"The only thing that matters in life is the radical, total and definite change.
Everything else really has no importance.
Meditation is essential when we sincerely want such a change.
We don't want any superficial, vain and non-transcendental meditation".
Samael Aun Weor
"During meditation we must free the Essence, the Buddhata, the best we have in ourselves, the most decent and worthy part. This Essence or Buddhata is imprisoned by the inhuman elements, the psychological aggregates that make up the I, the Ego. It is not possible to experience Reality and Truth (which we all want to) if we can't free the Essence. An Essence that is trapped in the Ego cannot experience Reality. It is condemned to live in the world of dreams (in the intellectual, emotional, motor, instinctive or sexual centre) but it cannot escape to experience Truth."
Samael Aun Weor
1) MEDITATION:
"A technique for receiving information from the inner worlds... By means of meditation the soul submerges into the superior dimension."
Samael Aun Weor
In other writings, Master Samael indicates that by means of meditation the student wishes to become a conscious citizen of the superior worlds. We explore in these notes these ideas, and establish the operational relationship between meditative practices and our sojourns into the Inner Worlds.
2)
We receive his information with our Essence. We must free it - it is under the influence of the Egos through the mind, as indicated in the quote above.
3) KEY FOR MEDITATION:
a) Comfortable position (Assana). There are no preferred positions- only the one which is comfortable for the practitioner. Many Western people are happy seating comfortably. We must be relaxed. Don'ts: Don't move, don't scratch. Don't bother others. Keep your spine straight. Don't louch.
b) Control of breathing (Pranayama). Relaxation. We start with a relaxation exercise and move on to the control of breathing:
RELAXATION PRACTICES
We usually start with the dynamic relaxation practice, to get rid of possible muscle tensions, and then move on to one of the other relaxation practice. Like in all practices, you must try to find what suits you best.
DYNAMIC RELAXATION
Seating on a chair or stool let your arms hang straight down the length of your body, and acquire consciousness of your muscles. Visualise each muscle, contract it slightly and then relax it; first the biceps, then the muscles of the forearms, then the hands and the fingers. Relax then all of the body,
Relax then all of the body, proceeding in the same fashion, starting by the right foot.
Concentrate on your breathing: first without acting on it, then only in the abdomen, then complete yogi respiration: inhaling in two steps (abdominal and thoracic), and the inverse for exhalation, contracting a bit the abdominal muscles to get rid of all the air.
RELAXATION WITH THE BLUE LIGHT
Relax your body completely and systematically, imagining a blue light, or a light breeze that invades and slackens every muscle, organs, and nervous system...
Imagination of colours: see yourself in a sphere of colour (yellow, red, blue...), feel impregnated by this colour, "breathe" this colour, fell the emotion that it gives rise in you.
RELAXATION WITH THE GNOMES
Imagine that your feet are made of a subtle matter and that from it escapes a group of small gnomes. Imagine your calves full of small playful beings that come out one by one, and as they come out our muscles become more and more flexible and elastic.
We feel our calves made of subtle, light, ethereal and supple matter. We continue with the knees, the thighs, the sexual organs, the abdomen, etc., imagining that the small playful gnomes leave each part of our body, leaving the muscles in a state of relaxation. We feel our body become more and more subtle and ethereal.
Detach yourself from mental activity by saying to you, "I am not these thoughts."
the same fashion, starting by the right foot.
Concentrate on your breathing: first without acting on it, then only in the abdomen, then complete yogi respiration: inhaling in two steps (abdominal and thoracic), and the inverse for exhalation, contracting a bit the abdominal muscles to get rid of all the air.
CONTROL OF BREATHING 1
--- Seven inhalations, slow and deep.
We start then our exercise of counting our breath.
1. Bring your attention to your nostrils, feeling the air penetrate and afterwards come out by them.
2. Start the "counting" of the breaths. Count up to "ten" (10), as follows: When inhaling, count mentally "one"; when exhaling, count up to "two"; at the new inhalation, "three"; when exhaling, "four", and so on, until reaching "ten".
3. When carrying out this "counting", we shall feel the body relaxing deeply, relaxing indeed all the muscles. If in the middle of a "counting" we find that, because of the forgetting of the Oneself we have lost the count or we are repeating the same number, let us start again the "counting" from "one". Every distraction will be a motive to re-start the "counting".
