by Michael Mamas | Thursday, July 24, 2014 | Chinese, Meditation
Meditation is common. Proper meditation is rare. The subtle difference makes all the difference. The Knowledge is delicate; a slight adjustment here or there and it is lost.
靜坐是很普遍的，適當的靜坐卻是罕見的。絲毫的不同就會造成全然的差異。真知識是非常精緻細微的，一絲絲的調整，整個知識就失真了。
Everything in the pharmacy may be medicine, but the wrong medicine at the wrong time is life damaging. Similarly, selection of the appropriate mantra is critical. The mantra must come only from the Master. I have given you proper meditation. Now, the choice is yours. (Learn the Surya Meditation)
藥局裡的每一樣東西都可以是藥品，但錯誤的藥用在不對的時間是會危及性命安全的。同樣的道理，選擇適當的經文是極其重要的。經文必須從見性大師處獲得。我已經傳授你們適當的靜坐。現在，如何選擇就看您。（初級靜坐英文教學在網路上可以瀏覽）
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, June 6, 2014 | Meditation, Spirituality |
1. Why am I going to sleep on meditation?
There are many forms of meditation. Assuming you are doing what I consider to be a proper meditation, sleep coming in meditation is actually a good thing. Some people think meditation is done for the experiences you may have in meditation. That is actually not correct. Meditation is done to purify the physiology from stresses and strains. When the physiology is purifying at a rapid rate, sleep comes. That is a good thing. You are purifying a great deal!
2. When self-realization is the way life should be, why is it not not? Why the fear of next?
It is the stresses and strains in the nervous system that prevent self-realization. Chronic fear is one possible symptom of stresses and strains in the nervous system.
3. When I realized that the tree outside my office building and me are same, Why can’t I stay in that state permanently? It’s just happened to be a wonderful view outside the wall and then I was pulled back to the thought process again…
The stresses and strains can be compared to a herd of elephants. When they are all asleep, you can have glimpses of higher states of consciousness. But they are usually awake.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, January 31, 2011 | Meditation, Spirituality |
I was recently asked, “Why, in the Surya Meditation, which is effortless, is it not possible for bad energy to influence you?”
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To which I responded:
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The natural tendency of life is to move toward the Divine. Moving toward the bad is not natural to the essence of our being. It is only seen for the superficial aspects of our being to go bad.
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The Surya Meditation taps into the nature of the essence of life. That is NEVER bad.
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It is, in every case, always Divine.
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In the world today, some have been so overtaken by the surface of life that the truth of the Divinity of life’s essence is sometimes not understood.
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It is sad that some have been so swept away by bad and the fear of bad that they no longer can see that the essential nature of life is Divine.
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If you rest into your essence, you rest into Divinity. There is no other possibility. The great gift of this meditation is that it employs that principle.
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As it is said, “You can’t take heaven by storm.”
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The Divine can’t be taken by storm. It can only be rested into.
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It follows that the best meditation must be effortless.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, August 14, 2010 | Meditation, Spirituality
I recall the days when I gave public lectures back in the ’70s. A common question was “What is enlightenment like?” Back then it was surprisingly common to have audience members using recreational drugs respond by saying, “Oh yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about! That is exactly what happens to me when I get high!” Try as I might, I only met with extreme resistance when I tried to explain that I was talking about something different.
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At first glance this may sound like nothing more than a humorous recollection. Actually, it has a very profound point: We are all centered in the same one thing…. the Transcendent. All our lives revolve around that… are based in that… if we know it or not. As a result, every experience is an echo of that, just as when a pebble is tossed into a pond, every ripple expands out from the point of entry paralleling the other ripples. Similarly, every experience in life parallels something deeper. If we are not careful, we decide they are the exact same thing. I call this the I-get-it Syndrome.
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This simple principle is responsible for the profoundly elusive mysteries of life. Everything is an echo of something deeper. Unless we are attentive, we equate the echo with the real thing. Many well-intended teachers provide meditation techniques that provide students with an echo. Echoes of truth, perceived as truth, hold truth at bay. This exists eternally in all of life. It is why true spiritual growth is likened to traversing a razors edge or passing through the eye of the needle.
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So how do you take this and decide if you are doing a proper meditation that is actually working? Well, there are a few fundamental qualities… the meditation must be natural… easy… simple… etc. However, you can say that about many things. So the ultimate answer boils down to the cultivation of discernment. You must become discerning in your evaluation of all things… including the choice of the meditation technique you use.
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Keep in mind that we do not meditate to attain a particular experience during meditation. We meditate for the benefits meditation provides… the purification of the nervous system and physiology. The actual experience of meditation can vary, based upon the way each individual’s physiology is purifying at a particular time.
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I know this can be unsatisfying, but it is the truth. We all would like to have a signpost along the way, confirming we are moving in the right direction. However, the only genuine signpost is accessible deep within you. As you cultivate and employ wise discernment, it becomes more accessible to you.
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Listen carefully in life and choose wisely. Admittedly, it is enjoyable and encouraging to have a meditation that feels deep and profound, but let the path of discernment be your guiding light.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | Meditation, Mount Soma
Everything about the retreats is structured with intent. Meditation retreats are a time to quiet the fire of identity with the surface. During the day people bring their awareness to the absolute through meditation. In the evening we have a meeting.
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One purpose of the evening meeting is to enliven the subtle value of the transcendent by listening to Vedic chants. Another purpose goes unnoticed by many, but it is perhaps of even greater importance – disuse atrophy. After meditating all day, during the evening meetings, in waking state, without allowing the fire of identity to be fanned, the identity atrophies, softens, dissolves away through disuse. This is essential to the integration process. It is similar to taking a few minutes to come out of meditation before you come back into activity.
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Meditation is of little value if its effects are not integrated into daily life. Skipping evening meetings to fan the flame, ie., have dinner with friends, etc…, is like trying to fill up a bathtub with the drain open. It makes no sense.
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This is just one example of the subtly of the structuring of the retreats. You will do well to not second-guess the program, but to instead follow it along innocently.
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I hope to see you all at our next meditation event; Mother Divine, Oct. 8 – 17, 2010.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
Meditation is common. Proper meditation is rare. The subtle difference makes all the difference. The Knowledge is delicate; a slight adjustment here or there and it is lost.
