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Living Your Practice : Brahmacharini Nitya

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Living Your Practice : Brahmacharini NityaOnce, several years ago when I was

working ex tremely long hours in the ashram, my guru casually asked me, "How's

your meditation practice coming along?""Right now, sir, its mostly medita tion

in action," I replied.And instead of being annoyed with me as I had expected,

he smiled broadly and exclaimed, "Good! Good! That's the best kind!"This did

not mean, of course that he wanted me to stop the regular sitting meditation,

but rather that he was pleased I had been able to carry what I had gained in

the sitting meditation into my active life.What is meditation in action? How

does one meditate while typing, calculating, tending to children and family,

and doing the many chores that are necessary to maintain our modern lives?

There are two keys to open the secret door to meditation in action: attention

and renunciation.Pay Attention

When one learns to practice awareness and attention while doing even the

simplest and most mun dane acts of life, a great joy comes.When water runs in

scattered rivulets down the hillside, it hasn't much force behind it. But when

it is dammed up and made to come through a narrow opening, its power is

tremendous.

Likewise, when sunlight is focused through a magnifying glass, that spot of

light becomes powerful enough to burn.So it is with our minds. A mind that

wanders distracted, scattered, and inattentive has little power. But when its

awareness is focused one- pointedly, it becomes so powerful that it can achieve

anything. Such a mind gains spiritual power.Think of your own past. Almost

everyone has experienced times when the mind was so engrossed in something that

the external environ ment was entirely forgotten for some time.

There was such joy in doing whatever you were doing that you almost forgot to

eat or sleep. After- wards, you felt a sense of accomplishment, of fulfillment.

Let nothing be done absentmindedly, or haphazardly. When comb ing your hair or

brushing your teeth, place your attention exclu sively on what you are doing.

When eating, keep your mind on the food-its taste, its texture, its

aroma-gratefully mindful that the food you are consuming is giving up its own

identity to nourish your body.

When typing, shut out the exterior world and concentrate one- pointedly on the project at hand.

When conversing with someone, give that person your complete attention.Such

concentration develops into meditation to the extent that you can spiritualize

each action.

If you treat each action as sacred and apply one-pointed concentration to each

task, it becomes meditation.

And it is certainly true that every- thing-all work, all art, all physical and

mental activity-requires practice if it is to be done well. For success, the

mind must be completely at the service of the work at hand.

Have a determined will, and through practice, gradually increase the capacity to

extract asmuch knowl edge as possible from each experi ence in the here and

now.In meditation (either sitting, or meditation in action) the goal is not to

lose awareness or consciousness, but rather to increase awareness and focus it

one-pointedly in a chosen direction.Any state of mind and body that promotes

willful negligence and inattention also promotes suffering; whereas any state

of mind that pro- motes willful caring, and one-point- ed attention, promotes

joy.

And by directing the attention in positive directions, one may tap unlimited

capacities of ones being.

Renounce the Fruits

The second key to meditation in action, renunciation, does not mean going off in

a cave and living the life of a recluse. Instead, after work ing with awareness

and one-pointed attention, renounce the fruits of your acts. This is what yoga

teaches.

Meditation in action is when we do the proper thing at any given moment, and do

it lovingly, selflessly, and as skillfully as possible, renouncing any concern

for the result.When your conscious mind is relaxed and you accept an idea, your

subconscious goes to work to execute that idea.

Upon arising in the morning, while you are still relaxed, and at night before

falling asleep, or any time you feel relaxed, make a mental suggestion to your

mind that whatever you doin the coming day, you will release the fruits, and

perform all acts simply because they are right and virtuous and appropriate for

you to do- regardless of whether they turn out the way you think they should.If

you wish, you may relinquish what you think to be the fruits of your acts to

your guru, your family, or your chosen deity. But however you do it, it must be

done sincerely, and without any condition.

For example if you think, "I will renounce the fruit of this action now so I

will grow spiritually,"or "I will renounce the result of this labor so my

family will learn of it and come to love me more," this is not true

renunciation. Have no expectations of any kind.If you have truly done your

best, according to your capacity, and renounced the fruits of your labors, the

outcome is irrelevant. The action itself is your reward. That is real

renunciation.

Often people ask, "If a person renounces the fruit of their actions, and

doesn't care whether such actions are successful or not, what motivation would

inspire them to do anything inthe first place?"First of all, everyone has to do

actions of some kind-no one can live without performing actions.

But some actions are motivated by selfishness: "What's in it for me?" Other

actions may be done selflessly: "This needs to be done; it would be helpful. I

will do it."Even actions such as eating, sleeping, bathing, and caring for ones

own physical body can be done with the attitude that, "This body is an

instrument with which I may serve others, so I must keep it in good repair so

that it will be of use to others for a long time." In this way, even ones own

toilet becomes meditation in action.Becoming Adept

This sounds so simple on paper. But is it? I find myself thinking, "Okay, I will

prepare food for those with whom I live and renounce the fruits of my labors on

their behalf." Then if the dinner doesn't turn out right, and someone

complains, I feel badly, although I really did the best I could,lovingly, with

one-pointed attention, and with all my skill. This "feeling badly" is an

indication that I did not truly renounce the fruits of my actions.I prepare

breakfast for someone who isn't feeling well and burn their toast, and perhaps

because they aren't feeling up to par they become irritable and scold.

Then I, in return, think, "Well, that's the last time Ill ever do anything for

that unappre ciative person!" Again, I feel this way because I expected some

particular behavior from them in return for my services, and so I had not

really renounced the results of my actions.Fruits of actions are binding and

inevitably give birth to pain, disappointment, and misery. Renunciation of

those fruits is liberating, and brings forth peace, even-minded- ness in all

circumstances, and a joy that goes beyond intellectual under- standing.The only

way one can really learn to be adept at this kind of "medita tion in action" is

to practice, practice, and practice again.

Never be discouraged by apparent failure, by how many times you mentally declare

an intention to renounce the result of an action, and then explode in anger when

the "meditation in action" turns out badly, or become impatient when you find

that perhaps you were expecting something from your renunciation of

expectation!

The sun shines on all, simply because it is its nature to shine, and it expects

no praise or gifts from anyone in return.

So in meditation in action, we learn to live in the world and yet remain above,

doing our duties lovingly and selflessly, without any expectation of reward.

However, renunciation is an acquired taste, so be patient with yourself.In the

practice of meditation in action, there is no such thing as failure.

The only possible failure is to give up trying.

Effort itself is progress, and the more you practice meditation in action, the

more skill you attain.

Then life becomes filled with joy and peace, and freedom from disappointment,

pain, and misery. Brahmacharini Nitya has been practicing yoga and meditation

for more than 30 years. For the past 20 years, she has been living in an

ashram.

Source:

http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/ArticleRead.aspx?code=176

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