by Om Swami
Environmental hurdles include challenges concerning the actual place, surroundings, people, animals and weather conditions. A sincere meditator, the one who is in for the long haul, should carefully select a place for meditation. It should not be noisy but somewhat comfortable. It need not be luxurious, in fact, material luxury can be distracting for a beginner meditator.
There it should be easy access to water, food and other basic necessities.
When I meditated in the Himalayas for many months, the greatest challenge was posed by the rats. Even though I was practically in a place covered in snow, the rats were omnipresent. I would see bear marks just outside my hut in the morning or at times the wild boar would snort around loudly. The other hindrance was from spiders; I used to sit for very long periods and they would crawl up and weave webs around my face and limbs. The third greatest challenge was from the incessant chatter of birds. Some birds were so loud that it took me time and intense concentration to be able to go past their tweets (they knew about tweeting long before Twitter came into being!) and focus on my object of meditation. I used to virtually sleep on the floor and the weather conditions were extremely harsh.
There was a time I meditated in a slightly warmer place and there I was plagued by snakes and wild lizards. Once I chose the plains and it was hot, infested with scorpions. There was no respite from these wild creatures wherever I chose to meditate but I would like to add that the forces of nature, the lineage of gurus really take care of a true seeker.
Throughout my meditation, not one wild animal – a snake, scorpion, rat, giant spiders or a lizard – ever harmed me. Not even once. This is ultimately what meditation is about – experiencing and living in divine union. For, if you truly see God in all creatures what’s there to worry then? And if you don’t, what’s there to see then? My suggestion is to carefully choose a place that offers you quietude and is inhabitable.
Emotional Hurdles
It is normal to experience intense feelings while meditating. They can range from hysterical joy or laughter to acute resentment and everything in between. From the perspective of meditation, all emotions act as hurdles. It’s like a sprinter must not celebrate before he crosses the finish line. Any emotion, no matter how joyous or sorrowful, will distract the athlete. Such is the case with meditation too.
Both negative and positive emotions distract and make a meditator restless. The type you are holding a session on (whether concentrative, contemplative, mindful, observant or any other type) is immaterial. Anything that deviates you from your focus is a hurdle. If you do your meditation correctly, you become a reservoir of positive emotions naturally. During the meditation, however, it is important for a meditator to stay perfectly even. To that effect, there are eight worldly emotions, categorized into positive and negative, that are detrimental to good meditation.
The Four Positive Emotions
When a positive emotion is triggered, you feel happy, good, important, motivated and strong. You feel like you can take on the whole world. You are the same you, but something within you changes when you experience a positive emotion. There are four types of positive emotions:
Pleasure
All sense gratification, everything you do and experience through your body for joy, falls under this category.
Praise
If you or your work gets recognition or appreciation, you naturally feel good.
Gain
This is when you believe you have made a gain, material or otherwise. It could range from winning a lottery ticket to killing a mosquito; one may boost your bank account, and, the other may satisfy your ego.
Delightful Words
Someone offers you a compliment, it spontaneously triggers a positive emotion, especially if you feel it was a genuine compliment.
The Four Negative Emotions
The four negative ones are the exact opposite of above. They make you feel low, pensive, crippled and weak. They are triggered when you feel perturbed by displeasure, criticism, loss, and dreadful words.
Overcoming Emotional Hurdles During Meditation
Emotions are a group of lingering thoughts. Just like a beehive hosts many bees and when they buzz together it’s a louder, collective sound. Emotions are no different. A group of thoughts are buzzing at once. At the root, they are just thoughts. If you learn to drop the thought with mindfulness, whatever be your emotional state, it will pass. Allow it to pass. It is cyclical and it is temporary – that is all you have to remember.
Once upon a time in a certain village lived a prominent trader. He was wealthy, honourable and a man of repute, and yet he was restless and worried. He could not shed his fears, of failure, of losing, of unknown. He approached his spiritual master and pleaded, “With your grace I have everything yet I am always afraid and worried. Please give me wisdom so that I may be peaceful under all circumstances, no matter what.”
“So, you want to be peaceful under all circumstances?” the guru confirmed.
“Yes, your holiness.”
The master grabbed a piece of sacred bhojapatra, the bark of birch tree, dipped his pen in ink made from vermilion and scribbled something on it. He let the charm dry for a few minutes, folded it and gave it to him. “Here, always keep this with you. Open this only when you feel your worst fear has come true.”
The trader prostrated before his master and went back. A terrible drought hit that region two years later and his financial situation went into tatters. He had no stock to sell, debtors were unable to pay their dues and creditors started chasing him for theirs. They dragged him to court, made him sell his house, mortgaged his wife’s jewellery and had his warehouses pawned. He pleaded and he prayed but nothing worked. His master had already left for secluded meditation on forbidden peaks. It was time to read his guru’s inscription, he thought.
He unfolded it to see the contents; it read, “Stay firm, stay course. This will pass.”