4. If we manage to reach "ten" without having been distracted, we shall start again the "counting of the breaths" and in this way as many times as we complete the count.
5. We continue this exercise until reaching the relaxation that takes us to the controlled drowsiness.
Note that this practice brings about both relaxation and concentration, so that there is an element of "stopping the world!" in it. Once you are in state of controlled drowsiness, try, therefore, to get into a meditative state.
CONTROL OF BREATHING 2
COUNTING TO TWELVE
The disciple must take a comfortable position, either sitting on a chair, lying on his back or using a cushion or meditating stool.
In any of these positions, the student will concentrate on his breathing, becoming aware of his physical body.
He will inhale, hold his breath and exha1e in a steady rhythm. First, the student will inhale while counting from one to twelve. Second, he will hold his breath, also counting from one to twelve, and then he will exhale, counting again from one to twelve, as his physical body relaxes more and more, freeing itself of every tension.
He will repeat this exercise as many times as necessary until his body becomes totally relaxed.
c) Detachment (silence of the mind) As indicated above, it's necessary to relax the mind, so as to stop the egos interfering with our meditation. There are two ways to achieve the silence of the mind, and are explained below.
It is not difficult to relax the body - with practice we can achieve this in a perhaps 15 minutes. It is very difficult to relax the mind.
We must now detach from sense objects and from the activity of the mind to achieve the inner silence. Let us note that the egos act through the mind by means of comparisons. When we stop the mind, we temporarily isolate the Essence, the Buddhata, as explained in the quotation from Samael at the top of this document. Temporarily, we become pure Essence, the egos having been left behind.
There are two main ways of achieving the Silence of the Mind: the use of Koans and the practices of relaxation of the mind, the Serene Observation of the Mind or Modified Pratyahara. As usual, the student should experiment as to which method is better for him or her. The method based on Koans is better for a beginning, the Serene Observation more effective for a more mature meditator.
1. KOANS
A "KOAN" is an enigmatic mysterious phrase, which are incomprehensible for the mind. A "KOAN" is the presentation of a problem to the mind, whose deep meaning it cannot understand. It is easy to see that the mind struggles when it tries to deeply comprehend a K0AN; then subdued, it stays in a deep calm and silence.
If we want to empty our minds we must concentrate on a K0AN and wait for the mind to struggle for its solution, until it calms, quiets it. There exist many KOANS for this exercise of clearing the mind:
"WU"- Working with the K0AN WU, having the mind calm and silent, is something marvelous. The Master Chao Chou was asked by a monk; "Has a dog the Buddha's nature?" The Master said "WU". WU, which is pronounced, with double "U", imitating the sound of the hurricane, rather than being a mantra, is a "KOAN" in itself.
"WHERE WAS I BEFORE I WAS BORN AND WHERE WILL I BE AFTER I DIE?"
"WHAT WAS MY FACE BEFORE MY FATHER AND MOTHER WERE BORN?"
"EVERYTHING CAN BE REDUCED TO THE UNITY. WHAT IS UNITY REDUCED TO?"
"WHAT IS THE SOUND PRODUCED BY ONE HAND CLAPPING?"
"MU" (This means "nothing" and it is used to answer every question or react to any input, be this emotional, intellectual, etc.)
"NO" (This is the English word; use as MU).
We finish quoting the Chinese Zen Master Yanshou of Yongming (904-975):
"You must be able to dissolve away feelings and thoughts, and cut off false entanglements, so that when you face all wordily realms off craving and desire, your mind is as inert as wood or stone... Then even if you have not yet clarified the eye of the path (even if you have not got rid of your egos), you will form a purified body (the Essence)."
Summarising: we present a riddle to our mind. The mind struggles to understand when it tries to solve it (it does not have a solution!), so it becomes subdued, inert as wood or stone. Our Essence is separated from the egos, and can travel towards the Higher Worlds!
2. MODIFIED PRATYAHARA
1. We shall initiate the vocalization of the mantra WU. "This mantra is sung mentally with the letter U repeated twice, U... U..., enlarging the vocal sound, as if imitating the sound of a hurricane which howls against the canyon in the mountain, or the terrible blow of the waves against the shore. " That is, with the mouth we shall imitate the sound of the wind, while in our mind resounds the "U" is a continuous form (uuuuu...). We emphasise the fact that this mantra must be sung mentally in a continuous manner, when we inhale as when we exhale; the vocal imitation of the wind only sounds while exhaling.
