Stone Gazing

All religious symbols are reminders to be mindful, points out OM SWAMI who says you could even use walls andstones to focus withinMaybe some days, you don’t feel like sitting down to meditate. At times when you don’t feel calm enough to do Zazen, you may want to do wall gazing. It’s not interesting or calming but the results of this concentrative meditation — in wall gazing, as the name suggests, you maintain your concentration on a wall, unlike Zazen, where you simply sit with a sense of awareness — are phenomenal.When I was in the Himalayas, I used to do a different kind of wall gazing meditation. My hut was mostly dark, so it wasn’t possible to gaze at a wall there. So I would take a pebble and I would gaze at it instead. After a while, I don’t know whether it was weeks or months, something quite remarkable happened. Whenever I would pick up a stone and look at it, within the first few minutes, I would see the stone disintegrating in my hands.Of course, physically, it was very much there. But it was as if it were magnifying and I could see the stone was made from tiny particles like sand. And after a while, that magnified further and I would see the spaces between the particles. These spaces would continue to magnify and eventually, there would be nothing at all. Since I returned from the Himalayas, even now, when I settle my gaze on anything for more than a few seconds, a pattern starts to emerge in that object.Wall gazing gives you the ability to recognise patterns everywhere around you. What’s that got to do with anything, you may reason successfully, and you could be right. Here’s what happens when a pattern starts to emerge: it stills your mind completely .I can only speak from my own experience, but ultimately you’ve to discover your own truth which may be different from anything you may have ever heard, read or experienced.You can keep a small stone or a pebble with yourself. Gaze at it for a few minutes just before or after your lunch while at work, for example. You can also use that stone as a reminder .Whenever you are angry or down, put your hand in your pocket, press that stone a little and remind yourself, ‘I am supposed to be mindful’. Because the opposite of mindfulness is not the absence of mind, it is forgetfulness. If I tell you, meditate for 10 minutes, and 10 seconds later your mind has gone in a different direction, what has happened is that your mind has forgotten. It is thinking about other things. Had you remembered, you would still be meditating. So, that stone could be a reminder to be mindful and grateful.Make this little stone your trigger of mindfulness, so you look at that stone whenever you are very happy and to calm yourself down, for this is not going to last. Remind yourself that it is all temporary. Today I am feeling happy because of this great news that I got a promotion at work or somebody has fed me hot chapatti, and so on. Calm down: it’s not going to last. Tomorrow, I’ll be eating stale food and my new boss will be giving me hell. I just have to rejoice in the moment, but not get too excited about it. I have to have that sense of wonder, that sense of awe. This doesn’t mean, I have to be passionate or very excited about it. It is what it is.When you are down, take out that stone, look at it and count your blessings. Remind yourself that you have so much to be happy about, so much to be grateful for. And that stone becomes your trigger of mindfulness. Touch it everyday. Look at it every night before going to bed.When Meera fell in love with Krishna, she would walk around holding a little statue of Krishna, her Giridhar Gopal. That was her trigger of mindfulness. Amidst all the adversities and challenges she faced, she knew that the one in her hand, this Krishna, was all that mattered to her. For this Krishna, this Gopal, she would face any challenge and bear any resistance.All religions have symbols, whether a mark on the forehead, an insignia, a turban, a prayer cap, a certain garb or whatever. These are triggers of mindfulness so you don’t forget what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to act; what it is that you stand for in your life and where you beloong. All these symbols are reminders.If you choose not to do this, for any reason, maybe you could keep another reminder. Most of you have a phone. Stick a little piece of paper on the back of your phone that says, ‘Be grateful, be mindful’. When you are holding your phone that will become your reminder.These methods I have shared are more contemporary ways of being mindful for those of us who struggle to find the time or appropriate conditions to gaze at walls. Besides, you could do wall gazing on a stone. That becomes your method of being mindful. Remember, while gazing, don’t analyse the stone. Simply be quiet and look at it. Keep your back straight and sit in any comfortable posture. It’s important not to analyse the stone.■ Post your comments at speakingtree.in