1. Happiness. Meditation can help us to cultivate a real abiding happiness. Meditation allows us to be in tune with our inner self. When we live in the heart we can experience a sense of oneness with others, this brings a happiness that does not depend upon outer events.

2. Inner Peace. Most people would like to experience more inner peace in their lives; at times peace feels an elusive quality because our lives are so hectic. Meditation teaches us how to switch off from the noise of the mind, we no longer give importance to the teeming thoughts which fly through our mind. Through meditation we can gain a clear state of mind; this is the secret of feeling a real inner peace.

3. Health Benefits. There have been numerous studies showing a link between meditation and improved physical health. Meditation is a practical solution to relieve stress. When we relieve stress we help to reduce our blood pressure and heart related diseases.

4. Simplicity. Meditation helps to simplify our lives. When we live in the mind we can feel life is nothing but teeming problems and worries. Through learning to meditate we find we can get joy from appreciating the simplicity of life.

“Meditation simplifies our outer life and energizes our inner life. Meditation gives us a natural and spontaneous life, a life that becomes so natural and spontaneous that we cannot breathe without being conscious of our own divinity.”

- Sri Chinmoy


5. Living in the Present. When we analyse the thoughts that go through our mind we find that many of them are dealing with the past or present. We are either fearful of the future or ruminating on the past. However by dwelling on the past or future, it means we are unable to live in the present moment. When we meditate we are completely in the here and now. Meditation teaches us to appreciate life as it is; we learn to value our present circumstances.

6. Better Relations with Others. Often we can have minor conflicts with other people because we dwell on minor faults of the other person. Whether it is justified or not, it is a common source of unhappiness and division. Meditation teaches us to give no importance to minor thoughts. When we meditate powerfully we develop a sense of oneness with other people; we naturally look to their good qualities. Their minor faults seem unimportant.

7. To discover a real sense of who we are. Our intellectual mind can seek to discover the answer to many questions, but the one question of who am I? always remains unanswered. To discover our real self; to be aware of our own soul we have to go beyond the mind. It is in meditation that we can become aware of a living spiritual presence. When we find this we feel a new purpose in life.


photo by Richard

Throughout the ages India has been the home of numerous Spiritual Masters and Saints. They have each offered a unique message and inspirational example of how we might aspire to a more illumining life. These saints have shared their wisdom and light in a way to suit the needs of the age and circumstances. However at heart they share a common message which is to “Know Thyself”. This is the supreme goal of yoga and spirituality; to know and realise our sense of divine consciousness.
 

Sri Rama. Sri Ramachandra was the embodiment of dharma – righteous action. He was a model King ruling his subject with the highest ideals of dharma. He also willingly accepted his fate, when he became exiled into the forest for 7 years. He took this as an opportunity to practise spiritual austerities. Sri Ramachandra showed it is not our external circumstances that matter what is important is our inner attitude.

 

Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna has been described as the perfect Avatar. Even from his birth he embodied the Supreme Consciousness. To his mother and devoted disciple, Arjuna he showed that in his human body resided the entire universe. During his time with the Gopis of Brindaban, Sri Krishna showed the path of love, devotion and surrender. Sri Krishna also left the immortal legacy of the Bhagavad Gita, which is a transcript of the conversation between Arjuna and Sri Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. In the Gita Sri Krishna, explained in simple language, how any sincere seeker could realise God; through devoted action and meditation on God.

 

Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha took incarnation in a time of religious decline. The essential purity of Hinduism and been lost as priests concentrated on outer forms, rituals and sacrifices. Lord Buddha revitalised spirituality in India by teaching how a seeker through right action, right thought and meditation could discover his own spiritual essence within. Lord Buddha was born in palace with all the worldly comforts. However he sacrificed all the pleasures of the world to seek liberation from bondage. After attaining a state of Nirvana Buddha stayed in the world for many years selflessly teaching others how they may seek liberation. Lord Buddha did not explicitly talk about God but he did talk about the infinite peace, light and love that could be experience through meditation and spiritual practise.

 

Sri Chaitanya. Sri Chaitanya was a Bhakti saint of the Vaishnava tradition. Intoxicated with divine love Sri Chaitanya revitalised the devotional Vaishanvism tradition of Hinduism. As a young man he was a brilliant scholar who was an excellent debater. However in his early2 0s he became tired of his worldly pursuits as he gained an ever-increasing realisation of God. Through meditation and devotion to Sri Krishna, Sri Chaitanya became absorbed in the ecstasy of God communion. Sri Chaitanya urged his followers and disciples to ignore the distractions of the world and devote themselves to spiritual practise.
 

