Meditation - yoga is connection - of inner vs outer worlds.
- Nilanjan (Neel) Sarkar
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May-2020
Hawaii
https://youtu.be/B_GTnGN3CuM
Hi! Aloha! Namaste!
I hope you are doing well!
Do you know the meaning of the word Yoga? I guess off late this has become a popular question or topic.
OK. Yoga means union or a connection or even addition. This connection can be visualized in different dimensions. The connection is between the physical and spiritual in one dimension, between the mind and body in another dimension, between humans and God according to another, but it is also the connection between the inner and outer worlds. The last aspect is actually the realm of meditation. Meditation connects our inner and outer worlds.
When we meditate we close our eyes, we focus on our breathing, we gradually go deeper and deeper inwards. There are so many techniques of meditation and there are many more and more coming up as there are people who are coming up with those and promoting and advertising and popularizing these techniques but the core is still the same, it is about going deeper within. From the outer world we gradually go within to the inner world.
The objective is to go deeper within when we meditate.
This does not mean we have to forcibly focus or concentrate on it using our minds, rather it should go naturally. The thoughts will come and go but we also need to let go! we need to let go of the thoughts and not get attached to the thoughts. Now this is also a way where we are bridging the inner and outer worlds as most of the thoughts will tend to take you away into the outer world and then it becomes a form of daydreaming rather than meditation.
One thing common that you will find amongst all the meditation techniques is the focus on your breath. There are many reasons for this. One reason is that it gives our mind something to focus on which has a regular pattern and goes non stop. Another reason is that it is what connects us to the rest of the universe. Like a fish lives in water, we live in the ocean of air. If we go to space without our supply of oxygen we will die, no different from a fish out of the water! So this is also something that connects our inner and outer worlds.
OK. That is enough for today.
I will end with the first two lines of a song from one of the greatest philosopher, poet, writer, spiritual thinkers of the world, Rabindranath Tagore ( who incidentally was the first non-European to receive the Nobel prize in literature).
The words do not translate very well from Bengali as with any language, time, region.
"Chokher aloye dekhechilem chokher baahire, ontore aaj dekhbo jokhon aalok naahi re" loosely translated to English as "With the light ( or power) of my eyes I could see what is outside of the eyes ( meaning the external world). Today with no light around me I will instead try to see instead what is inside "
- Nilanjan (Neel) Sarkar
find me on Facebook or Twitter
www.neels-nirvana.com