Have you ever thought about how much time and effort we put into keeping our bodies clean? We wash our clothes and keep our houses and cars clean but how many of us ever think about cleansing the mind?
The mind is a storehouse for everything we have ever seen with our eyes, heard with our ears or experienced through our other senses. It can be compared to a TV set that’s switched on 24/7. It’s constantly jumping from one thought to another, one worry to another responsibility and so on until we’re burnt out and want to rest. Even at night our minds don’t rest, keeping us awake or filling our heads with restless dreams.
Through the process of meditation, the mind begins to find comfort, relaxation and peacefulness and we become relieved of a certain amount of built up stress, tension, anxiety and worry. Over time, meditation has the effect of gradually clearing our minds and hearts of anger, envy and hatred. It has a purifying effect on the mind. We begin to experience more insights into the meaning and purpose of life, more tolerance towards others, more ability to forgive, more concern for others and more love for others.
The effect that meditation has on the mind is beautifully described in the yoga scripture, Bhagavad-gita:
As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent self.
Bhagavad-gita 6:19
Free meditation courses and classes held regularly at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga West End
Gayatri
Instructor
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga
