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Divineis
Canada
420 Posts |
 Posted - May 22 2008 : 6:35:51 PM
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Just thought I'd raise the question, where lies the difference between when you're sitting in meditation and when you're out and about doing everyday business. I think it's a good question to ponder, and it's sort of led me to my "just sit and be" sort of meditation where I do nothing in particular, I just... go with it haha.
I guess that's the difference in a way, either I go with it, or I don't. But then I do that in meditation too, sometimes I don't exactly go with it, but I'm going with something, so it's still the same in a way haha.
bloop bleep bloop blop
I'm done now :).
peace. |
Edited by - AYPforum on May 23 2008 06:50:05 AM |
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - May 23 2008 : 06:50:05 AM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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UniversalMind
United Kingdom
28 Posts |
Posted - May 23 2008 : 07:16:18 AM
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Hi Divineis,
I think the difference is that during meditation you are letting your thought process settle down and getting ever nearer your true blissful inner self, the real you! During the day etc we are caught up in the world of our ego mind, being driven to distraction, what Ekhart Tolle would call unconsciousness. The small ego mind is running here and there doing everyday mundane thing's. It sounds as if at certain times of the day you are becoming conscious (aware) of your thought's and actions! you are becoming the silent witness and i would suggest this is a benefit of your meditation practice, a tangible result for your dedication. Ekhart Tolle speaks of this conscious awareness in his superb book The Power of Now! I highly recommend it for any meditator, it is very clear and easy to understand.
Good luck in your practice!
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Divineis
Canada
420 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2008 : 11:47:37 PM
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I guess it's the becoming thing I have a beef with... as if there's something to become. I guess it's more of a something to relax into.
I mean... becoming aware of your thoughts and action... it's not like this ever started for me, or ever stopped. Spiritual stuff lets me reframe them at times, but it's never really changed anything.
Kinda like... I've been talking to this kid about Zen, and... as with anything, you learn through teaching, and I can't help but put a bit of what it is I'm learning into what I teach. I guess that's "awareness" in a way, growth and learning. heh, and the more I know, the more I realise how little I know... knowing nothing's tempted me too haha.
But anyway... so I felt he made something out of Zen, and sure, it's something, or everything or nothing, it's isness, but what's isness... blah blah blah haha. So when he brought up Buddhist stuff the other day, I just half ignored him, not being rude or anything, like I acknowledged what he said, then maybe 10 seconds later after finishing a strawberry fig newton I seriously said (though expecting a bit of laughs) that Buddha is a strawberry fig newton cookie. And we all laughed, me and the few people at the table, and my buddy got the point, but then... a point is made about the point... and today we talked about creation and the big bang and such, and that kinda cleared some making a point of the point haha... and... yeah.
all this to say, awareness... the one thing you can't grasp. I mean, I still don't get it, I get it, but... I dunno, I guess I wish there was some concrete way to explain it without making a point of something. Sorta like "listen to what I'm saying, but don't think it actually means something". I guess that explains my "bloop bleep bloop" haha.
bah, let's just see what happens :) |
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eputkonen
USA
43 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2008 : 10:42:15 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Divineis
where lies the difference between when you're sitting in meditation and when you're out and about doing everyday business.
No difference.
"Meditation vs. everday life" is not how it is supposed to be. There is not meditation and then stop and go on with your day. The idea is to resume activity in the day but still in meditation (go from sitting to walking meditation...without a break...to the breakfast table and do eating meditation...etc).
Eventually meditation never stops...and meditation becomes everyday life; even while out and about doing your everyday business.
Namaste,
~ Eric Putkonen |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2008 : 11:28:07 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by eputkonen
quote:
Originally posted by Divineis
where lies the difference between when you're sitting in meditation and when you're out and about doing everyday business.
No difference.
"Meditation vs. everday life" is not how it is supposed to be. There is not meditation and then stop and go on with your day. The idea is to resume activity in the day but still in meditation (go from sitting to walking meditation...without a break...to the breakfast table and do eating meditation...etc).
Eventually meditation never stops...and meditation becomes everyday life; even while out and about doing your everyday business.
Namaste,
~ Eric Putkonen
Hi Eric:
Your instruction does not apply to AYP deep meditation. We automatically take inner silence gained in twice daily deep meditation with us into our daily activity, but not the procedure of deep meditation itself (or the mantra). In the AYP approach, there are other means that arise for integrating inner silence in normal daily activity. Additional means include a natural abiding in stillness, the rising habit of samyama (cultivated in core sitting practice), relational self-inquiry, tantric methods, ecstatic conductivity and radiance, and other evolving expressions of "stillness in action."
