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Originally posted by Christi

Hi Digofarias,

One of the most important aspects of yoga is the cultivation of inner silence. 5 minutes of meditation is not really long enough to cultivate inner silence, so if you have had to cut back to that degree because of over-sensitivity to the mantra, then I would suggest you switch to breathing meditation until things settle down. Breathing meditation does not have the same effect on the subtle nervous system as the mantra does, so you should be able to sit for 20 minutes per session or more which will give you more time to cultivate silence and peace.

The purification will happen in due course anyway as the sense of peace and stillness deepens.

Christi

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Originally posted by Christi

Hi Digofarias,

That's great that you switched to breathing meditation. And if you feel stable enough, then it is fine to add in some DM as well. I would only recommend keeping an eye on how it goes which I am sure you are doing already.

5 minutes of mantra meditation is only too short a time to establish inner silence (for most people). It is not too short a time to experience purification in the nervous system from the mantra. In fact, even one repetition of the mantra would produce purification. But the degree of purification would depend partly on the degree of inner silence present in the mind when the mantra is being recited. Mantras resonate in silence.

So that might help to partially answer your first set of questions about what is equal to what in terms of timing. Purification is affected by inner silence, so meditation for 10 minutes will be more profound, and more purificatory than two 5 minute sittings. But both purification and the degree to which inner silence is established are affected by two body clocks. One body clock is a 24 hour one, which means that if we sit every day at the same time, we will experience deeper silence- and therefore purification than if we only sat once a week say, for a longer period of time. The second body clock is a 12 hour one, and it has to do with the re-setting of the subtle energetic body. So this means that sitting twice a day for 20 minutes each time would be more powerful than sitting once for 40 minutes.

So it is a complex process, but basically the most powerful effects in terms of purification come from practising twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening before dinner, and meditation for at least 10 minutes each time, and preferably longer.

Christi

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Christi,

That was a lovely explanation. I'm doing well with 5 minutes of DM (it's been a few days already) and I'll probably be able to increase the time a little bit soon so I hope to get to the point where the mantra purification and inner silence are both working together.

Love,

Rod

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