 
Soham Yoga

A Simple Daily Practice Leading Towards The Peace And Happiness.

By Swami Saurabhnath

Copyright 2015, Swami Saurabhnath, all rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Aim of this Course

Chapter One – Fixing the Lifestyle

Reasons of Stress

Few words about the Lifestyle

Creating a schedule

Chapter Two – Physical Exercise

Warm up exercise

Basic Exercise

Useful Postures for Meditation

Breathing Exercises

Chapter Three – Mental Exercise

Soham Meditation

Counting Breaths

Relaxation of Body

Advanced Meditation Practices for experts

Chapter Four – Emotional Restructuring

Understanding the meaning of Soham

Important questions of life

Solutions to emotional problems

Developing Individuality

Dealing with adulteration, cheating and loneliness.

Dealing with bankruptcy

Dealing with addictions

Rules regarding Food and Sex

Chapter Five – Handling Depression

What is depression?

Causes of depression

Childhood causes

Young age causes

Middle age causes

Old age causes

Causes which are not related to age

Spiritual thought for depression

Avoiding and Treating depression

Relief from childhood causes

Relief from young age causes

Relief from middle and old age causes

How does spirituality view at depression?

Is spirituality an invention of depressed minds?

Ultimate reason of suffering

Most useful remedies of depression

Some natural remedies of depression

Immortality of soul - the ultimate remedy of depression

Chapter Six - Various Meditations in detail

Soham Meditation

Zen Meditation

Technique mentioned in Bhagavad Gita

Technique of Spiritual Inquiry "who am I"

Visualization Technique

Chanting the names of God

Advanced Meditation Techniques

Shāmbhavi Mudrā

Mindfulness Meditation

Chapter Seven - Meditation FAQ

Questions of Beginners

Questions of Practitioners

Conclusion

About the Author

Other Books by Swami Saurabhnath
Introduction

Namaste,

Welcome to this fabulous course, which can help you to achieve a tranquil state of mind. The aim behind designing this course is to make people feel the inherent peace, which resides in our own being. If you carefully and sincerely implement the practices of this course into your life then you won't need to do any other course or practice to attain peace. To achieve this target I am going to use the tools of some physical exercise, meditation and the most important the right thinking approach, the thinking which is in tune with life. This kind of thinking can help to achieve a peaceful mind and then to have experience of the peace and immortality which exists behind everything and every being. Even more wonderful aspect of this program is that it is completely free and available to all without any discrimination of premium and non-premium categories. Only condition for you to take benefits of this course is, you HAVE TO implement the practices and thinking patterns mentioned in this course in your day-to-day life at least for six months otherwise this course will not help you just by reading it.

I have seen in society that there are many spiritual programs, courses, kriya-s etc. are taught by different spiritual masters. People think that they will instantly achieve peace and happiness after completing those courses, but even the people who teach those courses do not claim so, after learning the practices of those courses or Kriya-s, one has to practice them regularly otherwise those techniques are not much useful. Same is the situation with this course also; you have to keep practicing the methods of this course throughout your life, only difference is these techniques will become spontaneous to you when you become expert in them. You can practice the techniques mentioned in this course on your own or if you need personal guidance then you can contact me. Almost everyone can benefit from this course but the time to achieve success depends upon your current state of awareness which is created by your conditioning in this life and past lives. I do not mean to say that someone is better than others so he will benefitted quickly, no one is better than anyone else. We all are children of God and we all have same credentials, only difference is the difference of viewpoints. In the beginning, you may not agree with me in many things mentioned in this course, but as your understanding of life increases, you will agree with me in almost every aspect. In this course on some occasions, you may think that I have included unnecessary discussion but it is very much possible that at some distant time in future you will understand the reason behind inclusion of every discussion and aspect I have mentioned in this course. So do not be in hurry to grade this course, take your own time. In Zen monasteries, disciples have to keep doing their practices for as long as thirty years or so. The real peace takes a long time to happen. I am walking on this path of spirituality almost for last twenty years and now it is from last few years I have been able to get some glimpses of reality.

So, I will request readers not to be impatient and run behind people who promise quick results. It is true that some people can become enlightened and peaceful at early stage in their lives compared to others, because they have completed their spiritual journey in previous lives, but if you belonged to that category of advanced devotees or Yogis then you would not be reading this course, because those people can experience spontaneous peace and joy without any external aid. If you are reading this, and feel need to achieve peace, then you are not an advanced Yogi, and you will have to change your lifestyle to become peaceful and happy, it will take ample time for you to achieve the goal. Do not be disheartened by my harsh comments, I do not want to discourage you; taking ample time to become peaceful and enlightened about spiritual reality is perfectly normal. I just want to make clear the reality so that you do not become impatient, and go for instant enlightenment about which few people talk about. I have seen some people who tell their followers to become detached from mind in this moment and NOW to become enlightened about spiritual reality. I agree with them that if we can become detached from mind completely then we can become peaceful in this moment and those people who can follow their advice should do so, because why waste unnecessary time? But those who do not find the advice of staying in NOW practical, do not need to think themselves inferior to others.

As mentioned before that the main objective of this course is to encourage readers to adapt the right thinking approach which is in tune with life, and the Soham is the perfect foundation to form the structure of right thinking. The detailed meaning of Soham will be explained in the chapter of emotional restructuring. Other than right thinking there is another useful tool to experience the profound peace, that tool is Meditation. In this course I will tell you about few meditation techniques which can be useful to calm mind for the moment and when through right thinking our approach towards life becomes in tune with it, then there is no need of any practice of meditation, meditation happens by itself.

Third tool which I am going to use is practice of some physical exercises which can be helpful in practicing meditation. These exercises include some warm up and physical workout, breathing exercises (Prānāyāma), and some postures which are useful to regulate the body and mind.

As we saw, this course works on three levels of an individual, physical (body), mental (mind) and emotional (heart). Working on these three levels is important because we need to restructure the entire presence of an individual to make him or her peaceful.

Now, we look at the basic aims of this course, they are -

Aim of this Course

\- The first aim of this course is to purify the thinking pattern of mind so that it can stay in tune with life.

\- Second aim of this course is to purify the body and mind from its old conditioning of laziness and panic and develop consistency.

\- Third aim of this course is to help practitioners experience their own divine being at the right time.

To accomplish this course you need following things -

\- First important thing is your faith in any form of God of any religion. You can read my free eBook "Death to Deathless" from here to develop firm faith in God.

\- Second thing is being ready to become peaceful. Yes, I mean it; one may think how is it possible that someone is not ready to become peaceful. But it is a fact that we are not ready to become peaceful. We unconsciously take interest in stress and enjoy the sensations it generates. You may not realize it so in the beginning, you should accept that you are not ready to become peaceful. So to start with a positive note, you say to yourself "Yes, I am ready to become peaceful."

In this course we are going to search for the right thinking pattern which will help us to attain peace. It is my experience that if our thoughts are in tune with the Universe or life's order then we can become peaceful without practicing any meditation artificially. So in this course I will try to share the thoughts which help me a lot to attain peaceful mind. I hope if readers adopt the style of thinking which I am mentioning here then they can also benefit a lot.

Let's look at the above discussion in another angle. To live a life of peace and happiness the most important thing is the tools which we use to experience the world. Which tools am I mentioning? By the word tools I mean the body and mind which we use to experience the world. We see in this same world some people live a life of happiness and some live like they are living in hell. We all experience same world but our experience changes with conditioning of our mind. Our body and mind both have to be peaceful if we want to live a good life. To attain this peaceful state one has to change the intrinsic nature of mind. There are many reasons for the turbulent nature of our mind. Some of them are - our surrounding may be chaotic, our conditioning may be wrong; we might have bad experiences in our past lives etc. After completing this course you will overcome most of these problems and become peaceful.

So let's start the study. I have divided this course on three levels - Physical, Mental and Emotional. The exercise I am going to mention can help you to regulate your physical structure. To regulate the mental structure I am going to tell you some techniques of meditation. And to regulate the emotional structure I am going to tell you the right thinking process which can help you to remain emotionally strong in all situations. We will start with the gross physical level and reach to the subtle emotional level through mental level. I am not giving you any timeframe to accomplish this course. You will have to practice it throughout your life so that you can live happily, but if you follow the techniques with consistency then you will develop the habit of right thinking, then practice of these methods will become natural to you. You can apply all these practices simultaneously on different levels or you can go from gross physical level to subtle emotional level one by one. It is up to you to decide according to your nature, but it is important to practice all three. Main objective of physical exercise in this course is to remove the laziness, if any, in you and develop consistency in your day to day life. Meditation is also used for same reason to develop consistency on mental level. And in the end the right thinking approach is used to make one emotionally strong.

But before we enter the course we will look at some basic changes that you should do in your lifestyle. My best wishes to you for this course, may you soon achieve the peace and bliss through this course. Thank you.

-Saurabh

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Chapter 1 - Fixing the lifestyle

In this section we will discuss that how we can create a lifestyle which will help us to get rid of stress and anxiety. But before going to lifestyle we will try to find what the main reason for stress is?

Reasons of stress

In my opinion we are the main reason for our own stress. Below I am mentioning few reasons which will explain why we create stress in our own life. These reasons are based on my experience of life until now and the observation of people which I have done until now; there can be other reasons also about which I might be unaware. But the reasons I am mentioning below cover most of the people.

1. First and most important reason is our conditioning from our childhood and past lives. Past lives conditioning plays a role in bringing us to this life of human being, but after the birth we get conditioned by our surroundings. We see busy and stressful people all around us and start following them unconsciously.

2. Second reason is, by observing people from childhood we feel that the stressful lifestyle can give us importance in the eyes of others. After all we all love to be important. We hate the life which has no value or importance in the eyes of people. We try to judge ourselves from the eyes of others and what they think about us. And obviously others will think good about us and give us importance only if we fulfill their needs and to fulfill the needs of more and more people we have to become more stressful and busy.

3. Third important reason is because of the viewpoints created by our observation of others, we ourselves feel empty if we are not doing something which can make us stressful. Spending time without stress seems like wasting the time which we have got in this limited and precious life. We feel that we have got only one life so we should live it to its fullest potential. We have to keep doing something which will make our life more and more rich in wealth, experience and learning so that we can be more mature person than all others and leave this world with content.

I have mentioned these three major causes of stress and if you look carefully then you will find that there is one common factor in all these three, that factor is trying to judge ourselves through the eyes of other people. There is nothing wrong in getting interest in what other people think about us, but the problem starts when we forget everything and start doing what other people want us to do. If we can free ourselves from the grip of society then we can become peaceful early because peace is the inherent nature of all.

Now we will try to fix our lifestyle a bit which will help in staying calm.

Few words about the Lifestyle

We are going to study about the Yoga, Lord Krushna in Bhagavad Gita has warned us that if we want to become successful in Yoga then we have to live a balanced life. Lord Krushna said that a person who eats too much or too little; or a person who sleeps too much or too little cannot become successful in Yoga. So before starting the practice of Yoga we should regulate our life style at least to some extent. We have to eat food which is necessary to keep body alive and active but we should not eat too much and make body fat. Nor should we eat too little and make body starve. In the same way we should take necessary sleep but should not sleep too much. The need of food and sleep is different for each individual so I will not tell any standard quantity of food intake or standard time of sleep. I will only say that do not exaggerate anything. Come out of bed when you feel that now you cannot sleep more, if you lie down then you will remain awake and keep thinking about something. In a healthy person the absence of sleep suggests that his or her body has completed the recharging and now there is no need of lying down. Similarly stop eating food before you feel heavy, do not feed yourself too much.

Other than eating and sleeping it is also important to do a regulated work to earn money. We should not become workaholic or lazy. To maintain our bodies we have to work, but that work should also be done in appropriate quantity. I hear people saying that what can we do? We have to work to earn money and we cannot manage time for our meditation practice. This excuse will not help you if you want to become peaceful and happy. If currently you have to work too much to earn money then see whether you have unnecessarily increased your needs or are you unnecessarily running before money? Search for the things and events which are having less importance in your life and immediately remove them from your life. Do not waste your precious human life in collecting gold and stones. Do not waste your life in building more and more houses for yourself. One house is enough for everyone. One of the famous saints of Maharashtra, Swami Ramadasa has said that do not bother to build even a single house, this life of four days can be lived under a tree also, there is no need to waste time before building a house. I am not asking you to go to this extreme stand but one house is enough; do not keep running before many houses.

Similarly do not worry about the future of your children. They have their own destiny which you cannot change. Even if you manage all comforts and riches for them, still they can get caught in trouble if they are not worthy of being rich. If they are worthy, they will earn their own fortune, you do not need to worry. Manage good food, shelter and education for them in present and forget about future.

After giving up all unnecessary things and worries of your life do not keep thinking about past events. Past has gone and now it is like a dream. There is one common aspect between past and a dream. We cannot bring anything from them into present. If your past was dreadful, forget it as a nightmare. In this course I will mention a technique which will help you to forget your dreadful past. If your past was happy and full of good events, then also forget it as a nice dream. Do not keep projecting good things of past into future.

After this preparation we are now ready to start the course. If you cannot accomplish the job of preparation mentioned above then do not become disheartened, continue to practice the techniques of the following course and with time you will find everything happening well. So now, let us start our course.

Creating a schedule -

As part of this course, we will divide whole day in a schedule and follow that schedule to the best of our ability. This schedule is designed to restructure your physical and mental levels. Later we will discuss about emotional restructuring.

Below I am mentioning the schedule of whole day.

Immediately after waking up - Praying to any form of God of your religion or interest.

After completing the daily routine - Doing worship of God according to your faith.

Starting the day - Practicing the physical exercise.

After exercise - Practicing meditation.

After meditation - Continuing with daily routine

Before going to sleep - Soham meditation practice and prayer.

Now we shall look into details of the schedule that we have created.

Immediately after waking up - Praying to the form of God of your religion or interest and thanking Him.

