Unlock Inner Peace: How to Prep Your Mind for Meditation & Embrace Detachment

Part I: Why Practice Meditation

Find it HERE.

How To Purify The Mind

The philosophy of Vedanta teaches us that perfection is our true nature. But, if we’re inherently perfect why don’t we feel that way at all times. As we have discussed, this is because of the identification theory, Adhyaasa.

Here’s what we can do. We can use the seat of meditation to understand the two aspects of this theory in play.

1. There’s the witnessing consciousness
2. And there’s the witnessed thoughts.

The symptom of identification theory is that we are carried away by worldly thoughts. When we become aware of this, we can shift our attention away from the thoughts to paying attention to the consciousness itself.

Consider the sanskrit word: Prajnanam Brahma. Prajna means “Jñāna or Chaitanya (consciousness)”. Brahman is the Absolute, Consciousness, Infinite and “Supreme Truth”. The phrase Prajnanam Brahma means “Brahman is Jñāna”; “The ultimate reality is Prajna”.

OBSTACLES To Meditation Practice

1. Laya: When we close our eyes and stay still, the body senses it as an indication to rest and it might try to put us to sleep.

There are three kinds of sleep.

a. Satvik sleep: Dreamless sleep
b. Rajasic: the mind is active, so the body cannot rest.
c. Tamasic: The more you sleep, the more you feel like sleeping.

We can practice vayurodha pranayama, to refresh ourselves. We might also feel boredom because we experience no stimulation or joy while doing meditation. Or we might be having too much undigested food in our stomach. As Swami Chinmayananda says, for doing a good 30 minutes meditation, we must prepare our bodies for 23.50 hours.

2. Vikshepa: The wandering of the mind. Not able to fix our attention, because our mind is chanchal by nature.

Chapter 6, Verse 34:

chanchalam hi manah krishna pramathi balavad dridham
tasyaham nigraham manye vayor iva su-dushkaram

The mind is very restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate, O Krishna. It appears to me that it is more difficult to control than the wind.

To that which Krishna replies to Arjuna:

Chapter 6, Verse 35:

asanshayam maha-baho mano durnigraham chalam
abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena cha grihyate

O mighty-armed son of Kunti, what you say is correct; the mind is indeed very difficult to restrain. But by practice and detachment, it can be controlled.

The meaning is, even though it is difficult to control the mind, it is not impossible. The solution is vyragya (detachment).

Difficult Is The Control Over The Mind

–

Why Practice Detachment?

Why? Because the culprit is raga: attachment. Whenever raga is involved, the mind acts in a peculiar way. The greater the raga, the greater the chanchala (wavering) and the stubbornness of the mind. When raga is involved, it means we are creating an unintelligent contact with the world.

1. Karma Phala: Sense organs interact with sense objects, some give sukha and some give dukha. The sense objects are of three types. Vastu – thing, vyakti – being, and paristithi – situation.
2. Whatever gives me sukha, I have raga for it, and whatever gives me dukha, I don’t have raga for it.
3. Karma: Again I perform actions based on it over and over again and then reap the karma phala related to that. The cycle repeats.

Raga can be transformed from asakti (infatuation) to Bhakti (devotion), because bhakti makes us a master, asakti makes us a slave. Because raga and dvesha are the reasons for bondage.

abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena cha grihyate

Repeated practice of vyragya is the what the solution is. When we practice vyragya, the mind wandering stops. Vyragya is something to be known inside not to be shown outside.

How To Practice Detachment

To practice detachment (vairagya), we can start by paying attention to the limitations and the painful aspects of our sensory experiences associated with the objects of desire. Instead of focusing on the initial pleasure that we derive from them. Educate the mind of the pain of the sensory experiences.

Satvik vairagya is viveka janitha, that which we derive through our education.

Tamasic is that we don’t know the joy in that experience, and rajasic vairagya is the temporary detachment to follow. Esp, when we are unwell and can’t eat junk food. Vairagya is not hatred or bitterness, it is a healthy indifference. It is not just suppressing our feelings, and feeding the mind of the benefits of the higher joy. It is not suppression, it is sublimation, so that the mind is OK to let go of the love for lower sensory stimulation.

Examples of higher joy are:

The joy of meditation, devotion, selfless sacrifice, egolessness and purity.

–

NEXT: The Arrangement Of Human Life Phases According To Hinduism

–

ESSAY SOURCE: This essay has been adapted from the teachings of Swami Aparajitananda in a spiritual discourse workshop in Atlanta in Nov, 2023.

– 0 –

About Sanatana Dharma

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः।
अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः॥

Brahman alone is real; the universe is mithya – neither fully real nor unreal, but an appearance. The individual self (jiva) is none other than Brahman itself, not separate or different. This is the true teaching of the scriptures, as revealed by Vedanta. ~ Verse 20 from Brahma Jnānavali Māla