy and water was not looking clean. So Ananda
came and reported to Buddha that water is not good for drinking. It is better to wait till they reach the next
village.
But Buddha insisted on drinking water from the same stream and asked Ananda to wait till water
becomes clear again.
So, Ananda went back to the stream. To his surprise, water was looking cleaner this time, but was still
little muddy. Nothing else to do, Ananda waited there looking at the water. After some time he was
amazed to find that the mud had settled down to the bottom and water was fit for drinking again.


He came back and reported all this to Buddha.


Buddha smiled and said “This is the case with all of us. When any thought or emotion comes, then we
start identifying ourselves with that thought or emotion. On the contrary, If we just witness these thoughts
and feelings silently, without doing anything with them, than they will not affect us and will leave on their
own.
Our mind is that bullock cart which brings thoughts and emotions to cloud our consciousness. A meditator
just witnesses these thoughts and his consciousness always remains clean and undisturbed.
But if we identify with any emotion then our consciousness becomes disturbed like that of the water
stream.
See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own—and
you have clear water. Our mind is like that too. When it is disturbed, just let it be and be a witness to it.
Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will
happen. It is effortless.”