The words had magical effect on him. He decided to not lose hope. He realized that things could not stay like this forever, that it was temporary. And temporary it surely was as the following three years saw heavy rains and bumper crop. He bounced back. Wealth and honour came back in his life. He was overjoyed. His guru was back too. He promptly made arrangements to see his master with all kinds offerings.
Prostrating before the guru, he said, “With your grace, I’m so happy. Business has never been this good. To tell you the truth, I’m over the moon.”
“Do you have the bhojapatra with you?” the guru asked calmly. “Open it and read again what it says.”
He obeyed and the words on it reminded him that even this phase was temporary. Just like the bad times, even this would pass. From joy and excitement, his state of mind shifted to bliss and peace.
“This is eternal wisdom, my son,” the master added. “Stay even. It’s all cyclical.”
During meditation, emotions can be like gentle breeze sometimes; they uplift your mood and you meditate better. Sometimes though, the same emotions can be like tornadoes, ripping through your resolve and disturbing your equipoise.
They may come to you positively or negatively, in the form of lust or loathing, wonderful moments of the past or terrible fears of the future. Either ways, they pull you off-track, distract you and spoil your concentration.
There is a simple way of overcoming emotional hurdles during your meditation. When you find it difficult to focus due to positive or negative emotions, stop your meditation, remain seated in your posture and do deep breathing for a few minutes. Further, to overcome distractions on account of positive emotions, visualize a neutral image (like a stone, pebble or a ball of your favourite colour) or focus on your breath. Just become aware that you are overwhelmed with positive emotions presently. Let them pass. To cross the hurdles posed by negative emotions during your meditation, think of bright light, visualize an image that makes you happy. For example, a sunrise
or sunset by the ocean, a form of your chosen deity, or simply blue sky, anything that makes you feel light basically.
Don’t worry about not being able to meditate, don’t worry about the diversion. Simply calm yourself down, get your equipoise back before you resume your meditation.
Emotional hurdles, however, are not the primary hurdles in meditation. Most of the time, you’ll find that the quality of your meditation is affected not on account of overwhelming emotions but something completely different. I call them mental blocks or hurdles. And they are of four types: restlessness, dullness, stray thoughts and random images.
Restlessness
As you sit down to meditate, after a few seconds, stray thoughts from all directions start to hit you. As you continue to try and build your concentration, you experience a certain degree of restlessness. It almost feels the more you try to stay away from your thoughts, the stronger they seem to come and get you making you restless. It is normal.
Restlessness can be in the form of anxiety, resentment, excitement or sensual stimuli. It is normal for all beginners, intermediate and advanced meditators; only the adepts are spared, that too by the sheer virtue of their practice and experience. The difference between an adept and an aspirant is that the former is aware of the restlessness as soon as it arises and promptly uses the mental application to pacify his mind, whereas an aspirant allows such mental restlessness to overpower him destabilizing his otherwise settled mind.
When you experience restlessness, and as it builds up, during your meditation, you may feel the uncontrollable urge to move, shift, talk, or even end your session. Thoughts in the form of emotions, experiences and plans linked to past or future may make you anxious, excited or aroused. A lingering thought over some right or wrong action may cause resentment.
While following the six principles of meditation, during the practice of meditation, especially concentrative meditation, it’s absolutely critical that you don’t pursue your thoughts or engage in recollection of any nature. You must not engage in any cognitive activity of examining right or wrong, good or bad and so forth. Simply remember that thoughts are just thoughts, they are devoid of any essence or meaning on their own. You should simply drop any thought that comes to your mind without reacting to it. Remind yourself to not be impatient when you feel restless. Just focus on your object of meditation by shifting your attention and persist patiently. It is okay to stop your meditation for a few minutes while you pacify your mind.
Restless Mind – A Grumpy Toddler
Let me use a metaphor to help you understand the cause of restlessness. Imagine you are walking through a shopping mall. You have a three-year-old toddler with you. He is happily holding your hand making you feel proud of his behaviour and obedience. Suddenly, he spots a candy store with flashing signs, attractive display, animated cartoon characters and everything else he could possibly fancy. He wants to go to the store. You, however, have other plans and want him to simply be with you. He insists on going in the direction of the candy store, you tell him otherwise. His efforts intensify, so does your grip on him. He gets louder, and, your stance, more commanding. He is unmoving and you are unyielding. He gets agitated, decides to lie down on the floor and starts throwing tantrums. At that point in time, you have four choices:
Let him throw tantrums while you feel somewhat embarrassed in the public.
Try to pacify him with the promise of taking him there in the future.
Take him to the candy store and get him the candies.
Overpower him, lift him and rush to the parking lot.
It is not a desirable situation and none of the options seem to be pleasant. This is exactly what happens when your mind becomes restless. It starts to behave like the grumpy toddler. It tries all sorts of tricks to get its way.
What Causes Restlessness During Meditation
The interesting thing is that the mind does not become restless on its own during meditation. It is only when you try too hard to concentrate or force your mind to think a certain way (rather than gently guiding it), that the mind becomes restless. At that moment, it wants to break free of the obedience of posture, concentration and stability. A conditioned mind is not designed to operate according to you, it is strong enough to lead so that you follow what it wants. These are the natural tendencies of the mind because mind does not want to be told or controlled.
