A New Meditation

So, being a thoroughly modern person you haveforests. They isolate themselves in order to
decided that you want to find a meditation and youconcentrate on their spirit and not be interrupted by
are thinking of starting your search on the Internet.mundane life.
Well you are in for a big surprise. Key in the wordIn the modern world it is well nigh impossible for the
'meditation' or 'yoga' and you are going to beordinary seeker to achieve their self-realisation using
overwhelmed by a multiplicity of choice. Patanjali'sthe paths of the Vissuddhimagga. There has
Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha Yoga, The Kabbalah, Tibetanhowever been a change in the firmament and it is
Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, Krishnamurti's Choicelessnow possible to achieve your self-realisation through
Awareness, Zen, Vippasana meditation, the Ramanataking to Sahaja Yoga. As impossible as it seems you
Maharshi meditation or perhaps Sahaja Yoga. Therecan now get your self-realisation simply by asking for
are many more.it. Any Sahaja yogi can give self-realisation. It is like
Well help is at hand. Daniel Goleman has written aone candle lighting another. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
book called "Meditative Mind" in which he classifies alldeveloped Sahaja Yoga. She is a very high spiritual
the different meditations in terms of thepersonality and can be described as a messenger
Vissudhimagga that was taught by the Lord Buddha.from God.
The Vissushimagga means the path of purification.With the Vissuddimagga you have to be spiritually
There are two basic types of meditation: the path ofperfect before you can get your self-realisation. With
concentration and the path of insight.the Sahaja Yoga you are not perfect but you can
Thoughts enter your mind in a random manner. Therework on trying to become spiritually perfect. The
is no pattern to their entry. The path ofpoint is that your kundalini does the work for you. All
concentration has you direct the flow of yourthat you have to do is to introspect on your self
thoughts, fixing them onto the object chosen for theduring meditation. What's wrong with me? The path
meditation. By forcing your wandering thoughts backof Sahaja Yoga is a much faster and easier method
on to the object your mind will eventually becomeof achieving spiritual perfection than the two
absorbed in it and your awareness will experience aVissuddimagga paths. It's like putting the roof on the
feeling of oneness with it. This is called the "point ofhouse first and then building up the walls and
entry."windows etc rather than the conventional way
The start of insight meditation is the practice ofaround.
mindfulness. You are required to pay attention toThe methods used by the Vissuddimargga meditation
your thoughts and senses as they arise and towork by trying to subdue the mind. Sahaja Yoga
merely register or note your observation of thesays that instead of trying to subdue or control the
thought or sense impression without furthermind, which is almost impossible anyway, why not
comment, reflection or judgement. You simply payignore it and simply go beyond it. The Sahaja Yoga
attention to what is happening in and to you. In themeditation is described as thoughtless awareness.
beginning as in the path of concentration your mindNormally it is virtually impossible to do this but in
will wander until you reach the point of bare insightSahaja Yoga your kundalini simply takes you straight
where your mind develops the ability to observe allinto thoughtless awareness.
that is registering in your mind without theIn their book 'From Here to Nirvana' Anne Cushman
interference of wandering thoughts. With theand Jerry Jones say that there are five types of
achievement of bare insight you realise that youryoga: Jhana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja and Hatha. Ramana
awareness is different from the object of yourMaharshi was a Jnana yogi who taught that thinking
awareness.the thought 'Who am I' would eventually lead to
Once you have reached the point of entry or ofself-realisation. This is the mind being used to
bare insight you then continue to achieve higher anddistinguish between the real and the unreal. Bhakti
higher levels of awareness until eventually you reachyoga is the path of love, devotion, and worship.
the highest state possible, which is variously calledKarma yoga is the path of selfless service. The
Nirvana, Nirodh, Moksha and various other names.Karma yogi does not renounce the world but rather
This state indicates that you have achieved the pointseeks to serve humanity in a detached, egoless
whereby you have acquired total self-knowledge andmanner. This leads to self-realisation. Raja yoga is the
are freed from the perpetual cycle of birth, deathpath taught by the saint Patanjali around the second
and rebirth.and third centuries AD. It is a systematic eight-fold
What actually happens here is that your kundalinipath, which works through the quietening of the
awakens and rises up the central subtle spiritualmind. Raja yoga includes a moral code, positive
channel called the Sushumna. The kundalini is thebreath control and a meditation akin to the ' path of
dormant spiritual power within each one of us, whichconcentration' talked about above. Hatha yoga is the
resides in our pelvic bone. The disadvantage withclassic 'exercise' yoga well known to people in the
either of the two paths of the Vissuddimagga is thatwest. Raja and Hatha yoga are usually associated
normally it takes a very long time to get yourtogether. Sahaja Yoga includes elements of all the
self-realisation. More than one lifetime is not unusual.different types of yoga except Hatha Yoga.
Remember that the Vissuddimagga means the 'PathReferences.
of Purification'. This refers to the fact that in addition(1) From Here to Nirvana. 1998. Anne Cushman and
to meditation the seeker has to purify his spiritualJerry Jones. Rider Books, London. ISBN 0712670610.
centres called chakras one by one. This is why the(2) Meditative Mind. 1996. Daniel Goleman Harper
Indian yogis go to the Himalayan Mountains or theCollins Publishers, London.