In the Yoga Sutras, there are Yama Niyamas, the rules and regulations for a yogi. Simply by saying, I am going to sit and meditate and do my Kriya, nobody moves ahead on the spiritual path. Your character and outward behavior also has to change. And you have to do the Kriya practice consistently.
Consistent practice is very important, because you are trying to change the pattern of your mind. And if you don’t do it consistently, it will fall back to the same pattern.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, constantly practice spiritual communion by residing alone in a solitary spot.
At least, few days, or one or two day in a week, go to a solitary place, if you can’t do it all the time. If you can do it all the time, you are lucky.
But if you can’t, because we all have to do our work, set apart some time for solitude, at least. Switch off your phones. Sit quietly and do your kriya or meditation.
Have simple food. Make yourself, because if you have one more person making food, that’s a problem.
Be alone in solitude. You can have company of trees, squirrels, birds. These are good companions. Stay quiet.
Don’t have any bad thought about anybody. At least for two days in a week. Or one day in a week on a Sunday.
Don’t let anybody disturb you. And then do your practice.
It helps. Occasional solitude is important, in the midst of this world we live in.
At least during that time, don’t think of any other activity. How much money you are going to add in your bank account etc. All that we can do later when we go.
Stay in solitude. Just think of meditation. Nothing else. Try to go within. Deeply.
Don’t carry too many possessions which you cannot protect. So, carry only what is necessary like a flask for drinking water, because we don’t carry Kamandalus nowadays. And some food which you can eat and relax. But it should not be so uncomfortable that you cannot meditate.
You have to imbibe discipline in body and mind. Develop the habit of going for a little walk, doing some asanas.
If nothing else, walk for some time, sit under the tree, listen to the birds. They are constantly chanting something. Listen to them.
Or, chant Aum and listen to the sound.
So, at least in the beginning, solitude is essential for developing meditation. When you are an advanced person, then you can do it in the marketplace also, but not before.
What kind of place, where to sit, how to do?
Even if you have found a solitary place, it should be a clean spot, not a dirty spot. If it’s dirty, clean it.
Spot which is neither too high nor too low. If it is too high, you might meditate and lose your awareness and fall down. If it’s too low, then your mind also will start sinking. So, sit in a comfortable place. Neither too high, nor too low.
A seat should be made, how to make the seat on which you sit, that is also given, with kusha grass. Now, you don’t have kusha grass here, so don’t worry. A seat should be made and body should be firmly seated on it, not allowing it to move here and there.
Yogi should practice spiritual communion with the mind that is one pointed and with the working of the imaginative faculty and senses under control for self purification.
When you sit for meditation, do not allow your senses to indulge. Keep them under control at that point. Keep your eyes closed. You cannot meditate because if you are distracted by all the things that are happening.
Even if you close your eyes, all your senses are and imagination is still working. So, keep that also under control for a short period of time. Because when you meditate without all this, you will see how peaceful and wonderful it is, then you will not allow this to happen.
Keep your mind, imagination, everything under control. It takes time and is called Abhyasa Yoga. It’s not done in one day. It needs constant practice before you get there.
So, don’t stop meditating because one day you sat down, you could not control.
Hold the body, head and neck erect because in meditation, and also when we do Kriya, the main action is happening in the spine, the Sushumna nadi, the central channel.
Sometimes some movement may happen naturally because the Nadis, the channels are getting opened and adjusted.
When we meditate and do our Kriya, we usually fix our attention here in the Bhrumadhya or in the heart center.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, fix your attention on the tip of your nose as your mind automatically goes to the heart center, Anahata. It’s not the eye as an organ that has to go there, but the gaze has to go there. When the eye stops in one place, the mind also stops.
The person should sit in spiritual communion.
With the mind is restrained from going outward to objects and always uniting with the inner self in spirit and communion, the yogi attains peace.
This means that when you meditate regularly in a quiet place in solitude without allowing the mind to go to outward objects, uniting with the inner self, which is a spark of the divine, the yogi then attains is supreme salvation.
