Author: Swami Madhurananda
Foreword/Introduction: Carlos G Lopez
Publisher: Sri Ramanasramam
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 200
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788188479597
Description
Effortless Meditation is a state of pure spontaneous perception. It is state of inner rest and ease where the mind is not deliberately directed to any specific object-internal or external. It is a state of being. You need not be a person of spiritual inclination if you want to experiment with this meditation. It is enough if you are willing to try.
Once you stumble upon Effortless Meditation, you will realize that to remain happy you don’t need any faith or belief, including the idea of enlightenment. They are all secondary. By arriving at effortless Meditation you will have arrived at the heart of all efforts in your search for Peace. Life itself becomes living in meditation.
Triggered by psychological suffering, the author’s quest for happiness took him to a monastery where he remained for eleven years. Repeated experiences of Peace led to extensive exploration of the effortless meditative state. Those discoveries form the basis of this book.
Contents
Preface
About this enlarged edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PREAMBLE
THE QUEST FOR HAPPINESS
EFFORTLESS MEDITATION
I Call of the Supreme
II Effortless Meditation
Pointers to Effortless Meditation
Moments conducive to Effortless Meditation
Misunderstandings about Stillness
The supreme simplicity of Effortless Meditation
Where might we go wrong?
Word-flow: mechanical or spontaneous?
Labeling of words
How does this meditation differ from thinking?
How to distinguish this meditation from restlessness?
Take shelter in Stillness, not in doubts
Spiritual experiences
Don’t hanker for Peace, please!
Surrender
III More Hints on Effortless Meditation
This is our existence!
It is not Materialism!
This is not Descartes’ dictum “I think, therefore I am”
There is no controller here!
Silence – transcendental and dynamic
Here is the password
Knowledge will last as long as breath itself
Sometimes words too disappear
IV Different Perspectives on Stillness
Stillness, Awareness, Existence are all one and the same
This Stillness is not the state of enlightenment
This Stillness is not the Absolute
In this Stillness Self-existent?
Exploring this Stillness
V Maybe You Have Experienced This
VI Three terrible Lies, One Culprit and Three Supreme Truths
VII Insights: Entering into the World of Wisdom
Crisis: the greatest doorway to Peace
Hopelessness is sorrow, ‘no-hope’ is Peace!
That is it!
Stillness takes no time at all!
VIII Unconditioning the Mind
IX Some Common Confusions
On Witnessing
On ‘Now’
On the ‘Theory of destiny’ and ‘I am the Reality’
Where people can go wrong in Advaita
Is the Self subtle?
X Miscellaneous Topics
On concentration
Celibacy
The world is a dream
The problem of sleep in meditation
How many thoughts in a moment?
Drop all doings!
THE PARADIGM OF HAPPINESS
I The Search for Happiness is not a Matter of Choice!
II Desire: the Spring of Life
III What is True Happiness?
IV Relaxation Techniques
V Blessed Ignorant Sleep!
VI The Mind: the Conflict-Breeding Machine
VII Pleasure and the Now
VIII Enjoyment, or Suppression, or Transcendence?
IX Desirelessness is not Depression but Supreme Wisdom
SADHANA IN ADVAITA
I The Path of Peace
II Pitfalls in Advaita Sadhana
Appendix I – On being a Monk
Appendix II – To my Mother
Glossary
Poem: "From Peace to Peace"
Bibliography
Further Reading
About the Author