Very few people start practising meditation with the goal of experiencing a blissful meditation. Most enter into meditation with a view to improve one or more aspects of their life. For most of us – at least consciously – our initial motivation is not inner, but outer: we want peace of mind in order to perform better at our study, work or sports; we want to escape from pervading stress and tension, from worries and anxieties; we want control over our thoughts and emotions; we want to feel better about ourselves and experience more fulfilling relationships with others; we want free access to our inner self, mostly to better serve the needs of our outer self.
Yes, we are a soul, a spiritual being, and meditation is our pathway to explore and discover this deeper truth within; but we are a soul living in this world, and for meditation to prove its effectiveness, it must be of benefit in our moment-to-moment reality.
All that time we spend practising meditation techniques in the early morning, has to be put to practical use in the challenging moments of our lives: otherwise, what is its utility? The very purpose of practising any skill, is to improve our performance: in this case, our ‘performance’ is the living of our life.
Certainly, the experience of meditation is peaceful and blissful, illumining and fulfilling in and of itself. But the practical application of meditation – bringing its peace, light, bliss and oneness into the teeming challenges of life, transforming problems into opportunities, obstacles into milestones, setbacks into progress, defeats into triumphs and sorrows into joys – is the truly transformative, miraculous value of meditation.
The purpose of meditation is not to visit Heaven; it is to reveal and manifest Heaven on earth.
What could be more practical?