“Seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” Mathew 6:33

Quite often our suffering comes from within, and we seek to heal it from without. This obviously will not work, and indeed will extend and prolong our suffering. 

When we think of meditation we think of hard work and constant struggle, etc. This could not be farther from the truth.

Sometime ago, I read a wonderful story about how Buddha reached enlightenment. I really like the story, even though I’m not sure of its historic accuracy.

This story has been very helpful in my meditation practice. 

It says that before Buddha sat down under the fig tree, he was actually giving up, returning to his town heartbroken, and believing that he had failed. He was giving up, famished and almost starved to death. After years of learning and studying, and seeking out teachers, he still had not reached enlightenment. So he was going back to his family.

On his way there, he came across a river bank, and It reminded him of how, as a child, he would sit on the river bank for hours, his feet dangling, sitting still by the water, the cool breeze caressing his face. He remembered the stillness, the joy and peace he felt then. Beaten by life, he yearned for that innocence of a child again, to sit still, just to sit in peace and joy. He had a yearning in his heart to feel that sense of joy again. There was no seeking involved, no philosophy, or how to do things. He remembered how it was simply something he tapped into. 

So, as the story goes, he went and sat down under the famous tree. Just sitting still, as he had as a child. Doing absolutely nothing. After some time, he was filled with that sense of peace again.Then, he found what he was looking for. And as the story goes, this enabled him to complete the last piece of his journey. Success at last.

After all these years of seeking, and learning about spirituality, I can say in all honesty, that this is the only exercise, the only practice that you need. It is like fire. You only need one fire. Everything else emanates from this fire.

To say that this is the only practice we need does not mean that we won’t be continuously learning. Rather, this practice will provide us with a foundation from which to function, and upon which to build. Just like the foundation of a house, our new home.

The true foundation we have is this life is our relationship with this life-giving force within us. And all of spirituality is based on this one relationship. Christ is not the last name of Jesus. It is the name given to this power, this force within. It has many names, but we can call it the Great Spirit. It resides in us. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t be alive. 

I remember many years ago, I was a confused seeker, and was fed up with how I felt. Then, I was gifted with a book1 and after reading it decided that all I wanted was to sit still in meditation everyday. No thinking, no philosophizing. No reading books unless it felt enjoyable. My goal was simple, to just meditate everyday, properly,  at the same time and for the same duration, no matter what. 

During that time, I would get up, and immediately make coffee and right away grab a notepad and a pen. Then I would write down any negativity that I felt. And for the next hour work on it. It could be, for example ” No matter how hard I try, I get nowhere” and then in the next hour, I would write down why this was not true. For example, I would point out that whenever I worked consistently on something, it would always work, like clockwork. And how, let us say, that time I worked consistently at something with focus and patience, and the desired outcome had been reached perfectly. 2 This would go on every single day.

I made it a habit.

The thing with habits is that they bypass our subconscious negativity and lack of belief. 3 If you come from a good family and had a great upbringing, where confidence and faith in yourself is the predominant feeling that governs your life, then setting goals works. If not, then goals have a tendency of stirring negativity and causing resistance in ourselves. This is most often on a subconscious level. 4

I would do this faithfully for an hour, every morning. Then I would meditate. Meditation consisted of sitting still, focusing on my breathing until I became completely still. Then I would sit in that stillness, and focus on this life giving center within 3. If my mind wandered, I would gently, lovingly bring it back, without judgment or resentment. I would sit in this joyful, peaceful stillness as long as I could 5. Slowly increasing the duration and intensity, little by little 6.

Slowly. It is a slow process. Very slow, yet very enjoyable indeed.

Then I would be off to work at 2pm till midnight (I worked an afternoon shift at the time). Then drive back and do the same thing again the next day.

People would say that there was a change in me, and that they could see it. I was happy, content and at peace (most of the time)

This practice is all we need. It becomes a foundation, for our life, for our journey. We carry it with us wherever we go. We can practice it on our own, with a partner or in a group. It does not require any specific tools or pre-requisites. “Come as you are”.

