For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.
BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS 6:30
Most people think of meditation as a set timeframe during which we sit in silence with our eyes closed in an attempt to stop our thoughts. This is a misunderstanding of what meditation was originally designed to be. When we sit silently, it’s referred to as dharana, or mental concentration, which is used as a premeditation exercise.
The word meditation actually means fixing our mind and senses on something. There is a difference between meditating on mundane matters and meditating on spiritual matters. In spiritual meditation, we fix our mind and senses on the Supreme Soul, whereas in mundane meditation, we fix our senses and mind on material things.
When we think of meditation in this way, it’s easy to see how we’re actually meditating all day long, whether it’s on work, family, food, sex, or even social media. But there’s more to it than that. We meditate when we offer our tasks at hand to God while also fixing our mind and senses on the Supreme Soul for whom we are doing it. In essence, we are consciously living our lives side by side with our original source when we maintain a mind-set that the Supreme Soul resides in our hearts.
This idea of life as a moving meditation is set forth in the Yoga Sutras. At its heart, yoga is about transforming all of our daily activities into spiritual practices so that our entire life becomes one long meditation. Believe it or not, everything from eating to working to praying to reading can be transformed into something transcendental. As you begin to incorporate this meditative mind-set into your life, the practice will become more and more natural — habitual, even. To get you started, here are some practices — or rituals, as we call them — that will set you on the path of infusing a meditative mind-set into your day-to-day life.
Morning Rituals
MY BODY IS A TEMPLE AND A VEHICLE FOR SERVICE
The body is the material home for you, the soul, and God (Paramatma). Therefore, what we do with our body determines whether or not we are properly putting this material shell we have been given to good use.
We like to think of it this way: What is the difference between a bar and a temple? It totally sounds like the punch line to a joke, right? But it’s not. The point here is that both a bar and a temple are made of the same materials: wood, cement, sheet rock, and nails. The only reason we treat a bar and a temple differently is because of what’s inside. Now think about your body and what’s residing within it: you, the soul, and the Supreme Soul. When you think about it this way, it becomes easy to treat your body as you would a temple — as a sacred place. You can use this temple to serve the original source and treat yourself better, your family better, even the entire world better.
When we wake up, standard procedure is usually to brush our teeth, groom ourselves, and head to the kitchen. When we are performing our mornings as a moving meditation, we can still do all of these things, but we are simultaneously aware of our higher purpose.
Here’s what we recommend. Take your time waking up; if you want, you can set your alarm clock a few minutes earlier than usual so that you don’t feel pressed for time. Use this extra time to cultivate a spiritual undertone to carry with you throughout the day as you move about your life. Spend five minutes reminding yourself that you are a spiritual being having a material experience. Set your intention to use your body today to help your family, your friends, and everyone else around you get closer to the Supreme Soul.
Begin going about your morning as you normally would. Only now, because you have cultivated this mind-set, as you perform mundane tasks like brushing your teeth and taking a shower, you will do them with the mind-set of cleansing your temple. If we keep the mind-set that this body is a house for God and the soul, then we can offer our grooming, cleansing, and everything else we do to manicure our temple as an offering. It’s the mind-set of knowing we are cleaning our temple that makes these actions into spiritual acts.
Everything in life is about our intentions; it’s our motives that make any action self-centered or selfless, material or spiritual. For example, someone could be feeding the poor to get famous, intending to feed the hungry only until they get to a certain point of notoriety. Or someone could be feeding the poor only for the good of the people, not looking for any recognition or fame. From afar it would appear both people are doing exactly the same thing; however, the intentions are different.
This simple but powerful practice creates an entirely different outlook for you to take into your day. You’ll be amazed to see how these few extra minutes in your morning carry you through any struggles and challenges that may arise, simply because you’ll view them through a different lens and with a new attitude.
A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me.
Indeed the self-realized man sees Me everywhere.
BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS 6:29
Food Rituals
I OFFER THIS BACK
At any given moment, millions of people around the world are thanking God for providing them with the meal set before them. This is a great practice — but it’s not yoga. In yoga, rather than looking at the Supreme Soul as a provider, we are establishing a personal connection between ourselves and our original source.
The Yoga Sutras instruct us to offer our food back to the Supreme Soul, asking Him to accept it first. This might seem a bit strange if you are used to a more Western version of grace. If so, stop for a second and think about how you interact with friends and family at mealtimes. If someone visits your house, for instance, our guess is that, in the interest of being a good host, one of the first things you’ll do is offer your guest some food or a drink. Likewise, if you are eating and your friend sits down next to you, you would probably ask them if they wanted a bite of your meal. We might not think about it, since it’s such a habitual behavior, but common sense tells us that when we are in the presence of another person, we want to share some of what we have. Why should it be any different with our higher power? After all, it’s that source which is providing everything in the first place, right?
The Supreme Soul doesn’t need anything from us. However, offering our food up to Him is an exchange of love. And that’s what’s important about this ritual. In the yogic system, we strive for a constant interchange of love between ourselves and our highest source. All this takes is a simple offering in a moment of silence every time you sit down to eat, inviting the original source to have it first, just as you would with any other friend or loved one. In our house we take a pause before meals to be quiet, and with all our heart we ask the Supreme Soul, “Will you please accept this first?” Then the food is offered and considered prasadam, which means “God’s mercy.” The food becomes holy or spiritually purifying, and then the act of eating becomes a spiritual activity. It’s like eating mantras: it cleanses our hearts and minds and brings us closer to God.
Mantras are a profound way of purifying your consciousness and connecting with the Supreme Soul. In yoga they say, “God is His name.” The word man means “mind,” and tra means “that which frees you from.” So mantra means “that which frees you from your mind.” We chant mantras every day as a family in our daily kirtans (call and response singing of mantras) and individually with our japa practice (repetition of God’s names on mala beads), as well as when we offer our food. In reality we use mantras whenever we can. It is a nice excuse to alter our consciousness and lift up our hearts to the Supreme Soul. Whenever we drink water we think of the Bhagavad Gita, in which God says, “I am the taste of water.” Then we offer the water by saying one of God’s names three times: “Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu.”
O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water,
the light of the sun and the moon,
the syllable Om in the Vedic mantras;
I am the sound of ether and the ability in man.
BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS 7:8
Rituals for Physical Movement
I AM BUILDING A STRONG TEMPLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORLD
In Western culture, fitness has become more than just a way to keep our body functioning well; it has been glamorized to sell sex. This is true of yoga in the United States as well. The practice of physical asana has become so far removed from its roots and place in traditional yoga that most practitioners are totally unaware its ultimate goal is to connect body, mind, and soul to the Supreme Soul. Today, it’s much more about getting a yoga butt or dressing in the latest yoga fashion than a modality to move us closer to discovering the meaning of life.
To bring yourself back to the original intention of yoga, start your physical practice with a little prayer or by offering your practice to the Supreme Soul with the understanding that your body is being used for service and that your practice will keep that body healthy for service. This intention doesn’t just apply to your asana practice; you can also perform a similar ritual of offering before jogging, swimming, or working out at the gym. Remember, yoga isn’t confined to holding certain postures — it’s really about a state of mind. And when we move our bodies while we are in this state of consciousness, our exercise becomes spiritualized.
MY WORK IS INFUSED WITH LOVE AND PURPOSE
Let’s face it: every job can be a drag sometimes, but that doesn’t mean your job has to be a chore day in and day out. Most of the time when we experience dissatisfaction with our job, it’s because we’re dreaming of doing something else or believe the grass is greener on the other side. We might fall under the misconception that if only we had another job, everything else would be better too — we’d have a better house, a nicer car, more expensive clothes, a better life.
What we forget is that all of those things are just temporary. There is nothing material we can acquire in this life that we will take with us when we go. It all stays here. So what do we take? What things are permanent? Yoga teaches us that spiritual wealth is the only possession the soul can carry with it and keep forever. Of course we need to keep our family and ourselves fed and the bills paid, but there’s another frame through which we can look at our work that makes it more meaningful.
Every time you feel yourself being dragged down by work, remind yourself of its greater purpose. This job is providing you with the means to raise a spiritual family or, alternatively, to facilitate a spiritual life for yourself. You can use that job as a foundation for the care and support of your family or yourself, which will enable you to better nourish spirituality.
Forget about the “toys” we put so much emphasis on in this culture. Instead, consider another purpose for your work — become rich through simple living and high thinking. Make enough to live on, meditate, and thrive. Remove this pressure to utilize work as a way to acquire more and more, and you will find that the notion of work turns into something different: the means to an end that facilitates a more rewarding spiritual lifestyle.
Prayer is not asking, it is the longing of the soul.
It is a daily admission of one’s weakness.
It is better in prayer to have a heart with no words
than words without a heart.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Meditation Rituals for Everyone
THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER
Most parents will probably agree that we want our children to be not only physically healthy but also spiritually healthy. We want to encourage the growth and health of their entire being — body, mind, and soul.
To do this, it’s helpful to embed little rituals into the day to remind children about the Supreme Soul, the source from which everything comes, and to make that source a part of their daily lives. For example, every day before our family leaves the house to go to work or school, we take five minutes to meditate together. Since children have short attention spans, it can be useful to practice an interactive meditation that will keep them engaged in the moment. Remember that meditation involves fixing our mind and senses onto a particular thing. The more senses we can engage, the higher the chances our mind will follow, and our ability to stay focused will amplify. This is particularly true with kids.
One option for doing this is japa meditation, which utilizes mala or prayer beads. This technique has been used for thousands of years in India. Similar practices exist in many other spiritual traditions throughout the world; for instance, Catholics use rosary beads to focus certain prayers. You can order mala beads online, find them at a local yoga or Eastern boutique, or even make your own by stringing 108 beads together.
Once you have your mala, hold a bead between two fingers, beginning with the bead closest to the “head” of the string (where the two ends tie together). As you hold the bead, recite a Sanksrit name of God or any name for God that resonates with you as a mantra, then move on to the next bead. In our family, we like to use the mantra “Ram,” which is a name for God that translates to “one who gives happiness to the soul.” Continue holding each bead one at a time and reciting your mantra until you have made your way around to the last bead. This should take no more than five minutes.
All of these practices in this chapter can be applied to every facet of your life. Whenever you perform a function, no matter how mundane, you can meditate and offer your task to the Supreme Soul. Be intentional, aware of the moment and His presence. Over time, you will find that meditation is not a part of your life but, rather, is inextricable from your life.