Very often, especially when we are new to meditation, we feel that we are responsible for the experience that we have in meditation – we feel that it is up to us to make something happen! Sometimes we push and pull and become discouraged, but as we progress in our spiritual journey, we begin to realise that meditation is something that occurs quite naturally and spontaneously from within – like a river that flows from a spring in the ground. We cannot necessarily see the source of the river, but we can see or, as it is with meditation, feel the results.

The act of meditation is in many ways an immersion into the deeper part of our being – an unlimited consciousness that lies beyond the often superficial human existence. True, the human reality cannot be ignored because it needs perfection and fulfilment. But if we are only ever aware of our limited human nature, we never get to expand into the deeper reality, the heart and soul. In meditation we try to dive deep into the sea of tranquility that we all possess inside us – that “sea of peace and joy and light” that Sri Chinmoy alludes to in his poem, The Golden Flute.

In this weeks meditation exercise, Sri Chinmoy offers a simple visualisation to help us discover and swim in the inner sea:

For this weeks meditation exercise, Sri Chinmoy offers more techniques for focusing on the spiritual heart - a place which he describes as "the abode of light".

This week Sri Chinmoy offers advice on how to deal with the minds constant and often troublesome thoughts — a problem that besets most if not all seekers in their quest for enlightenment. Taming the 'monkey-mind', as Sri Chinmoy calls it, requires a combination of adamantine determination, resilience and calm patience. Sri Chinmoy's words: