YOUR QUEST:3 DO WE GET FEELINGS OF HEAVINESS ALSO DURING MEDITATION?

Firstly, it needs to be clear as to the type of ‘meditation’ being practised. Presuming that the meditation we are speaking about here is one of the many systems which advocate deep relaxation and take a person into slow brain waves; the answer is yes.

Meditation is not simply the secretion of serotonin, endorphins and dopamine. Indeed, if that were so, then a suitable inhaler with these hormones would do the trick. It is also not just about generating ‘good’ feelings inside, although that is surely one of the outcomes.

Meditation is a much deeper process, something which entails the awakening of the super-consciousness. The deeper the level of relaxation, letting go or surrender, the more profound the inner awakening. Far beyond chemicals.

Scriptures speak about the continuity of our lives as in, continuum of the period before the current human birth and beyond it. We existed and shall because the infinity of which we are a part, did and shall.

However, over centuries, we accumulate a baggage of good thoughts as we do of thorns. Our fundamental thoughts, our enduring beliefs do persist beyond our death. They not only determine where we shall be, in which dimension, once we die, but also where shall we be born again, in case we are eligible. That is the power and the penetration of our fundamental thoughts.

The body dies, but our thought world lives.

Through these thoughts we attract to ourselves various circumstances, good and unwholesome in this life. We wonder at the apparent lack of connection of some happenings in our lives to our way of living. Like a child being born blind or a very good person facing a disease. The cause may not be childhood, but much before this birth.

When the process of deep surrender in meditation begins, it at once connects and awakens the subconscious inside. One of the profound effects of this awakening is the destruction of such accumulated baggage of unwholesome thoughts. Not in an instant, but over time.

The scriptures say that a ‘cleansing’ happens in our inner thought world. Such a cleansing cannot be pleasant; just like a dirty cloth will give out dirty water on being washed.

Such traumas, karma or even effects of others’ negative thoughts (as in Black Magic) start to get cleansed during deep surrender meditations. We feel all this heaviness or unwholesomeness. In effect it is a deep level of cleansing happening. The after effects are always of peace and betterment.

If you’re always feeling nice and calm in your meditations, then you need think whether you are going deep enough.

However, do consult your teacher for specific issues.