Path of Fire and Light (04/11) Step 2b: Commentary on Yoga Meditation
This series of videos is a commentary by Swami Jnaneshvara on the eight steps of Yoga Meditation as described by Swami Rama in his book Path of Fire and Light, Volume 2 (ISBN 0893891126). It was recorded at Swami Rama Center on the campus of the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences near Rishikesh (the location of Sadhana Mandir, Swami Rama's ashram) and Dehradun, India. These videos were made primarily for use by visitors to Swami Rama's ashram, which is beside the Ganges at the foothills of the Himalayas in Rishikesh, India, though I hope that all practitioners of yoga meditation enjoy them.
This particular video is the second of two parts of the commentary on step 2 of the 8 steps, which is learning to have an "internal dialogue" with yourself within your mind. This step of internal dialogue is a very important one, but one that few people understand. To succeed in meditation this step is extremely useful, if not essential. You do not begin with meditation itself. First you learn to set a regular meditation time, and then to have a dialogue with yourself. In this process you are coming in contact with your inner, internal states. You are learning about the subtle aspects of your mind, your own conscience, and at the same time you are also training yourself.
If you have a dialogue with yourself for a few minutes or hours before you do meditation, then your meditation will be good. If you do not do that, then you use your meditation time for self-dialogue (most often monologue, as somebody is talking but nobody is listening), and then the "meditation" is not really meditation.
So before you begin go try to meditate, you should sit down and talk to yourself, have a dialogue. In this manner many problems can be solved, and you will receive new insights. The state of meditation may not yet have actually been developed, but you can just relax and have a dialogue with yourself at exactly the same time. This kind of dialogue should not be related to the things you have done, your office, or your family. Your task is to cultivate a relationship with your own mind--a relationship in which questions about the purpose of life and be fruitfully raised.