Meditation-Pathway to Perfection

ANCIENT ARTS & SCIENCES

from the pages of Thresholds

Meditation - Pathway to Perfection
Dr. Mohammed Cassim

In our civilization though seemingly there is order, in fact there is slow decay and destruction. Man is tired and worn out with much mental activities because his relationship with people and events is not governed by the spontaneous and harmonious flow of spiritual energy, but by the pressure and tension. What we need is a new vision of reality, a fundamental change in our perceptions and values. Silence regenerates and heals the worn out mind. It washes and cleans of every manner of fear. We miss the beauty of life because the human mind works in such a way that some of the old psychological memory and desires which have been buried in the subconscious mind come up to the surface level of the mind, causing mental agitations and preventing us from living in the present. In this age while physical and biological sciences have progressed enormously, spiritual development has lagged behind so that man is unable to tackle various psychological problems adequately and effectively. The spiritual life is compatible with ordinary existence as we can enter a new dimension of spiritual consciousness while still living and working the day to day affairs...

Ordinary man is swayed by the excitements of the senses whereas the spiritually mature seeker endeavors to throw off the bondage of sensual cravings and all kinds of limitations pertaining to his body and mind. Further he seeks to go beyond the mental complications so as to reach the state of serenity and freedom because the entire history of man’s evolution is nothing but an expression of his struggle to be spiritually free. Needless to say, that attainment of spiritual emancipation is the goal of entire humanity. The difference between a man of meditation and others lies in his attitude to daily living. He works enthusiastically, but with a sense of detachment. When the ego disappears, when the mind is emptied pervasive love for all life comes welling up. The livingness and the benediction of spiritual strength can be perceived only in the moment of the present. This state of experiencing here and now implies the awareness of the movement of our thought process in a detached way which means to observe one’s mind without motivation and identification. In this profound level of understanding, life and death are realized as essential to each other which means experiencing the end in the beginning and beginning in the end.

Silence should be practised for sometime every day for the purpose of mental relaxation. Those who observe silence for a few hours will have the ability to solve many psychological problems. Further, if we cultivate the habit of maintaining silence we will find that it gives a good deal of health building elements and as a result our mind is more calm and tranquil. Needless to say, that too much of thinking or talking keeps the nervous system in a state of tension and excitement. The moment our thought stops we are full of energy because mental power has not been dissipated and there are no problems. In that state of deep silence there is neither the thinker nor the thought. As desires and pleasure are not associated while we are in the blissful state of silence, we find a spring-board from which to take a plunge into the realm which lies beyond the frontiers of the mind. If there is right perception then right action will emerge naturally and spontaneously. The right action implies the ability not to hold anything in our mind and also not to cling either to a positive or negative idea. In that moment there is neither time nor causation there is only the eternal present and this is the pathless path in which we discover divinity.

Life is not the unfoldment of an already determined plan; it is not a fixed pattern. It is a grand totality fulfilling itself from moment to moment with new values, meanings and joy...

- from Meditation: The Pathway to Perfection by Dr. K. M. P. Mohamed Cassim, Ph.D.

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