Most people meditate for relaxation, stress relief, better health, and calmer emotions. Those who practice meditation regularly with attention, sooner or later will have an experience of superconsciousness.
Swami Kriyananda writes: Spiritual advancement is not a question of attaining anything. It is simply a matter of opening wide the door to a state of conscious being that is ours already, hidden from us only so long as our attention is focused elsewhere. When, by regular meditation, the door gradually opens, ego and soul are able to work together in closer cooperation.
A taste of superconsciousness can be experienced as: a crystal-clear, alert, uplifted mind; or a calm, inner sense of knowing; or a deep sense of connectedness with someone or with nature.
Other ways of experiencing superconsciousness are of radiant joy, expansive love, or rejuvenating peace.
As one’s practice deepens and one learns to live more in superconscious awareness, such experiences come more often, and one becomes less limited by old self-definitions. Meditation helps to clear away distorted perceptions of reality, so one can experience reality as it truly is, and begin to live in ever-greater enjoyment and fulfillment.
Gradually, through daily practice of meditation, one begins to experience Smriti —memory, remembering one’s true reality as a spark of the divine light, which yearns to reunite with the Light.
Hidden Potential
Daily practice of deep meditation calms the restless thoughts that agitate the mind. When the mind becomes completely receptive to reality, truth may be clearly reflected in the mind, and one’s hidden potential may be revealed.
Hidden dimensions of one’s consciousness begin to emerge—dimensions that one was not able to recognize and access because of restlessness and habitual patterns of behavior.
The human nervous system is able to experience greater and greater awareness. When a person is able to relax deeply, let go of attachments and desires, and go beyond thinking, one may connect with infinity, where one’s true potential is experienced. Talents, such as the ability to write, paint, sing, play music, etc. can be revealed. One gets in touch with a greater energy field that gives him the strength to override the old habits preventing him from exploring new dimensions of himself.
Yogananda said: In meditation, the mind withdraws the life force from the muscles and nerves, and concentrates it in the brain cells, where the evil mental cells habits are grooved. This concentrated life energy in the brain burns out the grooves of mental habits lodged there.
Tips for Successful Meditation
From: Secrets of Meditation, by Swami Kriyananda
The secret of meditation is…
Relinquishing outward attachments, and affirming divine freedom within.
Deep relaxation: Inhale, tense the body; throw the breath out and relax. Release into the surrounding atmosphere, like wisps of vapor, any lingering eddies of tension that you feel.
To feel space in the body, and gradually expand that feeling from the body outward, into infinite space.
To focus your gaze and attention at the Christ Center between the eyebrows — the seat of ecstasy in the body.
To pray with deep faith — not as an outsider to heaven, but as one whose true, eternal home is heaven.
Putting resolutely aside every plan, every project, and focusing on the moment. (The world will be there still, when you finish your meditation!) to enter instantly into the silence within, and not waste precious time in mental wandering.
Releasing yourself from the limitations of body and ego; identifying yourself with Infinity.
Receptivity to God’s grace, in full awareness that God’s power alone can liberate the soul.
Offering yourself up wholly to the Lord, holding nothing back. unifying your inner and your outer life: offering every problem up for resolution to the peace within; allowing that peace to infuse your outward activities.
Seeing God as the sole Doer, and seeking His guidance in everything you do.
Hidden Potential
Relinquishing outward attachments, and affirming divine freedom within.
