Q & A Archives

What to Do About Sleep in Meditation and Other Problems

To an Indian Christian friend who asked about experiencing blankness and spontaneous bodily movements in meditation.

I am very happy that you are meditating regularly. This is so very important. It is also good that you are meditating longer.

Sleepiness

It does happen sometimes that the meditator gets into a kind of blank or tamasic state in meditation, and may even pass into dreamless sleep without realizing it. This is because the mind is used to going into the sleep state when the mind becomes still and relaxed. In time this problem goes away. But be sure you are getting enough sleep at night.

How to deal with bodily movements

Bodily movements and tremors do occur to some yogis in the beginning. When it happens, stand up for a few moments and then sit back down. Sometimes these things occur because the meditator has habitually been living with some muscles tensed, and now they are beginning to relax and cause such movements. It is good to take a deep breath and let out all tension occasionally. It is important to not let such movements take over, but stop them immediately. There are so many sources for these problems that it is impossible to determine them.

There are many people who sway back and forth or side to side and claim subtle pranic forces are causing this. Really it is their restless minds seeking some distraction and activity. (I am not saying this is your situation, but it is good to know, especially if in the future you meet such people.)

The yogi must always be in charge of body and mind. That is easier said than done, but can be done.

Friends: What Serious Spiritual Aspirants Need to Know

Q: What are friends? Is it good to have friends?

Books can be written on the subject of friends and friendship, so I will confine myself to the perspective of a seeker for higher consciousness: a sadhaka. Not a religious or philosophical dilettante, but a committed yogi.

A true and worthwhile friend is one whose company is both elevating and strengthening, who also like the sadhaka looks toward eternal matters and values. These we should associate with and value.

Pleasant and enjoyable is not enough

There are very good and warm-hearted people whose friendship is most pleasant and enjoyable, but their minds never turn toward higher things. In time the friendship of such people is seen to be valueless, a waste of time for the serious sadhaka.

I do not mean that he comes to dislike or despise them: he likes and appreciates them, but realizes that association with them has little meaning. Just as an adult lays aside childish pursuits and interests, in the same way the evolving yogi simply lays such associations aside. And often they dissolve of themselves just as childhood friends often fade out of an adult’s life.

In his heart the sadhaka will still feel friendly toward them and even love them, but he has to recognize that their association really has no value. However, if they actively continue contact he does not end it.

Eclecticism in Religion: Is It Good?

Q: What is your opinion of those who preach the gospel of eclecticism? There are those who because of their past life involvement with various religions need to pick up the threads of those religions and follow them to some extent. One of my teachers … Continue reading

Worship of God in Meditation or in Church: Which Is True?

Q: In meditation, I feel myself OF God; in church, in the sacraments, I feel a “surrender” to God. Both are beautiful and in my mind, they are compatible energies, one feeding the other. But, I would welcome your thoughts on this matter in the … Continue reading

How Karma Affects Our Thoughts and Actions

Q: Would you address the interaction of karma and bad choices (for example, self defeating, free will choices in life possibly made from a poor sense of self esteem). If they do affect each other, how does one affect the other? Simplistic statements are usually … Continue reading

Anandamayi Ma’s Instructions on Diety Puja (Image Worship)

Mother Anandamayi on puja Q: Could you tell me the procedure to perform the standard Deity Puja as it is done in India?

I can tell you something much better than that. I will tell you how Ma Anandamayi told me to do puja.

During a conversation with Ma I asked her if the basic form of doing puja by making offerings with simple mantras was suitable for use in our ashram. To my surprise she told me that there was no need for mantras at all. She was very insistent about this.

She told me that she had long ago instructed the way puja should be done, but after a while all the Anandamayi ashrams (and the individual devotees, apparently) had abandoned that way and taken up the usual puja rituals. When I asked that she tell me the way she preferred worship to be done, she gave me these very simple but wonderful instructions:

Ma’s instruction on puja

Prepare the offerings and keep them to the side.
Take the first offering, place it before the deity and bow.
Close your eyes and imagine the deity present before you in a living form and visualize yourself offering the same thing to the deity. Your mental offering(s) can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Then bow again.
Put the offering to the side by the deity.
Place the next offering before the deity, bow, visualize yourself making the offering(s) in the same way, bow and and continue in the same manner with the other offerings.
After the final bow before the deity you are done.

The real puja, Ma said, is the mental puja, though material offerings are made. Otherwise, without the inner puja, it is not puja at all but just playing with dolls. She was very insistent about this.

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