It provides a foundation for us in our lives. We can build around it, acquire knowledge, or learn new skills, may it be healing, chanting or memorizing texts. Yet the foundation is unchanged, and remains the same.

It is easy for us to be misled by shiny things, future promises and quick fixes. THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Slow, incremental long term progress is the name of the game, it’s the only thing that works long term.

I liken what people do most of the time to a dog humping a piece of furniture in the basement. There is zeal involved, and dedication. But no matter how arduous the effort, it will bring nothing. It will only make us more irritated, and we keep seeking the truth of who we are. Our yearning will linger in the background, like an unwanted guest.

This exercise will feed us truly, deeply. We simply channel this peace and joy, the great Spirit that is within us already. Nothing more, and nothing less.

In the calmness of the night, in the chill cool breeze in the morning, we progress. Slowly but surely. No place to go to, nothing to do. Just sitting in stillness. The stillness that is beyond words. The stillness that begets everything. 

As our practice deepens, moments of joy will appear. This is called communion. It is this life giving force within us saying hi back to us. It is often a feeling and sense of upliftment, joy, and unexpected happiness. First sporadically. Then more steadily. 7

There is a saying that I really like: “Not every day is a good day, but there is goodness in every day” and the same is true for our practice. Not every session is good, and yet there is goodness in every session. This is hard to explain.

Another important point, that to me was as important as the practice itself, was what is called Contentment in my Spiritual Teaching. It means knowing that you have. 

I was always happy and grateful for what I had, no matter how small or incremental. If somehow I missed a session, instead of getting angry or feeling hurt, I would simply focus on the next day, and imagine how wonderful it would be to have my meditation session then. I would visualize doing it the next day, and tangibly looked forward to it.

And as soon as the session was done, I would forget about it. I mean it. Just patience.

This created the continuity that I needed. 

My life changed. I was happy and content. I somehow lost weight, and was healthier. People would notice this change and comment on it.

This continued for a few months. And I can honestly say, to this day, that those were some of the happiest days and moments in that period of my life. What had changed? It’s hard to say.

And then I managed to mess this up. At some point I experienced a plateau. And decided that doing the meditation session once a day was not enough. So I changed my shift to a day shift. I could not get up early enough to meditate and then drive to work, and the change in shift hindered my sleep pattern. In short, I fell off the wagon. And slowly but surely, I forgot about the practice, and the spiritual progress I had made in such a short time.

Then, little by little I forgot about the whole thing, and returned to the mundane life of a seeker, always looking for that shiny star of enlightenment. Never to reach it. Because it can not be found on that star. It simply isn’t there

I gave up true love for the search of instant gratification. There is a difference between lust and love. Lust takes away. Love gives unconditionally. They are not the same. 

It took years to get back to this practice. And I held on to it, like a shipwreck holding on to a piece of wood. With a Prayer.

1 The Christ in you 1929 Anonymous

2 This exercise is called getting rid of negativity by cornering the intellect in my Spiritual Teaching

3 A great book on this topic is The Power Of Habits by Charles Duhigg

4 This is a big issue. Quiet often you see businessmen admonish people of poor background on T.V. This is nonsense. If the well off people endured the same situations, they would most likely be in the same position. You do not treat a psychotic patient the way you would a Harward graduate of good standing. Whereas the first may have the same potential, if not greater than the first. The painter Van Gogh is a good example of this, for example.

5 Sitting still, doing nothing meditation as described in my Spiritual Teaching. Or any authentic meditation exercise from a traditional background that is currently providing results for its students.

6 Mastery by George Leonard is a great book on slow, incremental growth. It details why success of any type is slow and how to embrace plateaus instead of avoiding them.

7 We are describing the practice of meditation here, which is a comprehensive study unto itself. This is the very basics of it. I would recommend anyone who is interested to look it up in all its detail and have a qualified guide whenever possible.