5 Benefits That I Gained From Meditation

In this episode, The Bearded Mystic Podcast discusses 5 benefits that I gained from meditation and how it impacted my life. 

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Transcript

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hello and welcome to another episode of the bearded mystic podcast. And I'm your host, Rahul N Singh. Thank you for joining today and for taking the time to listen to this podcast episode. Today we're going to be discussing the five benefits that I gained from meditation and I would like to share that with you. The first benefit that I gained from meditation was I reduced my anger. And this is significant. One of the major problems we have, I think when we analyze our behavior is how we get angry really quickly. How we have a short temper, how little things annoy us. Whenever someone does something that is not according to our will, we get disturbed and we get agitated and this creates anger. That's because we have an attachment to an ideal way of being. Someone does something different, we tend to get angry about that because it's not going the way we want. Or we have to do something which we don't want to do because it's going against what we want to do, it creates anger. Sometimes we just get annoyed or we hear something from someone and that irritates us and suddenly we get snappy. Anger is one of the first things which I definitely reduced a lot of during meditation. It made me analyze my behavior a lot more. I looked at what little things annoyed me, and then when it annoyed me, how did it grow into anger? This was a very important inquiry and genuinely meditation just allows you to be more of an observer. So when you're an observer, you tend not to get angry easily because everything that is happening to you, you're seeing it from the observer point of view. You're not seeing it from you as the person. Anger has no part to play when it's not happening to the person and this is a key idea behind being the observer and why it's so important that as a meditator, we observe more, even in the present moment, even in our day to day activities, the more we can be the observer, the better. I find that aspect of meditation helps to reduce anger and think about it. What do we get from being angry? What do we achieve by being angry? Not only do we hurt the other person that we're angry at or the situation that we angry at, but we also disturb the peace. Sometimes you're in the room and if somebody gets angry, it changes the whole vibe of the room and the whole energy of the room. Is anger really necessary? Maybe in some cases we have to show anger, but for majority of the cases, if anything, it's better to remain silent and to observe why we get angry. That inquiry is a lot better than just shouting at someone. Even though you may get your own way, but what have you achieved? You've hurt someone's feelings. What is achieved by doing that? That's why I think when we meditate. It's very important that we don't just meditate and do nothing about it. Meditation has to be an ongoing process. Yes. We may sit for 30 minutes, but the real meditation begins when we leave the meditation and how we see everything from that meditative point of view. Anger is that one thing that you can really reduce. The things that used to get me angry are no longer having a part to play in my psyche. They're not having any psychological effects and that is the key when it comes to meditation. You want to see that psychological effect from meditating. The second benefit is that it slowed down my incessant thoughts. Thinking a lot is a problem. When we live in our minds too much, when we're constantly worried about something. Where we create situations in our head when we have desires. All these things create an incessant stream of thought and we may not think of it as a problem, but it's a major problem. The reason why incessant thinking is a problem is that it leads to depression. It leads to anxiety because we constantly worry about that one thing and when we're constantly living in our own mind. When do we give the space to meditation? This is a key thing here because when we're meditating, it's more than likely that the incessant stream of thoughts will appear. It will try to provoke you during meditation, it will try to take over the meditation and say,"why are you meditating? Why are you trying to create silence in the mind. It's better to have thoughts. You have so many things to worry about. You need to be thinking about this. You need to be thinking about what's for dinner tomorrow. You have to think about planning for dinner next week. You have to think about what's going to happen if you don't pass your exam, or if you don't complete something at work, or if you don't get that car that you want. All these things end up being an issue. It ends up being an incessant stream of thoughts. It's not like you have an interconnectedness of thought either. It's not like you're following the thought through what tends to happen is you think of one thing and then you think of another thing. And then another thing, totally different, totally separate topics. Totally separate themes. But that's what happens. The third one, is it helped me see out thoughts. What meditation did for me was it slowed that down and it slows it down to such a point where I don't ever catch myself having incessant thinking anymore. It's just not there anymore. What tends to happen is I follow a thought through, so if I have a thought of say, I need to record the podcast. I will see it through. Instead of thinking, oh, I need to record the podcast. How am I going to do it? What am I going to say? Oh, I need to get the microphone ready. Instead of thinking about it, I'm actually called to action more because there's a silence within the mind. Whenever we are thinking of something, there's a lack of silence. And when there's a lack of silence, most likely there's going to be a lack of real action. Yes. We may act in certain ways, but is that action productive? I think silence brings productive ideas and actually makes you more productive. It's important, when we carry out a thought, we see it to its end, we see it to it's demise. If we don't allow ourselves to see a thought through, what will happen is it will keep coming up every now and then. When you're meditating, it will come up. When you're cooking, it will come up. When you're studying. It will come up. When you're working on something, it will come up. Whatever you're doing, that thought will come up because you've not seen it through. Like I mentioned, if I have to record the podcast, seeing the thought go through, I would think, okay, I need to get the setup done. Okay. Got it done. Now. Let's record. So it's very important that if you want to, especially during meditation, at least see a thought through, this also in-hand slows down the incessant thinking. Although these two are interconnected, I will say they're two different things because with both of them we end up having a more silent mind. The fourth benefit that I've gained from meditation is that it creates a natural space for stillness. When we have stillness of thought, when we have stillness of emotions, When we have stillness within meditation, we're able to connect to Brahman, that non-dual state, that ultimate reality very easily. This space of stillness that is within and it's inherent within everyone. It's not that you have to create it. It's always there. It's always present. It's always available. But it's veiled by our thinking, our thoughts, it's veiled by our desires. It's veiled by our intentions, it's veiled by our actions. When we have that space of stillness, it just improves our clarity of thinking too. We're able to be more creative and we were able to look within a lot easier. Now, when we look to meditate on Brahman, on the non-dual state, we do have to use thought and we use thought to get rid of everything that veils this non-dual state. Once we do that process, we recognize also that this stillness is always there. It's always within us. Therefore, if there's stillness is always there, then that implies that Brahman is also there. Brahman is always present, we recognize that formlessness. We recognize that Supreme Self, we recognize that timeless and colorless entity, yet non-entity at the same time. We recognize that Brahman is not attached to our body, is not attached to our mind yet it contains our body and mind. And this is why I always refer to this Brahman, this non-dual state, this ultimate reality as being there in the background and remember that we can act in stillness. Monks have achieved this, gurus and swamis have achieved this, where they're able to be in the world, perform actions in this world, create thoughts in their mind yet remain completely still in Brahman because Brahman is the background awareness. That's why it's incredibly important that we connect to that. We connect to that aspect of stillness. It's only in the stillness of the mind, even if for a second that we get a peak into what Brahman really is, or our atman, our soul. We were able to recognize it and just remember that this Atma, the soul is the same as Brahman, it's not different. If you see yourself as you are, you are also seeing Brahman as it is. This is a natural space. The reason why I'll use the word natural is because you do not need to do anything to create it. It's always present. It doesn't need to be forced into being. It's just always there. What needs to be forced is the practice to unveil that stillness. Meditating is that one way. Meditating in any way, whether it's through self-inquiry or through meditation. Or chanting Aum. That also helps. When we were able to do this and achieve this, we recognize that there is this natural inclination towards stillness and that the stillness is always there. Always present. And five, it made me more present and more observant. It got me to a point of being so observant, I was able to observe the observer. So the observer becomes the observed as J Krishnamurti talked about. This benefit from meditation allows you to break away from your emotions when you know it's going to hold you, or when you have incessant thinking, you're able to put your mind at rest because now you're the observer. It's very important that we sit silently for some time. I recommend this to everybody. That one should just sit without their phone without any distraction. Just sit in silence. If you find it easier, sit down outside in your garden, in a park, but just be silent. Don't say a word. Don't try to think of not thinking, just let everything be as it is and just observe. Just be the witness and what will happen is slowly and slowly, you will notice that you will be watching yourself, observe. You'll be observing yourself observe. This is very important and then being more present. By being present, there is abundance of virtues in it. There's an abundance of greatness within it. By being more present, there are so many things are added. You're more loving, you're more caring. You are a source of strength for others, a source of inspiration for others You're able to have deep listening. You have this inherent aspect of compassion. You see the divinity in everything. You see Brahman everywhere and in everything. You see Brahman between this screen, right now. You're able to feel that energy, that presence. Brahman or this formless is not so far from us. It has no distance. It is nothing, yet everything at the same time. It is no-thing. And yet infinite at the same time. This is Brahman. When we realize that we are this one without a second, then spirituality begins. Then meditation is a totally different experience. A totally different way of being. Rupert Spira has a very beautiful saying, he talks about being aware of awareness. In fact, just saying it takes you to the immediacy of awareness. How do we become aware of awareness? Simply being. There's no need to do anything. Right now, as I'm talking to you, I'm doing an act, but I'm aware of that awareness. I'm aware of it's infinite nature. I'm aware of its zero nature. This for me is what spirituality is all about. We can get stuck in philosophies. We can get stuck in concepts. We can get stuck in what is right and what is wrong? What is progressive and what is regressive in the spiritual journey. Those are very important to discuss as well, but the most important aspect, the most important thing is being as Brahman. Being aware of that awareness. That always is. It's so eternal. It's so powerful that it really brings you into silence. That's why meditation is so important because it creates that space for it. Not enough people meditate in this world. People talk about being mindful, about remembering the Lord, about connecting to the Lord, connecting to that Formless, connecting to Brahman. But they miss it because it's so simple. They miss it because they're looking to do something, to find something. How can you find something that is always discovered? These are the benefits that meditation brings. There's countless others like loving other people and having compassion. Being rational and grounded. Those are all very important aspects. And one more important aspect of meditation that I would say is devotion. Devotion may imply that there is a,duality that you're devoted to something. But in non-duality, you are only devotional to Brahman, even though there may be multiple manifestations of your devotion, multiple avenues of your devotion, but that devotion that you are devoted to is of Brahman. Brahman is devotion. It is bhakti. It is nothing but bhakti, nothing but devotion. When you have that deep sense of gratitude. It's because you recognize there's only Brahman, that this whole play, it's just Brahman. That's why this brings bliss. This is why it brings happiness. It doesn't need anything. You don't need to do anything to attain it. And it's so difficult to say, because if someone then starts to think about this rationally and logically. It's very tough because we think in the linear way that we need to do something to get a result, but the result is always here. The result is always now and that's why spirituality is not for the masses. Frankly speaking, it's for a few because you have to transcend the mind and the egoic way of thinking to get to Brahman. When you get to Brahman in that light, then you see there is nothing to be done. Those are my five benefits that I've gained from meditation. This whole podcast has been like meditation for me. If you want to know my technique for meditating, I will do a live stream on my and we can do a live guided meditation. I will let you know on the Patreon page and also on social media when that will be. I just wanted to let you know that the Patreon page is set up, please sign up to it. The reason why I set this up is because I do need support. This podcast does have running costs. And on top of that, I can tell you my laptop is really struggling right now with the amount of work I do, in terms of the podcast. So I do need more equipment, I do need to upgrade? By signing up to Patreon, you are helping me do that. You can also donate on my blog. Every Sunday from August 29th, we will be having podcasts episodes that are dedicated to a scripture or a religious or spiritual text. And the first one we're starting with is the Bhagavad Gita. And once we're done with the Bhagavad Gita, it would be the Upanishads. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Bearded Mystic Podcast, please do remember to follow or subscribe to this channel and do leave a review for this podcast. I'd really appreciate knowing what you think. You can follow me on social media and I will leave the links below to each of those accounts. I do share small clips on there that you can share with friends and family. And if you feel that anyone in your friends and family circle would love this podcast do share it with them. A new episode is uploaded every Sunday and Thursday until next time, take care. See you again soon.