Lesson 31 - Meditation Q&A – Enjoying the great outdoors

From: Yogani
Date: Fri Dec 5, 2003 0:42pm

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the
archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first
lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: We went to the mountains last weekend and I meditated outdoors
overlooking a huge valley. It was beautiful, and my meditation was
wonderful. I was blissfully intermingled with the soft mountain air.
Is there a benefit in meditating outdoors in beautiful places?

A: There is great benefit in being outdoors in beautiful places, but
not necessarily in meditating there. To be able to appreciate the
profound beauty of nature is the greatest joy in life. For what
greater purpose could we be here than to enjoy the infinite sea of
harmony in and all around us? Regular meditation gradually cultivates
our inherent ability to appreciate the beauty in life.

But remember what we are doing in meditation. We are easily picking
up the mantra and letting it go however it will. Then we are picking
it back up again when we realize we have been off it. This procedure
we do for twenty minutes twice a day. We do not meditate for a
particular experience while we are doing it. The purification process
has its own way to go. We cannot direct it or predict it. We do the
easy procedure of meditation and let it happen.

So, doing the meditation procedure is not about sitting on a
mountaintop or in any particular place, except to take advantage of
the best place we have available at meditation time where we will
have the least distraction.

Jesus said, "Go into your closet to pray."

This is the idea. Meditation is an inner process, so we withdraw to
do it.

If we are on an airplane, in a waiting room, or on top of a mountain,
we may not have a choice, so we make the best of it and meditate
there. As discussed previously, it can easily be done. However, we do
not go sit outdoors on a mountaintop for the purpose of meditating.
It's much better to be in the cabin where it is quiet and subdued.
Then we can meditate, go inward, with the least stimulation of the
outer senses. Later on we can go out and appreciate the grand display
of the valley below, having soaked ourselves with the perception-
illuminating qualities of pure bliss consciousness. Close your eyes
then, if you wish, and be one with the glory of nature all around
you. Enjoy!

Meditation is a preparation for enriching the experience of
everything else. It is a retreat from the outer world to pure bliss
consciousness within so we can come back and know the outer world in
a much more refined way. If we try and blend our meditation practice
with experiencing the outer world at the same time, the results will
not be optimal. First we go in. Then we come back out. Our meditation
is not about trying to be in and out at the same time. That state of
being both in and out at the same time comes naturally with regular
daily meditation. Being in and out at the same time is not the
practice of meditation. It is the fruit of meditation.

Do be inspired by the beauty of nature. Know that you can experience
nature in increasingly refined ways as a result of daily practice of
meditation. Use your inspiration to redouble your commitment to daily
practice. Then, in time, you will know nature in a way that will
permanently melt you in bliss. Then your natural state will be to be
completely in and completely out at the same. You will become the
great outdoors.

This is the fruit of true yoga and true religion. This is
enlightenment.

The guru is in you.

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