There are many forms of mediation, and they’re all wonderful tools.

They all serve a purpose.

When practiced right, any meditation has the potential to improve the quality of our lives and quiet our minds.

The trap is that meditation involves a subject and an object. It’s me doing something.

It’s an endless loop of duality, wherein we may find ourselves wondering:

Who’s doing the meditation?

Who’s letting go?

Who’s doing downward dog?

Who’s being mindful?

Who is this “self” who wants to be enlightened?

Ramana Maharshi, one of India’s greatest saints, suggested asking these three questions:

Who am I?

Where do thoughts come from?

To whom has this thought arisen?

(Hint: the answer is the same for all three questions.)

These questions bring me back to the source, instead of focusing on something outside, I return home to the origin of everything.

Vedanta (Hindu philosophy) uses negation to determine your true nature. It starts with the premise that who you are, doesn’t come and go. Thoughts come and go, feelings come and go, bodies come and go, sensations come and go. What doesn’t come and go? What illuminates all the above? What is the sentient factor?

The word Vedanta means the end of knowledge. If I simply read this article, I’d get another concept; however, if I take a few minutes to ask the questions above, perhaps I’ll experience something new which is greater than knowledge.

In life, it’s easy to forget that empty silent awareness is ground zero of who I am—pristine and endless.

It’s never tainted or touched by anything.

It’s always perfect.

 

 

 

 

Author: Tom Marino

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Take Back Your Health Conference at Flickr