My friend, a zen meditator, suggested that I use some meditating CDs during my Hong-Sau routine that produce Delta Wave patterns, teaching the mind to reach deep meditation levels very quickly. Should I feel guilty about "cheating" on my spiritual journey, or should I feel content knowing that I still meditate with discipline, devotion, and a love for God? Please note that I still practice Hong-Sau once or twice daily without the earphones before doing the audio-assisted excersize.
—Suzanne Pourmoneshi, USA
Good question! First of all, “guilt” is not healthy, so forget about that. But I would be more concerned about the “cheating” aspect, because that is quite real. Whom would you be cheating? Only yourself.
Why? It’s because you’ll be depending on something external to take you into a higher state of awareness, when, ultimately, such states can be reached only by your own internal efforts, in cooperation with God’s grace (which also is not something external). And you’ll become able to do your part in this process only through gradually strengthening your ability to “go there” without external aids. Depending on anything external is only going to weaken you.
You say you have discipline, devotion, and love for God. You are blessed; you don’t need more than that. Your real job is to align yourself with God’s grace. Mere delta waves cannot do that, but your discipline, devotion, and sincerity will. As Paramhansa Yogananda said, “God reads the heart.” (I suspect that God does not pay much attention to the delta waves.) Just put 100% of your own effort into your meditations, and the grace of God and Guru will do the rest.
Blessings on your practice,
Gyandev