Here onwards we start our practice. This is the most important aspect of this course because this is the start of the day and the emotions we experience in this time are going to stay with us for rest of the day. So best option for us is to generate gratifying feelings towards God which will remain with us for rest of the day. I am asking you to accomplish the most important part of the course in early morning, plus we are starting our day with God. When we wake up in the morning; first we should thank God to wake us up again and pray for wellbeing of all creatures. When we start our day it is important to start it with some positive note. The prayer for all creatures of this planet is going to be the best positive thought for our rest of the day. I do not tell you to take any resolve for rest of the day like "today I will think only positive" or "I will not become angry" etc. In my view praying for all is the best positive thought. Any selfish thought and resolve is not at all positive, though it may look positive.

Another important factor is you can use any formal prayer or just pray as you can in your own language. The emotions behind the prayer are important and not the words. Ok, now after the prayer is over we should accomplish our morning routine like toilet, brush, tea, bath etc.

After completing our daily routine - It is the next step, if you worship God everyday according to your religious practice then do accomplish your worship.

Most important in all these practices is the practice of Morning Prayer and worship. In the mean time before starting physical workout you can enjoy the company of your family members and share your positive energy with them with a smile or some gossip. Try to avoid creating any tension between you and other members of the family.

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Chapter Two – Physical Exercise

Now it is time to do some physical exercise so that we can enjoy good health, consistent physical exercise can also be useful in building a strong will power.

Starting the day - Practicing the physical exercise.

Physical Exercise - After completing routine prayers and worship, now we enter into the phase of our physical training. Do not worry by reading the title; the exercise I am going to mention is not tough. I am not here to make you a body builder, my aim is to make you more relaxed, after that you can become a body builder if you want with proper training by some trainer. As far as this course is concerned I am mentioning few basic practices of Yogic exercises and Asana-s (postures) which are helpful to develop your resolve and sit without moving for a long time. If you cannot master these Asana-s then also do not worry, through the practice of these Asana-s you will at least be able to sit with an elongated spine. If you already follow a schedule of physical exercises then do not disturb it, just add the Asana-s to that schedule.

Precautions - Do not eat anything at least half hour before doing any exercise. Do not use tight clothes, and do not overdo any exercise. If you cannot accomplish any exercise because of some physical problem then contact me, I will tell you another option depending upon your situation.

1) Warm up exercise -

It is always better to start your practice in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, complete your routine prayers, other works and take a tea if you have habit of tea. I will suggest prepare your tea yourself. After taking tea wait for 15 minutes and now we are ready to start our exercise. First of all we should do some warm up exercise. Here I want to suggest that if you do some routine practice of exercise then do not change it. Do your exercises as you always do. If you do not practice any particular exercise then best warm up exercise is walking. Come out of your house and go for a morning walk. You decide the length of walk according to your physical condition. If you are healthy and completely new to exercise, then start with ten minutes of walking. Slowly increase your time of walking to half an hour. For our course half an hour is sufficient, you can walk more if you are comfortable and have enough time. I do not suggest any particular speed or a distant that you have to cover up within time, my intention is not to make you physically strong, I am using this method of physical exercise to free you from gross body, I am not interested in making body more and more strong.

We are doing this physical exercise to synthesize our physical, mental and emotional structure and to accomplish this job we have to be steady in our practice. We need strong resolve to do the practice on a fixed time every day. I want to develop the resolve, and at the same time your body will also become stronger. Ok after half an hour of walking, now we are ready to practice our next exercise.

2) Basic Exercise -

Sūryanamaskāra - This exercise is the most useful and basic exercise for everybody. You do not need to have any tools to practice this exercise. All you need to have is firm resolve to practice it daily. The word Sūryanamaskāra means prostrating to Sun. Right time to practice this exercise is in the morning immediately after sunrise. So after completing the warm up, you should start with this exercise and undertake the practice of breathing and meditations after it in the morning. I recommend only twenty Sūryanamaskāra, I do not ask you to do more. You should start with only three on first day and gradually reach to twenty. If you want to do more, then consult your physician. Both men and women can do this exercise, except pregnant women and people with some physical problem, if you are a pregnant woman then wait for your pregnancy to over and then start the practice. If you are having some physical problem and cannot practice it then contact me, I will provide you some other exercise according to your condition.

Benefits - There are numerous benefits but benefit which is useful to us is this exercise helps to strengthen our spine so that we can sit in meditation for long time. Second benefit of this exercise is that it strengthens our arms and strong arms can help us to develop a strong resolve also, this is the psychological benefit of strong arms. Plus this exercise helps us to stretch our spine and legs so that we do not need to practice any additional stretching exercise.

Below I am giving illustration of Sūryanamaskāra step by step in images so that you can understand easily. Sūryanamaskāra has got twelve steps and each step is associated with breath so that some practice of Prānāyāma should also happen with the physical exercise. If you want additional information about this exercise then you can search on Google. Here I am giving just an illustration. You should use loose clothes for doing this exercise.

Image courtesy 1yoga4all.com

Image 2.1 Sūryanamaskāra Poses

Here I just want to mention that in place of step six, the Ashtanaga Namaskara Pose, one can also practice the pose which we use for doing push-ups, touching only toes, hands and nose to floor without touching any other part of body to the floor. This small change will help you to develop more powerful arms.

Now we will study some yogic postures which are helpful in relaxing the mind and body. After you complete the practice of Sūryanamaskāra, you should start doing the practice of any posture described below.

Useful Postures for Meditation

1) Padma Asana - In English this term translates as the Lotus Posture. This is the standard posture of breathing exercises and meditation. If you look at the statue of Buddha, most probably you will see Him sitting in this posture. So after completing your practice of Suryanamaskara, use this posture for all other breathing exercises and meditation.

(I have taken the image below from internet but now I do not remember the exact website from where I took it, I tried to find it but could not find. If you are the creator of this image or you know the source of this image then please contact me so that I can mention the source here and give the credits of this image to its creator.)

Image 2.2 Padmāsana Pose

Method of this posture -

Sit down with elongated spine on a cushion which is not too high or too low. Keep head, neck and spine in one line as mentioned in image. Stretch your both legs, then fold your right leg and put the right foot on the left thigh. Now fold your left leg and put the left foot above your right folded leg and right thigh. Put your left hand between two folded feet and then put your right hand in the left hand. Or you can also use Dnāna mudrā of hands. In this mudrā we loosely put left hand on the left knee and right hand on the right knee with palms facing upwards. Then we touch the tips of index finger and thumb with each other and keep other three fingers straight. After you fix the position of hands and feet adequately then stay in that position as long as you can. If you can stay in that position more than 15 minutes then you can easily practice the breathing exercises and meditation in this posture.

If you are not able to do this Asana then you can try a variation, fold your left leg and put the left foot below the right thigh, then fold right leg and put the right foot on the left thigh. This is easy for most people and can be used instead of Padmāsana.

2) Siddha Asana - In English this term can translate as the Posture of a Successful person. A person who has become successful in life can sit relaxed in this pose. If you cannot practice the Padma Asana then you can use this pose. It is easier than Padma Asana

Method of this posture -

Sit down with elongated spine on a cushion which is not too high or too low. Then stretch your legs in your front. Now fold your left leg and put your left heel at the anus. Then fold your right leg and put right foot on left thigh. Stay in this position as long as you are comfortable. You can use this posture for your breathing and meditation practices.

3) Shava Asana - In English this term translates as Corpse Pose. This is the most useful pose for practice of Prānāyāma and Meditation, because almost all people can practice this pose without much effort.

Method of this posture -

Lie down flat on your back. Stretch your legs but do not strain them. Stretch your arms along with your body in about forty degrees. Now relax and if you feel tension in any part of the body then release it. You can use this posture for breathing and meditation practice.

Breathing Exercises -

After completing the physical exercise now we should turn towards the breathing exercises. Here I am going to mention basic breathing exercises which are helpful to control the mind. If you want you can slowly develop your breathing capacity with practice. But my aim is not that, my aim behind using breathing exercise is by controlling our breath we can control our mind for some time. Ultimately we have to forget about the breath and go deeper into meditation. So I won't suggest you to become so much attached with breath control. Use this as a tool to calm the mind.

Now we enter into breathing exercise or Prānāyāma. I am taking for granted that you have completed the physical exercise before starting this session.

Fast Breathing - After you complete the exercise sit down in any pose mentioned above and take three deep breaths, now it is time to practice the fast breathing technique. This technique is also known as "Breath of Fire". In this technique breath is equally inhaled and exhaled quickly through nose. You do not need to take deep breath while practicing this method, only thing you have to remember is you should breathe quickly, at least two breaths in one second. Let your abdomen move with your fast breaths. Continue this practice for 30 seconds and then resume your natural breath. Do not practice more than 30 seconds in one round. When you feel comfortable, again resume the practice of fast breathing. In this way complete 10 rounds of fast breathing exercise.

Caution - If you have problem of High Blood Pressure or Hypertension, do not practice this method. Instead you can continue with Deep Breathing for some time more. If you feel uneasy then stop doing this practice of fast breathing.

Deep Breathing - After you complete your fast breathing exercise, start deep breathing. Take a deep breath through nose and fill your lungs with breath. After the lungs are filled, do not stop; completely exhale the breath again through nose. Use your stomach and chest both for breathing. First the stomach rises while inhaling and later the chest also rises. At the time of exhalation first the chest falls and later the stomach also falls. Count the cycle of one inhalation and one exhalation as "One" and continue with this breathing for ten counts. After ten breaths are complete then relax for some time, continue your natural breathing. When you feel comfortable resume the deep breathing again, complete five rounds of deep breathing in one sitting.

Caution - If you fill any kind of uneasiness then stop the deep breathing and continue your regular breathing.

Slow Breathing - After you complete the deep breathing exercise, now it is time to relax your body and breath. To achieve this relaxed state we will now practice slow breathing. Slow breathing is similar to deep breathing but there is no need to fill lungs each time you breathe. The important thing in this breathing technique is you take a small halt between inhalation and exhalation. There is no need to apply any inhalation and exhalation pattern of 1-4-2 or 1-2-1. Simply take a small gap between inhalation and exhalation. This gap should not create stress in your normal breathing. This gap also creates a gap between two thoughts in mind. When your practice matures you will be able to create gap in thoughts without any gap in breath. Once it is achieved, you will slowly be able to free yourself from the bonds of body and enjoy the bliss of the Existence.

Here we come to the end of our physical exercise session. Now we will enter into mental exercises.

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Chapter Three – Mental Exercise

After breathing exercise - Practicing meditation.

Before we enter into meditation techniques we will first try to understand what is meditation? Real meaning of meditation is "not doing anything". If you remember the reasons of stress in our life, which I have mentioned before, you will remember that while trying to prove our importance and spending time usefully we always try to be busy in doing something. Meditation is the exact opposite of this kind of doing, meditation is not doing anything. But to achieve this state of non-doer, in the beginning we have to do some practices which help us to stop doing other mundane things and after we become expert then we can stop those practices also.

Mental Exercise - Meditations

In this section we will discuss about some meditation techniques which are useful to calm the mind. Below I am mentioning few important and easy meditation techniques. These meditations require you to sit down and then meditate. Therefore, when you complete the breathing session you should practice these meditations. After you become expert in these meditations, you will find your concentration power is increased. This is the secondary benefit of meditation that it helps to increase the concentration power and helps to increase the creativity. Of course, primary benefit of meditation is it helps us to become aware of our true peaceful nature.

You can use the Lotus Posture described before for this practice of meditation. If you are not comfortable with that posture then you can sit in Siddha Asana. Siddha Asana means sitting on the ground on a cushion with legs crossed. Your two knees and butt will touch the ground (cushion). Your right foot will rest above your left thigh and left foot would be pushed below your genitals.

Now let's start the discussion of meditations. You can practice any one of the meditations mentioned below or all meditations one by one for the period of 30 minutes.

Soham Meditation

After you complete the Slow Breathing Technique, it is time to practice this meditation. This is very simple meditation. Keep breathing your natural way and close your eyes. When you inhale say "Soooo" in mind and when you exhale say "Hammmm" (or Hummmm) in mind. Do twenty one rounds of Soham breaths and then relax and just keep watching your breath. Contemplate on the meaning of the words _Soham_ which is explained here. Continue this practice for at least 15 minutes, you can do more if you are comfortable but do not practice more than 30 minutes.

Counting Breaths –

This is another easy technique; if you do not want to practice Soham for any reason then you can use this technique. Close your eyes. Simply count your inhalation as One and exhalation as Two. Count until Twenty comes and then go back from Twenty to One. I mean after you complete the exhalation of Twenty, count Twenty again with your next inhalation and Nineteen at next exhalation. Continue this count until the exhalation of One comes. When One comes you have completed one round of this meditation. Complete at least three rounds and then relax and keep watching your breath. Remain aware of your breath for at least 15 minutes and maximum 30 minutes.

Relaxation of Body

This technique is best practiced in Shava Asana or Corpse Pose. Lie down in Corpse Pose and close your eyes. Then focus your attention to feet and see if you can sense any tension there. If you feel any tension in muscles of feet then relax the tension and move your focus to legs. Relax tension in legs if any and move to thighs. Do the same procedure of relaxation. Slowly slowly move upwards and reach to the top of your head. If you feel tension anywhere then relax it. I am very confident that you will feel tension in muscles of head, we keep thinking continuously so we all are tensed in head muscles. Relax that tension also. After the relaxation of whole body is complete, become aware of your breath for some time and again start scanning your body from bottom to top for any tension in muscles and release the tension if you find it anywhere. Lie in this position as long as you feel comfortable but not beyond 30 minutes. I do not recommend any practice of meditation beyond 30 minutes.

Alright we have now completed the study of some basic meditation practices. Most important thing is you practice them, without practice they are not at all useful. Now we will move to advanced meditation practices. Once you become capable of practicing any basic meditation for 30 minutes without any gap then you should start practicing the advanced meditations that I am going to mention now.

