Introduction:
In the original Bhagavata, Bhagavan Brahma (the student) asks Bhagavan Narayana (the teacher), “Who am I?”. In the known Bhagavatam, Raja Parikshita (the student) asks Rishi Shuka (the teacher), “What should I do?” In the first 2 slokas of Bhagavatam, these 2 questions are answered. The answer to the first is: “satyam param dhee mahi” which means find the highest Truth by engaging in contemplation. And “dharma prochita” or follow dharma is what one should do. By following dharma, we can engage in contemplation on the Truth of who I am or satyam. When our lifestyle is introspective, reflective, and contemplative, or when our lifestyle is oriented toward sravanam, mananam, and nidhidhyasana, we will naturally have a meditative vision. Live joyously and independently where the ego is fully placed in the spirit. Hence, we are studying Meditation in Life to find the joy within ourselves and see that joy outside of ourselves.

Vinayaka, one of Lord Ganesha’s names, can help understand this. Nayaka means to lead and Vi means with humility. That is a good example of a lifestyle (of humility) with the proper vision (to lead others to the same).

Part I Overview- The Need for Meditation

There are 3 types of people that need to be awakened

• Those who are sleeping (ignorant) and who can be awakened (knowledge)
• Those who pretend to be sleeping (may be aware of ignorance) and can be awakened
• Those who pretend to be awake (think they have knowledge) and cannot be awakened
• We should recognize that not everyone needs meditation because they have not felt the need to evolve.

The main message is that there is a significant difference between who we apparently are (who we see in the mirror and write about on an application) and who we actually are (beyond the body and mind)

• We can understand this from Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1, slokas 28–47, in which Arjuna shares who he apparently is and he repeats this in the 2nd chapter in slokas 4 through 6. Finally, in slokas 7 and 8, he accepts the difference between who he apparently is and who he actually is. He surrenders to Lord Krsna when he realizes that he needs help to become awakened.

Part II- The Process of Meditation

Chapter 13: Prepare for Meditation

You know you are ready for the process of meditation when the body is critically calm, the mind is critically quiet, and the intellect is critically still. How can one facilitate contemplation? On a daily basis, do the following:

1. Practice sakshi bhava (be a witness). Using the intellect, watch what is happening in your inner world — pay more attention all day (introspection). Our intellect becomes louder when we practice this. Our decisive intellect (represented in Gita by Lord Krsna) needs to be louder than our doubting mind (Arjuna).
2. At night, turn off all screens for 1 hour before bedtime and then journal about your intentions during the day (detection). This will enable us to let go of the negativity from the whole day and detect our vices.
3. Accept the negativity/deficiency that is detected and work on improving it and not escaping from it. (negation). Be careful not to let this get you discouraged.
4. Substitute the vice with a virtue. The 6 enemies that live within us can be substituted with a virtue:

• Desires (kama) with contentment
• Anger (krodha) with acceptance
• Greed (lobha) with generosity
• Confusion (moha) with knowledge
• Arrogance (mada) with acknowledgement (of all the factors that have contributed to your success)
• Jealousy (matsarya) with appreciation

This practice will lead to purification of our inner world (antah karana shudhi) which will then lead to this knowledge becoming authoritative (jnana pramana). Then when the scripture says you are happiness, you feel it and contemplation becomes real at different dimension!

Reflection adventure of the week (RAW): Contact with God is emptying of oneself or unlearning so in the next 7 days work on unlearning one bad habit.