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:

Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface there may be a multitude of waves, but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence—that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then, when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoil will just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark.

So when we are in our highest meditation we feel that we are the sea, and the animals the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation.

(Source: Meditation: Man-Perfection In God-Satisfaction)

A fruitful meditation
Is nothing other than
Diving into the sea of silence.
   – Sri Chinmoy