Problem Solving In 1983, during the miners' strike, many strikers' wives quickly realized that no one would help them feed their families during this period. Ann Richards, one of the many women whose lives were turned upside down by the strike, discovered something in herself that had not even been known before.

As long as your heart remains an ever-rising flame of aspiration,
your weaknesses don't matter.

Is meditation practical?

We say that someone is practical if he does the right thing at the right moments in his outer life. He thinks and acts in a special way, he cannot be deceived, and his external life flows smoothly. But no matter how intelligent, how sincere and conscious we are, in the outer life we ​​find ourselves at times in difficulty. We don't know what to say, we don't know how to act, we don't know how to behave. Or, despite the fact that we say and do the right thing, everything goes wrong. We do not know how to cope with our outer life, we cannot arrange our life. Despite the sincere desire to do something or become someone, we fail.

Why this happens is because our outer capacity is always limited, inner awareness is limited. But if we are practical in our inner life - in other words, if we pray and meditate - then inner awareness will be limitless. One who has inner awareness has both free access to infinite truth and constant joy, and can easily control his outer life.

The inner life constantly carries the message of truth and God. Where there is truth, there is seed. Let the seed germinate and become a tree. When the tree bears fruit, we will see the capacity of the inner world manifest itself in the outer world. We always grow from within, not from without.

No matter what we do or say in the outer life, it does not bring us closer to the light of truth. But if we meditate first and then act and speak, then we do the right thing and become what we need to be. The outer life must be guided by the inner life and inner reality, and not vice versa. The breath of the outer life must come from the inner life. The inner reality must enter into the outer life, only then can we become truly practical in the outer life.

Questions and answers

Question: Is it possible to get answers to your questions through daily meditations? And if so, how to determine if the answer really comes from the heart or soul, and not from the mind?

Sri Chinmoy: In meditation or at the end of meditation, any question you have can be answered. If you go deep within, the answer is sure to come. However, when you receive an answer, you need to decide whether it came from the soul or from the mind. If it comes from the heart or soul, you will experience a sense of relief and peace. At this time, no contradictory thought comes to override the answer. But if the answer is not from the heart or soul, then the mind comes to the fore and contradicts the idea you have perceived.

Messages coming from the mind lack certainty. IN this moment the mind says one thing and the next moment another. Now the mind says that I am very good man, and the next moment he will say: “No, he is very bad.” The heart always brings the same news. When you sit down to meditate in the morning, it brings some news. When you meditate in the evening, you will receive the same message from your heart.

If you get an inner urge to see someone - say your boss - you just go and meet that person. But if the message comes from the mind, then before you see it, many questions will arise in the mind. Then you will still meet with him, but the result of the meeting will not satisfy you, you will blame yourself and say: “No, this is not what should have been done. I got the wrong message."

If the message comes from the soul, you will have deep confidence, and you will accept both success and failure with equal satisfaction. In fulfilling the message, you won't expect things to happen your way, that your boss will be pleased with you, or do something for you. You will simply do it and you will feel that you have done the right thing, whether the result is success or failure.

Questioner: How to determine if the inner message is coming from the emotional vital or from the soul?

Sri Chinmoy: You can think of the vital as one runner and the soul as another. The vital runner runs very fast at first, with excessive excitement and enthusiasm, but he does not reach the goal. He runs about thirty meters out of a hundred, and then he can't run anymore. The soul runner also runs very fast from the very beginning. However, once the starting shot is fired, it will not stop until it reaches its target. The soul knows its ability and goes to the goal with absolute certainty.

When you receive a message, immediately try to understand what type of runner it is. Is this the runner who stops only when he reaches his goal, or the one who runs thirty meters and then loses all his energy? If the message comes from the emotional vital, you will feel that the answer you receive will not lead you to the goal. But if it comes from the soul, you will feel confident that it will lead you to the goal.