2. When any memory or thought appears in our consciousness, we should not reject it or fight it; we study it from the standpoint that behind it there is a thinking I, alien to our essence. And in a conscious manner we address the mind, saying,
"I am not this thought."
"I am not this doubt."
"I am not this preoccupation."
5. During these practices we must be aware that any mental effort to reject the thoughts will create intellectual tension, and that this is harmful for meditation.
The objective of this practice is to SEPARATE US FROM THE MIND. We must understand that we are not our thoughts, glimpse at the fact that there is SOMETHING in ourselves that is beyond the mind, and that we don't have to be the slaves of the mind, that we can and must dominate it at will.
This exercise should be seen as the beginning part of a meditative session.
PRACTICES
Meditation practice
YOU HAVE A PLANT BEFORE YOU. Contemplate it during all the preliminary work. "See" its birth, its growth, the roots in the earth, the first leaves, the flowers, the fruits, feel the humidity of the earth, the heat of the sun on the leaves, the sap that climbs the stem of the plant, etc. Everything that is born must die some day: imagine this plant growing old, feeble, then it dies and dries up.
1. Relax
2. Mantra MMMMM (like the bellow of the oxen).
3. Ask for help to your Intimate for this practice
4. Modified Pratyahara or Koan
5. Concentration (DHARANA). Concentrate on the life-and-death cycle of the plant, as given above. Mantra mmm inwardly.
6. We try to elicit images. Let go of the concentration state, and allow your attention to wander freely, to make connections, associations. Consider the plant again. "See" its birth, its growth, the roots in the earth, the first leaves, the flowers, the fruits, feel the humidity of the earth, the heat of the sun on the leaves, the sap that climbs the stem of the plant, etc. Everything that is born must die some day: imagine this plant growing old, feeble, then it dies and dries up. Keep the process of birth and death of the plant in your consciousness, and open yourself to the influence of the plant. If you find yourself overwhelmed by images, bring back to your consciousness the image of the plant.
At the end, write a short summary of your experiences.
1. Relaxation
2. Opening of chakras: mantra IEOUAMS
3. A moment of prayer: ask your Intimate (Atman, the Inner Being) for help in this practice.
4. Modified Pratyahara
5. Concentration.
Then follow the visualization: Making sure that no tension has crept back in, begin to visualize the journey from the gates of the city to the central temple, following my cues. Build up the pictures as strongly as you are able, filling in as much detail as possible. The more you can make this picture `live', the greater your chances of successful contact with the Inner Planes.
You stand outside the walls of the city. They are gray, high walls, towering up out of a cold and barren landscape. There is a tremendous aura of endurance about these walls, a lasting strength.
Before you are the twin gates of the city. These are wood, inlaid with brass and iron. They are massive gates and on your right, high above you, is the guard, helmeted, armed
Only with a spear, standing at his post on the walls of the city.
There is a path twisting through the wasteland behind you; and you know that, in a way, you have trodden this path to reach the city.
The gates swing open and you pass through. Immediately, in contrast to the cold and rather dreary wasteland, you are in bright sunlight, The avenues of the city are broad and clean, the houses high and built to a faintly Medieval architecture.
And everywhere there are canals, sparkling silver waterways that wander through the city, intermingling with the avenues so that on every side, it seems, you are surrounded by bridges.
These bridges are the most striking features of the city, so that you will quickly come to think of it as the City of Bridges.
Quickly, you will find your way on to the central avenue, a broad, straight thoroughfare boring its way to the very heart of the city. There are a few people about, men and women strolling without haste. You pay them no attention, or they you.
As you walk, you feel, in a curious way, a growing familiarity with this place. You recognize that you know it; and will grow to know it with even deeper insight in the days ahead.
And the city, in turn, will recognize you. You will feel its atmosphere welcoming, lifting you a little higher, a little straighter. Your body will feel just a little lighter as you walk within the city walls.
Now you are nearing the end of your journey for the avenue widens into a vast courtyard. And before you, in the courtyard, is the tallest building you have yet seen. You have reached the Central Temple of the City of Bridges...
Your inner journey is far from finished.
