Doing nothing is not easy. Especially in our modern world where there is much more stimulation than ever before. It's difficult to do nothing because the mind is so used to being active, and is by nature active.
In my youth, the decade I spent in the yoga monastery ashram full time, training from age 19-29, helped me to develop a focused mind that could sit and do nothing - at least externally. Internally however, there is a lot happening in the mind, even while the body is still.
The technique I was taught uses the aid of a mantra to assist one in capturing the mind and harnessing it with focus for extended periods of time while the body is still. We would rise from sleep at 4am every day and engage in some prayers, rituals and ceremonies before our little altar. That, in itself, allows the mind to focus on the goal, by using daily chants, prayers and rituals.
The really intense practice began after that at around 5am, when we would engage in two hours of solid sitting. Just sitting and meditating. And two hours is the modernized abbreviated version of what used to be four hours or eight hours of meditation a day in the previous centuries. To help maintain our focus, we used the ancient yoga practice of mantra recitation, repeating the same simple mantra softly (or internally) over and over for two hours.
This is a technique to grab the wandering mind and keep it focused, particularly on the sound which we were repeating. It is better than silence in the sense that the mind wanders more easily in silence. A mantra, on the other hand, acts as a tool to keep the mind engaged by using the senses of the tongue to chant and the ear to hear. A third sense of touch would be added, by using chanting or counting beads of wood held between the fingers.
By simply chanting and hearing, the mind slowly becomes pacified and focused on the meditation practice. This is an ancient tool or technique to harness the mind. Otherwise it will drift off into random thoughts. Actually, even with the use of mantra chanting the mind still wanders off. So the yogi is simply reminded to bring the mind back to the sound of the chanting.
At first I could not stay awake and kept falling asleep during this meditation before sunrise, after only six hours of sleep every night. I would have to stand up and chant while standing, and even then I would feel myself falling asleep while standing. Naturally the blood pressure is very low at this time of day, and the digestion is still working and taking blood flow which is needed to feed oxygen to the brain.
But after some months, perhaps years of daily practice for two hours without fail, I was gradually able to sit still for longer and longer, until the time came where it was easy for me to sit still for two hours before rising again. It was not painful because we could move about to maintain some degree of comfort. It wasn't the harsh Vipasana type Buddhist meditation where you have to sit still regardless of the pain you may feel. It was practical and gentle. It doesn't have to be a painful process.
In this way, by sincere practice, the yogi is able to simply sit and meditate and do nothing from an external pint of view. However, internally the mind is being focused on the mantra and the mantra is the Sanskrit names of the deity or god form that you are meditating upon.
The mind still wanders, but less so with practice of daily meditation. Not only that, but the mind would sometimes come up with bright ideas and solutions and clarity, which are all by-products of the meditation practice. They are not the goal though, which shows that the mind will always be flickering and wandering in all of us most of the time.
Only after years of practice like this can one expect the mind to really become clam and still, like a pool of water that is undisturbed by any wind or activity. It becomes like glass, reflecting what is around it. So the less we have around it, the better the clarity. It's strange perhaps, to our active natures, to think that the goal is to do less, to think less, to be empty.
Yet it is harder than one might think. Still, while doing nothing, there is also the passive receptivity of the observer that is cultivated. In this state of mind, the brainwave frequencies are lowered to theta, below alpha and beta, which is almost the REM dream frequency of around 6 hertz. The brainwaves vibrate like this, as scientists have measured. These terms were perhaps not used in ancient times, but the practice of meditation was doing this naturally all along - modulating the brainwave frequencies by meditation practice.
Ultimately it's all in the mind. All is mind. You are what you think. At least in this material realm. That said, mind is also in the gut, so it's not just the brain. The mind is something more subtle than the brain. It is not only in the brain. There is the heart and the gut and the entire nervous system. And there is the subtle body - the mind. Consciousness is not localized in the brain. The brain is just the antenna to pick up the frequency of consciousness, like a radio.
But the radio of the brain needs to be attuned in order to pick up the best frequencies, and that's what meditation does, among other tings. It attunes the brain to perceive a stronger signal of consciousness. By sitting still, releasing any thoughts of past and future, and simply observing, one becomes receptive to the frequency of consciousness beyond the current inherited genes of the body and brain.
If we're not aware of this, then we will simply follow the trends of modern society which offer more and more stimulus for the mind via new tech tools. We may achieve more by doing more stuff, which is fine for earning external rewards which are needed. However, anyone interested in awakening their transcendent self may need to spend time emptying the mind, which is the opposite to what we are used to. And the more full or stimulated the mind is, the harder it may be.
Actually, it is always hard for anyone at any time in history to empty the mind, what to speak of today, when we are more stimulated than ever. Therefore, the need for meditation practice may be more important than ever. The fact that depression and anxiety is on the rise among society and worse than ever before, except for times of war perhaps, suggests that we are in a precarious situation, overstimulated by externals and out of touch with the ancient practices that we used to use as tools to pacify the mind.
Bhagavad Gita ch 6:33
अर्जुन उवाच योऽयं योगस्त्वया प्रोक्त: साम्येन मधुसूदन । एतस्याहं न पश्यामि चञ्चलत्वात्स्थितिं स्थिराम् ॥ ३३ ॥
arjuna uvāca yo 'yaṁ yogas tvayā proktaḥ sāmyena madhusūdana etasyāhaṁ na paśyāmi cañcalatvāt sthitiṁ sthirām
SYNONYMS arjunaḥ uvāca—Arjuna said; yaḥ—the system; ayam—this; yogaḥ—mysticism; tvayā—by You; proktaḥ—described; sāmyena—generally; madhusūdana—O killer of the demon Madhu; etasya—of this; aham—I; na—do not; paśyāmi—see; cañcalatvāt—due to being restless; sthitim—situation; sthirām—stable.
TRANSLATION Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which you have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.
PURPORT The system of mysticism described by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna beginning with the words śucau deśe and ending with yogī paramaḥ is here being rejected by Arjuna out of a feeling of inability. It is not possible for an ordinary man to leave home and go to a secluded place in the mountains or jungles to practice yoga in this age of Kali. The present age is characterized by a bitter struggle for a life of short duration. People are not serious about self-realization even by simple, practical means, and what to speak of this difficult yoga system, which regulates the mode of living, the manner of sitting, selection of place, and detachment of the mind from material engagements. As a practical man, Arjuna thought it was impossible to follow this system of yoga, even though he was favorably endowed in many ways. He belonged to the royal family and was highly elevated in terms of numerous qualities; he was a great warrior, he had great longevity, and, above all, he was the most intimate friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Five thousand years ago, Arjuna had much better facilities then we do now, yet he refused to accept this system of yoga. In fact, we do not find any record in history of his practicing it at any time. Therefore this system must be considered generally impossible in this age of Kali. Of course it may be possible for some very few, rare men, but for the people in general it is an impossible proposal. If this were so five thousand years ago, then what of the present day? Those who are imitating this yoga system in different so-called schools and societies, although complacent, are certainly wasting their time. They are completely in ignorance of the desired goal.
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As it Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original Macmillan 1972 edition, freely available at www.prabhupadabooks.com.
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