Advanced Meditation Practices for experts -

The aim of Advanced Meditation is to make us aware of our mind in all times. These meditations are not practiced in any particular pose rather practice of these meditations cover all our daily activities. If you can practice these techniques, you will be able to reach a stage of constant peace. So without much discussion let's start the study of advanced meditations.

Extended Soham Meditation -

If you practice the Soham meditation then this extension of that same meditation can take you on next stage. All you have to do is while doing your regular work, take three Soham breaths randomly at any time. Suppose you are working in your office and you feel stressed, all you have to do is take three Soham breaths and your tension will be reduced considerably. If you are happy about something, take three Soham breaths and you will find your happiness has become balanced than just superficial. If someone is angry at you, immediately become aware that you have to take three Soham breaths and take the breaths, anger and despair will not touch you. If you are enjoying sex with your partner, then in those ecstatic moments take three Soham breaths, remember you are the divine Consciousness, sex is physical pleasure so it is transient. But you are not only physical; you have a divine aspect also. If you can remember your divine Soham nature in all situations of life then slowly you will transcend this physical world and experience the divine existence. Though this world is also divine but unless we experience the divine Consciousness we cannot see the divinity of this world completely.

Staying in present -

This meditation practice is not directly related to any basic meditations but after you become expert in basic meditations then you can switch to this practice. This meditation needs your constant attention to the objects which are in front of you. Those objects may be in any form, visual, sounds or any other sensations; you have to remain attentive to whatever exists around you in THIS moment. Whenever you get some spare time from your work, you should start practicing this meditation, look at the object in front of you. Inspect that object thoroughly. Look at its shape, colors, different designs that may be painted on it. If something is written on it the read it carefully, look at the letters of writing in detail. Once you complete inspection of the object take another object. But most important thing when you switch to next object is, forget everything about the previous object, DO NOT THINK about it again. If you see any sentence then read it once in the mind, and then do not read it again. Rather keep looking at words of that sentence without reading them in mind, look at the font, the colors etc.

I guess you might have got the idea what am I suggesting. If you can practice this technique then soon you will find yourself in No-Mind state.

Regulated thinking of past and future -

This is another important meditation technique. This technique is divided in two phases with each phase practiced in one whole day. When you start practicing you practice first phase on first day and second phase on second consecutive day. This technique uses two resolves which one has to make after the regular practice of meditation is over. On first day when you complete your regular practice of meditation, make a resolve that today I will not think anything about my past. Today I will only think about my future. After making this resolve, go for your regular duties and works. But now comes the important part, after regular intervals keep noticing your thoughts and if you find yourself engaged in thinking about your past then immediately stop those thoughts and remember your resolve. Continue this practice for whole day. Think only about your future or do not think anything at all. This day should allow all your imagination about future and thoughts of your expectations about your future.

Now comes the second stage, when the first day of resolve is over, in second day morning after completing your regular meditations, make a resolve that today I will not think anything about my future. Use the same technique that you used yesterday that keep noticing your thoughts after intervals and if you find yourself thinking about your future, or imagining about the pleasures that you may have in future then stop that thinking and remember your resolve. Continue this practice for whole day. Think only about your past or do not think anything at all.

But remember while practicing this technique, you have to use your thinking ability to accomplish the works which you might be doing. Do not stop thinking about your works, which are in front of you in present moment. Only knack of this meditation is not thinking about past and future. When you find yourself comfortable in avoiding thinking of past and future on their respective days, then stop thinking about them altogether and start living in the moment, start living in NOW.

Watching the thoughts without getting involved in them -

This is a useful technique but very difficult to practice. The mind works on autopilot and goes on thinking continuously. We unconsciously get involved in the thinking patterns of our minds which creates different personalities. If we can remain aloof from mind without giving it much importance then we can experience the peaceful state, which exists beyond the mind. The direct path to experience that state is not getting involved in our own mind and using it as a tool rather than allowing it to use us. This is very difficult in the beginning because one cannot decide what is mind and what his or her own presence is, because from countless lives we are continuously working under the influence of the mind. To make our understanding about our own presence clear, the basic meditations can help us. After we understand ourselves then we can stay aloof and watch our thoughts indifferently. When we watch our own thoughts with indifference, the fuel of interest, which keeps mind repeatedly working, comes to an end and mind stops its unnecessary wondering. At that time, we can experience the state of No-Mind and rest in our own Self.

All right, here we come to the end of our Advanced Meditations and the mental restructuring. Now we will study about the emotional restructuring. But before that, let's think about our rest of daily schedule and complete it.

After meditation - Continuing with daily routine

If you are comfortable with advanced meditation practices then you can practice them throughout the day with your other daily activities. If you do not find yourself comfortable then you can forget all about meditations and continue with your daily routine.

Before going to sleep - Soham meditation practice.

When you complete your all daily routine of works and other activities then before going to sleep you should again practice some Soham Meditation or any other basic meditation that you like. However, before going to sleep one more activity is important and you should do is asking for pardon to God for anything wrong you might have done throughout the day and forgive the people who might have misbehaved with you. Go to sleep without any burden of the day.

Before going to sleep you can practice some visualization meditation also. The details of this meditation are mentioned later in this book here. Some people may find that because of Soham meditation their sleep can be disturbed for a while, if you have this problem then you can try the visualization meditation which will not disturb your sleep. Another benefit of visualization meditation is that it can help you to achieve lucidity while you are in dream; these kinds of dreams are called as Lucid Dreams. Lucid dreams can be funny experiences; they can't help much in spiritual journey though, but they can give you some power of seeing future events and sensing remote locations. I personally do not practice any lucid dreaming nor do I recommend to anyone but if you are interested in this topic then you can go for it, it is not much harmful. Only caution one has to take before practicing any technique of lucid dreaming is one should not get detached from this real world for the sake of the dream world. In the world of lucid dreams we can fulfill all our desires without any effort, we just have to imagine the scenario. The danger of this kind of easiness in fulfilling desires is that one can become lonely and start avoiding real people and events of this real world. No matter how beautiful and wonderful the dream world might be but it is still completely false and if we want to make spiritual progress then we have to learn how to deal with the real world in which we live.

Ok, here completes the daily schedule, which I have designed for achieving peace. You can make minor changes in it according to your circumstance but main theme of this schedule should remain intact. That theme is, this world is a beautiful creation of God and we should admire His work rather than creating problems in it. Our life is also created by God and we should not create unnecessary problems in our own life. To achieve this kind of lifestyle I have created the above daily schedule and now I am going to discuss the thinking patterns which will help you to restructure yourself emotionally.

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Chapter Four -Emotional Restructuring

This is the most important part of this course. If you can accomplish this task then you will be able to withstand all difficult situations of life peacefully. My intention behind designing this portion is to make the readers more sensitive, more loving towards all beings but at the same time emotionally strong. To accomplish this task we will restructure the whole thinking process if necessary. The previous two parts of this course which we studied were designed to help the practitioner for the moment, even if somebody becomes expert in basic meditations still he or she will need help of this emotional restructuring to go on next advanced level of meditations. In this section we will think from very basic views and try to change all viewpoints according to our needs to achieve peace. We will study about the functioning of the world; we will look at the basic reason of all of us to come to this life. We will also look for the reason of suffering and how can we attain peace through implementing this knowledge in our day to day life. In a way this portion consists of the philosophical study - Dnyāna Yoga plus study about the right thinking approach towards life and its events. Life in a whole has both good and bad experiences, we will learn how to become indifferent towards bad experiences and how to remain balanced in good experiences. So let's start our study.

I will present this portion in question and answer format, so that I can put things systematically and readers will find it easy to understand the topic. But before that we will look at the meaning of Soham Yoga.

Understanding the meaning of Soham -

I have named this course as Soham Yoga, now it is time to explain the detailed meaning of the word _Soham_ and why I have named this course as Soham Yoga. The word Soham actually consist of two Sanskrit words, they are _Sah_ and _Aham_ , pronounced together these words sound as Soham. The word _Sah_ means that and _Aham_ means I am. _Soham_ means "I am That". To understand it rightly we will have to understand the intention behind using these words, I am That. Who is this I mentioned here and what is That?

If we look at these words superficially then the word "I" suggests proximity to oneself and "that" suggests something distant. By this kind of thinking we can become confused about the meaning of these words, how can I, who am the closest to me, the core of me, be that which is far away from me. To avoid such confusion we will now look at the meaning of these words in detail.

Actually these words are uttered by a disciple when he or she understands the message of his or her Guru, the message which is out of this world, the message which is divine yet it manifests in this mundane world making this world divine itself. It is the tradition in India from the ancient times of Upanishads that the Guru tells disciple about his or her divine nature in the form of a great sentence, _tat_ _tvam_ _asi_. When a disciple approaches a Guru or Master with pure heart, and inquires about the reality of this world, in the very beginning Guru tells the disciple _tat_ _tvam_ _asi_ , the discourse starts with these words and ends with the utterance of disciple, Soham.

But when for the first time the disciple hears _tat_ _tvam_ _asi_ from his or her Master, the disciple cannot understand what the Master means by these words. So further inquiry starts, I am going to explain the meaning in the form of discussion between Guru and disciple which will help us to understand the meaning in a simple way.

Disciple:- Guruji, thinking you are a wise man, I had asked you about the reality of world and the human relationships, in answer to my simple questions you are telling me _tat_ _tvam_ _asi_. What is the relationship between my question and your answer? What is the meaning of your answer?

Guru: - Dear child, I know why you have to come to me, and what are your questions. But before realizing anything about this world and worldly relationships, you should first realize, who you are, if you misunderstand yourself then you will obviously misunderstand this worlds and people of this world. To avoid such misunderstanding, from the very beginning I want to make your understanding clear about yourself. I told you, _tat_ _tvam_ _asi_ , means You are That. Now I shall explain the meaning of the words "you" and "that". If you misunderstand these words then you will misunderstand everything.

When I say "You", then I mean the Consciousness or awareness which experiences the three states of being. You are the Consciousness which travels in waking, dreaming and deep sleep. You are not the body-mind because you experience different body-mind in different states, body-mind changes with states but you do not change. Right now you are experiencing body-mind of a human but in dream you may become a horse and behave as a horse. In deep sleep you do not experience any body-mind. This simple logic suggests that you are not the body mind but the Consciousness which experiences them.

The word "That" is used to indicate the Consciousness, which operates this whole world. As you as an individual have three states, similarly the Universal Consciousness also has three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. When the Universal Consciousness is awake, this world is completely manifested. When the Universal Consciousness goes to sleep, this world disappears and when It is in dream then the projection of this world takes place inside the mind of God.

So when I say to you that "You are That" I mean you, the individual Consciousness, is that, the Universal Consciousness. You and Universal Consciousness or God appear different when we look at your adjuncts, the individual body and the Universal body. But when we put aside your adjuncts then you and God both are One, _Advaita_ , Non-Dual. Have you understood the meaning of _Tat_ _Tvam_ _Asi_ and why I told it to you?

Disciple: - Yes, Guruji, I understood. But Why are you telling me all this? What is use of all this logic in day to day life?

Guru: - The understanding that you are not the body-mind will help you to remain calm. Because all needs and tensions of this world belong to body-mind, not to you. You do not need anything in this world. We usually run before physical comforts and pleasures but when we understand our real nature, we stop running before them, we become satisfied with whatever we get with reasonable efforts. Same is the situation with mind, when we understand that we are not mind also then we do not become disturbed because of mental problems. We do not take interest in what our mind says; rather we neglect the unnecessary chatting which goes on in our minds.

You asked me about the worldly relationships but when you understand yourself as Consciousness, you also understand that all other creatures and people are also Consciousness. Then your relationships with other people go on higher level, relationships become more loving and selfless. As long as you identify yourself with body-mind, you behave selfishly, when you understand yourself as Consciousness, you become unselfish. This is the use of the knowledge and logic in our day to day life.

Disciple: - Alright Guruji, I accept that I am Consciousness or Soul and all other people are also souls, not body mind. But I wonder that how can in this era of scientific discoveries and progress, no modern scientist has proved that Soul exist. Scientists have tried to inspect the dead bodies in all possible ways but they have not found any soul inside it. If all creatures are Consciousness then why scientists who investigate into the deepest levels of body cannot find any soul inside?

Guru: - The presence of Soul or Consciousness can be proved in living body, not in a dead body. To search for a soul in a dead body or unconscious body is like searching for light in the darkness. You see, if you want to operate in this world then you need a living and conscious body, you cannot operate a dead body. So people who try to see soul inside a dead body or unconscious body are doing futile efforts, soul or Consciousness can only manifest in this world in a living and awake body. You should first understand the real meaning of Consciousness. Consciousness is the intelligence of this Universe which operates the entire Universe. We can see it operating in creatures clearly; we cannot clearly see it operating in matter. The souls of creatures are the direct and clear presence of the Cosmic Intelligence in small living bodies, if the body is dead then that presence disappears. For example the reflection of sun in a pond is direct presence of the sun, when the water in pond evaporates the presence of sun also disappears, that presence does not go anywhere else, it simply disappears from that pond and appears again if that pond is filled with water, the purity of reflection depends upon the quality of water and not on the light because light of sun is always pure. Similarly, the Soul or Consciousness (Capital 'C') is the direct presence of the Supreme Consciousness inside a small living body which is conscious (small 'c'), if the consciousness of body evaporates the Consciousness also disappears, but when another body becomes conscious, that same Consciousness appears again. When it disappears it does not go anywhere or when it appears again it does not come from anywhere. Consciousness is always present but its manifestation depends upon the condition of body-mind. When one body-mind dies the Consciousness in that body-mind remains in the Universal Consciousness and another body-mind is created according to the conditioning of the previous body-mind, and again the Consciousness or Soul appears in the new body-mind. This cycle continues until the creation of new body stops completely, it stops when Consciousness in it realizes the truth.

Disciple: - I feel that I have understood the reality intellectually, is it enough for my spiritual growth? Have I become enlightened?

