Our health is based on a relationship between body, mind, and spirit, and the well-being of each part, and the physical body itself is only one component in the overall well-being equation. This holistic principle recognizes that a stress-free and happy mind and a flourishing spiritual life are important factors in our physical health. Just as stress and negative emotions quietly erode our life force, the practice of meditation releases a new and positive life force, born of inspiration, happiness and peace, into every part of our existence, creating the optimal conditions for vitality and health. With meditation, even our sleep pattern can change: an improvement in quality, a likely reduction in quantity. More time and energy to live our lives!
it all starts inside
The way we feel and function in our outer life is largely determined by our inner life: our happiness, our confidence, our state of mind, our awareness. We often have little power to change events in the outside world, but we can change the way we react to them. When we are happy and calm, difficulties and problems are easily overcome; when we are anxious or unhappy, the same difficulties can turn into nightmares. Our entire experience of life is colored by our own consciousness: our life is the creation of our minds! Meditation balances the inner and outer worlds and brings out the bright colors of our nature: joy, serenity, loving kindness, strength. These emerging positive qualities reshape our own experience of life, because it all starts within.
The writings of all the great sages and pioneers throughout the centuries share many recurring ideas and truths; one of them is the belief in the wisdom and beauty of the human soul. Sri Chinmoy describes the soul as our ‘inner pilot’: it is our highest Self, our truest Self, our inner life guide. The more we listen to our soul, the more our outer life will flourish and prosper, and it is in the silence and stillness of meditation that the wisdom of the soul can most easily be felt and experienced. In everything in life, decision making, problem solving, the search for fulfillment and purpose, the inner pilot is there to show us the way and we can learn to access it through our deepening practice.
The special promise of the soul
The great sages also tell us that each soul is unique and has something very special to accomplish on earth. By listening to our ‘inner pilot’ we begin to feel and understand what the deeper purpose of our life is and then our outer life becomes more and more in harmony with this knowledge. The discovery and fulfillment of the special promise of the soul brings us great happiness.
Power of the mind
The many techniques employed in learning meditation share a common theme: harnessing and focusing the power of the mind. The by-products and benefits of this effort are numerous: an ability to focus and concentrate quickly, enhanced memory, a meditative stillness of mind that allows us to access deeper, more intuitive, creative, and inspiring parts of our being.
heart power
Sri Chinmoy places great emphasis on the spiritual heart in our pursuit of happiness, as it houses many of our most powerful spiritual qualities. An ever broader and deeper capacity for love; compassion for others; a unity with all life; inner wisdom; a wishless happiness, like the fragrance of an inner flower, spreading in our life – a hidden treasure waiting to be discovered! Sunset over the ocean The heart is a consciousness without an ego, without a horizon, and living ‘in the heart’ is one of the secrets of true happiness. One of the main forms of yoga, bhakti yoga, also focuses on the spiritual heart. Here, the power of devotional love turns to God and sees the divinity in all things.
a peaceful life
Meditation will make you a very peaceful person. This peace comes through a growing self-acceptance and self-confidence, and through an inner balance that comes from a deeper part of our being. This peace is not something passive and fragile, it is very powerful and dynamic. This kind of inner peace will lift you above success, failure, the positive and negative aspects of life; it leaves us with an unshakable balance and a sense of calm and detachment in the face of the changing fortunes and tribulations of life. People who have developed inner peace are very powerful.
Wake up
Meditation is the awakening to our true nature, a spiritual path towards enlightenment, self-realization, unity with God. This is why one should always feel gratitude for the impulse to meditate: we have consciously begun the great journey of awakening that lies at the very heart of all human life.