the Spiritual Journey of Durga Ma
Durga Ma greeted me for the first time in a rustic cafe in a small town in the Northern California forest. She was dressed in shirt and jeans and wore a pair of old well-worn boots, and she looked for all the world like a modern Western pioneer woman reminiscent of my Montana childhood. I loved her the moment I saw her. Here was no mysterious remote mystic of the Far East whom I had envisioned but a woman of my own age, brimming with humor and fun. She laughed and her eyes twinkled with merriment through lunch and then she escorted me, leading in her old Ford along the highway to the gravel and then dirt roads seven miles into the forest where she had established her Hermitage. [click to continue]
From the Preface to the book by Durga Ma
The results commonly associated with successful meditation practice are Self-awareness, enlightenment, higher consciousness, union with the Divine, liberation, and transformation. However, some of the beneficial side effects may come as a surprise: empowerment, improving the quality of your life, the ability to be effective and achieve your aims, relaxation, healing (mentally, physically, and emotionally), the ability to center your energy in an instant, and improved subtle (psychic) awareness, to name a few.
[In Meditating Naturally] I have presented basic concepts and put a new light on ancient spiritual principles underlying the practice of meditation with the idea that this information can provide you with the foundation for spiritual freedom . . . [click to continue]
Samadhi is the Aim of Meditation
Samadhi is a Sanskrit word. Even trying to understand the word itself, it’s root and its parts (the letters, which are syllables) only gives an impression that creates an assumption in the mind that gets blasted upon actually experiencing it. Samadhi has even been used synonymously with the word “meditation” for this very reason: that’s were it’s going. If you want some ideas aboutsamadhi to chew on, try these:
Samadhi: Union with the Absolute; a uniform state of mind; absorption into Truth/God/the Absolute/the Divine.
There are several stages ofsamadhi. Meditation continues until the final stage ofsamadhi is accomplished. Samadhi performs a purification process for the mind a house-cleaning job you might say, and this has a purpose, too. So what is it, where issamadhi going? Samadhi’s aim is to take you to the highest bliss and eternal happiness (as opposed to the temporal happiness that we’re familiar with).
Not too bad, eh? Is that enough to interest you in going for the gold? If this interests you, you first need learn meditation tofind outwhat meditation really is and how it works and get some meditation guidance so that you can make an informed choice about what you’re going to do with it.
You can start with an easy meditation, or even a meditation audio, and learn meditation as you go. Youll need to determine whether you want to use meditation techniques or if you want to meditate without them, in which case meditation guidance is a must. If you decide you want to go for the gold, just keep going no matter what. Don’t stop.
Meditation is becoming more and more popular with people all across the world. There are online meditation courses, easy meditation sites with meditation for beginners, and just about anything you can think of in the meditation how to department.
This is a wonderful thing. I’m all for it. But with all this, in recent years I have become aware of a few things that are unknown to nearly everyone I’ve met who has been involved with or interested in meditation. Well, more than a couple, but here’s one that stands out at the moment.
Meditation Has an Aim of Its Own
There are all kinds of meditation benefits. Some of these show up right away, some later, and some waaaay down the road after many years of meditating. But what most people don’t realize about meditation is that it has its own aim. It goes somewhere, somewhere it wants to go.
No matter what your reason or motivation for wanting to learn meditation, if meditation continues it’s going to take you to something so amazing you’ll never give it up, and it will keep you hooked until it has served its purpose. At this point it will stop at least in any recognizable form. This is not the same thing as quitting meditation, or running into obstacles, obvious or subtle, or hearing some voice that tells you your done and are now a Master. Meditation quits you. You don’t need it if it’s accomplished its purpose. So what is its purpose?
The purpose of meditation issamadhi. There is no English word or phrase forsamadhi. It has been called Cosmic Consciousness, Enlightenment, Union with God, and more. These translations are OK but they don’t really tell you anything. What is Cosmic Consciousness? What is consciousness? What is enlightenment? What is meant by “union” with God? For that matter, what is God? Words simply do not have the capacity to relate the experience ofsamadhior even the meaning of the word.
In another installment, we’ll talk more about this mysterious samadhi.