Guru: - What do you feel? Do you feel peaceful? If yes then why bother about enlightenment? Stay in that peace, apply this knowledge in your day to day life and live happily.

Disciple: - Ok, I will follow your advice. Thank you, I have understood that _Soham_.

Here we come to the end of the discussion between the Guru and Disciple. Below I will discuss some questions which are important to avoid confusion.

Important questions of life

Does world exist or not?

\- This is the basic question. We all experience the world, but is it real or unreal? How are we going to confirm that this world is real and not a dream? Everything and every effort is useless if we are in dream. So we will have to decide first that this world is real or unreal. First we will look at the factors because of whom this world looks unreal.

First factor is the presence of dreams. When we are in dream we feel that dream is real and we deal with dream persons and dream situations as if they are true. But upon waking up we find that dream was unreal. Then who knows may be sometime in future we may wake up from this dream of the world and find everything we did to become happy as false and useless. So this world might be unreal.

Second factor is the continuously passing time which turns everything real in present into false in past. We can never experience present and past or present and future or past and future simultaneously. We can only experience one thing which is present. If this world were true then we should have been able to experience three things together, thing of present, thing of past and thing of future. Right now there is a mobile in front of me. There was a mobile in front of me two minutes back and there will be mobile in front of me two minutes later. Since time exists inside world then if the world were true then I should be able to experience three mobiles of past, present and future simultaneously. Because if all of them are true then there should be no contradiction in their presence, but even the scientists who support the theory of time machines do not claim that we will be able to experience three times together. If present mobile negates past mobile and if future mobile will negate present mobile then all of them are false. We cannot say that mobile which exists in present is true because the truth which exists in present cannot be negated by something false which exists in future. So this world is false, it does not exists, we are in dream.

Now we will look at the factors which suggest that the world is real.

The world is real because we can experience it. We can directly perceive the world so we must conclude that this world is real.

Second, the world is real because it satisfies our desires. All our desires are about the things which are present in this world, we cannot desire for something which is absolutely absent. The very fact that we desire for worldly things and world can fulfill our desires shows that this world is real.

Third important thing is that we never experience anything out of this world. We have to experience everything in this world. So in the absence of any other proof which will defy the presence of world we have to accept that this world is real.

Alright we have seen arguments from both sides, one says that this world is a dream and other says this world is real. But what is the position of these two about each other's arguments.

The position of proponents of dream about the arguments of the proponents of reality is -

When we say that this world is real because we can directly experience it, we are in fact denying the reality of world because we can directly experience the dreams also. So this argument is useless because it can be used by both parties.

The second argument that this world satisfies our desires is also wrong because no desire can be completely satisfied.

The third argument that we cannot experience anything out of this world is also flawed because it resembles with the first argument which we have already refuted. Even if we assume your argument as right then still it does not deny our position which is, the experience itself is dream. We cannot experience anything out of this world because experience is dream and since we can only experience this world so this world is dream.

Now we will look at the position of proponents of reality about the opposite arguments -

If we say that because of the resemblance with dream phenomena this world might be unreal, we forget that dreams are based on the experience of this real world. If this real world were absent then we would never be able to experience the dreams.

The second argument about the time factor is just a play of words. It does not provide any meaningful argument.

In this way the debate between the dream proponents and reality proponents can never end. They both cut each other's positions but that does not end the debate, because they both can come up with new arguments again and again. Then the question arise, what should we do? In my opinion there is difference in opinion about the nature of world but no one can deny that we experience this world. It might be dream or reality, it does not matter. We have to experience it and happiness and sorrow which exist in the world. Another important factor is, the nature of world can be challenged but nature of Experiencer can never be challenged. Experiencer exists beyond any doubt. No one can deny this fact that we all as Consciousness exists. No one can say that he or she does not exist, because even to deny the existence there has to be existence in the first place. I can never say that I do not exist, if I say so then who is saying that I do not exist?

Thus we have concluded that we exist beyond any doubt and we have to learn how to deal with the world, then no matter whether the world exists in reality or it is a dream. One thing we have to accept that this world, real or unreal, works through cause and effect relationship. This world operates strictly under this law of cause and effect. We never see anything happening in this world without any cause. If we want a car then we have to purchase it from market and the manufacturer of that car has to manufacture it through a process, we can never find a car which hangs on a mango tree like a mango. The effect of a car is produced from a particular cause not from any other cause like mango tree. So if we want to live life peacefully and happily then we will have to produce them from their cause, we will have to create situations which will give birth to peace and happiness, otherwise we cannot be peaceful and happy.

Why does this world exist?

\- We cannot put a question upon existence. If we do so then we will be caught in infinite regress of questions and answers. There is the existence of world because world exists, no other answer is possible, because if we say that God created this world and so it exists then immediately next question will arise that why God created this world? When we see red color, we do not ask that why red color is red? We take for granted that there is a color which is red, we do not ask why. Similarly we have to take for granted that world exists. There is no question of why.

When did this world come into existence?

\- The world always exists, it is beginningless and endless. There was never a time when world did not exist, because time itself exists inside the world. Once we imagine a time when world did not exist, we get out of time itself and outside time there is no cause and effect relationship. Because cause is always prior to effect, it means cause of any effect is always in past of that effect. And without cause and effect the effect of world can never come into existence.

If we say that world always exists then how can the modern scientists give the time of the birth of this world? Modern science says that this world came into being 13.5 billion years ago. How can we deny this discovery made by scientists after spending billions of dollars?

Answer to this question is simple, when scientists say that world (Universe) came into being 13.5 billion years ago, it is nothing but their imagination. They have come to this conclusion after observing Cosmic events and different speeds. But if we ask what was there before the existence of world then there is not answer. There is a concept of singularity, but it resembles with the idea of constant presence of the world. In addition the concept of time itself exists inside world. So no one can count a particular moment as start of the world.

We as Consciousness can never experience absence of world and its generation. We can always experience its presence. When we go into sleep or coma then we do not experience any world but at the same time we do not experience any time. Whenever someone wakes up from sleep or coma, he or she does not know how much time has passed since the beginning of coma. So even if we accept that this world started before 13.5 billion years ago then also we have to say that this current world started before 13.5 billion years ago, before the start of this world there might be countless worlds which had come into being and dissolved again, but as we saw before that when world is not present, that is the state like coma or deep sleep, so for us that period of absence of world has no meaning. Therefore we can conclude that world is beginningless and it is endless.

Is this world a design or just an accident?

Now we have come to an important question. Is this world a design or accident? As we saw before that this world is beginningless so this cannot be designed by anyone. The thing which has no beginning is not a creation and without creation there cannot be any design of that creation. But at the same time it is not a chaos either. The cycle of beginning and end of this world keeps on repeating for eternity. Every new beginning of the world has its seeds in the end of the previous world, we can never come to a point when there was no previous world and a completely new world came into existence, in this way the world is beginningless. When we look at this factor then we understand that the world is not an accident either, because accident happens once and suddenly, but the thing which has a cause cannot be called as an accident. When we look at the world then we find its cause in the end of the previous world. Something which has got a cause cannot be called as an accident.

But someone may ask how can I assume that this world had its seed in the end of the previous world? How do I know that there was a previous world before the manifestation of the current world? Answer to this question is simple, if we ask for a proof then there is no proof for the absence of previous world also. Both claims that there was a world before the manifestation of this world, rather the manifestation and dissolution of world is cyclical and there was no world before the manifestation of this world, the current world we are living in is the first manifestation, are based on inference. No one of us was there to directly perceive what happened before the creation of this world. So, we should go with more logical inference, since this world has an inherent cause and effect relationship, we cannot say that this world itself is an accident.

So until now we have reached following conclusions - This world exists from beginningless past as a series of manifestation and dissolution. This world is not a design, but this world is not an accident either.

What is the nature of this world?

To look at the nature of this world we will have to look at the state when this world does not exist, the gap between the two manifestations of the worlds. Now suppose, this world comes to an end then what will be there? There are only two possibilities, one there will be nothing and second, there will be something which we cannot conceive. The first possibility is not possible because something which we experience as world today can never become nothing. The very thought that the something will become nothing is self-contradictory. It is like saying something is nothing or nothing is something. It is like experiencing light and darkness together, which is not possible.

So we are left with only alternative that when this world comes to an end there will be something which we cannot conceive. Now we have got two situations, one situation is existence of the world and second situation is existence of something inconceivable. In both these situation there is one common aspect and that aspect is Existence. So to look at the nature of the world we will have to look at the nature of Existence itself.

The question is what is Existence and how is its nature. The answer is Existence is something which exists uninterrupted by the manifestation and dissolution of the world. In other words the world appears as existing on That existence and the world seems as dissolved into That existence.

How is the nature of That existence? To know the nature of a seed we have to look at its fruits, similarly to know the nature of That existence, we have to look into the world. In world we can see animate and inanimate things. These two, animate and inanimate things are the fruits of That existence, fruit in the sense evident appearance. Therefore we can say that the Existence contains both Consciousness and Unconsciousness, similarly this world also contains Consciousness and Unconsciousness. But since That existence has the capacity to express itself in both ways we can say that Existence is beyond the Consciousness and Unconsciousness.

Does God exist?

\- This is also important question. But before that we have to clear the concept of the word God. If God means any celestial being who creates and destroys this world, then we have to say that such God does not exist. Because to create the world the creator God will have to exist beyond space and time because space and time are the world. But if God exists beyond space and time then why would He create the world? If God exists inside space and time then He would also be limited as we are limited individuals with limited knowledge and power, with such limited knowledge and power how can God create the world?

But when we look at the world then we find proofs of design which indicate towards the Conscious efforts to create and maintain the world. So we have to say that God exists, but He is neither beyond space and time nor limited by space and time, He is the space and time. God himself has become the space and time and the world. As Lord Krushna tells in Gita, He projects forth this creation and again merges it back into Himself by Himself.

Who is God?

\- After the discussion of the previous question we come to conclusion that this world itself is God or in other words God is this world. God is neither outside of this world nor is He inside of this world, He is the world, He is the Cosmic Order. God is the active state of That existence which exists beyond time and space and also as the time and space.

Did God create this world?

\- In the sense of new beginning, God did not create this world; He just projects out the previous world which merged in Him at the time of dissolution.

When did we come to this world?

\- We are a part of this world so we are with this world from its beginning and since there is no beginning we are with this world from beginningless past. We are not different than the world, can you imagine yourself without air, water or sky? It is not possible, in each one of us it is the whole world who experiences itself, through our eyes the Whole looks at itself, through our ears the Whole hears its own sounds. We can say that we are the mirrors of the Whole to see its own face. As a tiny wave we might have come into existence at any point in past but as the ocean we are always here.

How did we come to this world?

\- This question is not right. As we saw that we are a part of this world so we are always with this world. We have to see that how this world comes into being. To find the answer to this question we have to see that how anything comes into being. We can see that all living beings come into being from happiness and energy. No new creation takes place without energy; similarly this world has also come into being out of energy and bliss.

Why did we come to this world?

\- We have come to this world to express the energy and bliss of the Existence. We have not come to take anything from this world; we have come to give something.

Who am I?

\- This is very deep question. When we look at ourselves then we find that we are body, mind and Consciousness. When we are awake we experience our body and mind, when we are in dream we experience only mind and when we go to sleep we do not experience anything but the Consciousness which experiences everything remains intact even in sleep that is why after waking up we can remember our dreams and state of happiness in sleep. So we are these three, body-mind-Consciousness. But body and mind both are transient and they keep changing, however the Consciousness never changes with body-mind so we can conclude that basically we are Consciousness.

This question can become a tool for meditation. You simply sit down and toss this question "Who am I" into your mind, then what ever thought come in mind refute that thought saying Neti Neti (Not this, Not this). I am neither any thought, nor body, this is certain. I do not know who am I but I know who I am not. I am not body-mind because they keep changing but I do not change with them. At the most we can say that I am the body-mind that exist Now, not the body-mind that passed one moment before and not the body-mind which will happen one moment later.

Why there is suffering in this world?

As we saw in previous question that we are Consciousness but we become too much attached with our body and mind. This very fact forces the Universal Intelligence or God to give us suffering on physical and mental level so that we can retrace back to our Consciousness level. If God does not do that then we will always keep lingering in physical and mental aspects of our being.

If we can worship God through any religion then why there is so much controversy in religions.

\- Controversies of religions are there because of the different times and locations of their origination. All religions are started in different times and on different locations so the founders of religions have set different methods of worshipping God according to their own time and location.

Solutions to emotional problems -

What is the nature of human relationships?

\- Normally all relationships in this world are selfish. All of us are selfish people and we make relationships for selfish reasons. We make friends because they might be helpful to us in our needs or we can share our thoughts and emotions with them; we do marriage because we want a faithful and loyal life partner who will help to keep us secure from future difficulties. We give birth to children because they will take care of us in our old age. In this way all our relationships are basically selfish. Just look at you, why are you reading this book? Because you think you might get some insights of the life from this book, and I have written this book also for some reason which is obviously selfish.

There is nothing wrong in being selfish if we can respect the selfishness of others also. If we keep fulfilling our own selfish motives without bothering about the needs of other people then others will not like our behavior and they will cut themselves from us.

Another important factor is we should try to understand the real Self so that we can be really Selfish. As we discussed before that though we have three aspects we have forget the deeper and important aspect of ourselves and become involved in two superficial aspects, body and mind. Every selfish behavior we experience in this world is because of this mistake done by almost everyone of this planet. So if we can become aware of our third aspect, the Self, then we can become selfless. To accomplish this job below we will look at some remedies.

Developing Individuality - By thinking about individual birth and death

This is very important and basic need to change our emotional structure. We always think of ourselves in relation with others. We want to become successful in life because we see others becoming successful. We want to have expensive education because others are having it. We want big houses because others have it. We want happy relationships because others seem to have them. We want big car because others have it.

