"Why do we meditate? We meditate because this world of ours has not been able to fulfill us" - Sri Chinmoy Most of are lucky to get even 5 minutes a day when we are free from the barrage of anxieties, stress and inner turmoil that seems almost characteristic of human life.
Whether we are rich or poor, it's generally the same story.
In fact, a recent study which attempted to measure the relative levels of happiness in different countries found that material wealth was in no way a guarantee of increased contentment.
One of the 'happiest' countries was Nigeria, which is also one of the world's poorest.
For the rich or "first" world, having enough (or more than enough) food in our bellies does not appear to make us any happier, but rather shifts our attention away from the most immediately pressing demands of our survival instincts and towards a whole host of other problems, real and imagined.
So we worry that we do not have a fulfilling, successful job; or that we have not found the "other half" who can make our life truly complete; that somebody at our workplace does not like us; that our favourite football team lost the World Cup, or we might worry (usually with a combination of fear and sympathy) about the millions of have-nots throughout the rest of the world who must struggle every day to maintain a basic standard of living.
A small minority of worriers have a more existential basis for their concerns.
They wonder why there is so little love in the world and so much suffering; whether the universe is really just a cold, heartless place or if it actually cares about the petty concerns of helpless human beings.
They worry about the fact that one day everybody is going to die, that our unique planet may not survive the reign of its human inhabitants or that perhaps our lives are of no great importance in the great cosmic scheme of things.
The human mind is possessed with a vivid imagination and has a remarkable way of conjuring anguish out of thin air.
An Indian prince of antiquity named Siddharta Gautama (otherwise known as the Buddha) is purported to have remarked that "life is suffering".
While many would disagree with this sentiment, it seems inescapable that life and suffering go more or less hand in hand.
Perhaps it is necessary to experience suffering in order that we can truly appreciate its counterpart.
The question of suffering may be an issue of perspective, a kind of universal "is the glass half empty or half full" conundrum.
I remember reading a book by a Buddhist monk who said that we are constantly living in the ebb and flow of suffering, only when the level of total suffering goes down we call it happiness or enjoyment.
Another way of looking at it is that suffering is a temporary backwater in the ocean of delight, to paraphrase Sri Aurobindo.
Whatever our philosophical outlook on suffering, it remains true that in our ordinary experience of life we do not seem to go without it for very long.
How many of us even go for 5 minutes without experiencing any fears, doubts, frustration or anxiety? According to Yoga master Sri Chinmoy, it is meditation alone that can give us lasting relief from these seemingly inescapable inner problems.
Even one solid minute of genuine meditation is powerful enough to inundate us with a sense of tranquility and inner poise that will last the entire day.
What's more, meditation is a field of life in which there is always room to improve.
With enough practice, we can enter into still higher forms of meditation in which we experience what Sri Chinmoy calls "peace, light and delight".
If we are entirely satisfied with our current life, then we will feel no compulsion to embark upon the journey of meditation.
We need to have a genuine hunger for what meditation has to offer.
When we first feel this hunger or "inner cry", we may try to satisfy it by getting a new car, a more expensive computer or by running after name and fame.
But this is not enough to satisfy a sincere inner hunger.
If our body is starved of protein and we eat nothing but carbohydrate, we will only become sick.
The right kind of food is required.
When we sincerely want to meditate, it is because the 'food' that we have become accustomed to is no longer satisfying us.
Deep down we hunger for the vastness of the soul's unhorizoned vista.
We feel there is much more to our existence than the confines of flesh and bone; that we are beings of love and light.
Meditation is the pathway through which we can eventually have a free access to the hidden secrets of our inner reality.
For many people the outer world that can be seen, heard and touched is the only existence that matters.
But if you feel an inner need to realise what lies beneath the surface appearance of life, to pierce beyond the veil of the ordinary, then meditation is an indispensable companion in your cosmic voyage of self-discovery.
Whether we are rich or poor, it's generally the same story.
In fact, a recent study which attempted to measure the relative levels of happiness in different countries found that material wealth was in no way a guarantee of increased contentment.
One of the 'happiest' countries was Nigeria, which is also one of the world's poorest.
For the rich or "first" world, having enough (or more than enough) food in our bellies does not appear to make us any happier, but rather shifts our attention away from the most immediately pressing demands of our survival instincts and towards a whole host of other problems, real and imagined.
So we worry that we do not have a fulfilling, successful job; or that we have not found the "other half" who can make our life truly complete; that somebody at our workplace does not like us; that our favourite football team lost the World Cup, or we might worry (usually with a combination of fear and sympathy) about the millions of have-nots throughout the rest of the world who must struggle every day to maintain a basic standard of living.
A small minority of worriers have a more existential basis for their concerns.
They wonder why there is so little love in the world and so much suffering; whether the universe is really just a cold, heartless place or if it actually cares about the petty concerns of helpless human beings.
They worry about the fact that one day everybody is going to die, that our unique planet may not survive the reign of its human inhabitants or that perhaps our lives are of no great importance in the great cosmic scheme of things.
The human mind is possessed with a vivid imagination and has a remarkable way of conjuring anguish out of thin air.
An Indian prince of antiquity named Siddharta Gautama (otherwise known as the Buddha) is purported to have remarked that "life is suffering".
While many would disagree with this sentiment, it seems inescapable that life and suffering go more or less hand in hand.
Perhaps it is necessary to experience suffering in order that we can truly appreciate its counterpart.
The question of suffering may be an issue of perspective, a kind of universal "is the glass half empty or half full" conundrum.
I remember reading a book by a Buddhist monk who said that we are constantly living in the ebb and flow of suffering, only when the level of total suffering goes down we call it happiness or enjoyment.
Another way of looking at it is that suffering is a temporary backwater in the ocean of delight, to paraphrase Sri Aurobindo.
Whatever our philosophical outlook on suffering, it remains true that in our ordinary experience of life we do not seem to go without it for very long.
How many of us even go for 5 minutes without experiencing any fears, doubts, frustration or anxiety? According to Yoga master Sri Chinmoy, it is meditation alone that can give us lasting relief from these seemingly inescapable inner problems.
Even one solid minute of genuine meditation is powerful enough to inundate us with a sense of tranquility and inner poise that will last the entire day.
What's more, meditation is a field of life in which there is always room to improve.
With enough practice, we can enter into still higher forms of meditation in which we experience what Sri Chinmoy calls "peace, light and delight".
If we are entirely satisfied with our current life, then we will feel no compulsion to embark upon the journey of meditation.
We need to have a genuine hunger for what meditation has to offer.
When we first feel this hunger or "inner cry", we may try to satisfy it by getting a new car, a more expensive computer or by running after name and fame.
But this is not enough to satisfy a sincere inner hunger.
If our body is starved of protein and we eat nothing but carbohydrate, we will only become sick.
The right kind of food is required.
When we sincerely want to meditate, it is because the 'food' that we have become accustomed to is no longer satisfying us.
Deep down we hunger for the vastness of the soul's unhorizoned vista.
We feel there is much more to our existence than the confines of flesh and bone; that we are beings of love and light.
Meditation is the pathway through which we can eventually have a free access to the hidden secrets of our inner reality.
For many people the outer world that can be seen, heard and touched is the only existence that matters.
But if you feel an inner need to realise what lies beneath the surface appearance of life, to pierce beyond the veil of the ordinary, then meditation is an indispensable companion in your cosmic voyage of self-discovery.
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