Meditation - Understanding the Laws of Nature

 

Meditation

Meditation - Understanding the Laws of Nature

Taking a broader view of meditation starts by making friends with nature. Nature can be our best friend, philosopher and guide in this respect if we know how to relate to it. What we need to do is just keep our eyes open and start looking around us. Slowly we develop a rapport, become more meditative and realize the important role played by nature in our life.

its eternally incorruptible, infallible and irrefutable laws. They govern our individual existence and everything that surrounds us. By learning from these laws and respecting them, we begin to realize how much they have to offer to us. The secrets of nature are revealed to us, provided we co-operate with its laws.

Once we know how to learn from nature, we can see what ‘perpetual learning’ really means. Perpetual learning helps us develop better understanding and insight into the basic realities of physical life. While learning from nature, we learn a lot about ourselves, because we are an integral part of the vast cosmic existence. Meditation helps us appreciate this truth. 

By being in close proximity to nature, we slowly learn how to become more open. This openness, coupled with our efforts in the appropriate direction, brings a great deal of qualitative improvement in our daily practice of meditation.

Interdependence

It seems that the operation of the universe is governed by intelligent design. It works in accordance with the ‘Law of Interdependence’. Every single part of existence is so designed that it will be of some help to another part, and the part that receives such help will reciprocate it whenever its turn comes. For this model to work smoothly, the creatures that help each other also depend on each other for that help. For example, plants give out oxygen – which they do not need for their own survival – and in return they take in carbon dioxide, which they do need. The plants get rid of something non-essential to them, but it is vital for human survival. Similarly, human beings give out carbon dioxide, which they don’t need for their survival, but it is essential for plants.

The fascinating underlying reality is that it is easier to part with something that one doesn’t want than with something one badly wants. Stale vegetables, spoiled food, fecal excreta, etc. are harmful waste products that are of no use to humans. What is harmful, poisonous and life-threatening to humans is highly nutritious, life-giving, precious food for the plants.

The secret behind this wonderful design is that plants and human beings help each other survive and grow in such a manner that helping each other is not a big burden on them. Similarly, a mediator should realize that receiving help from others and giving help to others is a built-in characteristic of nature. Therefore, he/she need not feel shy of receiving help from others nor should they feel proud when they offer help to others.

After regular practice of meditation, one begins to know oneself better. Usually, after knowing himself, a mediator wants to share his knowledge of meditation with others. While sharing, he should never let his ego get too inflated. As a matter of fact, there is no reason to feel egoistic about the sharing, because one who shares also benefits from such sharing. 

 Through this sharing, space is created within oneself, which gets filled with fresh knowledge. Moreover, one can share only what is already known through personal experience. What one already knows about meditation is in a way no longer useful to oneself. Naturally, what one shares with others is something that one doesn’t need for oneself anymore so what we are doing is in line with the Law of Nature. If you part with something that is not useful to you, there is no reason why you should feel proud about it. Pride of any kind can damage the quality of our meditation practice.

So, being of help to each other is a Law of Nature. It is wiser not to fight against this law, but to willingly co-operate with it. It is therefore in our best interest to develop a genuinely helpful attitude towards other people and other creatures.

Independence and Interdependence

It is fascinating to see the harmonious co-existence of the Law of Independence and the Law of Interdependence. Apparently they are poles apart, but still they complement each other. Every creature has a free will through the Law of Independence to make its own choices but, while doing so, it has to stay within the confines of the Law of Interdependence.

Interestingly, on the one hand two opposites like independence and interdependence work together in harmony with each other, and on the other hand they work against each other. Yet there is a subtle balance between the two. The Law of Interdependence applies to all creatures and living beings alike, from a tiny worm crawling under our feet, to the carefully grown shrubs in a garden, to the trees in a forest. It is applicable to everything, wild and domesticated.

By looking at the great symbiosis of independence and interdependence, we can learn an important lesson. It is true that we can protect and preserve our individual independence of choice, but while doing so we have to appreciate that other people are also doing the same thing and we need to respect their independence too.

Man’s Menacing Greed

Although interdependence is an inevitable law of nature, it seems that we human beings are willing neither to accept nor respect it. We have become so greedy, so selfish, that we treat Mother Nature as our own personal property. We go on finding new ways and means to exploit her all the time. 