 

Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna was an uneducated simple village boy who attracted the most learned scholars of Bengal to imbibe his spiritual wisdom and spiritual magnetism. At times people felt his devotion was so intense they mistook it for madness. Sri Ramakrishna was only mad in the sense that he was so absorbed in the divine consciousness that he struggled to act in the world. Sri Ramakrishna was unique because he practised the religious disciplines of different sects and religions. Through his own personal experience he was able to testify that all religions did lead to God. It was his firm belief that all religious paths could lead to the same goal. At the same time he taught that outer rituals were not important. The essences of true religion and spirituality were to love God without reservation. Sri Ramakrishna also taught many notable disciples who spread his message of spirituality and religious tolerance. In particular Swami Vivekananda most powerfully encapsulated his message of religious tolerance at the world parliament of religions in 1893.

Spiritual teachers at Biography online

Spiritual Teachers at Write Spirit

Is a pint glass half empty or half full? When you look at the moon are you inspired by its beauty, or do you see the dark spots? It is tempting to feel that our happiness depends on our external circumstances however to a large extent it is up to how we perceive the world that matters. These are a few suggestions for ways to see have a positive view on the world.

Steps for looking on the bright side of life.

1. Don’t listen to your mind’s negative thoughts. The nature of the human mind is to offer worries, anxieties and fears. However how often do these actually come true? The mind can easily exaggerate problems making them appear more serious than they actually are. It is best to ignore these thoughts

2. Look for good qualities in people. When dealing with other people, such as friends and families, it is often easy to see their numerous imperfections. If somebody has annoyed or upset you, try to think of their good qualities. Everybody will have some good qualities, if you can remember these it will make it easier to forgive other peoples transgressions.

3. Bad things often lead to good things. Often we wish things to occur in a certain way, when they don’t happen as we planned we feel miserable. However no matter what happens we should try to make the best of what happens. For example if you are made redundant it may become an opportunity to try new things and a new direction of your career.

4. Don’t take yourself too seriously. It is easy to feel bad if how ego is hurt. Nobody like being made a fool of in front of other people. However if you do not give too much attention to your ego and are able to laugh at yourself you can turn embarrassing moments into opportunities for giving joy to yourself and others.

5. Trials and tribulations give us the opportunity to progress. It would be unwise to look for problems but if we come across difficult situations / people we should look at this as an opportunity to overcome difficulties. For example, if we can learn to deal with argumentative people it will be of immense benefit in our later life.

6. Remember the Benefits of Smiling. Even when are difficulties are seemingly insurmountable there is no harm in smiling at our difficulties. When we smile it releases a chemical serotonin which makes us feel better. Also others much prefer pictures of people when they are smiling. People will respond better to people who are smiling.

7. Happiness spreads. Your state of mind and attitude will undoubtedly effect other people. When you can look on the bright side of life you will definitely inspire others to do the same. This will encourage you to do the right thing, as facing a problem with the right attitude is not just good for you, but your friends and colleagues as well.

See also this poem "Be Happy" by Sri Chinmoy

Meditation is an exercise and practise where we seek to discover our own inner Source. Through meditation we can learn to identify with a vast, infinite consciousness that embodies peace, light and abiding satisfaction. Everybody has these divine qualities of inner peace and joy, it is just that at the moment we are not aware of them. Meditation is our conscious effort to experience these qualities and make them part of our nature.

To practise meditation we don’t need to follow a particular religion; anybody can meditate, the only requirement is our conscious aspiration to silence the thoughts of the mind. At the same time if we can have the help of a qualified teacher and associate with others who meditate then our progress will be quicker and more assured. We gain inspiration by meditating with others and following a certain path of meditation.

There are many different approaches to meditation but ultimately the various teachings of meditation share a common objective; to stop our mental thoughts. In essence meditation is an experience where we are not using the mind to think. If we can empty our mind of thoughts, then we will be able to enter into a meditative consciousness. When we enter into this meditative consciousness we actually find our inner being, our inner pilot will spontaneously meditate on our behalf. In the beginning we may need to make an effort to silence the mind. However when we have achieved this task of silencing the mind we find meditation is something that is very spontaneous and natural.

