Maharajji said bring your mind to one point and you will know God. This morning we will continue with the samadhi, or concentration on the breath.
In Mahamudra practice it is said that when the mind gazes into the mind itself, the train of discursive and conceptual thought ends and supreme enlightenment is gained.
The first step to the mind looking into itself can be bringing the mind to one point and keeping it there. This process must be done very gently with the mind. The mind must remain soft, subtle, buoyant, light. So with firm seat, with head, neck, and back straight, bring the awareness to the breath. The two points of focus are either the breath at the tip of the nose -- right inside the tip of the nose, you'll notice that on the in-breath you feel the air touching the inside of the nostril, the out-breath similarly. One is cool, one is warm. If you are focusing on the breath at the tip of the nose you do not follow the breath into the body or out into the air. Just be like a gatekeeper, noticing the comings and goings of the breath. When you are following the breath at the tip of the nose it may help to mentally note at the early stages, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out.
The other option is to notice the rising and falling in the abdomen. You can feel the place right in the middle of the abdomen that with each rising, each inhalation rises, with each exhalation falls. With each inhalation you can mentally note, rising, with each exhalation you can mentally note, falling.
After you have explored each of them for a moment or two, choose one for the remainder of this meditation session and stay with it.
The awareness, or mind, will be carried off many times to sensations, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting, seeing, or to thoughts. Develop an easy yet vigilant manner, and each time the mind wanders, as soon as you notice it wander, as soon as you notice it begin to wander, note it, and then very gently but firmly return home to the breathing in, breathing out, or to the rising and falling.
As your mind begins to concentrations, many old Samskaras will rise to the surface. Perhaps it will be greed or lust or anger or agitation or laziness or doubt. Just notice them. Don't feed them, just notice them. Don't judge them, just notice them. And once again, gently return to the breath with firm resolve.
Note each breath precisely, noting the spaces between the inhalation and the exhalation, the space between the exhalation and the inhalation.
If you experience pain or discomfort in your body, note it and return to the breath. If it persists after several notings and returns, make the pain your primary object. Keep your awareness with the pain, noting it precisely. If after some time it does not dissolve in the presence of your awareness, move the body gently, but note the process, don't break the continuity of awareness. Note the intention to move the body, note the moving of the body, note the settling of the body. And then once again, return the awareness to the breathing in, breathing out, or to the rising and falling.
Just as from a distance a row of ants in seen as a solid line, but up close you see that it is one ant following another, so as you become more precise in the observation of your breath. You will see that the in-breath is made up of thousands of tiny moments of awareness, following one upon the other, and so with the out-breath.
Keep the awareness gently riding on the breath, like riding on a wind, on a breeze.
Thoughts and sensations, arising one after another, and passing away like leaves floating down a stream. You sit by the stream and focus on a brightly colored pebble right below this water. Into your vision come leaves, pass across your vision, and continue on out of your vision. The brightly colored pebble is like your breath, a place for your awareness to rest tranquilly.
Within the subtlest whisper of the breath, passing at the tip of the nostrils, or rising and falling in the abdomen, is contained the mystery.
See meditation as a way of coming home to the quietness of the deepest part of your heart. The cave of silence, in which everything is heard, sensed. Thoughts arise and pass away. But none of it tarnishes the pure silence of the inner heart cave.
As each sensation arises, note it. Each moment noting just where your awareness moves, not trying to bring it back to any place. Letting it float from sense door to sense door, from thought to thought, but adding the awareness of the process of the movement, all done as you sit quietly. Tranquilly. Cultivating equanimity in the middle of the heart cave.
A bird. A movement. A sensation in the body. A thought. All same. Just images written on the walls of the cave that appear and a moment later disappear, like paintings in the sand the ocean washes away a moment later.
Each sensation, each thought, note it, one after the other, but always remaining quiet. This quiet being, your most ancient self. This quiet being has watched a succession of moments, has watched a succession of days and years and lifetimes, has watched bodies come and bodies go. The joys and tribulations come and go, pleasures and pains come and go.
Who dwells in that heart cave has no form, no limit. Who dwells in that heart cave is beyond time, beyond space.
Note there is just a series of sensations and thoughts, one after the other, arising and passing away. Other than that, where are you?
Each time you experience yourself as something or somebody, just notice that it's another thought or sensation drifting across the walls of the cave, and return to the spacious, formless, timeless essence.
Nothing to cling to. Keep loosening your hold, letting the familiar float by, seeing that just behind all of the forms, images, memories, plans, sounds, sights, tastes, touches, smells, just behind all of those, permeating, yet not being colored by them… you are.
Are all these sensations and thoughts inside of you or outside of you? If there is no form or limit to who you are, they are both inside of you and outside of you. I am in everything, everything is in me.
Now we will do the first steps of what is called Metta meditation, or LovingKindness meditation. You will bring before your mind's eye the image of someone towards whom you feel love. And then repeat silently each of these phrases. May you be free from danger. May you be free from all mental suffering. May you be free from all physical suffering. May you know ease of wellbeing, that is may you have it easy to stay alive and keep your life together. May you have ease of wellbeing.
Now bring before your mind's eye, a being towards whom you feel neutral. Maybe someone you just remember having passed on the street, or someone in the group towards who you have no strong feelings one way or the other. Keep them focused before you and repeat. May you be free from danger. May you be free from all mental suffering. May you be free from all physical suffering. May you know ease of wellbeing.
Now bring before your mind's eye someone whom you may have some difficulty in opening your heart to or keeping your heart open about. Perhaps someone who's hurt you or hurt people you love. May you be free from danger. May you be free from all mental suffering. May you be free from all physical suffering. May you know ease of wellbeing.
And finally imagine all beings, all beings spreading out around you as far as the eye can see. Myriads of beings. Beings on earth now. Beings on other planes, the Deva Lokis, hungry spirits. All the beings of present, past, and future. All being everywhere. The vast myriad of beings. May you all be free of danger. May you all be free from mental suffering. May you all be free from physical suffering. May you all know ease of wellbeing.
For a few minutes now we are going to do a mantra together. You can move and be comfortable. The mantra is Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. It's a Tibetan mantra. It means, in once loose translation, gone, gone, gone beyond, gone beyond even the concept of beyond, to the enlightened one who has done this feat, honor. You can imagine that the inner part of yourself, your true and highest self, is beyond all concepts, all ideas. You can imagine that being as yourself, or the Buddha, or the Christ, or Ram, any form that is comfortable for you. Or just your mind going beyond concept. Gate, gone. Gate, gone. Paragate, gone beyond. Parasamgate, gone beyond even beyond. Bodhi, that one that is enlightened. Svaha, honor. Listen to the intonation, and as you feel comfortable with it, join in. It's done on one breath.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.