Guiding Light by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation is like planting a seed

We tend to let go of pleasant emotions and cling to unpleasant ones. Ninety-nine per cent of the world does this. But when the consciousness becomes free and cultured with meditation, the tendency of holding on to negative emotions simply disappears. We start living in the moment and are able to let go of the past. Misunderstandings crop up in any relationship however good the people are.

Even a little misunderstanding can distort our emotions and lead to negativity. But if we are able to let go and focus on the ability of consciousness to revel in the glory of every moment, we are shielded from this. The truth that every moment is supportive to our growth dawns on us. Attaining higher states of consciousness does not require any complicated strategy. One just needs to learn the art of letting go and that is meditation.

Meditation is letting go of all anger from the past and events of the past, and letting go of all planning for the future. Planning can hold you back from diving deep into yourself. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth. Just this understanding, and a few days of continuous practice of meditation, can change the quality of your life.

Meditation leads to happiness, fulfillment and to greater intuition. Meditation helps us perceive the world as a part of us, and love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear with the opposing forces and the disturbances in our lives. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions.

The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off balance by different situations and disturbances. You become beautiful yet strong - a soft, delicate and beautiful blossom capable of accommodating different values in life without any conditions.

Meditation is like a seed. The better a seed is cultivated, the more it flourishes. Similarly, the more we practice meditation, the better it cultures the entire nervous system and the body. Our physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with ‘prana’ (life force). And as the level of ‘prana' rises in the body we bubble with joy.

Keep in mind three laws while meditating - I am nothing (akinchan), I need nothing (achah) and I am going to do nothing (aprayatna). If you have these three qualities, you will be able to meditate.