Meditation and the Spiritual Consciousness Beyond It
By Remez Sasson

In order to hasten the awareness of the inner consciousness, it is recommended that you become more aware of your thoughts as they arise and pass through your mind.

Constant practice of meditation has a profound influence on the consciousness and the mind. The mind is restless and loves constant movement and change. Meditation removes the restlessness of the mind, making it a better and more useful tool.

Meditation develops concentration, awakens inner peace and ultimately brings the mind un­der the full control of the consciousness. Constant practice develops peace of mind, silence, inner quietness, joy and inner power that no outer circumstances can take away or change.

There are people who regard meditation as unpractical, useless and meaningless pursuit. They may regard those who seek inner peace and inner silence as dream­ers, visionaries and unpractical persons, who are out of touch with reality. This is a wrong assump­tion. There have always been very practical, pragmatic and active persons, who also engaged in­tensively in inner, spiritual quest, some of whom you may find dif­ficult to associate with meditation and spirituality. This only comes to show that practicality, common sense and spirituality can go hand in hand.

Living an intense spiritual life and at the same time engaging in mundane activities is not unusual. Read about the life of Papaji, the Indian sage, and you will find out that he had worked hard for many years, while at the same time living an intense spiritual life. He is not the only one. There is no such rule that one has to abandon everything and live in an ashram or a monastery in order to meditate and lead a spiritual life.

Success in meditation needs earnestness, per­sistence and strong motivation. The rewards are great and valuable. After the mind becomes habitu­ally calm and quiet as a result of persistent practice, one may find that there is no need for special medi­tation sessions anymore. The inner peace will also be experienced at other times of the day.

When the mind is at peace, there arises a kind of calm, joyous and powerful consciousness, which is different from the ordinary, everyday conscious­ness. It is vast and endless, full of calmness, rest, happiness, joy, power and invincibility. It is a sort of an altered state of consciousness, which is not a trance or a lack of awareness of the earthly plane. It is an awareness that encompasses both the earthly and spiritual planes.

After beginning to taste this consciousness of inner peace and bliss, you will find that some­times you may experience it in your everyday life, not only while meditating. It may suddenly or gradually possess your awareness for some time, and then it goes away. At this stage you will need to make it constant. This is done by pacifying your mind, and by making the effort to remember and awaken it wherever you are, at anytime, and under all circum­stances. This is the way to turn it into your ordinary everyday consciousness.

In order to hasten the aware­ness of the inner consciousness it is recommended that you become more aware of your thoughts as they arise and pass through your mind. Do not let them sweep you away. Just remain focused, uninvolved with them, and deeply aware of the consciousness that looks at these thoughts. Let the peace that wells up fill you completely.

All techniques of meditation actually lead to this state. It is a state of light, happiness and joy, but also of inner power, concentration, practicality and common sense. It is called by many names, Nirvana, Samadhi, Self Realization, Cosmic Consciousness, Higher Self. The name is only the label. The content is more important, and it is the same under all these labels.

Copyright RemezSasson. AIl rights reserved. Remez Sasson writes and teaches about spiritual growth, meditation, positive thinking, creative visualization and mind power. He is the author of several successful books. Remez can be reached by e-mail at info@successconsciousness.com and his website www.successconsciousness.com.