Words on Meditation

J. Krishnamurti on Meditation

One profound advantage to living in an ashram or monastery is that you are continuously reminded to meditate and focus on spiritual evolution, and you are kept inspired by the environment, teachers and fellow aspirants. But for those of us who live out in the world and are surrounded by family, work, school, kids, bills, society, etc., inspiration can sometimes be hard to come by and the zest for Enlightenment and the Truth can come and go.

So one of my goals here on Mastery of Meditation and Yoga, along with giving you a wealth of information on meditation and yoga techniques, is to find and share words on meditation which keep you ever inspired. This inspiration I think is critical for meeting the critical requirement of life-long passion for Self-Realization.

Early in my meditation days one the most intriguing things was that whenever I read the words of great meditation masters, such as J. Krishnamurti, I felt as if what they were saying was already known to me or even that it had written by me. This included their description of enlightenment.  This sense, this feeling is called “fore-feeling”, and if you experience it, hold on to it tight and ride it as far, deep and long as you can. It is like the scent of Reality and once you smell it, I think you should follow it like an obsessed bloodhound :-).

Today, I felt it again as I read Krishnamurti’s words on meditation and it inspired me greatly. So I would like to share those words with you below and I hope you are inspired by them just as much.

I suggest, to read the words with an open mind and just allow them to work their magic on you.

Often, such readings are in and of themselves enough to propel you from your normal dualistic reality to the Truth. At the very least they can give you the “fore-feeling” I spoke of above and inspire you to deepen your mediation practice.

Words on Meditation by J. Krishnamurti

Book: Meditation

Author: J. Krishnamurti:

Meditation is one of the most extraordinary things, and if you do not know what it is, you are like the blind man in a world of bright color, shadows and moving light.  It is not an intellectual affair, but when the heart enters into the mind, the mind has quite a different quality; it is really, then, limitless, not only in its capacity to think, to act efficiently, but also in its sense of living in a vast space where you are part of everything.

Meditation is the movement of love.  It isn’t the love of the one or the many.  It is like water that everyone can drink out of any jar, whether golden or earthenware: it is inexhaustible.  And a peculiar thing takes place which no drug or self-hypnosis can bring about: it is as though the mind enters into itself, beginning at the surface and penetrating ever more deeply, until depth and height have lost their meaning and every form of measurement ceases.  In this state there is complete peace – not contentment which has come about through gratification – but a peace that has order, beauty and intensity.  It can all be destroyed, as you can destroy a flower, and yet because of its very vulnerability it is indestructible.  This meditation cannot be learned from another.  You must begin without knowing anything about it, and move from innocence to innocence.

The soil in which the meditative mind can begin is the soil of everyday life, the strife, the pain and the fleeting joy.  It must begin there, and bring order, and from there move endlessly.  But if you are concerned only with making order, then that very order will bring about its own limitation, and the mind will be its prisoner.  In all this movement you must somehow begin from the other end, from the other shore, and not always be concerned with this shore or how to cross the river.  You must take a plunge into the water, not knowing how to swim.  And the beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going, where the end is.

Inspiring Words on Meditation Summary:

I have highlighted some aspects of the excerpt above which I feel capture the essence of this teaching.  Specifically I want to direct your attention to the part which points you to where to start this journey.  Start exactly where you are.  Start by becoming aware of your thoughts and feelings as best you can.  Just begin to shine the light of awareness on what is taking place in and around you.  This awareness will change everything.  This awareness is the beginning of meditation and it is what will take you to bliss and beyond.  It will open your eyes to the Truth.