FW: Mantra meditation is like a workout that becomes a massage - lesson from Bhagavad Gita - As It Is - Chapter 18 - Text 36-37
Rammohan G
Thanks and Regards,
Ram Mohan Gupta
One should not just tolerate insults and harsh words but also forgive with a peaceful mind
From: Rammohan G
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 5:44 PM
Subject: Mantra meditation is like a workout that becomes a massage - lesson from Bhagavad Gita - As It Is - Chapter 18 - Text 36-37
Mantra meditation is like a workout that becomes a massage
Seekers sometimes ask: “I was told that mantra meditation will de-stress and relax me. But I find that meditation itself is a demanding exercise. What’s wrong?”
The only thing wrong is that we have got the wrong idea of how mantra meditation works: it is experienced initially as a workout and eventually as a massage.
Both workout and massage help the body, but in different ways. Workout usually exerts the body, stretching the muscles almost to exhaustion, thereby causing them to strengthen. Massage normally soothes the body, kneading and relaxing stressed muscles, thereby stimulating their growth.
Whether mantra meditation seems like a workout or like a massage, it helps us spiritually. Essentially, it connects us with Krishna through the sound of the mantras comprised of his holy names. As he is the supremely unchangeable reality, meditation on him offers the opportunity to go beyond the anxiety-inducing change-filled material reality and relish his calming, sheltering, healing presence.
Unfortunately, our mind due to its infatuation with worldly pleasures is frequently apathetic or averse to Krishna. So it doesn’t focus on him easily. That’s why mantra meditation initially seems demanding, like a workout. But if we persevere, then gradually we start connecting with Krishna more and more, thereby relishing more and more the solace of his divine presence. This first-hand experience gradually converts the mind, making it attached to Krishna. Thereafter meditation becomes soothing, akin to a massage – we simply bask in Krishna’s presence as his comforting warmth drives away anxieties. The Bhagavad-gita points to this nature of higher pleasures when it states (18.37) that happiness in goodness tastes first like poison and then like nectar.
By remembering the omni-beneficial nature of meditation, we can persevere in it even when it seems demanding and eventually relish its real nature as relaxing and fulfilling.
Chapter 18
Conclusion--The Perfection of Renunciation
TEXT 36-37
TEXT
sukham tv idanim tri-vidham
srnu me bharatarsabha
abhyasad ramate yatra
duhkhantam ca nigacchati
yat tad agre visam iva
pariname 'mrtopamam
tat sukham sattvikam proktam
atma-buddhi-prasada-jam
SYNONYMS
sukham--happiness; tu--but; idanim--now; tri-vidham--three kinds; srnu--hear; me--from Me; bharata-rsabha--O best amongst the Bharatas; abhyasat--by practice; ramate--enjoyer; yatra--where; duhkha--distress; antam--end; ca--also; nigacchati--gains. yat--that which; tat--that; agre--in the beginning; visam iva--like poison; pariname--at the end; amrta--nectar; upamam--compared to; tat--that; sukham--happiness; sattvikam--in the mode of goodness; proktam--is said; atma--self; buddhi--intelligence; prasada-jam--satisfactory.
TRANSLATION
O best of the Bharatas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress. That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.
PURPORT
A conditioned soul tries to enjoy material happiness again and again. Thus he chews the chewed, but, sometimes, in the course of such enjoyment, he becomes relieved from material entanglement by association with a great soul. In other words, a conditioned soul is always engaged in some type of sense gratification, but when he understands by good association that it is only a repetition of the same thing, and he is awakened to his real Krsna consciousness, he is sometimes relieved from such repetitive so-called happiness.
In the pursuit of self-realization, one has to follow many rules and regulations to control the mind and the senses and to concentrate the mind on the self. All these procedures are very difficult, bitter like poison, but if one is successful in following the regulations and comes to the transcendental position, he begins to drink real nectar, and he enjoys life.
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Best Regards,
Ram Mohan Gupta
“Wherever there is Krsna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality” -BG 18.78
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