There is another way. When you hear a voice offering you a solution to a problem, imagine that the vessel is filling up. If you get the feeling that the vessel is filling up slowly and evenly, drop by drop, with absolute inner reliability, then you will understand that this is the voice of the soul. Otherwise, you will feel that the vessel is filling up hastily, with a glass or a glass. It will fill up quickly, but will soon start to overflow. The soul will fill the vessel with absolute certainty and inner balance. If you have this kind of patient feeling, know that it is the voice of the soul.

The third way is that you can imagine a flame in your heart. There are two types of flame. One is steady, the other is flickering. The steady flame of the heart cannot be disturbed by any inner wind. And the flickering flame can be disturbed by fear, doubt, anxiety and excitement. If you feel that your answer is like a flickering flame, then it is the voice of the emotional vital. But if this flame is very stable, ascending to the highest, you will know that the answer is the voice of the soul. Once you understand that this is the voice of the soul, you will have absolute confidence in this message.

Question: Can one learn to overcome one's fears through meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Through meditation, outer fear and inner fear will surely leave us. Now you are a victim of fear because you don't know how to expand your consciousness. But when you take refuge in your divinity through meditation, fear will have to leave you, for it will feel that it is knocking on the wrong door. Now you are helpless, but the moment fear sees that through meditation you are in contact with someone very powerful, it will become helpless.

The very purpose of meditation is to unify, expand, enlighten and immortalize consciousness. In meditation we enter the realm of our own divinity. Divinity is not afraid of human nature because divinity has infinite power. If you have free access to divinity, if your entire existence, outer and inner, is overflowing with the limitless and infinite power of divinity, how can you be afraid of human nature? This is impossible!

Question: Can meditation protect you from the injustices you face in life?

Sri Chinmoy: When you need to protect or protect yourself, always try to use stronger weapons. If people say something unpleasant to you, and you answer them the same, there will be no end to this. On the other hand, if you simply swallow your anger, they may continue their attempts to get the better of you. But when they feel the great peace within you that you get from meditation, they will see something in you that will never be overcome. They will notice a change in you, and this change will not only puzzle, but also threaten, frighten them. They will feel that their own weapons are useless.

Peace is the most effective weapon against injustice. When you pray and meditate, your whole being is filled with peace. This is not imagination. You can feel peace, you can swim in the sea of ​​peace. Then, no matter what others are doing, you will feel that they are just children playing in front of you. You say, “They are all children. What to expect from them? Instead, because they are adults in age, you are now angry and frustrated. But if you pray and meditate regularly, you will soon feel that your peace is infinitely more powerful, more fulfilling and energizing than the negative situations others create.

Feel no fear.
No one has their own power.
Only God has the power
and His strength is another name for His sleepless Love.

Question: Is there a spiritual way to get rid of bad habits?

Sri Chinmoy: Of course there is. Before doing anything, always meditate for a minute or at least a few seconds. The power of such meditation will pierce the bad habit like an arrow. Meditation-warrior uses his divine powers against bad habits. This is the best way.

Question: Can meditation cure physical ailments such as high blood pressure?

Sri Chinmoy: Meditation is conscious awareness of one's source. In meditation, we consciously try to go to the source, which is perfection itself. Our source is God, the source is truth, the source is light. Meditation takes us to the source where there is no imperfection, no disease. Where is this source? He is inside.

What result do we get in the outer life if we meditate? The mind becomes calm and quiet. For most people, achieving peace of mind is almost impossible. One who does not have peace of mind is a real beggar, he is like a monkey in human body. He doesn't feel any satisfaction. But if you find peace of mind even for a moment, you feel how much you have done in life. When there is peace of mind, the vital and the body become calm, and where there is peace, there is no disharmony. Disharmony exists precisely in the world of restlessness, dissatisfaction, tension and confusion. Otherwise, there would be no disease.

High blood pressure, heart failure and other diseases that we see in God's creation are due to the presence of negative forces. These negative forces can only be overcome when you give yourself to the positive force. In meditation we try to become a perfect channel for positive force. The positive force is light and the negative force is darkness. The positive force is love, not hate. The positive force is faith, not unbelief. Positive force helps in every moment of life, consciously transferring us to our destiny - perfection.

