Recently, we were giving a meditation class at a central location in Oxford. On the same evening as our meditation class, another room in the building was host to a lecture series which was part of an event called ‘Think Week’.
The location of our room meant everyone coming for the ‘Think’ lecture passed through our room. We would politely ask ‘Meditation or Think?’ (I did consider asking ‘are you here to think or not to think? but thought it would confuse too much) we would then direct them onto the location. One of the attendees was Richard Dawkins, who had already given a lecture in the series. (Dawkins famous for his book God-Delusion and atheist views). Like others, he briefly he popped into our room before being re-directed on to the more cerebral choice of entertainment for the evening.
I’m not sure what these visitors thought of our simple meditation shrine as they briefly looked in. – A picture of a spiritual master a candle, incense, flute music for meditation and flowers…
It just highlighted the simple choice we face in life. The path of the mind or the path of the heart.
When we live in the mind, we try desperately to work out which is the best philosophy, the right way of thinking. It is a constant process of judgement, decision and analysis. But, if we meditate and really silence the mind, we don’t feel this sense of judgement. It is no longer a question of right and wrong, best or worst; it is simply a state of being which is joyful and natural.
In the silence of the heart, there is a natural sense of oneness. This is not a mere intellectual belief/hope we are interconnected. It is a un-mistakeable sense that there is only one of us. And what we do to others, we really do to our-self.
Permit not thoughts
To come from near and far.
Let your mind remain
Tranquillity’s blue star.
– Sri Chinmoy [1. Excerpt from Silence Speaks, Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy]
However, if we feel the joy of meditation, the joy of silence, we feel it is not so important as to who is right, but only to remain in this state of being.
Related
This blog is extremely good and each post has really been able to bring out profound ideas in a simple, understandable way. Keep them going ! On this specific post, yes, the concept of detachment from the mind has its roots in the Upanishads, but the challenge is to train oneself to achieve this detachment and to quiten the mind which is such an expert in making so much noise!