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| An alert cat Source photo : Mottled Cat |
But don't expect to learn some esoteric mantra or some fabulous prayer revealed by some sufi master :-) No, I'm just joking by naming "mantra" the folowing sentence : "Thanks, you are not needed now". But this phrase directed to its own mind can be a powerful tool towards meditativeness. Let's see how is this possible ...
1- What is a mantra ?
A mantra, in eastern religions and philosophies, is a kind of prayer or sentence that a guru or a master gives to a seeker to repeat in his meditation. In general the meaning of the mantra is not relevant. But the sound is. The music of the words is. For example the sound AUM if very powerfull...
The kind of breathing that goes with the mantra is important too. For example, the word "Allah" (God in arabic) that some sufis give as a mantra to their disciples, give rise to a deep exhale breathing. It is well known in yoga for example that repeating some pattern of breathing has many effects on the chemical of the body and therefore on the effectiveness of meditation ...
Some modern meditation techniques use as mantras every sequence of sounds, even meaningless. The goal is to substitute any coming thought with the mantra. When there is no more thought circulating in the mind, but just the mantra, you can drop the mantra itself and the meditation happens, since there is no more thoughts in the mind !
So a mantra can be used as a powerfull sound, a special breathing or a tool to expel thoughts from mind. The goal in all these cases is to let meditation happen. But what about my proposed "mantra" ? The sentence "Thanks, you are not needed now" addressed to our own mind has no powerful sound, nor special breathing, but a simple meaning. Let's see how does it works. Before that let me remind you ...
2- What is meditativeness ?
Spiritual teachers and physicians all agree that meditation is important for the body health and for the spiritual growth. Even if it is good to sit down for meditation several minutes each day, it is not good enough. If your are in the mind most of day and night, the benefits of those meditation sessions will be little or not sufficient. So it is important to extend the state of meditation all the day. What is the state of meditation ? two adjectives describe the meditation state : relax and alert. During meditation your body is relaxed and your mind has no thoughts but is fully alert. So the meditativeness is to try in all your day to day activity to be with a relaxed body and an alert mind. Your are eating, be relax and alert. Eat slowly with joy, gratitude and a mind free from thoughts. Your're walking to your work or shool. Be alert to each step and be totally in the walk. Don't let your mind go there and there and walk automatically. No, be present, alert and fully conscious of your walk. The same when you are driving your car, don't drive mechanically like a robot. Be alert of each movment. Be alert to the road, other vehicles, etc. When you are doing anything in your daily life that doesn't require explicitly your mind, be alert, mind-empty and totally in the action.
Why is this meditativeness important ? Consider this situation : Remember when your mind is excited with a project or an idea. You think of all the aspects of this idea or that project. You imagine the situation, what you are going to say, to do, how others will react, what will be your response, etc. If you are totally embeded in this thinking you are almost unconscious. You can come across some friends or family members and not pay any attention to them. Or you can see them, speak to them like a robot but you really don't listen to them and you forget them and what they said as soon as you left them. So clearly in this situation you are unaware, unconscious. So to be totally in the mind is synonym to be unconsciousness. Mad people are all the time jailed in their mind. They are completly unaware of the reality around them. A normal person, absorbed in his thinking is partly mad, since he can sometimes recover from his thinking and see the life around.
This is why meditativeness is important : you try to be always aware, alert. This awareness is synonym to life. When you are unconscious you miss the present moment, the life and your are transported in the past memories or in the future thoughts. In the meantime, the life slip away ...
3- How the mantra "Thanks, y're not needed now" works ?
3.1- It stops the mind
For example, it is a sunday morning and you decide to go to the garden, near your house, to relax and enjoy a sunny summer morning. Sitting alone on a bench in the garden. Firstly you hear the birds singing and the gentle breeze through the leaves of the trees. But after at most one minute, your mind start wandering, thinking of this or that. Every opportunity is used by mind to wander : a man pass by, wearing a tie ... The mind said, why he is wearing a tie a sunday morning ? perhaps he is working ...etc, etc. You hear a distant car horn and you remember that you should repair your car in the garage since yesterday ...etc, etc.