If we want peace then we will have to free ourselves from this "others" syndrome because others might have everything but they do not have peace. We have to develop individuality. To develop individuality we should think about our own birth and death, we have come to this world alone and we will leave this world alone. No one of others will accompany us on our journey after death. So important thing is we should try to remember this harsh fact of life and accept our aloneness though we might be surrounded by many people. When we understand that we are completely alone in this journey of life, we start experiencing freedom from opinions of others. We free ourselves from the question of "what might others think".

Ask for sorry to everybody to whom you might have done something wrong.

\- When we identify ourselves with any particular crowd then we might have behaved wrong with people unnecessarily. In running before mundane achievements and pleasures of life we might have hurt someone. Now it is time to say sorry to all those people to whom we have misbehaved. Once we develop individuality then we become more sensitive, we can see clearly that until now our behavior was wrong. We cannot make progress with this feeling of guilt. So whenever you get a chance to say sorry to someone for your mistakes; do not lose it. If you cannot meet that person again or you feel embarrassed to say sorry directly then at least say sorry to God. Because the person whom we might have hurt is also a part of God and when we sincerely say sorry to God then God forgives us.

Repent for your sins -

As mentioned before that while running before this world we commit so many mistakes. Sometimes our mistakes cross the limits and they become sins. When you develop individuality and realize your sins then repent for them. In fact repentance will happen itself; the authentic repentance can free you from the burden of your past and make your vision clearer so that you will not commit same mistakes and sins again in life.

Become sure about the existence of God -

This is fundamental need for all of us to live life peacefully. If we are not sure about the existence of God and order in life then we cannot become peaceful. To become sure about the existence of God one has to strongly scrutinize all proofs of existence of God and all arguments against the existence of God, but at the same time there should be no prejudice in the mind. In this process it is possible that on some occasions we may think this world is a chaos and there is no God. But in my view this stage passes when right time comes, the doubting mind takes doubt on its own doubts and then the acceptance of God happens.

Surrender to the God -

Once you agree that the God exists, then surrender to Him immediately without wasting any time. You can surrender to any form of God of any religion. Most important factor is accepting the Supernatural Intelligence, then it does not matter which form we adore.

Include everything and every person of this world, except yourself, in God. -

This is very crucial stage; if you can pass this stage then you will become peaceful relatively earlier. Normally we think all people as separate than each other and when someone cheats us or hurts us we abuse that person. But when we become sure about the existence of God then we can include everyone and everything of this world in Him. But as long as our bodies exist we have to live in the world of duality, the world of two. So once we become sure about the existence of God we should include every person and everything of this world into God except ourselves. Now there should be only two people in life, I and you. The You includes everything and everyone that I cannot experience as I and I am the body-mind which I can experience as I, this You is God and I am His child. Once we come to this kind of understanding we become relaxed because everyone on this planet is mine through God. In one sense I am completely alone because I do not relate myself to anyone in any relationship but on the other hand I have hearty relationship with everyone through God.

Once this stage comes then I am never lonely because someone or something is always with me who represents my beloved God. God is always with me in every situation and every incident of my life. No one in this world can cheat me or cause any trouble to me because I see God in everyone, so even if someone misbehaves with me or cheats me then also it is ok because I am the child of God and He will never do anything wrong with me, if I find someone causing me trouble then there must be some reason behind it, God might want to teach me some lesson or He may have other reasons which I will learn later.

So if you can develop this kind of mindset then you will never feel lonely or being cheated by anyone. You will always become satisfied with whatever you get with reasonable and right efforts. Once you understand that you are not alone, God is always with you, then you will not commit any sin knowingly.

Dealing with adulteration, cheating and loneliness.

Dealing with adulteration by partner depends upon your feelings towards your partner. If you love your life partner (wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend) then the behavior of adulteration by that person should not cause you any trouble, because love certainly gives the freedom to beloved. The behavior of adulteration by beloved does not matter to the lover. But if you do not love your life partner and living with him or her for the sake of convenience, then you should take legal action against that person. Once the matter is over, find someone else suitable to fulfill your needs and move on. These are the only two possibilities, either you love your life partner or you do not. Mostly we feel unsecure and have doubts about the life partner because we do not love him or her. Feeling of insecurity comes because of inferiority complex and then doubts come into the mind. But a person with true love never feel insecure because he or she has nothing to gain from the world, such a person is always comfortable with whatever the situation might be. Practice of devotion and meditation can help us to achieve such an un-wavering state of mind.

So before dealing with the adulteration of life partner, first decide why you have made that person your life partner, and then behave accordingly. If you can see God in your partner then you will not become angry with him or her.

What should I do if I have committed the adulteration?

\- As mentioned in previous question, first decide what your relationship with your partner is. If you both love each other, then frankly tell to your beloved that you have committed a mistake and you will not behave like that again. If the love between you two is true then the matter is not such big. If you both do not love each other but living with each other for some convenience; then take your own decision according to circumstance. But at least say sorry to God and decide that you will not do such mistake again.

How to deal with loneliness, when your girlfriend or boyfriend or any companion is not with you?

As we discussed before that if we can see only one God in all our relatives then we are never lonely, the same beloved God come to us through many faces and personalities of relatives. Our role is to identify Him and remain satisfied with the person who is with us now in this moment, because God is with us. Even in the form of the person who is not with us it was God and in future also it will be God.

Ultimately we have to understand that nothing has only one side. If we can understand that nothing in life has only one good side, its bad effect is also there, may be hidden, then we can become peaceful. As a coin has two sides, no coin can have only one side, similarly everything and every person in our life has good and bad aspects. Once we understand this then we do not want anything to happen or we do not want anything to not happen. We stay in peace with whatever happens.

Dealing with bankruptcy

If you have gone bankrupt then it might be a very serious problem in the first glance. But there is no need to worry, having money and not having money both are parts of life. I have seen the situation of bankruptcy in my life and it is very painful for any respectful person. However, because of my understanding of this world and the invisible hand of God in my life, I have been able to survive that situation. If you find yourself in financial problem then wait patiently and have faith in Divine. I have seen that people become too much depressed because of financial problems that they commit suicide. But in reality in the financial crisis we can understand life more precisely. We can understand our relationships with others and real viewpoint of other people towards us. In such a situation only our real friends and well-wishers can stay with us, all other people, who have come for some selfish motive, leave us. So we should look at the situation of financial crisis as a filter for our real and unreal relatives.

As every other thing in life, the financial crisis also passes when its time comes. On our side we can do more and more efforts to come out of it and remain calm. In such difficult situation this course can help you in maintaining the calmness in financial problems also, if you implement it in your life.

Dealing with addictions

Best way to deal with any kind of addiction is staying away from it, but if you have get caught in some addiction of any kind including drinking, smoking etc. then this course can certainly help you. To come out of any kind of addiction, a strong will power is necessary. When you do the physical and mental exercise mentioned in this course, you will develop a strong will power. Once you decide that you want to come out of addiction then you can take help from doctors if you are having some physical problem because of not following your addiction. And if you do not have any physical problem then it is even easier, once you develop a strong will power then, simply give up the addiction. Faith in God is also important to have a strong will power because when we know that God is watching us then we get a psychological help in stopping anything which is happening with us without our will.

Rules regarding Food and Sex -

This is the last topic of the Soham Yoga course. Here I am giving some rules to follow in routine life so that it can be useful to become peaceful. These rules are given for beginners and not for advanced Yogis. As a small plant needs protection, similarly spiritual new comers need protection of rules which will help them to achieve the target easily. Once you become deeply rooted in spiritual being then you can decide your own rules or no rules at all. Below I am mentioning the rules.

1) Eating vegetarian food - This is important rule because our food is the most important thing in creating our body-mind structure. If we eat non-vegetarian food then we feed our body with food tainted with violence and it can trigger violent emotions in mind and body. So it is good to eat only vegetarian food. If you cannot become completely vegetarian then you can fix one day in week on which you will eat non-veg and not eat non-veg on other days of week. I will not tell you any particular day of week on which you should eat non-veg, you can decide it as per your convenience, but when you become successful in keeping your resolution for six months then slowly decide one day in two weeks. In this way you can completely stop eating non-veg food.

Some people say why bother about becoming vegetarian because even if we are vegetarian still we are killing plants and anyway the sin is happening. But in reality there is no sin in killing plants, because plants do not feel pain as the animals feel. Plants have life but they do not have sensations like other animals have. How am I saying this with certainty? Because wherever there is pain, nature has provided some way to avoid it, like animals who have pain can fight with the creature who gives them pain, or if they cannot fight then they run away from it. But we do not see any such mechanism of fighting or running in plants hence we can conclude that plants do not feel pain. When we say that we should eat vegetarian food then we say it out of compassion for the animals, after all we have to eat organic material if we want to live, we cannot live by eating rocks. So at least we should not cause pain and suffering to other animals, it is the thought behind being vegetarian.

2) Dealing with Sexual energy -

\- When we start doing some spiritual practice then Sex is a major issue which has to be settled. Want of having sex is inbuilt in all creatures but when we start going beyond the mundane life then we have to consider the role of sex in life once again. The spiritual practitioners, especially in India, strongly recommend living a life of celibate to make progress in spirituality. I am not in favor of being celibate but if someone feels that sex is hindering his spiritual progress then he should try to avoid it for the time being. However, sex is an energy and it has to be handled properly otherwise it can cause troubles in one's life. So before avoiding sex one should channelize that energy towards something more creative. If you just suppress the sexual energy and do not get engaged in other good activities then you will find yourself in depression and anxiety. So if you are interested in being celibate then you should first start doing some good activities along with your day to day work, like taking interest in some hobby, or serving the needful people.

People have charm for celibacy because they want some extraordinary powers and they think that they can achieve powers like good memory, physical strength etc. by remaining celibate. I am more interested in peaceful life than all these faculties, if one thinks that one needs extraordinary powers and celibacy can give those powers then one can remain celibate. Ultimately following celibacy or not depend upon person by person.

I can tell about myself that I am not a celibate; I do not give celibacy much importance because I don't think it is necessary for me to become peaceful, may be because now I do not have much interest in sex, I have sex occasionally if I come in contact with some woman with whom I have emotional relationship (I am not married yet so I do not have any burden of committing adulteration with someone and before having relationship with any woman we both see that she also does not commit adulteration with anyone). Currently there is no woman in my life but it does not matter because for me sex is momentary sensations of body and meditation is permanent bliss. In my view having sex with a woman with whom I have emotional relationship is a divine activity, so I always avoid going to any prostitute for sex, I think prostitution is an ugly state of human relationships and love, which has fallen to the level of animals.

If you are a husband or a wife then you should remain loyal with your partner. Having sex with only one person throughout life is also called as celibacy by scriptures, so even if you are interested in living a life of celibate then also there should be no problem in having sex with your husband or wife. At the same time not having sex with your husband or wife is also wrong because you are destroying other person's pleasure for your own spiritual progress, which is a selfish move. The right thing is not running before sensual pleasure of any kind including taste, touch or whatever but at the same time avoiding such pleasures when they come in the flow of life is also not right because by avoiding them we give them unnecessary importance.

Conclusion

Here we come to the end of this course. This book still continues with the discussion of some other topics. You can read further if you are interested in those topics or you can stop reading this book and start implementing this course in your day to day life. I wish you all success and happiness with peace of mind. May God bless you, thank you.

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Chapter Five – Handling Depression

Today we hear more and more about depression. Many people take unnecessary tension just by thinking about depression and how to deal with it. It seems that mainstream psychologists and scientists are unknowingly spreading the fear of depression in society by making it a big issue. Before taking this topic for discussion in this course, I thought many times. Am I giving such a small issue more importance than it deserves by discussing about it? However, after thinking thoroughly I came to conclusion that no matter I discuss this issue or not, human society as a whole has already taken the issue of depression seriously. So we should discuss about this issue in this course so that at least I can convey my viewpoint to people that do not take the word "depression" seriously, until it is a real depression and even if you are or anyone near you is really depressed then also no need to worry if you take proper treatment, depression can be cured easily with proper treatment. Some people may hate me for making such statement, that do not take depression seriously. But I request you, please read the whole article before hating me and leaving this page. Below I am going to take the issue of depression and will try to solve it through the spiritual thinking.

What is depression?

First we have to understand that what is depression? Normally we come across many good and bad emotions in life but they recede in short time. The depression is the feeling of despair which lasts for long time, the definition of 'long' is different for each individual according to his or her endurance capacity, but normally if sadness lasts for two weeks or more then it might be a sign of depression. Life sometimes puts us in long term cycles of failures and hopelessness. In such periods we become depressed with life and thoughts of suicide start coming into our minds. This, I think, is the real depression; before such stage comes no one should think himself as depressed because one may come out of the feeling of despair after a short time when good events take place in one's life. So until the thoughts of committing suicide start coming into our mind, we should not take tension of being depressed and give unnecessary importance to this term, but if thoughts of suicide come into mind then we should immediately seek help. After seeking the help, depression can be easily cured because there is an inherent will in all of us to stay alive so if anybody can convince us that situation can change in future definitely, we give up the thoughts of committing suicide. Below we will look at the various causes of depression based on age, physical and mental conditions.

Causes of Depression

As I mentioned before that short term feeling of despair cannot be regarded as depression. So we should think about the causes only of a long term depressed mood.

Childhood causes -

1. We start from childhood. The treatment we get while we are in childhood can cause depression in young age. If a child is born in a poor family then that child is going to be deprived of many toys that a normal child can play with. The poor child's education is also going to be inferior to a normal child. In such a situation, when the poor child becomes young then if that young man cannot earn good money then he or she may get depressed with life and think of suicide.

2. If a child is born with many other siblings then he or she may be neglected by the parents and remain deprived of parental love. In such a situation if that child cannot get love in young age then that young person may become depressed.

3. Another cause that may cause depression in young age is physical or sexual abuse in childhood. If a child is deprived of family and social security and has to face such abuse, and after becoming young if that person again has to face such incidents then depression may be the result.

Young age causes

Now we look at the causes of depression which are related to young age. These causes can result in depression when one is in middle age.

