How to still mind?

How to still mind? Don’t you know some shortcut?

     God says, “Of course I’ll give you a way that has worked for spiritual beings all over the world.”  God whispered “Try, and keep on trying until you succeed.”

     This sounds hard – it is hard – but there is no other way.  Nothing about meditation is easy; nothing takes place overnight. Even Buddha took 7 years to attain enlightment.  We have to be patient with ourselves. In our daily life, we have seen advertisements of “enlightenment Workshop” that promises illumination in a weekend. Is it possible? It’s the same way as you putting a pair of toe shoes and making an appearance in a ballet without any practice or preparation. Dancers are gifted, but the gift is not gracefulness; it is dedication.

     Meditation is training the mind, which in many ways is like training the body. Put Meditation first.  Make it your first priority; everything else can be second. We all have time for meditation and the key word here is practice.

     We need a still mind, while meditating. When the mind wanders, consciousness is divided; attention is weaving all over the road. Each of us knows what it is like to share the highway with a bad driver.

     If we could only see it, everything in life suffers like this when attention wanders. Power of thoughts of resentments, irritation, apprehension, and craving is that, they are so self-centered.

     Here again, our greatest ally is the mantra. Whenever a selfish thought comes up, repeat the mantra. When the mantra takes hold, the connection between the thought and your attention is broken.

     A compulsive thought, whether it is anger or depression or a powerful sense craving, does not really have any power of its own. All the power lies in the attention we give.

     Let us illustrate all this by comparing the mind to a theatre. Thoughts are the actors, and getting into the unconscious is like going backstage into the greenroom, where everybody is getting made up.  And attention is the audience. These actors are like actors everywhere: they thrive on a responsive audience. But what happens if nobody comes to see the performance? No actor likes to play to an empty house. Finally the whole set of actors give it up as a bad job and go out for a midnight cup of hot chocolate.

     So when you can direct attention, problems will never be compulsive again. The freedom this brings is bliss.