What to do ? When you detect this wandering of the mind, tell to your mind "Thanks, y're not needed now" and you return to your listenig of the birds, the leaves, etc. Or you became aware of your breathing, you relax your body and you bring your attention to the air entering the nose and going till the abdomen. When I say you bring your attention I don't mean the mind, no, the feeling... Try to feel your breathing not thinking of it ! And really the mind is not needed for that. He can take a rest and let you enjoy your sitting in the garden.
I used to run about 20 kms every saturday morning along the "Corniche" and some boulevards in Casablanca. My run lasts about two hours and half. In the begining, once I started running, my mind started running too ! Unlike me he doesn't seem to be tired by running ... thinking, thinking, non stop thinking ! One day, I decide to stop my mind during my run. I tell him that he can relax, stop his thinking and let met concentrate on my run. Then I bring alternatively my attention on each part of my body. My toes, feet, legs, thighs, hips, abdomen, chess, back, arms, neck, eyes, nose, ears, head, etc. I try to feel each organ deeply ... how does it feel ? is it OK ? is the run harming it ? I try to feel all organs, even my brain I try to feel it, is it ok ? the blood is irrigating it well ? is there any strain in the head ? is there any thought in the mind ? I never could make 2 hours sitting in meditation, but I was able to be meditative, alert and totally in the run during more than two hours ! The result is amazing : at the end of my run I feel less tired, more alive, more happy ...
3.2- Don't verbalize
It is usless to verbalize the sentence "Thanks, y're not needed now" since it will be another thought. Just remember it and stop your mind. Don't think that you are going to stop the wandering of the mind and start concentrate on your breath. In the beginning verbalizing is acceptable to some extent. But be aware, not substituting thinking with another thinking, than you forget and your mind goes far away, than you remember your mantra, etc. You will end up by doubling your thinking and splitting your personnality ! No, when you are aware that your mind has started his thinking, you just remember the sentence "thanks, y're not needed now" without verbalizing its words and you go ahead instantly concentrating on your breath, your walk or what ever else.
In many situations, I observe that when I decide to make something I start verbalizing it or making sentences of it. But this is good when doing a mathematical exercice not in life situations. I found that verbalizing often is slowing my actions : mind is slow, life is instant. So try to feel that, in many situations, doing without verbalizing is faster than thinking of the act with words in mind. I'm not saying you should act like a robot automatically without thinking. No, be alert, total in the action, aware of the action but without thinking with words in your mind. Words slow your action. Words are thinking. Be just alert and total in the action.
3.3- Don't rehearse
Let me draw your attention to another trap of the mind. For example, you decide to go to the garage to repare your car. When going to the garage your mind start rehearsing : when I will see the mechanic, I will tell him ... and you make a sentence. Then you start rehearsing your phrase, refining it ... When you catch your mind rehearsing, stop him immediatly by your mantra "Thanks, you're not needed now" and concentrate on your driving or your walk. When you arrive in the garage, you can speak with the mechanic without preparing what you will say.
The mind will always project itself in the future, imagine the coming situations and prepare what to say, what to do, etc. But often it is totally useless in day to day situations. Of course, if you go to a job interview, you should prepare this interview. In this situation, the mind is required. But usually the mind start thinking and rehearsing in useless situations. Be alert of that and stop him once you are alert of this trap.
4- Conclusion
In this article I've tried to show certain situations where the mind start thinking dispite it is not needed. You should be alert to these situations. Each time you catch your mind red handed, wandering, verbalizing, rehearsing or repeating the same old reaction patterns again and again, stop it by remembering your mantra "thanks, y're not needed now" and instantly be present to the situation. The more you gather situations where your mind is caught "in flagrante delicto", the more your awareness will increase. Look at each situation when you are aware of a mind's trap as a victory of your being. Not a victory in a battle field. You're not fighting your mind. But a victory in a game with your mind. So be playful and enjoy your mind game. Enjoy Life. Each alertness gained in this mind game is a step towards your enlightenment.
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