1. It is possible that a man may have enjoyed good living in his childhood but by the time he reaches young age he may be deprived of wealth. If such situation continues for long time then thoughts of suicide may come into mind in the middle age.

2. Another important cause is being deprived of love in young age and being cheated by the partner or partners again and again. Such experience of adultery by life partner can make someone think that achieving true love is impossible in life and if that person is emotional then thoughts of suicide may come in the mind.

3. Continuous failure in achieving the financial and social goals that one sets in young age can make someone think of being deprived of intelligence and fate, which may cause depression in middle age.

4. An accident or illness which may result in lifetime inability to remain independent can trigger the feeling of deprived of importance and may cause depression in middle age.

Middle age causes -

Now we should look at the causes of depression in middle age which may result in depression in old age.

1. In the case of women, menopause is important event which may lead them to think of being deprived of womanhood. This cause if accompanied by negligence of the partner and children may cause depression in old age.

2. When children become young and independent, they may start neglecting their parents. Such kind of treatment from children for long time can cause the feeling of deprived of love and importance and may result in depression in old age.

3. Loss in business or not having any job can cause the feeling of deprived of importance and such seeming loss of self-esteem may result in depression in old age.

Old age causes

In the end if we look at the causes in old age which may lead to depression then the old age itself is a significant cause which may trigger the feeling of deprivation and result in depression.

Now we will look at the causes which are not related to age but which can cause depression.

Causes, which are not related to age

1. Diseases like Diabetes, Cancer, and HIV etc. which are hard to cure may result in depression in any age. Plus there are some medicines which can cause depression if they are used for long time. Plus hormonal imbalance can also cause depression.

2. If one has to face natural calamities again and again then that person may become depressed.

3. If one is socially aware then that person may become depressed by looking at the condition of society which is full of cruelty and cheating.

4. If one is emotionally connected to any religion then that person may become depressed if he or she thinks that his or her religion is losing importance in society, today we can see this happening with followers of religions, they become depressed to such a state that they are ready to become suicide bombers.

In brief we can conclude that the depression is the result of long term periods of hopelessness. When one find his or her in future is completely hopeless and he or she can never live a life of happiness then such a person starts thinking about committing suicide. Depression comes to both men and women but men are more prone to it and more men commit suicide. Almost in all culture of the earth men are supposed to be strong so when they cannot succeed in their life, rather than seeking psychological help and emotional support, men fall prey to addictions and if condition does not improve, men become depressed.

Spiritual thought for Depression

Alright, until now we have defined depression and saw causes of depression. But what does spiritual thought say about the depression and its causes? If God has created this world then why has he created it with so many difficulties for His children? When we look at the world then one may feel that the world is a brutal joke played by a cruel God. What was the need for Him to create such world full of inequality, misery, despair, adultery, diseases, wealth and health problems, cheating etc?

However, this is not the case, God has not created this world to torture us, in fact it is God who is tortured by all these troubles which we face because we are small fractions of God, God Himself has disguised as various souls who experience this world. Then again a big question arises that why God unnecessarily tortures Himself in this world? Answer to this question is also No; God does not torture Himself unnecessarily. We will discuss this issue also but before that we will see some thinking patterns which can be used as short term reliefs for all the problems listed above. By using these thinking patterns one may stay away from depression at least for short term and then I will discuss the best solution in my view which may give us relief from depression forever. So let's take the issues one by one again.

If you noticed in the reasons, which I have mentioned above, then in all situations the feeling of being deprived of something is the real cause of depression in all stages of life. So the solution to all the problems above is going to be the feeling of having something more important than the thing which one might be deprived of. Below I will try to suggest the things that all of us have in all conditions of life.

But before taking such things into account we should look at life in totality. We should not divide life in different religions, sects, races, neither in humans and animals, nor even trees and rocks or inanimate things. The life we live or the world we experience is an organic whole which functions as a whole and not as isolated islands of living forms or human races or religions. We all share same air and same sky with all other animate and inanimate things so how can we differentiate among them? Once our approach becomes all-encompassing then it becomes relatively easy to come out of depression by looking at the inferior forms of life.

Avoiding and Treating Depression

Alright now we are going to think about the thinking patterns that may help us to avoid getting caught in depression and if we are already depressed then these kind of thinking patterns can free us from the grip of depression. I know it is difficult to do but if we can learn right thinking then we can avoid depression. One should get medical help for depression if he or she has already become depressed and when one becomes emotionally strong by right thinking then I think there will be no need of any medical treatment of depression. Below we will look at the solutions of problems listed above one by one.

Relief from Childhood causes -

1. If a young man who was deprived of many things in childhood including good toys, good education etc. finds himself in poverty in young age then he may become depressed. Here I am suggesting few thoughts which can help such a person to avoid depression.

i) Such a person should look at his friends who might have died before reaching to young age or in young age and think that though poor but life has allowed him to be alive which means life or God has good plans for his future.

ii) If such a person is healthy then he should look at impaired people who might have wealth but they cannot enjoy it because of their weakness. After all good health is in itself a blessing of Divine.

The core of the two suggestions above is to be staying hopeful about future because though life may be tough now but it can be better in future.

2) If a young man or woman who was deprived of love of his or her parents because of siblings and in young age also he or she does not find love then such a person should look at the people who love each other but they have problems of possessiveness. They both try to demean each other and become the owner of other partner. The love we usually see in society is not that lovely as it looks from the outside. In most of the cases the person whom we love can become a real problem because of his or her possessiveness and feeling of insecurity. So the people who cannot find love for themselves should try to look at the dark side of human love and thank God that he or she is saved from that trouble to share true love with others which happens when we do not claim any authority over others. The love that claims authority on the beloved is not love at all then no matter it might be between mother and children or father and children or man and woman etc.

3) The physical or sexual abuse in childhood and in young age can really cause depression in us and it is very difficult to handle. What can such person do if he or she is continuously harassed physically and sexually? I think such person should seek help from low and government. If this step also does not solve problem and life continues to torture then only remedy which can help is compassion towards the person who has committed the crime with us. We have to understand that the person who tortures someone physically is himself in psychological problem. We should try to forgive the person or persons who commit such crime with us, then may be sometime in future that person might recognize his or her mistake and ask for our mercy. But here I do not mean that we should not launch complain in court, I am saying that though courts are set to help victims but if life as if decides to torture us then no court can save us. So forgiving the culprit from heart is the only solution.

Relief from Young age causes -

1) As discussed before that if a person who has enjoyed life of abundance but lost it in young age and because of the loss of wealth in young age one may become depressed in middle age. What can we do in such situation? Here also, same rule applies that look at the people who are in more bad condition than you. One might have good health and good family but many people all around us are not so fortunate. One might have lost wealth but health might be well and that is our real asset. Life usually moves in circle so it is very much possible that one might again have wealth in the old age before the death as one had wealth in the beginning of life in childhood. So in middle age there is no need to become depressed, one should look at the positive sides of poverty. Yes I mean it; poverty has also got positive side. When we do not have money then that is the time we can know who are our true friends and who have come to us just for the sake of money and power. Poverty can be good if it is shared with others. What do I mean by sharing poverty with others? I mean sharing even those things which we have got in small quantity. Such sharing can make the bonds in families more strong. So, my main objective behind doing this discussion is one should look for the positive side of everything, even of poverty.

2) Second point I made in causes of depression is the continuous experience of cheating from life partner or partners (in case of one who has changed his or her life partner). The feeling of being cheated and used by someone else is very awful for anybody. But in such situation also one should try to look at the positive side of getting cheated by people. The most important factor is such experience can make us more mature. While looking at other person as cheater we should look into our own mind and see that are there any thoughts of adultery going inside mind? It is possible that if the conditions were right then we might have also committed adultery against the partner. This is the human nature that it is always easy to commit any bad thing. Only difference between me and my partner who cheated me might be he or she got chance and I did not. If I had chance I might have walked on the same path. And more important thing is even if I might be loyal with my partner and he or she is not, then it is the time to be proud of having such concrete character and then I should make it stronger by forgiving my partner. By forgiving I do not mean that one should force oneself to live with cheater rather one should make him or her free from the bonds and look for some other loyal partner. If there is social conditioning that one has to live with only one partner forever then in such situation forgiving is the best practice. But here I want to say that in the strong social bonds and family bonds cases of adultery are less compared to free societies.

It is also possible that one might think that achieving true love is not possible in this world, but this is not the case. All of us experience true love but the time periods of that love may vary by person to person according to his or her Karma.

3) In the case of continuous failures in achieving the goals what can one do? As I understand we never fail continuously, as mentioned before life always runs in a circle and if we experience failure then we will also experience success. But what to do if the periods of failure are so long? Unfortunately we cannot do anything in such periods, we have to endure the periods of failures and wait patiently for success to come our way. But at the same time we must continue our efforts to become successful. In the periods of failures we can do worship of God. But the worship of God must continue in the periods of success also.

4) There are events in life like accidents or some chronic illness, which can cause us lifetime inability to live independently. This can be a major cause of depression. What can we do if we are caught in such situation? Before giving any advice I must accept that this is a very serious problem and difficult to overcome. But human courage is definitely stronger than this problem. If we are caught in any such situation when body becomes permanently incapable of living independently then all we can do is try to do works, which are not directly related to whole body. For example if our legs got damaged then we can try to do works which can be accomplished by hands. If our hands are damaged then we can do works, which are not completely related with hands. Which works are accomplished without hands? Like if, our voice is good we can try to sing beautiful songs. If our eyes are good then we can try to examine behavior of people so that we can become more mature and help people when they need some advice. An inactive person can distantly look at the behavior of people around him and easily become mature than people around him. We can engage in some sports, which are played with legs, like running, or sports like chess, which is played with intelligence. Most important thing is to remain surrendered to God, and then He can provide us many ways to live happily. By word surrender I mean trusting in the Divine intelligence which operates this world, if that intelligence has made us incapable of doing things on our own then It must have some reason behind such move.

In case we lose our eyes then we can try to attain powers of clairvoyance with practice of meditation. If we are not interested in such powers or do not believe in their existence then we can try to increase our listening capacity. We can try to learn brail script so that we can read more and more books about world or some entertainment. In the situation of impaired eye also surrendering to God is very important.

Relief from Middle and old age causes -

Middle age and old age causes are similar and can cause depression in old age. The most important thing to remember in old age that before thinking of committing suicide keep in mind that we have already spent a long life and left with a small life, then why worry about life and death. So do not think about suicide because death is coming on its own, then why bother? Just keep living the remaining life without any worries.

How does spirituality view at depression?

If we think from the viewpoint of spirituality, then we can see that spirituality, at least in the eastern countries does not look at depression as negative thing or bad thing. Rather spirituality looks at depression as positive development for the individual. Because it is the period of depression when one is faced with the dark side of life. Depression can help to develop detachment towards the world and help a person to look inside himself. Depression is called as Vairāgya and when it comes, one becomes detached from world and starts looking at world from a different viewpoint. But one thing has to be understood that only Vairāgya or depression is not sufficient for spiritual growth, it has to be accompanied by Viveka, the discrimination between right and wrong or permanent and temporary. When Viveka takes place in the mind of an individual then depression gets faded by understanding the temporary nature of things and relationships. One starts a quest towards the permanent thing which will never make one depressed again.

Is spirituality an invention of depressed minds?

This is important question. Is the spirituality an invention of depressed minds and should we neglect it to avoid the depression? To a certain extent, it is true that one gets easily attracted towards spiritual thinking while in depressed mood. We can look at the example of Lord Buddha, He turned towards meditation when He got depressed with life by seeing dead body, old age and illness. One of the greatest spiritual books ever written is Bhagavad Gita, which is the discourse of Lord Krushna to Arjuna when Arjuna became depressed. Looking at such examples one might think that spirituality itself is an outcome of depression then how can it help us to avoid depression? However, it is not the case, though it is true that depression leads to spirituality but spirituality does not lead to depression. Spirituality can heal depression. When Lord Buddha got enlightened, He was not depressed about life. When Krushna gave the discourse of Gita to Arjuna, Arjuna came out of depression. Therefore, we can conclude that spirituality provides a very good treatment for depression. Rather my own opinion is spirituality is the only and best remedy for depression. So we should turn towards spirituality if we want to avoid depression and live life happily.

Ultimate reason of suffering -

The basic reason of depression is intolerable suffering. But what is the reason of suffering? Why we suffer in this world? Why this world is designed in a way that it causes suffering to its inhabitants?

The modern science or thinking cannot answer this question because in their view world is not a design in first place, but the world is an accident. In such case, it is useless to ask for a reason of an accident. So modern scientific thinking cannot give the reason of the suffering.

When we look at the ancient spiritual thought then it says that this world is creation of God and God has designed this world. So now we are in a position of asking some questions about the design, we can ask that why God has designed this world in a way that we have to face sorrows repeatedly. Below we will look at the answers, which are given for the sorrows of the world.

The most simple spiritual thought says that man has rebelled against God after the creation of world so God tortures him, that's it, no further inquiry is necessary. This answer is satisfactory only to the people who are ready to agree whatever is told to them by a person who lives a different and seemingly higher life than them and says he is talking for their benefit. If people see that some person lives a life of ascetic and that person tells them this reason that the ancient man rebelled against God so God tortures modern man then they will accept it. I am also ready to accept this answer as long as no further question is raised, if one is simply ready to worship God and live life peacefully without any sorrow then why should I have any problem?

But in above answer someone can find serious flaws. First is why man rebelled against God? Why God created man as such that going forward, he would rebel against Him. And more important thing is why we are now paying for the rebellion of the man who rebelled against God in ancient times. We have not rebelled against any God in our life, in fact we have never met God then how can we disobey to His commands? The simple thought mentioned above cannot answer these questions significantly.

Now another answer comes, we are in sorrow because of our own sins, which we committed in our previous lives. This argument seems solid and undeniable. Because we cannot prove that we never had any past life, at the most the critiques can argue that there is no evidence of past lives, but absence of evidence is not a proof of non-existence. Therefore, the argument that we have committed sins in our past lives and now paying for those sins in the form of sorrows is a very good argument, of course until it satisfies our need of peace.

