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Meditation Blog - August 2006
My Lord,
When I most intensely pray and meditate,
The world badly misunderstands me.
My Lord, what shall I do?
"My child, you have only one world,
And that world is all love.
It needs neither understanding
Nor misunderstanding."
Some inspiring quotes on meditation by Sri Chinmoy here at Meditation Quotes
The most common question asked when giving meditation classes is "How to quieten the Mind". Often people realise how busy the mind is.
I suggest we shouldn't expect to be able to stop thoughts straightaway. THe mind is so used to thinking it takes a while for it to learn a completely new approach. 
This is an answer by Sri Chinmoy to a question "What do I do when bothered by thought in my meditations?"
Firstly persevere. This is the most common problem in the beginning because we use the mind constantly in our daily affairs. The mind can resist, it is very powerful and stubborn, but your determination and patience shall overcome these early difficulties. The soul has infinitely more capacities than the mind. The mind's activities are only shallow, whereas the soul's stillness lies within a much deeper and vaster reality. ..
In 1999, a Buddhist monk moved to Canada and has since discovered something "shocking" about people in this country.
"Kids haven't been taught to use their hearts," said venerable Sam Uttho.
Compassion can be found and maintained through the act of meditation, he said, and it does not have to be a religious practice - which is an aspect that usually deters people from meditation.
Uttho, a Thailand native, said curiosity brought him to Canada where he has learned the human mind is truly universal and that meditation is something from which anyone can benefit.
Science has dominance over the Western mind, Uttho added, and science rejects spirituality. Meditation, he said, is a way to find compassion, love, trust and respect within a person's mind and body.
"You can't remove emotion from human beings, but science removes everything," he said.
Studies have also found that through meditation, positive energies can be created to reduce stress, improve immune systems, encourage creativity and heal many chronic pains, Uttho said.
"Material science cannot explain everything," he said. "People (have) ignored the mind for many years."
"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananada is one of the greatest spiritual books. His autobiography of a Yogi has inspired countless people to take up mediation and the spiritual life. The book exudes a spiritual consciousness and is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a real genuine Yogi. The book tells the own spiritual journey of Yogananda from an aspiring seeker in India to his spiritual mission in the West.
Since Yogananda's arrival in America many Westerners have been introduced to Kriya Yoga meditation.
One day, while working on his autobiography, Guru told us: "When I have left this world, this book will change the lives of millions. It will be my messenger when I am gone."
from SRF
Online Meditation Music featured at Eso Garden
The site is maintained by Ursi Spaltenstein who has created a really beautiful design.
Ananda is one group featured at Radio Sri ChinmoyThe latest episode of Inspiration Silence has been released. Episode 3 includes a short talk on the art of concentration by Sri Chinmoy. The video also features Sri Chinmoy meditating in silence and captures a glimpse of the profound depths of meditation.
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View: Meditation Silence Podcast at iTunes View all episodes of Meditation Silence at Sri Chinmoy TV |
Researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles say teaching heart patients how to meditate helped reduce the risk of future heart attacks.
Maura Paul-Labrador is lead author of the study that appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine. She says there was already evidence that meditation lowers blood pressure, but researchers didn't know why. She says her new study shows it's because meditation affects the autonomic - or involuntary - nervous system, which, among other things, helps regulate heartbeat.
"We looked at what we called heart rate variability, which is a measure of autonomic nervous system." Paul-Labrador explains that heart rate varies from beat to beat. A healthy heart is one that has a wide range of speeds - from a slow heartbeat at rest, to a fast one for an active person. Hearts that change rate rapidly in response to changes in conditions, and then return to rest more quickly have good heart rate variability. Paul-Labrador says, "we were able to show that our meditation group improved their heart rate variability more than the active control group."
The researchers think people in the study lowered their blood pressure because of improvements in their autonomic nervous system. But they're still not sure exactly how it works. Some patients were even able to lower their doses of blood pressure medication.
In addition, Paul-Labrador says, "The meditation group was able to deal with their blood sugar better." Better control of insulin reduces their potential risk for diabetes. "You want your body to respond to lower levels of insulin, and so what we were able to find is that our meditation group was able to lower their insulin resistance compared to the active control group."
Paul-Labrador says people in the study meditated for 20 minutes, twice a day. She said the researchers had the subjects learn transcendental meditation because the practice is taught in a standardized way. She says other forms of meditation might also be effective, but they didn't study any other methods.
From: Web source
Father Laurence Freeman is head of the World Community for Christian Meditation and he's a Benedictine monk from the Monastery of Christ the King in London.
It's an independent Roman Catholic Monastery that professes vows of stability in community, conversatio morum (conversion of life through celibacy, simplicity and other monastic disciplines) and obedience.
Father Laurence travels the world promoting the practice of Christian meditation and says it's very enjoyable, a wonderful gift to me really - I have a wonderful life.
He's travelled an interesting path to this point in his life. After graduating from Oxford with a Masters degree in English Literature, he tried his hand at Journalism and later worked at the United Nations in merchant banking. He then decided to spend six months in a monastery to learn about meditation and says he decided it was what he wanted to do full-time.
or the richest merchant banker in the world so I decided to become a monk."
Father Freeman is in Mount Isa to hold talks and discussion sessions about meditation.
...I felt I had lost my ambition to be the greatest journalist in the world or the richest merchant banker in the world so I decided to become a monk.
"Particularly focusing here on the teaching of children to meditate because that's one of the great things that's been happening in the Townsville dioceses. We're going to take what we've learned about teaching children to meditate to the rest of the world."
He says a child is ready to meditate, they're kind of born into this. "It's a great gift for the rest of their lives."
Meditation is a universal spiritual practice and wisdom, says Father Freeman. "You find it in all the religions of the world, and it's just that Christians seem to have forgotten or lost touch with their own deeper spiritual tradition of prayer meditation."