The Practice of Meditation

Through the ages meditation is nearly as old as humanity. It has always been a part of Eastern religion. Now the west is discovering its meditative past. Everyone would like to be healthy, content and happy. We all are striving in our own way to achieve this. Modern science has not brought us happiness. People all over the world suffer more than ever in the history of human kind from stress, disease, depressions and burdens which we are are not able to control anymore. They have turned to find comforts in tranquillizers, sleeping pills, alcohol, drugs such as serotonin, zoloft, paxil and prozac. These antidepressant drugs become the darling of the bunch over. In the last few years boasting to cure the disease is a total farce. Medicines come with an array of side effects like jitteriness, drowsiness, weightloss, sexual dysfunction, stomach disorders, headaches and other symptoms like this.

Can these pills really make you feel better? The bottom line is there is a huge gap between where we are and where we need to be. As a result, Americans are avidly pursuing an alternative. Why?

Meditation works! More than 15 million American adults say they practice some sort of meditation regularly. Nearly twice as many as a decade ago. Scientist study it, Doctors recommend it, not only do studies say that meditation is boosting their immune system, but brain scanning suggests that it may rewire their brains to reduce stress.The current interest is as much medicinal as it is cultural. Meditation is being recommended by more and more physicians as a way to prevent, or at least control the pain of chronic diseases like Aids, cancer and infertility. It is also being used to restore balance in the face of such psychiatric disturbances such as depression, hyperactivity and ADD.

30 years of medical research has told us that meditation works beautifully, says Dr Daniel Goldman. In 1967 Dr Herbert Benson, Prof at Harvard Medical School said research show a reduction of heart rates, reduced blood pressure, skin temperature and rectal temperature.He found when people meditate, they use 17% less oxygen, lower their heart rates by 3 beats a minute and increase their theta brain waves - the waves that appear right before sleep.

Taking time out of the video and hi-fi drenched lives to discover meditation is a worthwhile activity and has tangible differences. The mind springs around like a monkey in a tree. Watch it is the mind stuff which is rippling, waving and wavering, presenting distorted reflections. Is this you?

We identify ourselves by saying that there are my hands, my head, my thoughts and my feelings and we all identify ourselves with the word I. But who is the one that says: this is mine and this is me? You are not this body, intellect through feelings or experiences. You have all this but this is not you. Who are you then? You are the self, the immortal (Atmaan).

The Atman lives for evermore, the Atman is life. I am SAT-CIT-ANANDA.  I am truth, pure consciousness, I am blissful, I am divine self.