However, yes this argument also has a "however," if someone asks that why am I paying now for my sins which I do not remember. Any sophisticated court of law tells the reason of punishment to the criminal. So if I am getting punishment for my sins which I have committed in past lives then at least tell me, which punishment is given for which sin? If God is judicious and merciful then He should at least tell me the reasons of my punishments so that in future I will not do the same mistakes again. But, my demand is not going to be fulfilled; no one will answer my just questions. Then does it mean that God is not kind? Is He cruel?

No, God is not cruel. We do not get answers for the questions above because they are based on wrong notions. It is true that we are punished for our sins, which we did in past lives, but this law is designed for some other reason than giving us punishments. This law of punishments is designed to make us aware that we are not body and mind, we are spiritual beings. The law of karma works to make the Soul aware of its own divine nature by making the Soul detached from body-mind. To detach us from our body-mind, we are tortured and put into sorrows and depression. This, I think, is the best and agreeable answer.

Most useful remedies of depression -

We have seen the thinking process, which can be useful in different types of depressions. But they are not perfect and can provide relief for some time. We need a thought process, which can help us in all situations to stay away from depression. Below I am mentioning some points which can be helpful to all of you as they are helpful to me.

Look at world as Two individuals and not many

In my opinion, our biggest mistake is, we look at world as having multiple personalities and many people. It is true that there are different people but we are not separate, we all share same air, same sky then how can we remain separate from each other. We all are One but to live in this world and to make relationships we need at least two persons. So, it is ok if we divide the One whole world in Two, One is "I" and another is "God." In my life there are only two people, I am on one side and God is on the other. All people and creature whom I know or I do not know, or with whom I am having any relationship are different manifestations of God. My mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sisters, brothers, friends and even enemies all are manifestations of One God. They are different than each other time wise and space wise but they are not separate. From my birth to until now, I am always with God and no one else.

One may ask what the benefit of this kind of thinking is. How can we stay away from depression if we think like this? Answer is simple, by considering only two personalities in life we can eliminate a very big part of depression, which is caused by the unwanted behavior of people. When we see that there is only One person (God) with whom we are dealing then we can understand that as God behaves against our expectations, He also behaves according to our expectation. In all our relationships, there is always someone who behaves as per our will and someone who does not behave as we want. When we look at our relationships as a whole then we do not get depressed by seemingly wrong behavior of some relatives.

No time in life can be only happy or only sad -

This is the second important rule of life that there is not going to be any time in life, which is only good or only bad. Why? Because the life we live is transient, it is bound to be transient, it cannot be eternal. So all times, good or bad, have to pass. If there is some time in life which is only happy or good then we will get attached with it and since it is by nature transient, it will soon pass. But if we are attached with it then after its departure from our life we will become more unhappy. So to keep the balance, life is designed as a mixture of good and bad events. By such thinking, we can stay away from depression, which is caused by difficulties that we are facing in current time.

Some natural remedies of depression -

If you follow the methods of exercise and meditations mentioned in this course then you will get relief from depression. Exercise is a good natural remedy of depression. The morning walk suggested in this course can have magical effects to treat depression. There is no need to go for a long morning walk every day, just fifteen minutes of walk around in the neighborhood will do the job. In addition you should eat healthy food which contains vitamin B. If you are a vegetarian and having problems in getting vitamin B in your food then you can use supplements for vitamin B. Another important thing is we should take enough sleep every day; this course will also help you to handle sleep problems if you have any. But still if you have problems in going to sleep then do these things – Go to sleep at same time every day and wake up at the same time, remove all disturbances from your room. Lie down in the bed at least for half an hour without moving even if you are not asleep.

Immortality of Soul - the ultimate remedy of depression

This is the last and best remedy of depression. When we realize that death happens with body and not with the Soul then the idea of suicide has no meaning because even if I kill my body, still I am not going to end and I will go to another body where situation might be worse than now. So why should I kill my body unnecessarily, rather I should stay in this body and try to find other ways of attaining peace.

All right, until now we have seen many reasons of depression and remedies of those reasons. The depression, which is caused by hormonal changes or drugs, can be treated with medicines. My emphasis is on treating the depression which is caused by thoughts and in this article I have tried to provide some useful thoughts which can remove the wrong thoughts from our mind and we can feel peaceful.

In the end, the topic which we took in the beginning that one should not take depression seriously. By giving importance to depression we provide more fuel to it, rather we should try to engage our mind in some other activities. If someone does not find my thoughts helpful then he or she can engage in selfless service of people which can be another good way to come out of depression. Because when we serve the needy people, we are exposed to their sorrows and in comparison with their sorrows our sorrows look small. Thank you very much for reading.

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Chapter Six – Various Meditations in detail

This is my favorite subject. Meditation is the direct experience of divine peace. But I insist on right thinking along with doing any meditation. If we look at this world with right approach then meditation happens by itself. However, right thinking is not the subject of this article; we are discussing methods of meditation. Until we achieve right thinking pattern we can practice certain methods of meditation, which can help us in getting the taste of divine peace. When we have that taste then our approach towards life becomes in tune with the life and peace prevails.

Below I am mentioning few meditation techniques.

Meditation Techniques for Beginners.

According to our conditioning of life we all human beings are on different levels of awareness. Therefore, it is necessary to practice any meditation technique according to our own state of awareness. But how are we going to decide our own state? To avoid this difficulty here I am providing different Meditation Techniques which are useful for different people according to their own state. If you are a beginner then I will suggest that you start from the Beginners Techniques and then gradually you will advance towards the advanced techniques automatically.

Beginners Techniques

Soham Meditation

This is the meditation, which was taught to me by my Guruji in the beginning when I was initiated in Nāth tradition. It is the basic technique of Nāth tradition. Though very easy to practice this technique can take us to the advanced stages of meditation relatively quick, because as I mentioned before that right thinking is the basis of achieving spontaneous meditation, this technique has an inbuilt aspect of right thinking.

While doing this meditation we use two words, first word is Sah and second word is Aham. The meaning of word Sah is That or He, and meaning of word Aham is I am, combined with each other both these words mean "I am That". I am Consciousness, I am neither body nor mind; I am Consciousness. A question may arise that why use these words in meditation? Because, these words are as if chanted naturally by all of us. This natural chanting is called as Ajapā Jāpa, chanting which is done without chanting intentionally. These words are chanted in our breath, when we inhale air through nose, then it sounds like "soooo" and when we exhale, it sounds like "hummm." To take benefit of this involuntary chanting, ancient seers have invented this technique of meditation.

Advantages of this meditation -

1. First and most important benefit of this meditation is that it helps us to remember our divine nature.

2. Helps to attain peace and reduce stress.

3. This technique can also help to increase concentration.

Time of Meditation

This meditation should be practiced in the morning but if you cannot take time in the morning then practice at the time of your convenience.

Technique of this meditation -

\- Sit in a comfortable position with erected spine but do not stretch tightly.

\- Rest your hands on your knees. You can also use Dnyāna Mudrā, which means tips of thumb and index finger meeting each other and three other fingers are extended straight, hands rest on knees with palms facing upwards.

\- Close your eyes.

\- Now chant the prayer which we teach on website (coming soon). If you do not want to chant the prayer which we teach on website then you can pray according to your religion or sect. But in the end pray for peace and happiness of all creatures.

\- After the prayer is complete, take three deep breaths. Then relax your breathing and chant "Soooo" in mind when you inhale. Do not take any artificial halt between inhalation and exhalation. Let the breath exhale by itself and chant "Hummmmm" in mind while you exhale.

\- Keep your focus on breathing and chanting, take eleven breaths of Soham, means complete the eleven cycles of "Soooo" and "Hummm" while inhaling and exhaling.

\- Now relax and stop chanting, just remain aware of your breath without thinking anything else.

\- If you notice after sometime that other thoughts are floating in mind then just be their witness, do not react on them. Or chant Soham with breaths again for three times.

\- Stay in this position as long as you are comfortable.

\- When your meditation is over, then express gratitude to Divine and again pray for wellbeing of all creatures.

Caution - Do not chant more than twenty one breaths of Soham. Overdose of chanting can cause you trouble going forward. We have to understand that any technique of meditation is used to stop the mind; we have to replace mind with silence or No-mind, not mind with another mind or thoughts of Soham.

This is the technique of Soham Meditation. When our practice matures then we can feel the peace and bliss of meditation anytime and anywhere. Slowly our dependence upon posture of meditation reduces and we can attain the peace even in market place with just taking three Soham breaths.

Ultimately there is no need to even chant Soham, you are naturally peaceful, because YOU ARE THAT ..... 

Zen Meditation

This technique is very popular and was mastered and propagated by Lord Buddha. Basically this technique is the technique of looking at breath. But in the beginning just to keep looking at breath can be difficult so we can also use counting of breath to assist us.

Advantages of this Meditation -

\- Can help to attain peace

\- Can make realize us our true nature

\- Can help to increase concentration power

Time of Meditation

This meditation should be practiced in the morning but if you cannot take time in the morning then practice at the time of your convenience.

Technique of this meditation -

This meditation has two levels. First is for Beginners and second is for Advanced meditators.

Technique for Beginners-

\- Sit in a comfortable position with spine erect, but do not stretch the spine

\- Close your eyes, or you can also keep them half open. But if you keep them half open then do not stare at anything in front of you, keep gaze unfocused or at the most look at the tip of your nose.

\- pray for the wellbeing of all creatures.

\- Then take three deep breaths

\- Now relax breathing, and count "one" on inhalation.

\- Do not take any halt and let the breath exhale naturally and count "two" on exhalation.

\- Keep counting until twenty. If you notice that you have lost in thoughts before "twenty" comes then start from "one" again

\- However, if you cannot reach to "twenty" in five attempts then stop meditation for the time and again resume this practice on next day.

Technique for Advanced Meditators of Zen meditation-

When you become successful in continuously counting twenty inhalations and exhalations then you can proceed to next step.

\- prepare yourself as told in Technique for Beginners.

\- After taking three deep breaths relax your breathing. Now inhale and exhale naturally without any halt. After one cycle of inhalations and exhalation is over count "one"

\- Keep counting inhalations and exhalations until "twenty". If you notice that you have lost in thoughts before "twenty" comes then start from "one" again. Do these five attempts maximum.

\- When you become successful in counting twenty breaths, stop counting and stay in silence as long as you are comfortable.

\- When your meditation is over pray, for wellbeing of all creatures.

Caution - After successfully counting twenty breaths stop counting. DO NOT keep counting more and more, to stop counting is also important as counting itself.

Technique mentioned in Bhagavad Gita

In sixth chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krushna tells us a technique of meditation. That technique is similar to Soham technique or Zen technique in many aspects like posture, breathing etc., but in Gita's technique we do not have to chant or count anything rather we just have to keep looking at the tip of the nose with eyes half open. In a way, it is the easiest technique.

Technique of Spiritual Inquiry "who am I"

This is the technique used by Advaita Masters. This technique is known as Koham or Neti Neti technique. In this technique all we have to do is, when we get spare time in our routine duty, we should ask ourselves "Who am I." Then whatever answer comes we have to reject that answer saying Neti Neti (Not this, Not this). If answer comes that I am body because I can directly experience my body then immediately we should reject that answer by same logic that I am not body because I can experience it as My body, and there is difference between I and My, my things are not Me or I, my shirt is not I, similarly my body is not I.

Mind can again answer that I might be the feelings, feelings of good, bad, hard, soft, cold, hot etc. But this answer should also be rejected because feelings are dependent upon body's condition, we can have these feeling only when body is conscious. We cannot experience these feelings if any part of body or whole body is made unconscious. My own existence is not dependent upon the condition of body.

Then answer might come that I am the mind because I cannot experience it as I can experience my body. Mind is subtle and powerful so I might be mind. Then we have to reject this answer also because I refer to mind as "My mind" and as discussed before that anything which has a label as "My" is not Me.

Then answer might come that I am the Heart. Because Heart (emotions) is subtler than mind and can have more influence on me than body and mind. But this answer should also be rejected because though heart is subtle still it is My and the same logic applies. In addition body, mind and emotions of heart all keep changing but I do not change with them. I experience all the changes.

In this way, whatever answer mind gives should be rejected and we should stay in the silence between two answers. When all answers get exhausted mind becomes silent since it cannot solve the puzzle. Ultimately, knowing the Self is not the aim of this meditation, because Self which knows everything cannot be known by anything, any thought or even by Itself.

Visualization Technique

This technique is helpful if you are a devotee of God and have emotional mindset. The meditation I am going to mention below is for the devotees of Lord Krushna. Devotees of other deities can adjust according to their deity and His lifestyle. One more thing, I am not a specialized person in this meditation, so I cannot tell you details of worship in this meditation. So if you are interested in this meditation then please refer to people who are engaged in devotional service. Here I am mentioning this meditation for the sake of information. One more thing which has to be taken into account while doing this meditation is, in this type of meditation we take help from our mind rather than doing it silent. So the mind of the practitioners of these types of meditation can become stronger and produce hallucinations which may appear like real. Hence practitioners must remain aware of reality while they are in waking state. When they go into trance then they can live with their deity but while in waking state if they find their deity in front of them then they should immediately accept it as hallucination and become aware of surroundings. In waking state God is not present as any person, He is present as Cosmic Intelligence, so we should not try to project our imagination upon Him as any person in waking state.

Advantages of this Meditation -

\- One can feel unburdened emotionally

\- One can get connected with Cosmic mind through the form of the deity and have information from Him about any events of past and future (it is very difficult though).

\- Ultimately one can merge with Supreme Consciousness after he gets out of the scenes of meditation.

Time of Meditation -

This meditation should be practiced at night before going to sleep or in the morning immediately after waking up.

Technique of this Meditation -

\- Lie down in the bed in any confortable position.

