Importance of stillness / meditation

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

It has been my experience that a true master will guide one to become a light unto one's self so that one discovers Truth for one's self.

Over 50 years ago, I met a "hidden master" in the form of a black homeless man with awesome energy on the streets of NYC. He would appear mysteriously and vanish just as mysteriously for the first two years of the nine years that we were in contact.

It is also said that, when the student is really ready, the teacher disappears.

I remember this story about the homeless master in NYC.


Oh, wait, now, this I do not rem:
'' My world first got turned upside down and inside out
many many years ago during a 3-day near death experience
during which I saw everything,....''

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

*snipped*
That week last year and the several that followed were the most unusual of my life and by orders of magnitude and what brought me to this forum.

The only way I can explain it is how NDE survivors explain communication as not being verbal but "implanted" knowing.

While a lucid dream is amazing this was beyond profound. The absolute and unwavering "feeling" of existence and consciousness itself (not to be confused with experience of existing and being conscious) and 24x7 bliss interspersed with bouts of ecstasy is beyond words.


This is the only place I've shared this because family, friends and coworkers will most likely think I've lost it. LOL!

I don't expect anyone here to believe it, nor should they, however if it piques anyone's curiosity I would simply encourage them to explore it for themselves. Explore their own experience and consciousness. Besides since this is a spiritual forum I'm going to share and not be shy. I suppose it can be labeled a mystical experience....

To tie it all back to the context of this thread it is in fact that deep, unchanging and ever-present inner stillness.

Best post of yours ever.

Originally Posted by deLord

Since Miss Hepburn asked me to open a new thread for this, I decided that it might be a good idea :)

I meditate twice daily with increasing duration for a few years now. Still being very easily distracted especially by thoughts. No ekaggata yet (btw 2 wiki articles?? Ekagrata <> Ekaggata)

1) Does anyone have any idea on why stillness is THAT important? For the rational mind this is not understandable. Especially when it comes to that enlightenment and siddhis are achieved by this method.

2) Maybe someone can give me advice on why it is worth investing many hours per day on sadhana instead of living an "ordinary" life.
How can I convince myself that meditation is worth doing?
I mean, I do meditate daily but right now, I just believe that it will lead somewhere beyond material bounds. No one has shown me. I have no idea whether it helps for telepathy, healing abilities, anything useful or permanent bliss.
It's not like muscle training where I can tell "yeah I can see my muscles growing BECAUSE OF the training".
With meditation, I do it based on blind belief which is something I usually don't like very much. I cannot tell whether it helps for anything - and this is after a few years of already doing it.
Without having reached enlightenment, how can anyone know that attaining enlightenment if far far better than "just" attaining a siddhi (story of the 2 brothers and the ferryman)? I imagine someone who never fell in love. How are you gonna describe to him what he misses? I think it's impossible. It's like describing colors to a (color-)blind.

3) I've still not completely come to terms with the duality of "do nothing - universe will do/give everything necessary" vs "you have to do some work / sadhana". So --- which one is it? Why not play computer all day? Or completey ignore the spiritual way; if nothing can be achieved but only given by grace or surrender (I do not yet completely understand this concept).

What do you think?

Everything is meant to be taken very seriously, if you are serious. I can confirm stillness of the mind is important, you have to force yourself to do it constantly until it becomes easier. For instance if you think in words, the moment you start a sentence in your mind just cut it off and don't allow any words to enter your mind. Words are slow, we already know what the thought is long before it's converted into words. You say you meditate twice daily but I don't believe segregating meditation is correct, many people do that and get nowhere, divinity requires constant meditation, constant effort 24/7.

We are not supposed to do nothing, we are supposed to be constantly trying to allow ourselves to dissolve into nothing. Because compared to the Truth, we are nothing. We are tiny specs of nothingness, because the Truth is just that much unfathomably greater.

We think we have 'something' when in reality it is nothing. But we value that 'something' so much that we are blind to everything else.

Truth is beyond us, more powerful than we can imagine, we cannot control it or change it or expect our opinions about it to be correct. We can only surrender to it.

Right now.. this is the bottom of the barrel, this is hell. The perception we developed in order to survive physically, it is all we know. And it cannot know Truth because that is something we did not create, it does not exist as part of this physical existence. We truly don't know anything and you're fooling yourself when you think you do before you really do.

Imagine God creating something. Now imagine you creating something. Which creation do you think would be better? ..right now you're choosing yours.

Jesus once said, 'There is nothing I have that you do not, the only difference between us now is I have nothing else.'

I was like you before, I was just trying to have real spiritual/psychic experiences but got a lot more than that in trying. It's only difficult because of it's extreme simplicity.

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Best post of yours ever.

I must have been on the jazz! https://youtu.be/FJpei5QrZ44

LOL!

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

I forget exactly when but within several days the waking version of a lucid dream experience began. It was exactly like knowing one is not the dream body but the dreamer and the entire dream. I was not the mind-body but something else and in fact all of objective reality. I was everything and everything was me. The most astounding aspect was looking into another's eyes and "know" without a shadow of doubt I was looking right back and to the point of expecting a knowing wink back.

While a lucid dream is amazing this was beyond profound. The absolute and unwavering "feeling" of existence and consciousness itself (not to be confused with experience of existing and being conscious) and 24x7 bliss interspersed with bouts of ecstasy is beyond words. For me it sealed the deal about the truth conveyed by Advaita. This is the only place I've shared this because family, friends and coworkers will most likely think I've lost it. LOL!

