FAQ
Question: When we get one joy in life, another leaves us.
Can we get all the joys of life together ? Can we get everything by doing meditation ?
Answer:
In life both positive and negative thoughts exist together. Thoughts cannot be totally positive
or totally negative. Every person does not have bad times always in his life. Happiness and
sorrow are two faces of life. But by doing meditation, the mind always stays on positive
thoughts and hence negative thoughts are reduced and sorrow also slowly decreases. The negativity
in you becomes less and its effect on your life also weakens. You start looking for happiness
in all circumstances. Your mind starts noticing good qualities in everyone. You are not troubled
by people or situations. Regular meditation brings about positive thoughts in your mind which
makes you happy.
Question: Can small children be taught to meditate ?
Answer: Certainly. If the child can sit regularly (and practise
meditation), daily for 15 minutes right from his childhood, he will benefit more. His level of
concentration will increase. He will be mentally stable and his restlessness will decrease. He
will be able to concentrate fully on whatever he is doing, be it study or play. Thus he will
perform better in studies with less effort and will improve his memory. He will always be
cheerful and content. He will not cry and be upset over little things. He will be satisfied
and happy with whatever he gets. If all the members of the family meditate, then there will not
be any need to visit any (outside) temple as the home itself will turn into a temple. The vibrations
in the house will suddenly improve. The whole family will experience joy, peace and happiness.
Question: Is it proper for women to meditate during their monthly periods ?
Answer: Yes. You can meditate even during monthly periods because I
am talking about the soul, where there is no difference between male and female. And this is a
quality of the physical body. That is why before I begin my discourse I address all of you as
Punyatmas (Sacred Souls). In meditation one has to proceed from the physical to the subtle body
in which there is no distinction of gender.
Question: I get many negative thoughts. What should I do ?
Answer: Meditation is the only way to control negative thoughts.
Whenever you get any negative thoughts, alert yourself and tell your mind that Swamiji has told
me not to think negatively, hasn't he ? If you cut off the very first thought, then the chain of
thoughts will not develop. If you don't cut off the first thought then it will create a space for
the second thought. And then the third .. .. .. and in the end you will be caught in thoughts of
the past for more than half an hour. As a Marathi writer has written, when the first glass of
liquor comes before you, if you stop yourself, then it is alright. But if you drink that first
glass, then your self-control for the second glass will lessen and slowly your mind will become
weak. And you will become a drunkard. In the same way if you stop the first negative thought,
the second will not appear. And even if it comes, you will realize that you have to be aware
and not get caught in it. But if your mind weakens then it will be difficult to control it.
For that you have to pray to your Guru. You have to be alert and keep your mind on what your
Guru teaches. If the Guru does not act in a particular way, the disciple will also not be able
to do so. In this way, your attention will be on the Guru. Only then will you avoid these things.
Question: What is the best time to meditate for maximum benefit ?
Morning or evening ? Should we meditate only after a bath ?
Should we keep our eyes open or closed during meditation ?
Answer: Bathing makes one peaceful and balanced and improves blood
circulation. One feels clean and fresh. The appropriate time is before sunrise from 3.30 to 9.00
in the morning. The atmosphere is peaceful at this time and there is less pollution of thoughts.
Therefore, one can concentrate better in meditation. The radiating energy which spreads through
your body after morning meditation helps you in all your activities throughout the day. You are
freed of the whole day's thoughts after 15 to 30 minutes of meditation in the evening. The mind
becomes calm and steady. You feel light and happy and can sleep peacefully. The mind turns inward
when you close your eyes during meditation and it is easy to turn your mind away from external
objects. But if your mind travels to the cinema hall, the bus stop, friends, other people, or
some other place, then by opening your eyes and looking at a flame your thoughts are destroyed.
Question: Swamiji, my question is where should our chitta (attention) be during meditation.
Answer: You must have seen how the top portio of a new born child’s head palpitates. We have to concentrate and put our chitta on that part of the head during meditation. As we grow older, the soft portion on the top of the head starts filling up and hardens. Our attenation should be at that place. If we place our hands on the knees, our attention veers there; if we place our hands on our chest, our attention will be on the chest. Thus our attention will be centered wherever we place our hands. This is generally how our body behaves. When you place your hand on the top of your head, your attention will go there, that is, it will be centered on the Sahastrar chakra. You should concentrate on the top of your head during meditation.
Question: Swamiji, we don’t always get the opportunity to meditate in collectivity. Please show us some way by which we can get the benefit of group meditation even when we meditate on our own.
Answer: You should have a bath in the morning and then sit in front of the photograph of my subtle body, and imagine that I am sitting in front of you. Then positive energy will automatically get created within you. You should listen to the audio cassette of my discourse for half an hour and then carry on with your daily activities. When you listen to that cassette, you will get the collectivity of those 40 thousand people before whom I had given the discourse. As you listen, you will slowly join those 40 thousand people and your existence will slowly be negated. On the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day, as you get into this habit of listening to the discourse, your mind will calm down. Even when the cassette comes to an end, your mind will not be willing to wake up. You will feel very light and relaxed because you will merge your sense of existence in the collectivity. When this happens, you will be in a suitable state for meditation. It is necessary to first make your body fit for meditation. I had been to Rajkot where I met the Collector. He asked for a set of cassettes and I gave it to him. Then he asked me whether he could listen to them in a moving car. I said “no, you will go into meditation while listening but what about your driver’s condition?” You should therefore sit quietly and then listen to the pravachan (discourse) cassette, in order to get the full benefit.
Question: Swamiji, Why do we tie a scarf on our heads during meditation?
Answer: Several people wear caps on their heads while performing religious rituals; some wear a turban, while some wear a kerchief. All of them have the same aim, that your attention should be centred at that place. For example, our attention is diverted to that part of the body where we place our hand. Thus when we tie a scarf on our head our attention is centred on the upper portion of our head.
Secondly, the scarf is a way of recognizing our sadhaks internationally. You may go to any corner of the world, and when you see someone wearing the scarf, you will immediately recognize a sadhak.
Question: Swamiji, whenever I meditate, I fall asleep. What should I do?
Answer: Several people have the same problem. What happens is that people lead stressful lives and as a result their right side becomes weak. Secondly, there is a lot of garbage from our past lives within us and as a result, the left side is weakened. As long as that is not removed, a person will fall asleep during meditation. This will not happen at a later stage.
Question: Swamiji, my question is how can we bring a sense of complete surrender in our lives?
Answer: I have told you to give up your entire past to me and I will give you a golden future in return. The meaning of the word samarpan is very simple. IN the olden days people used to have pendulum clocks where the pendulum would be swinging from one side to another. Similarly when our chitta goes back to the incidents of our past then after a short time it goes into the future with the same speed that it goes into the past. And it keeps on oscillating between the past and the future. Due to this, half of your energy is wasted in thinking about the future and when you work in present, you will not have any energy left. We will not be successful in whatever we do. When I ask you to surrender, the meaning of 'samarpan' is that you should not get a single thought about the past, and when you reach such a state then your chitta will become strong. When you don't get thoughts about the past, then you automatically not get thoughts about the future. The result will be that your chitta will remain in the present. Whatever task you undertake by remaining in the present will be supremely successful.
I call 'Samarpan' that state when you have no thoughts either of the past or the future. The day you reach such a state, you will have total 'samarpan'. You will be free of surrendering your past, past illnesses, bad incidents and bad people of the past. When you succeed in wiping out the poison of your past, you will be completely empty. The urn filed with nectar is right within you and you will experience its scent. First of all it is necessary to remove the poison within you. The meaning of 'Samarpan' is that you should not get any thoughts of past.
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