Bodhidharma, the first Cha’an Patriarch
The earliest etymological roots of the word “meditate” are to contemplate, reflect upon, think over, estimate; to have a devout preocupation with.
Devout preoccupation. My own personal view of meditation is that, in it, we occupy ourselves (or preoccupy ourselves) with being as we conceive God to be.
We’re advised to meditate in the run-up to Ascension. Is there any better meditation than to be as God is? I personally don’t know what God is. I can only go by what the sages say.
Whether we’re talking about God as God or Godhead, Brahman or Parabrahman, I call the transcendent God the Father, after the practice of the ancients. (1) God as phenomenal, as the creator, preserver and transformer of life forms, I call God the Mother.
Swami Nikhilananda describes God this way:
“In the Vedas, reality experienced at the transcendental level is called Brahman [God]. This term denotes a non-dual pure consciousness which pervades the universe and yet remains outside it. Brahman is described as the first principle; from it all things are derived, by it all are supported, and into it all finally disappear. In Brahman alone the apparent differences of the phenomenal world are unified. According to the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy, Brahman is identical with the self of man, known as Atman.” (2)
Some conceive of God as being empty, still, and silent. They might imitate God by meditating in emptiness, stillness, and silence.
Lao Tzu called God “ultimate emptiness.” (3) Habbakuk tells us that we’ll know God if we keep silence before him: “The Lord is in his holy temple [of the heart]: Let all the earth keep silence before him.” (4) Sri Ramakrishna agrees that God cannot be known until the mind falls silent: “The upshot of the whole thing is that, no matter what path you follow, yoga [union with God] is impossible unless the mind becomes quiet.” (5)
Finally, he is stillness when compared with the Mother’s activity, Ramakrishna says:
“That which is Brahman is also Kali, the Mother, the primal Energy. When inactive It is called Brahman. Again, when creating, preserving, and destroying, It is called Sakti. Still water is an illustration of Brahman. The same water, moving in waves, may be compared to Sakti, Kali.” (6)
In light of this, King David tells us to “be still and know that I am God.” (7)
So the real contribution of sitting in stillness, silence, and emptiness of mind, I think, is to be as close to what God is as possible.
Others say with St. John that “God is love” (8) or with Pseudo-Dionysius that God is “Goodness Itself.” (9) Their meditation might be lovingkindness (metta) or they may see their meditation as being active so that selfless service (seva) becomes their meditative form.
What ties all these meditative approaches together is that the practitioners are imitating God as they conceive him to be.
If we practice being what we think God is, then I believe that living and meditating become one.
Now that we’re leaving Third Dimensionality, we’re entering a whole new territory. It’s as big a transition as a fish suddenly coming up on land and evolving into a terrestrial animal. All the territory past this (and I include the dualistic Fourth Dimension or Astral Plane in “this”) is … how can I say it? Weighted on the godly side of life.
War, murder, rape, and exploitation only exist here in Third Dimensionality. Where we’re going there won’t be any more of that. The vibrations will not permit it.
But, as well, there’ll be a frank admission that we’re all the Creator’s Children and gods in our own right. We’ll simply march much further into an expanding awareness of our true identity. There will be no more pooh-poohing an acknowledgement of the One.
From the time of Ascension onwards we’ll be among people who understand the nature of life – that it’s a continual march back to union with the Source.
For someone to say that they’re watching each thought, each action minutely to see whether it’s godly or not and whether it can be made more godly will not be an awkward moment, as it often is here. It’ll bring a surge of love to our hearts and we’ll be eager to imitate the one who leads the way in that.
Everything is about to change and I believe that the more we can bring those changes into our lives now, the easier will be our transition and the more likely that we’ll hit the ground running, with all systems “go.”
So meditation is for me a good thing and practicing godliness is also a good thing. But I think of them as one and the same. I also think that living life as a meditation will be the way of Nova Earth and the way of all the beings with whom we’ll be associating from here on in.
I’ve always felt this way, as many of you have, and so I feel as if I’m rejoining “my kind” or “members of my tribe.” I’ve never felt at home with those who mock God or the divine order. The events that loom ahead will be a great release for me and I welcome them with open heart and open arms. It isn’t difficult for me to accept the invitation to imitate the divine qualities.
Moreover, as I’ve been saying in the past few days, God is also bliss and bliss carries its own reward. The more godly we behave, the easier it is for our natural reservoir of bliss to rise and overflow its banks. And that in itself brings peace and wisdom and a cornucopia of good things. We’re walking forward into ever-increasing experiences of bliss. Bliss is to be our permanent and constant companion.
So there’s no downside to leaving behind the lowest common denominators that many of us may have bought into all our lives. There’s nothing but an upside to reaching for the highest common, or uncommon, denominator. Reach out. Open up. Let’s empty ourselves of all that weighs us down and accept being filled with bliss.
Footnotes
(1) What westerners call God, Hindus call Brahman; what westerners call the Godhead, Hindus call Parabrahman. Readers will recognize Father, Mother and Child as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (note the altered order) or Brahman, Atman and Shakti.
(2) Swami Nikhilananda, Hinduism. lts Meaning for the Liberation of the Spirit. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1968, 29.
(3) Lao Tzu, The Way of Life. The Tao Te Ching. trans. R.B. Blakney. New York, etc.: Avon, 1975, 68.
(4) Paramahansa Ramakrishna in Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942, 634. [Hereafter GSR.]
(5) Habbakuk 2:20.
(6) Paramahansa Ramakrishna in GSR, 248.
(7) Psalm 46:10.
(8) I John 4:16.
(9) Pseudo-Dionysius in Cohn Luibheid, trans., Pseudo-Dionysus, His Complete Works. New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989, 53.