If the mind is quiet and calm, the vital dynamic and the body aware of its actions, then we live in a palace of contentment where there can be no sickness, no suffering, no imperfection, no barriers to steady peace, steady light, steady satisfaction. Meditation is a means, it is a way, a way. If we follow this path, we reach our destination, which is perfection itself.

Question: If you are confused and nervous, how can meditation help in such a situation?

Sri Chinmoy: In the physical world, if a person has a headache or an upset stomach, he goes to a doctor and the doctor treats him. If a person is sick, how can you say that he will never get better? If he takes the medicine, there is every chance that he will get better. For the patient, the answer is medicine. If one is overwhelmed with restlessness, anxiety and confusion, then meditation is the remedy. Just because he became a victim, it cannot be said that there is no savior. There will be a savior, provided that a person wants to get better.

Question: Do you really need to seek help if you suffer from mental problems? Can't you just meditate and find the answer yourself?

Sri Chinmoy: Let's say you say, “I suffer from mental difficulties, but I know that the solution is within. Right now I am in total darkness, but I feel that there is light inside my heart.” This is what you feel, but it is difficult for you to go deep within yourself and find the light. And then you have to go to someone who can bring to the fore the light that is within you. It's the same as if you lost the key to your own house and now you don't know how to open the door. But your friend comes with the light and helps you find the key. After finding the key with his help, you open the door, and he leaves. If you are ready to search for a lost key in the dark, you can try. But if your friend has the light, then you have more confidence that the key will be found. So, the Teacher is a helper, an eternal friend who helps in your search. When he helped find the key, he doesn't keep it. He doesn't say it's his key. No! This is your key, your home, your light. Then you enter the house and get everything you need and want.

Question: If you are nervous or upset, how to call for peace?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two ways. One way is to inhale calmly and say “God” very slowly three times. But if this is difficult for you, you can call on the Almighty as quickly as possible. Fear or anxiety has its own speed. If an enemy is about to attack you, try to pronounce the name of the Almighty at a faster speed than the speed of the anger or fear attacking you. If you succeed, the Almighty will immediately conquer your anger, disappointment or fear.

Look at the flower of your heart and smile.
You will be able to solve your most pressing problems.

Question: How can one remain calm in the mind when there are so many things to do in such a short time?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, if you are restless, how can you finish the necessary things sooner? No! If you are restless and excited, full of worries and anxieties, you only complicate your problems and difficulties. Let's say you have a goal that you want to reach as soon as possible. If at this time you are overwhelmed by such undivine elements as fear, doubt, anxiety, uncertainty and the like, this means that you are carrying an extra load and reducing your ability. How can you reach your goal faster? You may not be in time for the appointed time.

The runner knows if he has extra weight, the rivals will outrun him. You need to feel the need to empty your mind all the time. When doubt, fear, insecurity or any other negative forces enter the mind, try to get rid of them, drop them so that you can run very fast. Anxiety and worries will never help. On the contrary, they hinder. But if we have peace of mind, then we can run towards the goal most quickly.

Question: How to get rid of pain through meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: For the pain to go away, the light must be invoked. Basically, pain is a kind of darkness within us. When the inner light or the light from above begins to act in the pain itself, then the pain goes away or is transformed into joy. Truly experienced seekers can actually feel the joy within the pain itself. But for this you need to be very experienced. As for you, during prayer or meditation, you should try to call on the light from above and feel that pain is darkness within you. If you call on the light, the pain will either be enlightened and transformed, or it will leave your system.

Question: One day while I was meditating, a thought suddenly came to me about my friends who needed help. I can never describe the strength I felt then, but I took these friends and raised them. Two or three days later these friends were helped. One needed a job and got it, while the other was sick and got better. Is this related to my experience or was it pure coincidence?

Sri Chinmoy: It was not a coincidence, not at all. It was your inner being that helped them. At this time, you became the instrument of the Inner Pilot, the Supreme. The Almighty wanted to help those people, and He actually made you His instrument of help. It wasn't a coincidence.

