_“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven”  - Matthew 18:3

This week I’d like to explore this popular verse from the Bible with a simple meditation. I have come across a passage in a book by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that explains this very thing that Jesus was talking about. Read the passage below and then attempt the meditation that follows as often as you can, but at least twice a day for the next week.

“An infant knows its body, but not the body-based distinctions. It is just conscious and happy. After all, that was the purpose for which it was born. The pleasure to be is the simplest form of self love, which later grows into love of the self. Be like an infant with nothing standing between the body and the self. The constant noise of the psychic life is absent. In deep silence the self contemplates the body. It is like the white paper on which nothing is written yet. Be like that infant, instead of trying to be this or that, be happy to be. You will be a fully awakened witness of the field of consciousness. But there should be no feelings and ideas to stand between you and the field.”

As you lie in bed this week, on waking up and before you go to sleep, see if you can feel your body without the interference of the mind. Feel the aliveness flowing through you. Feel your very existence. Imagine that you are a new born baby – in other words you have no language or imagery or memories with which to examine yourself, no judgements about how you feel, just the feeling that you are.

Happy regressions!

This week’s meditation is taken from various sources throughout my life – yoga classes, transcendental meditation course, books by Deepak Chopra, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Osho.

Using a mantra can be a very powerful and life changing meditation. Very simply, mantras are sounds which are repeated (either internally or out loud) and change your vibrational frequency to that of the surrounding universe.

Another way to look a mantras is as a tool to bring greater discipline and focus to your mind. Simply repeating a word or phrase whenever you find your mind wandering or whenever you are getting stressed or lost in the world, will train you to stay focused on the present and will almost immediately reduce your stress levels and increase your productivity.

There are hundreds of different mantras that exist for various different purposes. I will mention only three here that I have found to be both powerful and life transforming.

Om (ohm) - the sound of the Supreme Being. Includes past, present and future. Used for enlightenment.

So Hum – the mantra of the sound of the breath, with the breath being our link to life itself. ‘so’ on the in breath and ‘hum’ on the out breath.

I Am – connection with the inner self and the gateway to what is beyond this.

So, the meditation for this week is as follows:

Choose a mantra that you feel most comfortable with. Twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or early evening, sit quietly with your eyes closed. Take a minute to relax and get comfortable. Watch the mind and its constant activity. Then bring in the mantra. Aside from the ‘so hum’ mantra which will follow the breath, the mantra does not need any particular pattern of repetition. It should drift through your mind like any other thought. When you feel your mind wandering, simply trail the mantra to the end of the thought and let it replace the usual stream of words. In between, if it happens, let the mind sit in silence. After about 20 minutes (yes, you can check your watch, but don’t set an alarm) stop using the mantra and let your normal thinking resume, or sit in silence for two minutes as an adjustment phase before continuing with your day.

Then bring this into your day as often as you remember. Every time you notice the active mind, bring in the mantra.

Please remember that as you sink deeper into meditation this will trigger any thoughts or emotions that need to be released. Don’t get attached to anything that happens or comes up during your meditation. Allow it to be. If you need to laugh or cry, do, and then return to your meditation. If thoughts come up, let them float past. Don’t feel the need to ruminate over whatever thought or memory came up in your meditation – it comes to be cleared, not to be relived. Also, keep in mind that meditation can initially cause some emotional turmoil as these emotions and past events come up to clear. Keep at it and you will be greatly rewarded.

Wishing you a focused week of silence!