Meditation

In accordance with Sri Chinmoy's philosophy the Australian Sri Chinmoy Centres have offered free meditation classes to the public for over thirty years.

• Meditation exercises
• Free Meditation Classes - Brief outline and class content.

 

When we concentrate we focus our attention on one particular thing. But when we meditate we feel that we have the capacity deep within us to see many things, deal with many things and welcome many things all at the same time. When we meditate, we try to expand ourselves, like a bird spreading its wings. We try to expand our finite consciousness and enter into the Universal Consciousness where there is no fear, jealousy or doubt but only joy, peace and divine power.

Sri Chinmoy

When it comes to meditation
Imagine the radiating sun
And try to radiate like the sun
Never ceasing, day or night.

Sri Chinmoy

What is meditation?

"Meditation is a divine gift.  Meditation simplifies our outer life and energises our inner life.  Meditation gives us a natural and spontaneous life."

Sri Chinmoy

Meditation is the art of silently 'going within' - of quieting the activity of the mind and discovering one's own unlimited Self. Of moving beyond doubts, fears or anxieties by discovering a deeper untapped source of inner harmony, silence and wisdom.

Meditation leads not only to totally new inner experiences, but helps transform our day-to-day life into a happier, more meaningful and more fulfilling existence.

Sri Chinmoy continues:"When we meditate, what we actually do is enter into a vacant, calm, still and silent mind. We go deep within and approach our true existence, which is our soul".

"Meditation is something wide and vast that ultimately expands into the Infinite. When we meditate, we throw ourselves into a vast expanse, into an infinite sea of peace, or we welcome the infinite Vastness into us. Meditation spreads. Meditation is constantly growing and expanding into peace, light and delight. When we meditate, we gradually see, feel and grow into the entire universe of light."

Sri Chinmoy's meditative philosophy is called the 'path of heart,' the heart here refering to our spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is that higher part of our consciousness flooded with silence, dynamism, love, compassion and wisdom. By concentrating on this region during our meditations we can gradually bring forward deeper spiritual qualities that illumine our entire consciousness from within. 

Inspiration is of paramount importance when bringing forward the radiance of the spiritual heart and to deepen our meditative experiences. Reading the enlightened wisdom of spiritual teachers will greatly assist in bringing this higher reality to the fore. As a start may we suggest Sri Chinmoy's best selling books - Meditation, The Wings of Joy and Sri Chinmoy's Heart-Garden.

To review and purchase Sri Chinmoy's books in Australia - Sri Chinmoy's Books

See also: Sri Chinmoy TV, Online Meditation videos of Sri Chinmoy meditating.

Benefits of meditation 

When I meditate,
I feel I am vast,
Very vast.

-Sri Chinmoy-

Meditation means -

Sri Chinmoy writes:-

"Meditation means many things to many people. Each individual has a way of learning the art of meditation. In our case when we meditate we empty our minds of unwanted thoughts and then fill our minds with something divine from our spiritual heart.

Meditation means conscious awareness, conscious expansion and conscious self-discovery. This discovery is the recognition and experience of our own unlimited potential, our own true Self, our own highest transcendental Reality."
 

Simplicity, fulfilment, peace, joy, wisdom and oneness -

"Meditation is absolutely necessary for those who want to lead a better and more fulfilling life. If you want to simplify your life, meditation is the answer. If you want to fulfil your life, meditation is the answer. It is in simplicity, not in complexity, that the real truth abides.

If you want to have peace of mind, receive joy and offer joy to the world at large, meditation is the answer. If we meditate regularly, then we can rest assured that all our problems, inner and outer will be solved.

When you meditate try to feel that you have gained something real: peace, light, bliss, power. When you meditate in the morning you have to feel that you have gained some inner wealth, and this inner wealth you have to keep inside your heart. When you are thrown into multifarious activities, you can use this inner wealth whenever you need it.

Everybody meditates. But we all meditate according to our capacity and our receptivity. When we think of God and meditate on God, this is one form of meditation. When we cherish or treasure a good thought, this is another kind of meditation. Anything that helps us in our self-expansion is meditation."

Expansion of consciousness

"When we meditate, we firstly enter into a vacant, calm and still, silent mind. Then we go deep within, into the deeper part of our being, our spiritual heart, and approach out true existence, which is the soul. At that time we are able to bring to the fore the wealth that we have deep within us."

When two oneness-hearts talk
To each other,
We see the most beautiful dance
Of affection and sweeetness.

-Sri Chinmoy-
 

"In meditation we dive into the vast sea of consciousness. The deeper we go in meditation, the more we expand our own consciousness, the more abundantly the qualities of Light, Peace and Bliss grow inside us.

When we meditate we try to expand our consciousness, to experience vastness. Meditation is immediate expansion. Always think of your enlarged existence; you are constantly expanding, expanding, expanding yourself. We have to expand ourselves like a bird spreading its wings, soaring higher and higher."
 

A calm and quiet mind –

"During your meditation there comes a time when the mind is absolutely calm and quiet. There is only purity, serenity and profundity in your mind. Inside the inmost recesses of your heart, where everything is flooded with purity, there is no disturbing thought, no struggling thought. When you meditate please try to feel the necessity of opening your spiritual heart fully and closing your finite physical mind fully."

To listen to the whispers
Of the heart,
We all need a mind of tranquillity.

-Sri Chinmoy-

"Meditation does not just mean sitting quietly for five or ten minutes. It requires conscious effort. The mind has to be made calm and quiet. At the same time it has to be vigilant so as not to allow any distracting thoughts or desires to enter. When we can make the mind calm and quiet, we will feel that a new creation is dawning inside us. When the mind is vacant and tranquil and our whole existence becomes an empty vessel, our inner being can invoke infinite peace, light and bliss to enter into the vessel and fill it. This is meditation.

In meditation your mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. When thoughts or ideas want to come in, if you control them with your inner peace they will not be able to affect you."
 

Inner peace and tranquility -

"In the final analysis, one has what one becomes. We have deep within us the things that we have always been longing for: Eternity, Infinity, Immortality, infinite peace, infinite light, infinite bliss. But right now we are not aware that we have these things. Right now we are looking there and elsewhere for these things, without knowing where to search for them. But if we meditate sincerely, there will come a time when we will realise the Truth. At that time we will realise that the things we have been searching and crying for are things we have deep with us. We embody these very things.

Meditation is not theoretical, but practical. Meditation teaches us how to become inseparably one with the world at large. When we cry for the Vast, for the ultimate Truth, meditation is the immediate answer. When we want to achieve boundless Peace, boundless Light, boundless Bliss, meditation is the only answer. The world needs one thing, and that one thing is peace, and meditation is the only answer.

Meditation is not an escape. Meditation is the acceptance of life in its totality, with a view to transforming it for the highest manifestation of the divine Truth here on earth. The world around us is not perfect, but we are also not perfect. When we meditate soulfully, devotedly, we have to accept humanity as our very own. We have to transform the face of the world on the strength of our dedication to the divinity in humanity. It is through meditation that we accept, transform and transcend limitation, bondage and imperfection."
 

 

Other articles 

• Meditation and Prayer
• Power of Imagination
• Understanding the Physical Mind
• Am I Meditating Successfully?
• The Meditation Teacher
• Online Meditation Course

 

• Articles on meditative awareness.
• Spiritual topics from Sri Chinmoy's writings

• Free Meditation Classes - Brief outline and class content.
• For your nearest Sri Chinmoy Centre meditation venue and class dates...