I don't expect anyone here to believe it, nor should they, however if it piques anyone's curiosity I would simply encourage them to explore it for themselves. Explore their own experience and consciousness. Besides since this is a spiritual forum I'm going to share and not be shy. I suppose it can be labeled a mystical experience but I would call it a flash of awakening, and my takeaway is the underlying reality of that consciousness has always been there and not just for me. It's just not often recognized and wasn't by me for 60 years but now I can't ignore it even though the intensity of those several weeks faded. It still reverberates and is now the single-most defining aspect of my existence.

To tie it all back to the context of this thread it is in fact that deep, unchanging and ever-present inner stillness.

It doesn't really matter whether the skeptics believe you or not since you KNOW due to the direct experiences whose validity is echoed by revered sages dating back to time immemorial.

Once one has the direct experiences, one needs no further convincing and actually becomes quieter and quieter .... as the intellectuals and skeptics continue their speculative dialogues while refusing to restore the stillness where, as BigJohn has mentioned, the "magick" starts.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

I remember this story about the homeless master in NYC.


Oh, wait, now, this I do not rem:
'' My world first got turned upside down and inside out
many many years ago during a 3-day near death experience
during which I saw everything,....''

I thought that I had once mentioned my mind-boggling, life-transforming near death experience (NDE) from many years ago when I emerged completely symptom-free and alert from a 3-day "irreversible coma" on, of all days, Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holy day of at-one-ment. The doctors were stunned because they had predicted that there would be severe brain damage and/or organ damage in the unlikely event that I came out of the coma.

Upon emerging, I had a very vivid recollection of all that had transpired .... out-of-body, remote viewing, seeing the vast panorama of creation from a different vantage point, a life-guiding visionary experience (that I initially misinterpreted completely), and much much more. Coming from a Roman Catholic background, this literally turned my world inside-out and upside-down as this was completely alien to my understanding of the Reality at that time. Since this was over 50 years ago, there was virtually no documentation on near death experiences at that time. In any case, I was completely unaware of such phenomenon when this happened. This served as a catalyst to investigate more deeply the nature of the Reality and to discover that this "phenomenon" was actually quite natural in the depths of meditation as one finally starts discovering one's true nature (Who am I?).

In many ways, this was strikingly similar to the "waking version of a lucid dream experience" described by JustASimpleGuy in previous posts. In the depths of meditation, one abides more and more continuously in the state described by JustASimpleGuy and that NDE served as the catalyst/inspiration for discovering that.

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

I thought that I had once mentioned my mind-boggling, life-transforming near death experience (NDE) from many years ago when I emerged completely symptom-free and alert from a 3-day "irreversible coma" on, of all days, Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holy day of at-one-ment. The doctors were stunned because they had predicted that there would be severe brain damage and/or organ damage in the unlikely event that I came out of the coma.

Upon emerging, I had a very vivid recollection of all that had transpired .... out-of-body, remote viewing, seeing the vast panorama of creation from a different vantage point, a life-guiding visionary experience (that I initially misinterpreted completely), and much much more. Coming from a Roman Catholic background, this literally turned my world inside-out and upside-down as this was completely alien to my understanding of the Reality at that time. Since this was over 50 years ago, there was virtually no documentation on near death experiences at that time. In any case, I was completely unaware of such phenomenon when this happened. This served as a catalyst to investigate more deeply the nature of the Reality and to discover that this "phenomenon" was actually quite natural in the depths of meditation as one finally starts discovering one's true nature (Who am I?).

In many ways, this was strikingly similar to the "waking version of a lucid dream experience" described by JustASimpleGuy in previous posts. In the depths of meditation, one abides more and more continuously in the state described by JustASimpleGuy and that NDE served as the catalyst/inspiration for discovering that.

I'm sure you're familiar with Eben Alexander's NDE. Sounds eerily similar. In fact the follow-on to his NDE is similar, undertaking meditation to further explore the ramifications of his experience in relation to his previous concept of reality.

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

It doesn't really matter whether the skeptics believe you or not since you KNOW due to the direct experiences whose validity is echoed by revered sages dating back to time immemorial.

Once one has the direct experiences, one needs no further convincing and actually becomes quieter and quieter .... as the intellectuals and skeptics continue their speculative dialogues while refusing to restore the stillness where, as BigJohn has mentioned, the "magick" starts.

Yeah, I'm not concerned about being doubted, however I don't want to worry or disturb family and friends. Most are either agnostic or devout Roman Catholics and I'm probably more concerned about the latter than the prior and in particular the possibility of damaging their faith. There's also a bit of that concern on this forum and that's why I pretty much stick to the sub-forums and topics where it's applicable.

I imagine it sometimes comes across as arrogant or egotistic, however I would say it's nothing special about me, but something special about all of us. Right now the experience is so close and I'm so very passionate.

Ram Daas tells a humorous story about visiting his brother in a psychiatric institution. His brother asks "Why is it I say I'm God and they lock me up and give me medication and you say you're God and everyone flocks to your talks?" and Ram Dass answers "Ah, I also tell everyone else they are God too.". LOL!

Getting back on-topic, the importance of the stillness is that's the state of mind where Self can be "known". It is said Self is self-revealing and self-evident, however not when mind is running amok. This is why it's important to quiet the mind and "find" that deep inner silence that's beyond mind. Once "found" and convincingly so then all the (willful) chatter of mind and all the distractions of the exterior world can no longer veil it. Then we can honestly say something like...

https://krishna.org/what-is-action-a...t-is-inaction/

“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.” (Bhagavad Gita 4.18)

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

I'm sure you're familiar with Eben Alexander's NDE. Sounds eerily similar. In fact the follow-on to his NDE is similar, undertaking meditation to further explore the ramifications of his experience in relation to his previous concept of reality.

Eben Alexander's NDE is particularly interesting since he is a neurosurgeon and his perspective would be much more medically analytic than what most NDErs, including myself, would be able to present. I have heard him speak on several occasions (on videos, not in person). He's good !