A lot of people try and fail with meditation. Most likely at some point.. you have tried it too. When you read an article about meditation practices of famous entrepreneurs and leaders or maybe some 100 proven scientific benefits of meditation like -
I don’t blame you. There are quicker and easier ways to de-stress, mood uplifting, harbouring creativity like good music, inspiring movies or an evening spent with friends.. Your health would be good if you exercise and stretch regularly. Better concentration, decision making and brain function improvement definitely takes a lot of time for noticeable differences. (Although listening to music mindlessly for hours creates a lot of restlessness.)
Basically none of the above listed reasons excite me enough to stick to my practice of meditation. I want bigger returns. I have a different perspective, some bigger reasons that fire me up.
Meditation does to me what science does to Stephen Hawkins. Its a means of exploration, means to understand the mystery of life (and death!). Instead of the scientifically proven benefits over body and mind, I aim for the spiritual ones which are beyond our natural understanding.
For example: Looking up at the night sky.. The innumerable stars.. the thought of space, galaxies, the universe.. Its all so exciting but there are no means to explore it fully!
In my lifetime, it seems impossible for mankind to unravel the mysteries of the universe.. But Gurunanak Devji in one of his discourses talks about how there are other planets, huge stars and galaxies and other universes and how if we are realized, we can find it all inside ourselves. That too at a time when we didn’t have any technology to look beyond the night sky.
Similarly there are numerous other saints who have talked on such in-comprehensive subjects.
Death
Yes death. We all will die. Just like that. Even if we stay calm, healthy, happy, do everything morally.. We all die. There’s no escape. That’s another mystery. And as I grow older, I regularly see a lot of people setting sails for the heaven. It stumps me (and everyone) every time. But apparently we can’t do anything about it. And we accept/ignore it.
I believe investing time in meditation to know about death is definitely worth it. I might sound crazy here but so does Elon Musk when he talks about colonizing Mars.
Detachment
I have been fortunate enough to be living a healthy and a comfortable life since my childhood. I see people wanting to be something, leave a name, investment banking, entrepreneurs etc etc.. Umm.. That’s aiming too low. There are lakhs of investment bankers in the world. Watch Wolf of wall street to get dis-illusioned. I am not against having career goals, but devoting all your life just to your career is a bad move in my opinion. Because in the end, you are going to die.
We can only be happy with material success for a while until something in the form of wealth, health or our loved ones are taken away.
Meditation helps me see through this. I do get involved and that’s why I try to be regular with meditation. To remember that this all is not worth stressing over.
A general happy living
Since you learn to detach yourself.. You can work better. Just like a doctor can perform an operation on his patient (who’s not family) without attachment. Similarly, the relationship management, work management and over-all well being improves. You do what’s required instead of being overly invested and thus taking the wrong moves becoming overly emotional.
This is not possible with movies and music. Because they have a short term effect over our emotional state of being. Meditation provides with a new perspective.
It all essentially comes down to the realization of God. In whichever way you understand GOD. I have realized that surrender comes easy with meditation. When you are not breathing, digesting your food and you don’t own your thoughts.. A sense of surrender comes. Then you want to know how this happens. What’s the cause. And meditation looks like the only way available.
And there’s a lot of other mysterious unraveling about GOD that might sound crazy. But if you like you can read about it in The Autobiography of a Yogi. Its a beautiful book for anyone who wants more profound reasons for meditation and spirituality.
The 10 points listed about are bonus. It doesn’t hurt to have them. :)
- Curing depression
- Regulates moods and anxiety disorders
- Manage stress
- Better concentration
- Improved brain function
- Better sleep (Apparently a lot of people can’t sleep peacefully at night)
- Fostering creativity
- Become peaceful and happy
- Better health and immunity
- Better decision making
I don’t blame you. There are quicker and easier ways to de-stress, mood uplifting, harbouring creativity like good music, inspiring movies or an evening spent with friends.. Your health would be good if you exercise and stretch regularly. Better concentration, decision making and brain function improvement definitely takes a lot of time for noticeable differences. (Although listening to music mindlessly for hours creates a lot of restlessness.)
Basically none of the above listed reasons excite me enough to stick to my practice of meditation. I want bigger returns. I have a different perspective, some bigger reasons that fire me up.
Meditation does to me what science does to Stephen Hawkins. Its a means of exploration, means to understand the mystery of life (and death!). Instead of the scientifically proven benefits over body and mind, I aim for the spiritual ones which are beyond our natural understanding.
For example: Looking up at the night sky.. The innumerable stars.. the thought of space, galaxies, the universe.. Its all so exciting but there are no means to explore it fully!
The mystery of time and space
 |
| This view to the outer space is breathless ! |
In my lifetime, it seems impossible for mankind to unravel the mysteries of the universe.. But Gurunanak Devji in one of his discourses talks about how there are other planets, huge stars and galaxies and other universes and how if we are realized, we can find it all inside ourselves. That too at a time when we didn’t have any technology to look beyond the night sky.
Similarly there are numerous other saints who have talked on such in-comprehensive subjects.
Death
Yes death. We all will die. Just like that. Even if we stay calm, healthy, happy, do everything morally.. We all die. There’s no escape. That’s another mystery. And as I grow older, I regularly see a lot of people setting sails for the heaven. It stumps me (and everyone) every time. But apparently we can’t do anything about it. And we accept/ignore it.
I believe investing time in meditation to know about death is definitely worth it. I might sound crazy here but so does Elon Musk when he talks about colonizing Mars.
Detachment
I have been fortunate enough to be living a healthy and a comfortable life since my childhood. I see people wanting to be something, leave a name, investment banking, entrepreneurs etc etc.. Umm.. That’s aiming too low. There are lakhs of investment bankers in the world. Watch Wolf of wall street to get dis-illusioned. I am not against having career goals, but devoting all your life just to your career is a bad move in my opinion. Because in the end, you are going to die.
We can only be happy with material success for a while until something in the form of wealth, health or our loved ones are taken away.
Meditation helps me see through this. I do get involved and that’s why I try to be regular with meditation. To remember that this all is not worth stressing over.
A general happy living
Since you learn to detach yourself.. You can work better. Just like a doctor can perform an operation on his patient (who’s not family) without attachment. Similarly, the relationship management, work management and over-all well being improves. You do what’s required instead of being overly invested and thus taking the wrong moves becoming overly emotional.
This is not possible with movies and music. Because they have a short term effect over our emotional state of being. Meditation provides with a new perspective.
GOD
And there’s a lot of other mysterious unraveling about GOD that might sound crazy. But if you like you can read about it in The Autobiography of a Yogi. Its a beautiful book for anyone who wants more profound reasons for meditation and spirituality.
The 10 points listed about are bonus. It doesn’t hurt to have them. :)