When you meditate and rise into your higher consciousness, your soul automatically tries to help your loved ones. When you enter into a very high, very deep realm of consciousness, power automatically comes to the fore from within, and then you are able to help others. Sometimes your friends don't know who helped them. But your soul knows and their souls know that help has come from you. This is not your mental hallucination or ego.

If you can listen better
The compassion of God will immediately become the best adviser.

are the most important conditions to overcome all difficulties.

Therefore, here I will write about the difficulties that arise in meditation itself, because in the end, the speed of progress on the spiritual path will depend on overcoming them.

The Five Major Difficulties in Meditation

As Aryengar said:

The hardest part of yoga is laying out the mat.

This also applies to meditation: the main thing is to start and systematically repeat this great sacrament!

Therefore, the difficulties described in this article are not so much difficulties in meditation, but difficulties in transgressing it and.

1. No time to meditate. No place for meditation

Almost no one has time. But where will it come from if you do not make an effort to allocate it for meditation? In addition, he always finds time for what a person likes to do. The problem is that in order to start liking meditation, most often you need to meditate decently, and already to meditation.

So is it really a matter of lack of time?

Let's assume it is. How to solve this problem? To begin with, the soul loves to meditate and to arrive. Therefore, your meditation is in its interest. The soul is very close to God, and God, our higher Self, is known to be Almighty. So won't He find for you - His beloved child - an opportunity to save your income, and your friends, and your personal life, and also give you time to meditate? I saw dozens of people to whom God showed such mercy. I don't think you are any worse.

Indeed, there are extremely busy days when normal meditation does not work. In this case, you should diligently fulfill your duties, but at the same time sincerely try to want to meditate and remember God more often, as if saying to Him: “I remember You and really look forward to our meeting.” And when the time appears, you must immediately appear on this date.

The best time for meditation is written in this article:

Another similar problem is the lack of comfortable conditions for meditation.

Relatives interfere with meditation, noisy, there is no place in the apartment ... The conditions can really be difficult. What can be said here? , either you surrender to her mercy, or show your will, attract and with sincere prayer you will firmly stick to your line.

At the same time, there is no need to fight with anyone. Be kind in your heart, for some time you may have to meditate in secret from everyone. In any case, firmly know that with my spiritual practice I know stories when a husband even hid from his wife that he was meditating: he set himself an alarm clock at night, when everyone was already sleeping, got up, meditated and went to bed again. You can meditate in the bath, in the park, when the weather is warm ... In general, there would be a desire, but there, if your efforts are sincere, then God will definitely help.

2. No desire to meditate

Here is a more honest formulation of the problem. Indeed, it happens that there is a lot of time, and other conditions are ideal. I don't want to meditate.

Here is an excerpt from the book on the subject:

3. I fall asleep in meditation

When there is little energy in the spine, a person does not get enough sleep for weeks, then meditation will not be a soaring into, but a fall into.

Meditate anyway, but try not to sleep in meditation. Perhaps for some period of your life you should only do one meditation a day, for example in the morning after waking up. They also help to energize the spine. I can teach them. Well, strive to form a mode of life in which you will have time and strength to meditate, and it will help you.

4. Your back hurts while meditating.

"A crooked spine is the enemy of self-realization"

You have to work with the spine. Whatever your age and whatever the problems, even some, will be of great benefit.

It happens that the spine begins to hurt a person in meditation. In it, the energy in the spine increases and all blocks in the subtle ones begin to appear. It happens that over time, meditation itself cleans them. Sometimes you need to contact

5. After meditation, instead of calmness, I feel tension.

Meditation helps a lot, but when exercised in a dusty room cleaning, dust rises into the air ... The energies in the subconscious are conscious ... It even happens that after meditation, a tendency to gluttony wakes up, some not very spiritual conversations, watching TV programs that are not too wise, irritation comes from somewhere ... These rooted in the subconscious energies from meditation have suffered and now want to make up for their damage by forcing you to reproduce some habits that will feed them the right level of energy.

This is an internal battle that must be won. The more regular and persistent the practice of meditation is, the faster it will be possible to transform all these resisting energies.

