The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. In meditation, you find complete relaxation. It is wanting nothing, being nothing, doing nothing, and yet having total alertness effortlessly. It is the state of mind that has returned to its origin. A mind in the present moment is meditation
We need to ponder upon this simple truth again and again — a desire kills joy, but all desires aim for joy! Even an entire lifetime is not enough to absorb this knowledge.
Look deeper at all those times when happiness disappeared from your life, and you will find it was because of desire. And all that we desire in life is just happiness! No person, animal, or creature has ever been born desiring unhappiness and misery.
Every desire or ambition is like a grain of sand in the eye. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Yoga is the union with the Self, and it is not possible unless you drop desires.” As long as your mind clings to some plan or expectation, the mind will not come to rest. With a grain of sand in your eye, you cannot keep it open or closed without discomfort. If you are restless, it means the mind is running towards something in the future, seeking joy elsewhere. To have a desire indicates this present moment is not enough. Such a feeling creates tension, and with tension, you get neither focus nor rest.
When your small mind gets tired of running here and there, of wandering everywhere, it returns home and concludes, “My desires have killed my happiness.”
When can you rest? When you stop moving, working, thinking, seeing, touching, hearing, and all the other activities, then you get rest or sleep. Only involuntary processes like breathing, heartbeat, food digestion, blood circulation, etc, remain while you sleep. However, this is not total rest either. Total rest only occurs when the mind has calmed down, is at peace, and is free of tensions and anxieties.
The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. In meditation, you find complete relaxation. It is wanting nothing, being nothing, doing nothing, and yet having total alertness effortlessly. It is the state of mind that has returned to its origin. A mind in the present moment is meditation.
When you sit for meditation, drop everything. One of the easiest ways is to feel, “The whole world is fading away… I am dead.” Without this sense of letting go, meditation does not happen.
When you release everything that you are so tightly holding on to and go into that still space within, the mind feels a deep, soothing coolness. It is like giving the entire body-mind system a complete service, a thorough overhaul.
Passion when you work, dispassion when you meditate and turn inward, and compassion at all times is the key to a fulfilled life. Dispassion is the strength in you. It helps you understand that everyone has come to give something; we have nothing to take from this world. It is like removing that grain, so your eyes can open and close freely. Another way to rise above is to expand your desire-make it vast, for your community, for your country, for the whole world. After all, it is only the tiny grain that irritates the eye; a big rock or boulder can never get in.
Desires arise on their own. Rather than clinging to them, resisting them, or daydreaming, offer them to the Divine. Even thinking, “Desire causes misery, I must not have desires, when will I be free of them?” is itself another desire. As they arise, simply notice them and release them. This is what is called Sanyas.
When you can offer each desire as it appears, and remain centred, nothing can shake you from your blissful centre. Without this, even small events can upset you: A few careless words, or minor things not going your way, will disturb your peace. Look into your own life, and you will find yourself restless whether your desires are fulfilled or not. If you have wealth, you worry about how to grow it, how to keep it safe, or about losing it in the market. If you do not have it, you still feel disturbed.
Liberation is that state where it makes no difference whether you have or do not have; it does not shake you anymore.
Ask yourself, what are you really searching for? Some great joy somewhere outside? Know this — you are that joy.
Let me give you an example. Have you seen a dog chewing on a bone? In the process, the hard bone wounds the inside of its mouth, and its own blood begins to flow. When the
dog tastes this blood, it thinks the bone is delicious. Poor thing, it spends all that time chewing, not realising it is enjoying something that is coming from itself. If the bone is taken away, it becomes restless, believing the bone was the source of its happiness. In the same way, every joy you experience is arising from deep within you. Real freedom is when you can be happy in this very moment.
See this from your own life — if you go to bed carrying restlessness, agitation, or some unfulfilled desire, you will not get deep sleep. It may seem as if everything has quietened for a while, but underneath, those ambitions and plans are still active in the mind. Very ambitious people often struggle to sleep deeply because the mind is never free. The more you are anxious about doing something, the harder it is to fall asleep. Before sleeping, if you can drop everything, only then will you truly rest. Why not live this way every moment?
Life teaches you the art of letting go in every event. The more you have learnt to let go, the happier and freer you are. When you have learnt to let go, you will be joyful, and as you start being joyful, more will be given to you. Taking a good look at your desires and realising that they are futile and there is nothing great about their achievement or lack of it is maturity.