“I try very hard to control myself, my anger and my negative emotions but they always win over me,” a disciple once said to Buddha. “O Venerable One! How do I overcome this weakness of mine?”
Buddha ignored his question and kept moving. After a while, he sat down in lotus posture under a banyan tree and spoke, “I’m thirsty. Can you get me water from the river?”
Eager to serve his master, the disciple moved towards the river at once. Before he could lower the bowl and fill it, a man with a bullock cart started crossing the shallow river. The water became turbid. Dismayed, the disciple went back empty handed. “The water is muddy and unfit for drinking as a bullock cart just crossed the river.”
Buddha nodded. After a little while, he asked the disciple to try again. The water was still murky and he came back empty handed again. “It was less muddy,” he said, “but still unsuitable for drinking.”
Buddha maintained quietude for half an hour before instructing him to go back again. The disciple was pleased to find clear water this time, the mud and other particles had settled down. He filled the bowl with water and went back to the master. With utmost mindfulness, Buddha took a few sips. He put the bowl down and said, “You see, when the water became muddy, the easiest method to clean it was to let it be. Had you made any attempt to clear it at the time, it would have ended up getting worse. You just let it be, you simply waited and the mud settled down on its own. Other than patience, there was no effort. Similarly, when your mind is greatly disturbed just let it be. It’ll calm down, it’ll settle in due course, give it a little time, be patient.”
The Remedy
The best way to overcome restlessness is to stop meditating at that moment. Stay in the posture if you can but make no attempts to concentrate. Hold a little dialogue with yourself. Just relax. Stop all efforts to meditate. Take a deep breath. Get into a self- communion on any subject matter you like, not the one that will arouse you but something that will give your mind a break from the act of concentration. If restlessness still persists, just get up and take a break. Resume after some time.
We have to distract the toddler till we are past the candy store. When your mind is tired, give it rest, when it is restless, pacify it. Give it a bait, do not be too hard for too long. We are teaching it discipline, we want it to move according to you. Be patient. Calm it down. Restlessness is normal and pacification is an art, a skill. Have you ever seen an expert dog trainer? A good trainer knows when to reward versus reprimand, when to leash versus let loose, when to be soft versus strong. And, this is all there is to learn in meditation, that is, when to be firm with your mind versus when to let it roam free. It comes with practice. The more familiar you get with yourself, the more effective is your meditation.
Eventually, we want to take a route where the toddler doesn’t get to see the candy shop in the first place, or the toy store, or the swings. If he does not spot those, he will continue to be a happy child while you shop. No candies, no tantrums.
Dullness
Raghu Swami, one of my foremost disciples, once shared his life in a certain ashram where he lived for more than seven years. The ashram had a strict routine.
“We had to get up at 4 AM and be ready in the meditation hall by 4:30 AM,” he said enthusiastically. “And from 4:30 till 6:30, it was the best part of my day. Truly divine.”
I was anticipating he would share some insight about his meditation but he just kept smiling.
“Why was it the best part of your day?” I asked.
“Because I would alway
s fall asleep,” he replied with his lips curling upwards in a big smile, “I could never sleep so deeply while on my bed as I did in the morning meditation.”
We both had a hearty laugh.
The primary difference between Raghu Swami and numerous other meditators I’ve met is that Raghu Swami was forthcoming in his confession. Even advanced meditators routinely fall prey to the second most common defect in meditation, laziness.
Laziness is of two types. Let us say that you have decided to meditate for 45 minutes every day. That is your resolution. The first type of laziness makes you want to skip your meditation. Your conscious mind gives you excuses because it does not enjoy being tamed, it wants to go its own way dragging you along. Purity of discipline is paramount in executing any plan, be it meditation or any other routine. The only way to encounter laziness of this type is to not listen to your mind. If you sit down and vow to meditate no matter what, your conscious mind will eventually understand that you are the master and that you have no plans of showing any laxity when it comes to following your discipline.
The second form of laziness, is what we are concerned with over here. It is the one you encounter during your meditation.
As you sit down to meditate, motionless, still in one posture, you enjoy the first few minutes. In the beginning, you are aware of the restless nature of the conscious mind. You work hard to channelize your thoughts, you exert to concentrate and you try to stay focused. When you do that, you experience restlessness. Such restlessness may prompt you to move, engage in thoughts or abandon your session of meditation altogether. The best way to overcome such restlessness is to relax at that point in time.
As you relax, however, you run the risk of losing sharpness of the mind. Such relaxation, if unchecked, can lead to inertness, inattentiveness, stupor or torpor. Above all, it robs you off the clarity of your visualization. A meditation that lacks lucidity is as good as sleeping. If you are meditating by way of mental visualization for example, the image you were holding mentally dims and disappears. If you are meditating on a mantra, it becomes a superficial exercise of just mentally chanting the mantra and you are no longer hearing it, let alone becoming one with it. Basically, your meditation has lost its lucidity, its crispness and has now become a mostly useless activity of sitting still pointlessly.