We covet everything that is produced in nature. Our greed is boundless. We are not satisfied with all the land that is available to us. We keep excavating everything that is underground. We want to extract all the petroleum from underground reservoirs. We also want to excavate all the minerals, inorganic material, and metals. From the oceans we take out fish, lobsters, pearls – whatever we can lay our hands on. We are unconcerned about the fast denudation of the rich forests. We want to strip everything from the trees: we want their flowers, fruits, leaves and trunks, as well as their roots. We want to suck the animals dry without leaving any milk for their offspring, for whom it is really produced. We want to eat their eggs and flesh. We strip off their skin, extract their teeth, and use their bones and fur.

Our greed is growing day by day in exponential proportions. It seems that we have completely lost our sense of balance and our thoughts and actions have lost their way. We are only concerned about the welfare of humans, to the detriment of the welfare and survival of the rest of the world and its creatures. We are doing this with complete disregard to the fundamental Law of Interdependence. We are taking everything from nature, but not giving anything back. We conveniently forget that, just as we need different things from nature, nature needs certain things from us in return. We are supposed to take proper care of nature and ensure its welfare too. 

Being greedy is truly dangerous for us. It is like digging our own graves ready for a premature death. Greed tends to perpetuate through overindulgence. Overindulgence depletes precious life energy from us and leaves us impoverished in the end. As a result, we become slaves to our senses. Through such self-induced slavery, we exploit ourselves and suffer.

The best way to care for nature is to keep our needs and desires within reasonable limits. First of all, we have to decide what is truly reasonable and what is not so reasonable. It must, however, be an honest search to discern the faint line of demarcation between need and greed. It is quite possible that what appears reasonable to us may appear quite unreasonable to others and vice versa. But such things are bound to happen. As long as we are true and honest to ourselves, it hardly matters whether other people approve of our choice or not.  

A mediator should always be aware of the compassionate providence of nature. If we could nurture a sincere feeling of gratitude towards nature, it would go a very long way to help us in being successful in meditation. 

Create a Chain of Cooperation

The genius of the Creator has masterminded the smooth running of His creation. One of the operating principles is an intelligent interlocking of the individual and collective interests and well-being of all creatures and objects.

If one person starts losing balance, everybody else starts losing balance too. Nobody likes to fall. Naturally, everybody comes forward to offer support to the one who is falling, so as to avoid the mishap. In fact, what one does in such situations is to help oneself under the guise of helping others. 

 The Creator knows that if there is a very strong survival instinct in the minds of human beings, they will protect themselves whenever there is a threat to their lives. Moreover, if the one whose life is in danger knows that by helping others he is going to protect himself from the possible threat to his life, he is bound to go out of his way to protect others. That is how the whole of creation with all its creatures survives. The Creator is very much aware that people will help each other only when their life is in danger – however, for the subsistence of creation, He keeps them bound by the Law of Interdependence. If they have to help each other for their own survival, they will have no choice but to give such help.

Many politicians from India probably learn their shrewdness from the Creator. They form a chain of political friends from different parts of the country. Those who are part of this chain add new shackles to keep it alive and growing. If for some reason a shackle or two gets loose and starts falling apart, the friends come forward to rescue the person from falling. It looks like a great sense of fraternity and commitment. But through such ‘help’, they ‘help’ themselves guard their individual vested interests, under the guise of brotherhood and friendship.

A mediator must understand and willingly accept the Law of Interdependence, so that his individual welfare and well-being will always be automatically protected. He has to create a chain of cooperation with fellow practitioners of meditation through such acceptance. 

Unfortunately, we human beings do not willingly accept the fact that all things that have been created, whether living or non-living, animate or inanimate, need each other. It is in our own interest to respect the Law of Interdependence and learn to live with it. But under the stupefying influence of ignorance, the human race is currently involved in an indiscriminate plundering of all natural resources. In the process, the genuine needs of those essential parts of the Creation are completely overlooked or ignored.

Freedom of Choice

The quality of life we live and the number of problems we face can depend on how we make use of our freedom of choice.

It is entirely up to us how we make use of the privilege of living – whether we neglect our body and ruin our health or take proper care of it. We have to make an intelligent use of the freedom of choice that is given to us by nature.

As a parallel, giving light and giving shock are two qualities of an electric current. If we do not treat it with care, we will have to face the consequences of our decision. If we are careless in how we use it, it can hurt us. If we decide to protect ourselves from the electric current and make use of the same energy constructively to light a table lamp or put on a fan, electricity will offer us a service.

The Laws of Nature are Incorruptible

The Laws of Nature are absolutely flawless. We can never change them. If we offer a monetary bribe to a deity whom we worship every day and who represents these laws or if we religiously visit a temple, mosque or church doesn’t mean that the laws will change. 

Similarly, if a rich man offers all his wealth to the Lord, it does not mean that he will be saved from the incurable disease he is suffering. In the same way, if a poor person is not in a position to offer anything to the Lord, it doesn’t mean that he is going to die a premature death. The supreme intelligence of the all-pervasive life principle – or nature or God or what you will – is far beyond all such corruption. It is beyond our limited power of comprehension.  

Higher Power will ever succumb to any bribery whatsoever, because it would be like breaking His own laws. He knows that it would create chaos in His creation, and He would never do that. Of course there is nothing wrong in seeking temporary psychological support and solace through prayers, particularly when we are in distress and turmoil. But it is unwise to depend entirely on such help. Prayer can never be a substitute for our own well-directed sincere efforts to overcome our problems. Our prayer must go hand in hand with our efforts.

Nature’s Role in a Business

I think the greatest ‘businessman’ is the one who has created this universe. He is eternally busy producing infinite variety and number of the most beautiful products that are parts of His creation. The most astonishing thing about this businessman is the unbelievable level of perfection. He has achieved in spite of the continuous and never-ending production line. He maintains complete harmony, incredible smoothness and flawless accuracy in all the products of His creation. Incidental minor aberrations in those products are more due to individual mistakes than mistakes committed by Him. We can learn a lot from this ‘businessman’ and profit from this understanding by applying those principles to our own business.

I know one person who has been doing this. He loves nature. He loves trekking, hiking, mountaineering and skiing. He is a successful businessman. He often says that he has learned a lot by regularly going on nature trails. He also says that he has learned more from nature’s classroom than the human one. I often wonder how he finds the time to pursue such exhausting hobbies. He explains that he gets instantly refreshed by being in close proximity to nature. Being in tune with nature has been more rewarding to him than anything else in his life. He has absorbed patience, planning and law abidance from Mother Nature. Looking at the successful business he is running, it is quite obvious that he knows what he is talking about.

Like this businessman, to be successful in our meditation practice we have to closely observe nature and learn from it. We have to start by looking at ourselves to find out what is our nature, before we start observing the nature that surrounds us. Once we are clear about our natural propensities and inclinations, we can start exploring the available techniques of meditation to select one or more that appear suitable to our nature. Then, we can start practicing them one by one, to  see which one has the best practical application and utility in our day-to-day living. Thereafter, we can focus our attention on the best one, improving its quality and keep refining and perfecting it.

After achieving an adequate degree of proficiency in meditation, we have to continue doing it further, to develop a total understanding about its relevance in modern living. Once we reach such understanding, we can start sharing with others what we really know and personally experience. Constant vigilance about quality will still be necessary. Staying in touch with others who have learned meditation from us is a great joy. It keeps our motivation and interest alive; it inspires others to practice meditation further.

We have to evolve an accurate method to assess the level of perfection we have reached in meditation and try to adhere to it, while doing self-appraisal and appraisal of others. Personal whims and idiosyncrasies have no place in meditation. Such matters can influence our unbiased self-assessment and judgement. We have to be practical and realistic in this regard.

Like-minded people is essential for spiritual growth through meditation. False praise and appeasement of the ego are detrimental to this purpose. We have to observe quality while learning meditation for ourselves and subsequently when we pass it on to others. Thus, we do not bring a bad reputation to the art and science of meditation. Being quality conscious in meditation means being focused on doing it properly and not being worried about the results. The results will follow, if we are doing it right. Quality also means being clear in theory and practice. Quality depends on ‘how’ we do it, not ‘what’ we do. If we understand the philosophy and are in the right frame of mind while doing it, quality comes naturally.

India has come a long way over millennia in the field of yoga and meditation. Over the past several thousand years, the spiritual masters from India have perfected many techniques of meditation. They have been very generous in making those techniques available to the world at large. These time-tested techniques are being used by millions of people from all over the world. Interestingly, meditation is more of an internal state, which is not readily visible at the physical level, apart from certain minor physical actions we perform during its practice.

Apart from the techniques of meditation, India has produced great spiritual masters such as Bhagwan Vyasa, Patanjali, Bhagwan Buddha, Mahavir, Ramana Maharshi, J. Krishnamurti, Vivekananda, Yogi Aurobindo, to name a few. In this sense, India is the spiritual leader of the world. It will therefore be wise on our part to confirm that the meditation technique we intend to learn and follow has an authentic Indian connection to it. When I say Indian connection, I do not mean that whatever is labelled ‘Indian’ is necessarily authentic and good. We have to verify and confirm it. The important thing is to understand the basics with true clarity and not be gullible or mechanical about it.