Looking
back at the time in India at Amma’s ashram, engaging in the spiritual practices
of meditation, yoga, and seva (selfless service), I find the Prayer of the Lamb
and the history of this spiritual tradition reinforced, renewed and reaffirmed.
Some of the simplest instructions
from the very first of practice are still true and even more powerful. Here are a few examples.
Meditation
is not about me. It is bigger than
the person sitting there in silence.
I sensed this from the beginning, and when one is meditating with
several thousand others in the same place, this is much more discernable. Amma says that in a way meditation is
the only selfless action. The
Prayer of the Lamb is intercessory in its structure: “Jesus/Yeshua, Lamb of
God, have mercy on us.”
This intercession is not dependent on me or you to articulate what the
need for mercy is, or for whom.
And so when we sit down let us begin by offering the time and the
meditation to Jesus, and surrender the fruit of our practice for the benefit of
others. Certainly we each benefit
personally from meditating, but that benefit is not for me or you alone. Meditation is one of the best services
you can offer your family. You
meditate and they benefit, maybe not dramatically in ways that can be seen
immediately, but as you persist in your practice the family receives blessing,
not from you, but from our Lord.
In
meditation I am not the “doer.”
Whatever effort I am putting into meditation is the effort of ceasing
from doing, restful effort, like laying out in the “corpse pose” at the end of
a yoga class. The body rests from
all actions except breath and heartbeat and those other subtle movements. Sitting in a quiet space the ears rest
from listening to the cacophony of sounds. The eyes close and rest from looking at chaos of so many
objects. The tongue is still as
the silent mental recitation of the Prayer of the Lamb flows gently through
awareness, giving rest from attention absorbed in thoughts. Then in this
stripped down meditation environment awareness goes to the subtle, and so often
neglected, sensations of the body.
It is here that the healing effects of meditation might be noticed. I am not the doer. It is the Lamb of God at work, serving
and ministering. And so my intention
is not to interfere with this.
On
this Ash Wednesday my advice for this Lent for meditation is this: Love the
practice! Love why it is you want
to practice meditation. Love the
actual sitting down. Love what the
fruit of practice is, whether seen or unseen. Love that by meditating you are serving others. Love the Lamb. If love is the foundation for your
spiritual practice, everything will fall into place. And when you practice, then it can benefit the whole world.
Keep
meditating!
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