What is meditation?

To be conscious every moment, even so of the movements of the Self. To become aware every moment, even so of every movement of your Self, is to be in meditation. To be self-aware – constantly – this is meditation.

When we sit, what we are doing is trying to remember this, and then that remembrance to become a reality. From remembering constantly to begin with, and then extending it to the whole of your existence makes it a reality, ever present. Then meditation is with you all the time. To be in meditation is to be in your Self. And that of course does not limit the Self to remain within – so also it is in the Self when the Self is in movement. Meditation is there not only in rest but also in motion [. Because] (, because?) it is the nature of the Self to be both static and dynamic at the same time.

Meditation is to be present in the Self with the Self all the time. To be self-aware, is to be present, to be ever present; whether you be in laughter, whether you be in tears. This is meditation. To reach to this is to remember to remember. Initially (the?) effort to remember is required; to keep yourself there, willfully. Your will is the Self.

Whenever we like something we put ourselves into it. Of course, because we like it all our energies are with us. That is natural. And yet you can meet with obstructions, obstacles, interference, time factor, until one realizes it, procures it, obtains it. So to keep [yourselves] (yourself) always with it – to remember to be aware of yourself, while through the sitting one brings about a concentration to speed up this remembrance, to come to that radical moment, when one opens within, to come face to face with this Reality.

Reality is always present, it is its very nature to be present.

Eternally present.

Ever present.

Every moment.

Not only in rest, so also in its movement. For the movement also is its very being – just as rest is. It is unconditioned by either rest or movement. It is free in either condition. It is at rest in movement, it is active, highly active, alive, even so in rest. And to be alive to this, to come to this reality, this realization, is the beginning of a life in meditation. Then life is lived in meditation and meditation is lived in and through life.

So to keep the energies awake always, like the continuous pouring of water from one container into another – pouring your energies to remember to be awake, aware to this reality. [So] when one sits one practices this remembrance of meditation. It is a remembrance of meditation. Meditation is when you become self-aware, when you become conscious. So practice again and again.

When you have a moment of rest, remember this.

When you are in movement, when you are in speech, remember this.

When you are out playing about, remember this.

When you are eating, remember this.

When you are angry, remember this.

When you are loving, remember this.

When you remember it when you are angry, you can become free of anger,

but when you remember it when you are loving, it only increases the love.

And one finds the joy of freedom in one’s heart.

That heart is not limited to the chest, it is infinite.

That heart is not limited to the ribcage, but lives in eternity.

That is why the ancient seers have used the word sadhana – practice, to continue to remember.

Remembrance here does not mean just mental. Of course you begin so – remember by your mind,

but then the whole of your being must join-in to this remembrance. That is when you start becoming aware and therefore arriving at meditation.

Through the sittings we continue to remember to awaken the Mother-force within us, the God-force within us, which makes this remembrance, when it awakens, come to a fulfillment. Then when one looks at a flower one is not lost in the beauty of the flower without being self-aware, but is aware of oneself and at the same time is aware of the beauty of the flower. Then the appreciation of the beauty is how it should be.

Even when one loves another – when one is lost in that love one is bound, and therefore it can bring pain and sorrow. And yet if one were to be self-aware, one would experience pain and sorrows and separations in freedom. One would then be free only to appreciate those moments of closeness that were there once upon a time. It enhances the love, for love is universal. This moment in time it can be directed to one place, one location, one person. Another moment in time it can be elsewhere. Of course it does not mean one hops from one to another; it is just the nature of one level of the Reality. To be in love is to be in meditation, when you are aware of the love and of your Self. [So] every moment can be a moment of meditation when one becomes self-aware, when one awakens to Oneself. Then life is lived through that meditation, from that meditation. Then you live in light – this is enlightened life. It does not end here, it is the beginning. Yes, it is the end of unenlightened life and the beginning of enlightened life. Your concepts, your ideas, your perceptions of yesteryears fall away

and are replaced with a new way of seeing.

Then life is a freedom song. When you are in meditation, life is a song of freedom, for meditation is freedom. Freedom from misconceptions, from the limited way in which we perceive things now.

So whenever we begin, whenever we sit, we remember this: to reach to that awareness of the Self  that is ever-present.

It is present even in your restlessness;

it is present, ever-present, even in your quietness.

It is present, ever-present, even in your passions,

in your emotions, in your thoughts, when they are present.

That is what is behind everything – the support of your life organism.

All techniques of meditation that we do [is] (are?) to bring about this awakening of the Mother-force, the God-force, and also the opening within, that we may reach and realize. So when we repeat techniques, it is a way of remembering. How does one remember more and more? It is when we repeat again and again that [is what] makes us remember. Of course when we repeat, what is important is to be present there with yourself. Then that remembrance comes alive.

So through the rhythmic breathing to remember and reach into [yourselves] (yourself?). Through the rhythm of your breath you discover the rhythm to your Self – you reach to harmony. And increasingly you are aware of yourSelf:

the Self of body, the Self of passions,

the Self of emotions, the Self of thought;

the Self that is behind, above and in – everywhere.

Arya Vihar

23 Oct 1998