Hi. Ive been trying to use the Hong Sau method for about 10 days now. Slow progress it feels. Ive read in a meditation book by Sri Chimnoy that trying to use the third eye is too hard for beginners and that a beginner should meditate on the heart. I was wondering what your answer to this would be? I also am finding it very hard to get anywhere near meditating first thing in the morning. My efforts later in the day feel more successful. Any and all help much appreciated. Thanks. Andy.
—Andy, New Zealand
Dear Andy,
Thanks for your questions. I will ask the last one first. You should meditate at the time(s) of day that are best for you. If morning is not a good time for you and you would like to get in two periods of meditation, which is best, perhaps mid-day and evening would work better. Work with your body’s natural rhythms. It is important is to establish a regular habit of meditation to truly make progress.
Regarding meditating on the heart; the heart center is important for us in meditation because it is the center of our feeling nature. To go deep in meditation we must long for the peace, joy and other Divine qualities that come to us in meditation. This is devotion, offering all that we are into that Divine presence. Our meditation is dry and mechanical without devotion. The energy of the heart can rise to support our meditation but it can also go outward into desires, and negative emotions. So the heart’s feelings are central to both devotion and delusion as Yogananda has said. When we make our point of concentration the spiritual eye we magnetically draw the heart’s energy upward. In meditation, instead of focusing your meditation specifically in the heart, try tuning into the heart’s energy and then direct it upward to the spiritual eye. Then your heart’s energy supports you spiritual efforts.
Have you considered taking our seven week course in meditation? You might enjoy the in-depth teaching and meditation support this program offers.
Many blessings,
Nayaswami Mukti
