What is meditation? As a child I assumed that it is a sort of a prayer that one needs to do silently, I also assumed that it is a hocus-pocus that some people do, maybe it is something that old people do, and I also thought that since the back hurts when one sits to do meditation it must be some exercise to get the back or the spine or something aligned!
On a particularly lenient day at school, I must have been in class five and one of my teachers asked us all in the class to sit in an upright position with our eyes closed, and we must sit like that for the next five minutes. Those were the five longest minutes I must have witnessed!
During a class, if there wasn’t much work, there was an anticipation that the teacher would let us all go to the playground and that we would get to play cricket, and here I was once in a while trying to open my eyes and see on my digital watch that it’s only a few seconds that have elapsed. Exasperation! Somehow the five minutes were done, and the teacher declared to our sleepy eyes, “you now feel fresh, energetic and peaceful… This is meditation” and continued, “for the next thirty minutes, you’ll all do it!” He somehow assumed that the commotion in our class as an excitement and announced, “now close your eyes, sit straight…” that is how I was introduced to meditation, and perhaps, there isn’t any better way than that.
Exasperation! Somehow the five minutes were done, and the teacher declared to our sleepy eyes, “you now feel fresh, energetic and peaceful… This is meditation”
We are conditioned to think that the idea of not doing anything (even to not engage and involve ourselves with our own thoughts), isn’t right. We all then form an opinion about somebody who literally doesn’t do anything as to be one who is lazy and stupid.
That afternoon, those thirty minutes weren’t as long as I had imagined it would be. On opening my eyes I realised that although there were times when it was difficult to sit through and to simply push away thoughts that came to my mind, there was a sense of lightness. Did I do meditation every day from there on? Absolutely not! But my opinion, my understanding of meditation was altered. There was a clearing within for meditation.
Did I do meditation every day from there on? Absolutely not! But my opinion, my understanding of meditation was altered. There was a clearing within for meditation.
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