\- pray for wellbeing of all creatures

\- Now close your eyes and imagine yourself standing in a forest

\- imagine a sound of flute coming from a distant location

\- start walking in the direction of the sound of flute

\- see Lord Krushna is sitting higher on a branch of a tree playing His favorite flute

\- have a look around the tree, Gopi-s are dancing in joy

\- take a fruit of the tree close to you

\- go closer and closer of the tree

\- when you come closer, Lord Krushna looks at you and sweetly smiles

\- you offer him the fruit you brought with yourself

\- Lord Krushna accepts that fruit and shares it with Gopi-s

\- Now talk with Lord Krushna and tell Him everything that you have in mind, do not hide anything from Him, ask Him any questions you might have about life.

\- Listen to Lord Krushna. If you are connected with Cosmic mind then It will answer your questions in the form of Lord Krushna. You do not imagine what Lord Krushna will tell you in answer to your question. Just wait patiently for Lord Krushna to reply.

\- After the conversation is over, now bow down to Lord Krushna and ask Him for leave.

\- When He gives you permission, slowly come back to the spot from where you started the journey towards Him and sit there silently until you wake up.

It is very much possible that you will fall asleep while doing this meditation, do not worry. Even in sleep you will remain alert if you keep doing the practice. It is also possible that you will enter a lucid dream. Only thing is to remember that anything you experience, or do not experience anything, is all transient. Only thing which is permanent is the peace which will be there after you complete the meditation. So if you experience anything in this type of meditation, do not get excited or do not worry, all phenomena rise and fall in the inner sky of Consciousness and we also belong to that sky of Consciousness.

Chanting the names of God

This method is also for the devotees. This method is the simplest method of meditation in the world. This method does not need any tools, any pose or any time. One can practice it anytime and anywhere. Only condition is you should have deep faith in God and His will. If you have faith in God then all you have to do is chant His name in all situations of life, happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, everything should be accompanied with remembrance of God. You can chant any name which indicates towards God almighty. Then it may be Krushna, Shiva, Ganesha, Laxmi, Rama, Allah, Jesus, Buddha or any name which makes you feel connected with God.

Advanced Meditations Techniques

The techniques which I am going to mention in this section are not for beginners. Most of the people will enter these techniques automatically when they become mature in meditations. So do not try to forcefully induce these techniques, it will be not useful.

Shāmbhavi Mudrā.

The most advanced technique of meditation which is used by advanced meditators like Lord Shiva, Lord Buddha, Shankarāchārya, Osho etc. is the technique of Shāmbhavi Mudrā. The very name indicates towards Lord Shiva, which means it is the technique of Lord Shiva. Normally people think that looking between the eyebrows is the Shāmbhavi Mudrā meditation. But it is not so, looking between the eyebrows is ādnya chakra meditation which is a good meditation but it is not Shāmbhavi Mudrā. Shāmbhavi Mudrā has got a completely different quality and it is practiced with eyes wide open. Ok, enough, I have given a hint here, when you become expert in any kind of meditation then you will understand what I am saying. I have mentioned this technique here just to tell people that what Shāmbhavi Mudrā is not. I will not mention any method here to achieve Shāmbhavi Mudrā because then people who are not expert in meditation can harm themselves with the method. You will achieve Shāmbhavi Mudrā automatically when your practice of meditation matures.

Mindfulness Meditation

Next advanced practice of meditation is the technique of Mindfulness. Mindfulness is a name given to a state of Consciousness that knows about the inner condition at any given moment. Do not worry if you do not understand what I am saying, I will here only tell you a technique which can help you to achieve this state of mindful present. The most important technique which can help us to achieve this mindfulness is the technique of Soham Meditation. Only change one has to do in that technique is taking the breath of Soham after random intervals rather than sitting and doing this meditation. These intervals are not set to any particular time. One has to take the breaths of Soham anytime one remembers about that meditation.

Suppose you are engaged in your routine work but suddenly you remember about your meditation, then at that time you should take three breaths of Soham as mentioned in the practice of Soham Meditation. Also if you are tense about some issue and you remember about your meditation then you can take the breaths of Soham. By practicing in this way you will be able to notice that you are thinking unconsciously and you are under the influence of mind. The moment we understand that we are thinking unconsciously and mind has took over our presence, that is the moment of our freedom. In that moment we become free from mind and can stand on our own. This freedom from mind is called as mindfulness or awareness of mind. Mindfulness does not mean more and more mind or thoughts; rather it means more and more awareness and no-mind.

Staying in Present

Another advanced meditation practice is staying in present. As mentioned before when our approach towards life and events of life changes then this meditation happens spontaneously. Staying in present is another name of spontaneous meditation. When we become mature with various experiences of life then we automatically start to live life moment by moment. Until that stage comes, only important thing for each individual is keep living the life, not committing suicide. The meditations mentioned before can help us to reach this stage of life by giving us temporary relief from sorrows and worries of life.

Alright we have come to the end of this article on meditations, thank you for reading. The most important thing about any meditation is you have to start practicing it, in this article I have mentioned few meditations which can be useful for your growth if you practice them. If you enjoyed this article then feel free to share it with your friends.

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Chapter Seven -Meditation FAQ

Questions of Beginners

1. What is Meditation?

\- The correct meaning of meditation is "Not doing anything", not only with the body, even stopping the mind from all its activities. But to come to this stage of Non-doer we have to do some special practices in the beginning, because we have got too much accustomed with doing something continuously that we have become workaholic. When we do these practices, which mostly involve repeating same action again and again, we stop doing other activities of body and mind, and once we can calm down body and mind then we can stop the practice which we used to calm the body-mind and rest in peace. There is another method which we can use to calm down, that is also a kind of meditation but it is not done in the sense of any particular practice. This method is just watching the thoughts of mind without getting involved in them. This is an advanced practice and can be done by a person who has become expert in simple types of meditation or who has got a long experience of life and has become matured through the various good and bad experiences of life.

2. Why should we practice meditation?

\- There is no question of practicing meditation if we understand it. In fact we unconsciously do meditation when we go to sleep. So if one can stay in the state of not doing anything then such a person does not need to practice any meditation. But if one cannot become peaceful and longing for peace and happiness then he or she should give a try to the different practices of meditation and choose whichever suits him.

3. Who can practice meditation?

\- Anyone who is breathing can practice meditation; there is no need of any special qualification, cast or religion. People from all religions and races can practice meditation and achieve peace through it.

4. Can men and women both practice meditation?

\- Yes, men and women both can practice meditation; even the people who do not fall in any of these categories can also practice meditation.

5. How long should we practice meditation?

\- As long as we do not feel continuous peace we should practice meditation. We should understand that practice of meditation is not like other practices; here we are our own judge in judging our progress. No one else can tell us that we have become expert meditator or not. When we can endure all difficult situations of life without much disturbance then we have become expert, till then we need some formalized practice.

6. It seems impossible for me to practice meditation because I do not like it and feel comfortable with it.

\- Maybe it is not the right time for you to do any practice of meditation. Meditation should not be practiced forcefully. Better thing would be you concentrate more on your life and its problems and practice meditation if you feel when you have spare time. Till then you can do some physical exercise consistently, that should also help.

7. I think meditation will destroy the urge in me to fight against injustice and it will make my nature calm, as a result I will not able to do agitations against the establishment. So it seems that promoting the practice of meditation is a conspiracy done by rich people against the poor downtrodden people so that they do not revolt against the established and rich people.

\- This is a good and obvious question by the person who gets disturbed by the injustice in society. Here I want to disclose a fact that I am not promoting the practice of meditation because of support from any rich person, I am also very poor and have to do a lot of hard work to earn my bread, and nobody helps me in my life to live easily, you can check my background if you want. So your doubt that only rich and established people are promoting the practice of meditation is wrong.

Secondly when you say that you will become calm and not be able to do agitations against establishment because of meditation, then it seems that you think agitated people can help society more than calm people. In fact all problems in society are caused by agitated and unhappy people in society; calm people do not cause any problems to themselves or others. And help of needy people cannot be done by doing agitations against someone. Agitation is negative way and nothing negative can give birth to something positive. If you are having calm mind then you can help others more by some constructive and positive way. With calm mind you will be able to understand their problems accurately and help them in right way. At times when agitations are necessary then you can also do agitations with calm mind, as Arjuna fought a war with his enemies with calm mind after listening the discourse of Lord Krushna.

8. I think devotional practices are more important than meditation. I think serving God is our duty and we all should perform our duty rather than doing meditation.

\- I think there is some misunderstanding about meditation in your mind. Doing meditation is not against service of God in anyway. When we serve God then what do we do? We let go the world around us for the moment and then do some activities described in our religion as service of God. When we do meditation, we do the same thing that we let go the world for the moment and remember God without any activity. After all activities mentioned in various religions as service of God are designed by the people according to their knowledge and belief. Then why bother about these activities because in reality how can we serve almighty God and why does He need us to serve Him, He can have anything He wants just by the will. He does not need us tiny human beings for His service. The devotees who perform actions as service of God do that for themselves and not for God, they feel happy and contented when they serve God so they do such service.

In my view, the seers in past have given importance to service of God because through service we let go the world for the moment. When we let go the world, we automatically get connected with God because we are already His small parts, we seem to be different from Him because we run behind the world. When we stop running for the mundane things of world, we are already One with God, we have never been gone away from Him, because God cannot be fragmented in many parts. He is always homogenous, without any parts.

So, I think meditation is the direct path to get connected with God. Devotional service is also important and it should be done with meditation.

9. How can I enjoy the bliss in meditation, if any, when so many people in the world are suffering, I will rather prefer to serve the needy people than wasting my time in selfish activities like meditation.

\- This is good thinking but meditation is not something one can avoid, it happens automatically when one becomes mature. The various practices of meditation are helpful in reaching this stage of spontaneous meditation, but even if we do not follow any practice then also one day meditation happens with us by itself as when we are tired we automatically go to sleep. We cannot say that how can I go to sleep and enjoy the peace of sleep when there are so many people who are awake and suffering.

Now as far as the service of needy people is concerned then meditators can do that more perfectly than the non-meditators, because meditators do not have any selfish thoughts. Non-meditators who are caught in mind can unknowingly get caught in selfish thoughts of mind.

Questions of Practitioners

1. When I do meditation practice then I feel tension and pain in the muscles of my forehead. What should I do?

\- It seems that you practice meditation with completely closed eyes, and to avoid getting asleep you are unconsciously creating tension in your forehead or maybe you are creating stress in your eyes. To avoid this kind of stress in the beginning of meditation you should look at the tip of your nose with eyes half open. When you feel there is no pain in eyes or forehead then you can close your eyes. This technique should solve your problem.

2. It happened once when I was meditating, I felt my body was locked and I could not come out of the meditation. Is it dangerous or good sign?

\- It is neither danger nor good sign. This kind of state is called as Hypnagogia or Sleep Paralysis in science. When we go to sleep, our brain is programmed to lock our body so that we do not react to the situations of dreams on physical level. In your case, because of your practice of meditation your brain got confused that you want to sleep and it locked your body while you were still awake inside. Do not worry about this kind of state because it is very rare, and it is very much possible that you will never experience it again, brain does not become confused again and again.

3. I live in a city and whenever I try to practice meditation someone or some sound disturbs me, I get very angry at the person who disturbed me, how can I find time and place in the busy surrounding to practice meditation?

\- We cannot expect from others that they should stop doing all their activities when we practice meditation. Our practice of meditation should not cause any trouble to other members of family or neighbors. Best thing would be we should tolerate the disturbance while we are practicing the meditation, but if we cannot do that then we should try to wake up early in the morning and practice meditation because it is possible that if we try to practice before going to sleep then some sound might disturb because all people around us do not necessarily go to sleep at the same time when we sleep. To wake up early in the morning, we have to go to sleep early in the night so that we get enough sleep. We have to adjust our lifestyle according to our needs of meditation.

4. Whenever I start practicing meditation, my mind becomes full of thoughts which are normally not present. What should I do?

\- It is good to know that you are normally aware of the condition of your mind, whether there are thoughts or no thoughts. Now forget about all meditations and harbor your normal condition of thoughtless state. You can continue the practice of meditation if you like but do not worry about thoughts, let them come and go. Do not get attached in any thought. This I think is the best solution.

Conclusion

Here we come to the end of this book. I hope you enjoyed this book. Feel free to contact me if you want more information about spiritual topics. You may also find my other books helpful to you. Links to those books are provided below. Thank you.

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About the Author

I am Saurabh A. Tambe, a disciple of Nāth Sampradāya (Nāth Tradition) in Maharashtra, India. Swāmi Saurabh Nāth is my pen name because I belong to Nāth tradition. In this name, the word 'Swāmi' is used for the person who is trying to master his own mind and senses. The word Nāth is used to show the discipleship of ancient tradition of Nāth mystics who have accomplished the job of mastering the mind and senses, and who have been able to realize the Brahman through the Advaita philosophy. I live in Phaltan, District Satara of Maharashtra. I do jobs of accounting to earn bread for my mother and me.

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Other books by Swami Saurabhnath

Click on the links below to download the books

Death to Deathless - A Beginners Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Bhagavad Gita - Pure \- A Comprehensive Study without Sectarian Contamination

Messengers of Peace - Similar Teachings of Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna

 Adhyātmasāra (in Marathi poetic form)

Disclaimer – Before following any advice of this book/course you should check your physical condition with your doctor. While doing exercises, breathing exercises and meditations mentioned in this course/book use commonsense and do not overdo anything, if you feel uneasy during practicing any method or suggestion mentioned in this course/book, immediately stop doing it and take rest or consult your doctor if you feel. This course/book contains general information about various aspects of human life and I do not claim that I am perfect in all of them. This course/book is not written, revised, or researched by any psychiatrist or health care professional or doctor and it should not be considered as a substitute for medical advice from professionals. I will not be held responsible in any way for any harm, injury or mishap that may result from the use of this course/book. The readers assume all risk and liability associated with the use of this course/book. – Saurabh
