Scientific innovations have resulted in vast improvements in material comfort for many people, especially in the West. However, this opulence has also revealed a curious dilemma: the more a person gets, the more they seem to want. The desire for satisfaction appears to be insatiable. Despite our mastery of the elements and our dramatic assertion of power over the world, most human beings are still not able to establish lasting inner peace or happiness in their own lives. The conflicts and agitation in the human world are symptoms of an underlying dissatisfaction in our nature.
If total and complete happiness is available to us then it can either be achieved through an interaction between consciousness and matter, or it has its source purely in the consciousness itself. But there is no evidence that material objects can deliver any more than a partial and temporary satisfaction. If humanity has exhausted the possibilities of material fulfillment, then we will have to turn to other methods. Humanity has traveled to the depths of the ocean and the emptiness of outer space. Our next frontier, the vast expanse of human consciousness, awaits us.
The senses that we currently rely upon give us only a limited knowledge of the world. It is bewildering to consider that in the near or distant future our bodies will disintegrate completely, in most cases to be recycled by the maggots and bacteria for a final synthesis with Mother Earth. Yet science has been unable to reveal what happens to our inner awareness once the body is destroyed. Death remains an impenetrable mystery to us. It presents itself to our minds as a looming curtain of darkness, a void which we may either pass through on our way towards Light or be swallowed up into for eternity. Many people take it for granted that science will eventually uncover the mysteries of life and death. But all scientific inquiry, all discoveries are limited by the potentiality of the senses on which they rely. Beyond that, science is blind and dumb.
One thing science has revealed to us is that there are beings whose sense-knowledge in certain areas exceeds that of humankind. Dogs are able to hear frequencies which our ears cannot pick up, and insects see colours invisible to our eyes. If humans are able to perceive only a tiny portion of reality due to the limitations of their finite senses, then the possibility arises that there may be other senses, still undeveloped or unrealised in most individuals, that could allow us to experience a potentially infinite range of sense-experience. Are we simply splashing around in a shallow little corner of reality, while a vast ocean is left unexplored? If so, what can we do about it?
Like an eye which must be opened in order for it to see, the higher senses if they truly exist must be somehow activated in order for us to expand our consciousness to new heights. In Darwin’s theory of evolution the capacity for reason slowly dawned in the primeval ape over millions of years. This paved the way for the emergence of human beings, who are comparative Super-Apes in their ability to understand and transform reality. The logical consequence of such a continuous and progressive evolution is the future establishment of a perfected type of being who will emerge from the current state of humanity. Because dissatisfaction and unhappiness are varieties of imperfection, the most highly evolved forms of life would possess within themselves a free access to abundant inner peace and bliss. The outcome of this evolutionary process is the complete fulfilment of the individual human consciousness, manifested through an intensification of delight in existence and an expansive self-realisation of the Absolute Truth. Otherwise evolution, which is the process of creation, will always remain incomplete and defective.
Meditation has long been regarded by humanity’s psychic pioneers as a highly effective way of bringing about an “opening” of the higher senses to a more profound experience of reality. But there is only one way to prove it, and that is through personal experience and sincere effort. It is easy to dismiss unconventional inner experiences as unreal simply because they are too subtle to be examined with a microscope. But the senses relied on by modern science are insufficient to either prove or invalidate the testimony of these other sources of knowledge, just as eyes are incapable of hearing and ears cannot smell. You have to eat a mango in order to know what it tastes like. Likewise, practising meditation is the only way to discover its potential in your own life.
Meditation offers a natural high, far more enjoyable than the effect of any artificial substance. Those who progress very far in meditation are able to enter spontaneously into a glowing peacefulness and joy which remains unperturbed by external events. To experience meditation highs there is no need to poison your body with toxic chemicals, because the experience comes directly from your own consciousness. If we take an artificial stimulant, it only lasts for a short while and then we eventually have to take more of the same substance in order to get a similar effect. But because meditation actually opens up a part of ourselves that we have temporarily forgotten about, it continually enhances our life. It is like a muscle that becomes stronger the more you use it. The strength of meditation enlightens the body and mind, rather than damaging them.
Meditation is not an escape from the ordinary world, but an enhancement and a transformation of our experience in the world. Although meditation is normally practiced sitting down and stationary, after a while it becomes possible to enter into a meditative consciousness even while engaged in everyday activities. Most of us have had meditative moments when the mind becomes very still and tranquil, especially when we are in deep concentration.
Just as a soccer player or musician will make the fastest progress by having a coach, it is very useful to receive the help of an experienced teacher if you want to excel in meditation. Sri Chinmoy is one such teacher. His style of meditation emphasises concentration on the spiritual heart, which corresponds in physical terms to the centre of the chest. The mind likes to make artificial divisions. Because of this, it prevents us from identifying with “others”. This tends to make us possessive, rather than loving. But when we are completely absorbed in the heart during meditation, we are able to bypass the mind’s confused antics and directly experience the reality of universal consciousness. As Sri Chinmoy puts it, “In our true Self we are all one. But in our outer self, we are many”.
Sri Chinmoy’s students offer free meditation classes throughout most of the year. Those wishing to meditate in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin might like to try one of the following links: