When I find the time, I meditate on the Mother or behind my heart center to approach the psychic being, but I find it is not easy to schedule this time-I live in a busy vital house with two preteen sons and my husband who has very big vital energy and I find I need a lot of quiet and calm to do this kind of meditation with Her. I aim to wake early in the morning but at times I am too tired to wake – having spent the previous night not sleeping very well.
I do sit before the photos of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo daily and meditate on the Divine presence and pray. There have been some periods when my husband (who now works at home) and children leave the house for a few hours and I dedicate that time to meditation on the Mother.
However before finding Integral Yoga which I know is my true spiritual path, I practiced Transcendental Meditation for 2 years. I found it made me very calm, centered and also more productive. I also slept better. When I practice it I feel I touch the vastness of the universal, I think. Recently I practiced it and throughout, I kept thinking “what I am touching now is the Universal being-which is also the Mother.” But it is a different quality from my meditations with the Mother: I do not feel I am touching what is above, but something like a band that horizontally connnects my being to all beings, to life force. It gives me increased energy and calm; but is it wrong to not spend any meditation time I have on connecting only to the Mother?
I am wondering if now I can practice TM with the aim of serving the Divine, almost like a very efficient tool to help the mind do its best. I find I am scattered with a confused indecisive feeling at times-this seems to be increasing as I get older. I feel my psychic being, which I am determined to meet and do feel I have had deep experiences of it since beginning Sadhana. is clouded by a lot of mental fog and mental constructions, that can only really recede when I have ample downtime to connect to the Mother, though I do feel Her helping me moment to moment.
I also feel my unruly vital which the Mother is helping surface and transform, tends to block the psychic being and it uses the mind to get what it wants. I think TM could help me be even more laser focused in calming down the vital.
I want to be less stressed, less vitally reactive, more focused, and a calmer mother to my children. I find that TM directly addresses the nervous system in such a way that I feel immediate benefits. When I meditate on the Mother I feel a sweetness and a deep calm, and I know it is affecting my entire system. However it is harder for me to “schedule” this time….it doesn’t feel right for some reason to schedule?! Can you please elucidate to me if it’s alright to incorporate TM into my life now along with my Sadhana; if I consecrate the practice to centralizing my mind and brain around my psychic being in service to the Mother?
Concentration upon the heart centre (centre of the chest) is only one aspect of the Integral Yoga. There are other important elements such as the practice of doing works as an offering to the Mother, remembering Her as often as you can, staying inwardly focused in the centre of the chest on Her Presence as you walk through all the various activities and engage in different actions navigating through various circumstances. While doing all these things one has to practice remaining focused on the sense of the Divine Presence in the heart. The special periods can then be used to practice meditation on The Mother or Sri Aurobindo’s Presence above the head or in the head. This opens the doors to the higher consciousness and facilitates the descent of Peace and brings clarity and a luminous quality to thoughts. Meditation in the heart brings sweetness and joy of the psychic being.
Don’t worry about the fixed time. It is helpful to have it but if one cannot then one can practice whenever possible. However the moments of contemplation must be combined with cultivating the right attitude in all our activities especially remembering and offering all to the Mother.
You can surely practice TM as a tool if it helps bring calm and widens the consciousness. Peace, Light, widening also come by meditating with the consciousness concentrated above the head.
Do read Savitri as well as Prayers and Meditations every day. They are a great concrete help. Keep your faith and aspiration and let it grow. All will develop in due course of Time.
Here is something that the Mother herself says in this regard.
‘To keep constantly a concentrated and in-gathered attitude is more important than having fixed hours of meditation.’
- The Mother
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/meditation#p10)
Affectionately,
Alok Da
