You Must Master the Art of Sitting With Yourself If You Want to Leap Into Your Spiritual Journey
"Stop running. Be quiet. Let the mind rest. In this silence, the Self shines effortlessly." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Almost 99% of people like things in motion.
It can be endless talks (even if they are nonsense), bodies moving, or even thoughts. Motion is a detector of liveliness. It shows to many that you are alive. You are doing something, thinking, and building something.
It is all good until it seeps into your core, and you can no longer halt on purpose. It becomes toxic when you become obsessed with motion so much that sitting still feels like a waste of time.
Then, it becomes uncomfortable doing nothing and sitting like a zombie.
In life, motion is necessary, but it is equally crucial to be still inside as you move around and do things.
Doing and non-doing are not opposites. In fact, those who know both can create a beautiful alchemy that can flower their life.
Buddha walked from village to village, yet he had never walked.
How?
Because he was utterly still from within.
When I first got awakened, an incredible irony welcomed me.
I was eating, but I was not eating. I washed my face, yet water could not make me wet. I was walking, yet I was still.
I am no Buddha.
But I could then understand what Lord Krishna meant when he said,
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावक: |
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुत: ||(nainaṁ chhindanti śhastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na chainaṁ kledayantyāpo na śhoṣhayati mārutaḥ)
It means that weapons can not cut the soul, fire can not burn it, water can not wet it, and wind can not dry it.
I am not yet enlightened. But in that blissful month, I grasped that life is beyond the body. Mind is just a superficial aspect of something we can not yet see or feel.
Our limited minds can never understand it.
But when you go beyond the mind, you enter the portal of possibilities. And it can only happen when you sit with yourself and allow silence to penetrate you.
Stillness may seem like the worst enemy when you first start it.
And it is!
I totally understand why people avoid meditation or silent sitting.
It is not easy. When you first sit with closed eyes, your attention shifts from the outside world to the inner world.
First, the to-do list annoys you. As you go beyond the to-do list, all the confusion and anxiety arise.
Why?
Because of ignorance, we have filled our inner world with suppressed emotions, unhealed memories, and traumas. The deeper you go, the more you encounter them and the more they may affect you.
Is it bad?
No. In fact, it is perfectly normal. Nothing abnormal is happening to you.
But it may feel intense. That is why not everybody can sit through these. It takes time to adapt and go through it.
That is why meditation is a routine, not a one-time step.
Expand from routine to lifestyle.
Routine is when you sit silently for a few minutes and get up blissfully.
But you lose it after some time when you indulge in worldly affairs. Everything starts to get on your nerves. The imperfect, mean world becomes your enemy.
Lifestyle is when you turn your meditation into meditative living.
It is not in your hands to forcefully be meditative. But it naturally starts to happen as you embrace your stillness.
It starts with a few minutes of routine and may evolve to a few hours and sometimes unexpected times of stillness.
Somedays, you’ll be intoxicated in bliss. On other days, you’ll find silence in unpredictable places. Sometimes, you may be frustrated but also be able to see a larger picture.
But it always starts with your routine.
The few days of stillness can do wonders in the long term that you may not recognize now.
Final Thoughts
You are divine. You are timeless.
It may not feel like that now, but it is always there. It was always there.
If a house is filled with cobwebs, it does not mean the house and its rooms are not there. You just need to clean the webs to get a clean area to live in.
Silence does that to your inner self. It unburdens you slowly without ripping you off.
Give it some time. Be patient with yourself. You may feel like escaping, but hold on a little bit longer.
Give yourself a chance to uncover what hides beneath all the webs. Your little efforts may surprise you when grace blesses you a huge blessing.
It is not in doing. Sometimes, non-doing is a powerful gift that you can give to yourself.
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