Meditation:
awareness with all one's being
In the spiritual practices of the
Ashram aimed at the realisation of the Self, special care is dedicated to deep
meditation. In fact, meditation permits the
purified body-mind to attain Samadhi, the deepest concentration or ecstasy,
thereby achieving the final objective, the eighth stage of Integrated Yoga, in
which the individual being is absorbed into the Absolute Being. Various
observances are essential for all forms of Yoga. Only through single-pointed
concentration on an object is it possible to calm the mind and annul the ego.
Meditation is a method of liberation superior to all doctrines and knowledge
(Jñana), ‘when your mind, which may vacillate between the contradictions of the
multifold scriptures, remains steady in divine concentration”. The mind must be
reined in to allow pure consciousness to “burn without flickering in a place
with no wind”. Concentration (Dhyana) is the sixth
stage of Patanjali's Yoga, but the yogin must transcend this stage too, in
order to be able to lose the awareness of his/her individual
lower-consciousness. Meditation is a path for spontaneous research because
within each one of us lies every thing, every truth and all knowledge. Being
constantly aware of this reality, we can become direct interlocutors, our own
messengers.
The conscious, humble behaviour born
of this attitude of constant awareness enables us to surrender to the marvelous
cosmic play and to abandon ourselves, malleable and pliant, to the rushing flow
of life. The path to follow will be lit by our Own energy born of the intimate
conjunction with the Divine within us. The Divine manifests Itself where
there is calm and quiet, and even just a faint apparition on Its part is
sufficient to clarify the unknown. What is needed to guide our behavior is
simplicity and the sincere yearning to perceive the truth in each one of us.
Only then will life acquire true meaning and become worthy of living.
 Procession during the Samyam
Mahavrata. |
Unity and Harmony amongst vairious religions. The Sadhana Ashram has become a
meeting place for meditation, where people of different religious traditions
can unite in a prayerful atmosphere and live together towards Unity in Truth,
the goal of all religions. In order to achieve this aim
opportunities are offered for group participation on the occasion of the main
religious recurrences each year: Easter, the Anniversary of the Birth
of Shree Anandamayeé Ma, the Commemoration of the Birth of the Buddha, the
Passing of Saint Francis and Christmas.The most important of all is the
Samyam-Mahavrata, the annual retreat at the end of July: a week of intensive
meetings and group ascesis, prayer, fasting and meditation. |