Easy Meditation Steps for Beginners

How to start, when to start, and why to start?

“Time and tide wait for none”

The proverb reminds us of childhood. As we walk forward with a grinding lifestyle it becomes increasingly tougher to achieve the goal with the realization of life. We often say “Every time is tea time.” This common question stands before everyone - how to start and when to start and why to start meditation. We should start meditation immediately just from the next second when we start to think about it, as lots of seconds, minutes, hours…...years already left us. We should not think for the time which already passed away but should always look forward to what we shall have to cross with the time remaining in hand. The Bhagwat Geeta has rightly mentioned: “The past is lost, the future is nothing but an illusion, so concentrate on today.” That is, we can not get back yesterday, we do not know what is going to happen tomorrow, so the wise person utilizes the time available at hand today.

Mother’s Womb & Human Entity

We grow in a mother’s womb being relaxed during the whole journey till we step into the materialistic world. What did we do in that period? Parents from outside think their baby is enjoying the environment of the womb. Is it so? As a physician I can say – if we consider the fetal evolution, the ability to think is not possible at this stage as the brain remains in such a state of development where cells are not matured, not active enough to connect with the different response centers which require differentiating interactions of events, realizing the facts of the environment of the womb and even cannot store and process the facts. So, we cannot confirm the activity of a baby in the womb except for some involuntary movements. Baby cannot breathe in the womb. A baby cannot eat in the womb through some amniotic fluid that can be present in his/her stomach due to uncontrolled swallowing. Baby gets everything through the blood of his/her mother. But even the baby in the womb receives thoughts from the mother.

Lessons from The Mahabharata

In Mahabharata (the greatest Epic written by humans), we know that Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna (the hero and dedicated follower of Krishna)had started to learn penetration strategy into “Chakrabyuha” (a strategic and geometric formation of the military) in the war at Kurukshetra (extended Delhi) from Arjuna when he was within the womb of his mother(Subhadra) who was actually Krishna’s sister) but Lord Krishna stopped them to discuss the strategy; another version goes like this: Mother Subhadra fallen asleep when Arjun continued to tell her how to come out of the enemy’s military formation (“Chakrabyuha”). So, Abhimanyufailed to learn the remaining skill required for coming out of the strategic formation of the opposing warring enemies; this young fighter was ultimately killed by the enemies. This simple story from the Epic suggests amazing medical knowledge in ancients India, thousands of years ago. This is why mothers are suggested or advised by knowledgeable persons and doctors to listen to Indian classical (and soothing) music, to think and study good spiritual documents, to remain peaceful in creative works, to concentrate Almighty Nature and God during pregnancy. I am told by one of my senior patients that he did these during her wife’s pregnancy as a result of which they got a brilliant daughter who is in higher studies in the USA. He also reported me that when a couple decides to take a child, they should make the union in a state of mind that assimilates with Transcendental Wisdom so that the probability of getting a brilliant and balanced baby is significantly higher. Effectively, the good waves from the mother can help the development of the baby’s sound body mind soul. This is no myth. This is a scientific natural outcome.

“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” - Albert Einstein

Ripples of Mind

The “Counting process” is involved in the system of meditation as it helps concentrate the mind. If we look back to our childhood days we started to count as 1,2, 3,.., 100, and then beginning from 100, 99, 98, come back to 3, 2, 1. This counting process has been applied in the meditation system to control the speed and diversity of mind. These mathematical processes came in our earlier life. Speed of Mind is indeed very fast, faster than the speed of sound and light; when the creative mind generates ripples of thinking and imagination, it moves at unusually fast speed and its diversity is also boundless. Removal of diversity in the materialistic world and to concentrate on achieving the real goals of life counting process is incorporated into this system. How this counting system in meditation works will be discussed later.

Time and Duration of Meditation

There is no fixed time when to start meditation. Any day, at any moment we can initiate it. Preparation of the mind is of course very important. Start to concentrate on any object(which is preferable and easier for you to think) first and try to feel it. Purification of mind and devotion will help the process proceed smoothly. Without devotion success is impossible; all the greatest people have had this virtue- be it education, art, sport, music, and any other creative sphere. It is also important to know how long a meditation session should be continued. Daily on the same cushion at the same time for 10 minutes meditation is more effective than 2/3 hours at a stretch in a week. Discipline is essential at every step as discipline teaches us the art of meditation. History has enough records to show that all successful people are essentially very disciplined within.

Who Am I?

We come on this earth to work for others with the body and mind as each and everyone is dependent on others. By serving others, we actually giving a premium against our loan on earth. If we think deeply at every step, we are taking loans from others because we come with a “0” balance. Only debts of previous births remain with us. Minimum demands for livelihood are important as our need is like an elastic band of any size. However, terms like “Maximum” and “Minimum” are applicable to it but the value or extent of minimum and maximum cannot be ascertained so easily and it is impossible. If this “Maximum” and “Minimum” are considered as two variables, where values of these variables are of a wide range. Again, this varies from individual to individual. More material need means we are taking more loans as we come on the earth with zero materialistic accounts. With returning the high-value premium we should concentrate on the Supreme Power who helps us get rid of the burden of loans.

Meditation to Unearth Ourselves

We meditate to rediscover ourselves, to unearth ourselves, regarding our body, regarding the vital force working in every cell of our body and Atman (Soul) in Sanskrit, the Supreme Power within us. Where Atman resides, what is His nature, what is His physic, what is His role in our life can be realized by meditation only, that is assimilation with the body-mind-soul and the Universe.

Albert Einstein-like Eastern Rishis believed it: “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

The Vedas & Power of Concentration

We concentrate on our mortal body but should do it on Atman, the Almighty God. As per the Vedas, Atman remains in our body but do not participate, only observe the different actions in and out of our body silently but as a catalyst, He energizes the other vital forces and internal systems. When we concentrate on Atman the feelings of the body go away and the realization of our journey on earth will be unveiled and life will start to enjoy the universe offered by the Almighty. Over thousands of years, we come here for a very insignificant spell of time and then leave. When we return again, we cannot fetch our memory of who we were. We come empty-handed, leave empty-handed but so long as we remain alive and physically strong, we suffer from the intense ego for material possession as if we will live to enjoy the material and sensual happiness forever.

Einstein is again perfect on this point: