I get confused sometimes.
What or who exactly qualifies as a deep meditation practitioner?
Does the double digit number of years of practice makes one eligible to enter the club or does using complex terms in speech and nowadays on the social handles declare one to be an authentic meditator? Is it the long subscribers list of one’s meditation you tube channel that brings the endorsement for one’s knowledge or does a preachy and fancy personal website establish one’s credibility as a fine meditator?
Or,
do I believe the traditional texts that tell that meditation is an experience that anyone can get with willingness and discipline. (not the length of hours but the quality of time spent in self-enquiry & self-acceptance) ?
I acknowledge that our great Saints and prolific eastern Gurus were gifted and were fortunate to have unprecedented meditative experiences so much so that they decided their time and style of leaving their bodies and this planet. This phenomenon is only available as records in ancient scripts and texts and the likelihood of it happening in today’s modern age is certainly doubtful.
Even in earlier times, the number of such gurus was just handful and their purpose was to impart their knowledge to commoners who could use the practice to balance their worldly lives . In Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna ‘s dialogue with Arjuna to follow his duty and battle with the enemy was done with the purpose of reminding him to not to renunciate but to accept and to face.
In the midst of this confusion, I am sure of atleast one thing – that I am that ‘commoner’ who purposely ignites the meditative quotient in her to not run away from life but to deal with it and in the process, share the wisdom of her felt experiences to others, who are willing to receive it. It is not necessary that all those others retain that wisdom and practice. Some may practice forever, some may dust it off immediately and some may use it as and when needed . Getting not attached to the intent of sharing the wisdom is my foremost and deepest realization from my own meditation practice.
What type is the most authentic?
Only if I had the power to go back in time to find out the first or the original type.
The availability of gazillion resources on the internet, books, organizations claiming to perfecting one’s skill to meditate and the establishments of the successors of the lineage of earlier gurus can really create confusion. On top of that, a jumble of terms such as Tantra, Transcendental, Kundalini, Inner Engineering, Art of Living, OSHO, Zen, Japa, Sahej, Loving-Kindness, Vipassana, Noting, Visualization (there are many more) can potentially dilute a seeker’s primary objective of experiencing meditation without complexity.
Though all the above types stem from creditable teachers, their present successors or organization keepers focus more on multiplying both the number of followers and the branches / offices.
Putting the above or any of my own practice in a sequence of preference will be unfair here so I do not have an answer to the most authentic type. One must become aware of one’s inclination towards a practice, may be read about it and talk to some practitioners and probably attend a few experiential sessions to understand if the practice is suitable to sign up and what is the purpose of signing up. At times, visiting a psychologist for a therapy gives more results than sitting in expensive meditation sessions filled with non stop guided instructions.
Am I a deep rooted meditator?
Aha, this self inquiry often puts me in the thinking mode. Am I?
I wouldn’t say that I haven’t experienced some of the above types. I have, at different intervals in my life but my second deepest realization from a decade long practice has been that my breath is my absolute reality. It is the very basis of my life in existence and there can be no greater truth than the prana that keeps me alive. Going back to it in times of sadness or in joy is the most natural for me. When in stress or when at peace or when walking on the thin line of becoming judgmental to non judgmental or when embracing emotions of fear, jealousy, triumph, rejection, success, failure, sickness, compassion, loving and being loved – practically in every moment of my life, I don’t see any other alternative for myself but to return to my breath. ‘ I am breathing in and I am breathing Out’.
When I say a decade of a practice – I don’t mean four or five digit of hours but the quality of time spent in inquiring or just being with my breath. From 5 minutes to 50 minutes every moment spent in just ‘being’ seems to be most authentic. And this is what I share with others.
A commoner’s wisdom with another commoner!
Namaste
Varuna