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Track 6. You Can Always Have The Meditation You Are Having
Sit down and look within. Whatever you experience, pleasant or unpleasant, is what is given. This is the meditation you are having. Shaivism says every thought, every feeling, even every contraction is Shiva.
If you can make a verbal A-Statement, do so. If not, simply ‘be as you are’ in this existential moment. Say to yourself, ‘I am this form of Shiva’ or ‘I am Shiva in this form’ or ‘All this is Shiva’ or, as Popeye would say, ‘I yam what I yam’. Meditate with this awareness—your present experience is Shiva. As you do this, you honour your present experience. You do not reject it in favour of some imagined ‘better’ experience. You do not compare it with other possible meditations or with the meditation the person next to you is having. You simply have the meditation you are having, knowing that it is Shiva.
At the beginning, your acceptance of your present state might be tainted by the hope that Shiva will reward you by taking it away and revealing something more profound. Gradually you let that thought go and settle into your present experience. As you relax into it, it will reveal your deeper nature to you.
This method gives peace because it eliminates the phantom of the better meditation and the higher state we’re always seeking. ‘You can always have the meditation you are having’ is a meditative technique you can use forever.
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.
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By Swami Shankarananda
5
22 ratings
Sit down and look within. Whatever you experience, pleasant or unpleasant, is what is given. This is the meditation you are having. Shaivism says every thought, every feeling, even every contraction is Shiva.
If you can make a verbal A-Statement, do so. If not, simply ‘be as you are’ in this existential moment. Say to yourself, ‘I am this form of Shiva’ or ‘I am Shiva in this form’ or ‘All this is Shiva’ or, as Popeye would say, ‘I yam what I yam’. Meditate with this awareness—your present experience is Shiva. As you do this, you honour your present experience. You do not reject it in favour of some imagined ‘better’ experience. You do not compare it with other possible meditations or with the meditation the person next to you is having. You simply have the meditation you are having, knowing that it is Shiva.
At the beginning, your acceptance of your present state might be tainted by the hope that Shiva will reward you by taking it away and revealing something more profound. Gradually you let that thought go and settle into your present experience. As you relax into it, it will reveal your deeper nature to you.
This method gives peace because it eliminates the phantom of the better meditation and the higher state we’re always seeking. ‘You can always have the meditation you are having’ is a meditative technique you can use forever.
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.