Also, this phenomenon of kickbacks is closely related to raising energy in meditation. For some, it starts to move quite easily. But if it is still insufficient and it is not possible for it to stay in ajna, then, having risen a little in meditation, then it rolls back, brings a lot of energy to the lower ones, but they have not yet been cleared and, therefore, unnecessary difficulties appear.

In general, this phenomenon can even, therefore, it’s not worth it to specially practice the techniques once again, and you should also find one that will align your spiritual path in your meditation.

And, if you really want to realize your True Nature, then you need to be patient and persistent.

Only the strong conquer the seas of the boundless Spirit of our true Divine nature.

The panacea for all difficulties is, so develop devotion, be wise, know and apply everything related to.

As Yogavatara Lahira Mahasaya said:

Banat, banat, banjay! - do, do And, in the end, succeed!»

Good luck to you, my dear reader, do not be afraid of anything, trust your own and persistently strive for contact with Him. Knock and open.

Can be a great help with some psychological problems, so I'm surprised that no one here discusses successful techniques and does not share results.

I have been doing it for a very long time and here is what I will say. Moreover, about both meanings of meditation (both concentration on communication with God, or just concentration, and contemplation in the moment here and now, without any concentrations - both Western and Eastern understanding, and meditatio, and dhyana).

Among all sorts of "seekers" and "esoterics" there are four times more mentally deranged people than among any other party (excluding the party in the neuropsychiatric dispensary - PND). And they, as a rule, break their cuckoo with meditations even more. I don't know what draws me to meditation... They first of all collide with themselves and begin to think intensely! And all their cockroaches and sores begin to Think (with a capital letter) along with them.

I saw the reports of a person who received a diagnosis in a hospital in a year - he started with average speeds of thinking, and by the end of the year he accelerated himself so that he thought about dozens of things at the same time, pumping the volume of unhurried rustling thoughts that we think in a day, where - then in an hour. He went through logical chains to the end and looped them, constantly returning to them. in a natural way all the suppressed material climbed out of the subconscious, which we get little by little in the studies ...

What is written in glossy waste paper about meditation is a lie and a fitness business that has nothing to do with meditation or psychology. It does not lead to happiness, success, efficiency, increased empathy, logical and emotional intelligence, no. I would not use meditation if there is even a hint of a mental problem. And she will not cope with most psychological problems. Initially, any psychological comfort and solution to disharmony is an indirect result that has nothing to do with the main one.

That is, meditation is made for completely different things. This is a spiritual practice. For finding emptiness in oneself and dissolving oneself-ego, for losing boundaries and merging with the whole existence, for enlightenment, which is the final incarnations, and not becoming the best, most successful and most effective of people with superpowers. No. If as a result you are psychologically streamlined, consider yourself lucky. But time is spent on it - just a car. You can meditate on one problem for ten years. Those who try to push meditation to psychology and sell it are either fools, or unprincipled or narrow-minded businessmen.

For problems, use psychotechnics, for example (), this is several orders of magnitude faster in time. Well, if psychiatry - generally stay away from all this.

P.S. However, it would be unfair not to say how to use meditation, if you already decided on such long haul. First: it is necessary to master it more or less, to be able to be in the collected silent contemplation in the here and now. Second: the ability to wait for long periods of time, very long. This is not the ability to bargain with the universe, but such a knowledge-feeling of your whole being that you can sit and wait forever, as long as it takes, because being in meditation itself, in fact, is already a “reward”. Third: the reasons will sooner or later begin to appear, and here you need to be able to let them go, relax in them and step back. This process is also quite difficult to describe, but exercises such as following the breath have a hint of this relaxation, which is not a limpness - there is a hint in the gap between exhalation and inhalation. As soon as you see the reason, immediately let it go and that's it. Problem stopped. I remember that it took me ten years to do this, while I went through similar things in a week or a month.

The essence is in letting go: once mastered, the process goes quickly. And it seems that through the techniques associated with tension, the path is easier and faster than in meditation techniques. This is why we recommend working through rather than meditation. Only for reasons of efficiency coming from long-term observations.