Page 28 - Liberal Exposition of Pranahuti Aided Meditation

when you don’t allow any other senses to work except your mind, then you face yourself. Facing yourself is a tough task. The first thing that you would like to do is to get away from that place because it seems to be so bizarre. You really don’t know what you are trying to do. The internal consciousness is an extraordinary mix of several attitudes, several wishes, several desires, several aspirations, several emotions. We don’t seem to be saying ‘yes this is what I am’. If you want to picturise yourself, if you want to put up a picture of yourself, you find it very difficult. To give a portrait of yourself is easy, your internal portrait is something that is very difficult to give. First of all you want to know that self, what exactly am I?
We seem to be having then, two different planes, one – which has got enormously selfish, self centered, desires, wishes etc, we seem to be also having certain other centered activities, wishing good for others, being kind to others. So there are two aspects of us which we would like to know. Then, it dawns upon us that it does not make much sense to bother so much about our lower level, it makes sense to bother about the higher level. Only those who are capable of feeling this would be ideally fit for meditation in the path.
Otherwise if it is restricted to meditation means, I try to get some energy so that I can concentrate well. That type of meditation is entirely different. If you want to take a test just now, you can close your eyes, count down from 25 to 0. Close your eyes, start counting down from 25 to zero. Close your eyes, kindly do it from 25 to 0. Do not have any other idea except counting down. Count the numbers please from 25 to 0. You would have seen that your mental tendencies which were going out were getting restricted to those numbers. A simple act of counting down is capable of bringing you into a state of calmness. You don’t have to do much of exercise, this is enough exercise. If you are satisfied with just getting calmness, this meditation is good enough meditation to do but that meditation can be helpful only in solving your problems, perhaps. Somebody comes to your shop, disturbs you, you do this, you are back at work, no difficulty, you have forgotten that fellow. Similarly when somebody distracts you in your studies, if you do this you are back in your studies. This is a very very simple meditation. All that you have got to do is to count down. No mantra is required, no tantra is required because this mind is capable of doing that itself. This is at the level of the dharana, we are able to maintain a thought on