Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

When I began the practice of meditation, more than thirty years ago, it was the toughest discipline to follow. It required sitting still in silence, focusing on the breath and bringing attention back to breathing over and over again. But in time I found it one of the most rewarding practices. 

I discovered that there was a subtle difference between meditation and sitting still in silence and solitude. In breathing practice the flotsams and jetsam of my mind settled down and by the time all the debris had quietened down my body was still. 

When I was still and by myself I contemplated about the meaning of my life. And I contemplated about current situations. Without silence, solitude did not mean much. I could be alone but listening to music, surfing the web and so on. Such silence did not result in personal awakening or spiritual upliftment. In silence I focused on the present—and solutions surfaced, ideas bubbled up. 

I sensed the peace derived from stillness in meditation was different in essence from the satisfaction derived from sitting in silence. In meditation I focus on my breath and body and became still to let the wisdom and compassion within surfaced to the top of my mind, and in silence I solved problems. Both were valuable and indescribable experiences.

Outside life, the life of noise, busyness, and speed could wait. When I decided to enter silence and solitude, I chose to do nothing. I stopped desiring something, wanting the present situation to be something else, ceased complaining, stopped feeling self-important. I immersesd myself in the passing present moments, one by one. And peace prevailed. 

I realized I could carry this feeling with myself wherever I went. I trusted. I honored. I surrendered to silence. It opened me to vast spacious and deeper inner world.

You have joined this group because at the core of your being you are longing for something deeper, something more meaningful, something beautiful and true. Only silence and solitude have power to take you there. An inner journey like this demands practice and commitment in silence. Any such journey is replete with unspeakable beauty and danger. You may find yourself utterly alone. At times you will feel you are walking in the right direction; at other times you are not so sure. You may get lost and have to take a U-turn. You will face challenges and unexpected encounters that will stretch you to your limits and change you for the better.

But finally when you reach the end, you would have returned to yourself  but somewhat higher. You see, this path moves as a spiral. You always return to yourself but at a higher level coming closer and closer to your Authentic/True Self. By the time you arrive at the apex you are one with the divine within.