MEDITATION : A TREMONDOUS TASK

A TREMONDOUS TASK 

According to the Yogis, there are three principal nerve currents; one they call the Ida, the other the Pingala, and the middle one the Sushumn, and all these are inside the spinal column. 

The Ida and the Pingala, the left and the right, are clusters of nerves, while the middle one, the Sushumna, is hollow and is not a cluster of nerves. This Sushumna is closed, and for the ordinary man is of no use, for he works through the Ida and Pingala only. Currents are continually.

Going down and coming up through these nerves, carrying orders all over the body through other nerves running to the different organs of the body. 

The task before us is vast; and first and foremost, we must seek to control the vast mass of sunken thoughts which have become automatic with us. The evil deed is, no doubt, on the conscious plane; but the cause which produced the evil deed was far beyond in the realms of the unconscious, unseen, and therefore more potent. 

This is the first part of the study, the control of the unconscious. The next is to go beyond the conscious. so, therefore, we see now that there must be a twofold work. First, by the proper working of the Ida and Pingala, which are the two existing ordinary currents, to control the subconscious action; and secondly, to go beyond even consciousness.

ENVIRONMENT FOR MEDITATION 

Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this practice alone. Do not sleep in that room, it must be keep holy. You must not enter the room until you have bathed, and are perfectly clean in body and mind. 

Place flowers in that room always; they are the best surrounding for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing. Burn incense morning and evening.

Have no quarrelling, nor anger, nor unholy thought in that room. Only allow those person to enter it who are of the same thought as you. 

The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes and remains illuminated. Those who cannot afford to have a room set apart can practice anywhere they like. 

REQUISITES FOR MEDITATION 

Where there is fire, or in water or on ground which is strewn with dry leaves, where there are ant-hills, where there is wild animals, or danger, where four streets meet, where there is too much noise, where there are many wicked person, Meditation must not practiced. 

Do not practice when the body feels very lazy or ill, or when the mind is very miserable and sorrowful. Go to a place which is well hidden, and where people do not come to disturb you. Don not choose dirty places.

Rather choose beautiful scenery, or a room in your own house which is beautiful. When you practice, first salute all the ancient Yogis, and your own Guru and God, and then begin. 

TIME FOR MEDITATION

You must practice at least twice every day, and the best times are towards the morning and the evening. When night passes into day, and day into night, a state of relative calmness ensues. The early morning and the early evening are 

The two periods of calmness. Your body will have a like tendency to become calm at those times. We should take advantage of that natural condition and begin then to practice. Make it a rule not to eat until you have practiced; if you do this, the sheer force fo hunger will break your laziness. 

Now Pray! 

Mentally repeat:

Let all being be happy;

let all being be peaceful;

let all being be blissful. 

You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After doing that, those who believe in God should pray--not for money, not for health, nor for heaven, pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish.