“Meditation is no meditation
When it becomes a victim
To endless thoughts.”
– Sri Chinmoy
If our daily meditation practise is an endless train of thoughts because we have surrendered to them as to an oncoming illness or to old age, then we might as well as be chatting or watching television. To compromise in this way is to accept weakness and admit defeat. The task is formidable: while it is inevitable that we will stumble, inevitable we will falter along the way, we must always take setbacks as stepping stones to our ultimate success and victory. Never surrender!
Thoughts come to us in meditation pretending to be our friends, supporters and advisers, and we welcome them because we want to believe they are. So do we deceive ourselves and cut the legs from under our own meditation practise.
It is so easy to blame thoughts for their intrusion: yet it is we who leave our minds’ door wide open for them.
To enter into a thoughtless mind requires persistent aspiration, imagination, daring, courage, sincerity, integrity – and patience.
We must first yearn intensely for this exalted experience; then imagine it is possible and inevitable that we shall be successful in this endeavour; be ready and eager to cast aside all that holds us back – self-doubt, fear, hesitation, insecurity and pride, all preconceptions and even our accustomed identity; be ready to give up everything in the pursuit; and offer all of our self to the task as our sole imperative.
Half-hearted is not good enough. We cannot swim if we only half dive into the pool, and we cannot meditate if we allow part of our conscious awareness to wander elsewhere: our immersion must be complete.
Keep focused always, rest not til the goal is won!