Just a reminder: The Deep Meditation/Samyama and Pranayama/Mudras/Bandhas forums are primarily for support for the corresponding AYP practices. To be mixing and matching systems of practice (or non-practice) can be confusing for beginners especially.
You are welcome to share your philosophies and methods in other forums here where it is appropriate, including in the "Bhakti/Jnana/Karma Yoga" and "Other Systems of Spiritual Practice" forums. All input is welcome in the appropriate forums where there can be clarity of method while minimizing confusion between different approaches to practice.
And while we are on approaches, you promote Kriya Yoga on your website, but only discuss an advaita/non-duality approach here in the AYP Forums. Perhaps when you have time, it would be nice to clarify your thoughts on kriya yoga practice in relation to your current advaita/non-duality approach, keeping in mind that many readers here are beginners looking for practical methods. Also, many here have broad experience and can spot inconsistencies in a teaching approach in a heartbeat. The fellow who takes a plane to Los Angeles and then preaches that no plane is necessary to get to Los Angeles has some explaining to do. 
It is not about where we teachers might happen to be. That is not important. It is about how others can evolve most efficiently in unfolding their own full potential.
A good place to provide the necessary clarifications on the role of Kriya Yoga on your path, if any, is in the "Other Systems" forum. I'm sure it would stimulate a lively discussion on "path versus no path" approaches.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
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brushjw
USA
191 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2008 : 2:17:09 PM
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One of the long-term effects of yoga is that we identify with inner silence. That becomes our base of operations. Actions become effortless because we are fully integrated with existence.
When you're new to yoga it is easy to forget the inner silence you achieve on the yoga mat as you go about your day. Emotions and desires control your actions. Acting out on emotions and desires creates stress.
As we continue to meditate and still the rippling pond within through purification, emotions and desires lessen their hold on us. We choose different actions based on a desire for different outcomes. Inner silence becomes less a lofty goal and more a daily reality.
namaste,
Joe |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2008 : 2:15:00 PM
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My guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, used to tell a story--which I'm sure is older than he was and from the tradition of his teaching--which goes like this: The silence of meditation is related to the buzz of daily activity in the same way the hushed orderliness of a Bank is related to a busy marketplace. One only needs to spend a few quiet minutes in the bank each morning gaining fullness (of the wallet!) to make the bustle of the marketplace effective and efficient. Maharishi also told another story about the necessity of action outside of meditation for drawing the effects of meditation out into our activity. I copy my retelling of that analogy below.
Dyeing the Cloth: The importance of Regular Meditation & Daily Activity
The calmness, peace and fulfillment you feel during meditation is called “turiya”, or transcendence, also called pure awareness. That means you have transcended, or gone beyond, the emotions, feelings, sensations, perceptions and actions which cloud our awareness from knowing it all the time--it IS always there, but the activity, both within and without, disables us from knowing it--until we reach silence. Then it is uncovered.
BUT-we come out of meditation and that calm, centered, balanced feeling fades quickly in the light of day. How to gain it as a permanent feature of our awareness?
There is an ancient method for dyeing cloth in the East, making it both very brightly colored and color-fast, whereby neither the sunlight nor washing will fade it. In this lengthy process, the white cloth is dipped into the dye. Let’s dye our cloth yellow to symbolize the light of wisdom! We dip the cloth into the vat of yellow dye, and it soaks it up and is a bright yellow color. Then we take the cloth out and hang it in the sun to dry. As the cloth dries, almost all of the yellow color fades away, but some small bit remains. The cloth is dipped again into the dye, and again it is bright yellow, but it must be dried again, and the sun fades it--but a bit more color remains. Dipping and fading again and again, and after many many times, the yellow is permanent, color-fast, and nothing can fade it.
Our mind is like the cloth, pure transcendence is like the vat of yellow dye and our daily activity is like the sun. Without coming out of meditation and allowing its effects to fade away, our mind would never become stable in its glow. To make the peaceful calm of meditation color-fast in our mind, it is necessary to dip and fade--to meditate and act, over and over for many years. Eventually, we become stable in pure awareness. This is called Cosmic Consciousness.
This is why regular practice of meditation is necessary--but why also daily activity is just as important.
Michael |
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meditation vs everyday life
