I once attended a meditation camp, where a monk was supposed to deliver a lecture and teach the participants the basics of meditation. While he said a lot of things, some of which I remember and some of which I have conveniently forgotten, there was something he said which I was reminded of today.
The monk, who must have been in his late fifties and looked like he had been practicing meditation all his life, told us that there were days when even he did not feel like meditating. Days when meditating felt like a chore more than anything else. I don’t know about others, but this came as a shock to me. I mean when you see a monk, you assume that meditation and the spiritual practices are a second nature to him, or her. But, the monk assured us that it was not the case.
He then proceeded to tell us what he did when he was going through such a phase. His advice was simple and like most simple advice, it was brilliant.
He said, on such days, he just forced himself to meditate. Sometimes, he said, it was difficult but in his heart he knew that this was the only way. He knew that to reach the state of bliss that he was able to achieve through meditation, he would, at times, have to go through this phase as well.
I was reminded of this today because as I was sitting on my computer trying to write something, I more than once, started doing something else. I wanted to do anything but write, and I was in the middle of checking my Twitter timeline, when I recalled the monk’s words.
So, I forced myself to close all the other windows I had open, and began writing and, now, by the time I have reached the end of this post, I am feeling good.
(Image: Felipe Hadler from freeimages.com)
What do you think?