There are simple ways to meditate. Meditation is a means by which the mind that is restless and torn apart into many pieces by focusing on different thoughts gathers itself to focus on just a few thoughts or even a single thought.
What are the factors that distract our mind? They are the dualities of life. The primary twosome is our likes and dislikes. There is a thought of an ice cream which passes our head when we see an ice cream shop. If it is just a thought, it will have no staying power.
We do not desire to possess all the vehicles that we see on the road though they are also thoughts that pass by when we move on the road.
The joy that propels is of three types. One is Priya—this joy comes when I think about an object I like or love. The second is Moda—when the object I desire is close to me. The third is Pramoda or extreme joy—when I am enjoying the object of my desire and it becomes one with me.
When feelings are pumped into our thoughts, they result in forceful desires that have the power to manifest objects, situations and people in our life.
The results of fulfilling our desires are always not so pleasant. Whether it is food, clothes, thrilling situations or people—there is an after effect to it in the form of a mental disturbance or craving for more that can never let us sit quiet and be happy with what we have. This desire is born out of a strong thought filled with emotion. Seeking to fulfil it all the time leaves the mind restless and wanting for more. To conquer that desire, one should simply work on that imagination pumped in with energy and dissolve it completely. One way of dissolving such a desire is by fulfilling it, but since the seed of that desire is still there, it returns. Another way is to find out what is the true desire. For instance, there can be a desire to be very famous.
An analysis shows that the true desire is to reach out to a lot of people and serve them. When an individual focuses on service to help maximum number of people, it automatically results in fame and the desire will also be satiated in the proper way.
However, if you see a particular desire is troubling your mind, then detaching from paying attention to that thought is the way to draw the energy away from it and be free too. The best way to cultivate this freedom from attachment is to offer the mind to a higher goal, a great altar of devotion such as god, country, work or any great quality. The mind automatically becomes restful.
Brahmacharini Sharanya Chaitanya
(www.sharanyachaitanya. blogspot.in)