To be able to be able to go from an ordinary mental consciousness to this elevated consciousness we need to master the practise of concentration. To concentrate we only focus on one thing at a time; we need to avoid getting distracted by thoughts and emotions. To help us achieve this there are various meditation exercises, which help us to silence the mind. These exercises can include the use of mantra, visualisation exercises and concentrating on certain objects.

Unless we are very fortunate, meditation may not come easily, but if we practise regularly we will begin to increase our meditative capacity and over time we will learn how to experience the lasting peace and satisfaction that meditation can give us. As Sri Chinmoy says of meditation

“Meditation gives us peace of mind without a tranquilliser. And unlike a tranquilliser, the peace of mind that we get from meditation does not fade away. It lasts for good in some corner of the inmost recesses of our aspiring heart.” [1]

But to describe the experience of real meditation in words is always inadequate. It is one thing to talk about peace and love but it is only when we meditate that we can experience these qualities as a living reality.

Paramahansa Yogananda was of tremendous inspiration in my early spiritual seeking. It was my good fortune that one of my first spiritual books was “Autobiography of a Yogi”. This book is rightly regarded as a spiritual classic and has inspired many across the world to pursue a spiritual life based on the ancient lofty Vedic ideals. The book is a treasure trove of illumined saints and sages, it manages to convey profound spiritual truths whilst also being most enjoyable to read. More than anything the most powerful effect the book had was to impart a real spiritual vibration from each page. Intuitively I felt that the writing embodied a genuine spiritual consciousness. It was quite different to the dry intellectual texts I was used to reading (I think at the time I was reading Descartes, which is a big contrast) Yogananda never sought to convert or argue he merely wrote with great humility about the most illumining spiritual experiences. It was this vibration, this consciousness which gave me a faith in the spiritual life I had never had before....

My Tribute to Paramhansa Yogananda

Yogananda at Self Realisation Fellowship

Poetry of Yogananda at Poetseers

People who plead with you for favours

May eventually prove to be great flatterers.

Your friends are only those

Who all the time cheerfully support

Your heart's aspiration-flames.

 

Friends Will Come

 

Friends will come

And

Friends will go.

Brothers and sisters will come

And

Brothers and sisters will go.

Who will remain with me

Forever?

My Eternity's God-lover.

- Sri Chinmoy

 

Artwork: Ed Silverton

My literary hero is definitely J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was modest and kind. His writings are unprecedendted in scope and vision. I wrote a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien here

 "...Thus over a period of many years J.R.R. Tolkien began writing the Lord of the Rings. This soon became quite different to the hobbit in scope and dimension. Putting its roots into the Silmarillion it became an epic of unprecedented depth. No longer was Tolkien writing a simplistic adventure story, the triumph of good over evil is no longer so complete. Even in the mission’s success there is no obvious happy ending. There is a feeling of permanent change; nothing can remain as it is. As well as being a fascinating story line, the book deals with many issues of how people respond to certain choices and the influence of power and ego. It can be read in many ways, but it does offer an underlying moral and spiritual dimension, inherent in the development of the story...."

I have read Martin Luther King's dream several times. but to hear it from a live recording was a very powerful experience.

Video Martin Luther King
Since it is Martin Luther King today it seems particularly appropiate to post this. I do hope his dream is completely fulfilled one day!

I recently read a book about Amma "Healing the heart of the world" by Judith Cornell. A very good account of a remarkable life. I was particularly inspired by Amma's early meditations on the form of Krishna. To enter into the consciousness of Krishna is the Supreme Grace.

I wrote a short biography of Amma here:

• Amma biography

Inspiring Quote of Amma

“Children, the wonder and the love that you felt as a child will never return unless you can again play like a child. Innocence is within you, hidden deep inside. You have to rediscover it. And for this to happen, you must go deeper and deeper into your spiritual practices. When you can dive deep into your own consciousness, you will realise this innocence one day. At that moment you will discover the child within you. You will experience the innocence, the joy and the wonder that were hidden inside of you, and you will realise they were always there. You merely forgot your innocence for some time. It is as if you suddenly remember something after having forgotten about it for a very long time. That childlike innocence deep within you is God.”

Listen to speech of Swami Vivekananda at World Parliament of Religions 1893

I'm a great admirer of Swami Vivekananda. He was an early pioneer of religious tolerance in an era when it was often in short supply. Concluding his speech to the inaugural World Parliament of Religions in 1893 Sept 11th Swami Vivekanananda remarked:

"Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

I have written a biography of Vivekananda this is short page on my own site - Vivekananda