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Ask Deepak: Intentions in the gap
March 6th, 2009
2Question:
When I reach the state of pure being or gap while meditating – I introduce my intentions there. I try to be detached to my intentions. But sometimes , a related thought with my intentional goal pops up while I am introducing my intention. This related thought is of fear and doubt.
This related thought comes just after I have introduced the intention. It just happens that I have been in the gap, enjoyed the bliss…and when I introduce the intention, thoughts of fear and doubt surround me.
In this scenario I totally get lost. My meditation is not that good and I lose my peace.
Answer:
When thoughts of fear and doubt arise, don’t engage them or resist them. Acknowledge them as the by-product of clearing out some of your old mental conditioning. When you stir the silence of the gap with your intention, it will dislodge and release some of the impediments that are blocking the free flow of your consciousness. That is what those thoughts of fear and doubt represent. You don’t need to give them any attention , simply recognize that something has been released and it’s time to return to your intention.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Thoughts in Meditation
February 24th, 2009
0Question:
I’m new to meditation and have trouble getting into the gap between my thoughts. It seems that every time I try to meditate, thoughts keep running through my head. I can’t make them stop! What can I do to still my mind so that I can enter the gap between my thoughts and begin experiencing the benefits of meditation?
Answer:
Thoughts are a natural byproduct of the meditation process. You shouldn’t try to push thoughts away or resent them. They signal that a subcycle of your meditation period of settling down has completed. The mind has released some bit of old conditioning and has returned to the conscious level and is now ready to begin the cycle again.
And between the point where you were thinking the mantra and then found yourself thinking other thoughts, there was a brief discontinuity where the mind briefly experiences the gap. In the beginning, it is so fleeting that there is often no cognizance of it afterward. Over time however, that experience of the gap will become more familiar and open up and extend for longer periods of time. You may notice, for instance , after some thoughts pop up in your mind in meditation that just before then there was a space where you weren’t thinking the mantra, and you weren’t thinking any other thoughts either. You were just there awake, without thoughts. That is the gap, that is your Self.
That experience will naturally develop as you continue meditation, but it has to be allowed to happen, you can’t make it happen by trying to clear your mind of thoughts, because that is just mental effort, or more thoughts.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Releasing in the Gap
February 4th, 2009
1Question:
Right now I’m reading “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” and I’m having a little trouble understanding a portion that for the most part seems to make a great deal. In the chapter “Law of Intention and Desire” shortly before the applying section, one of the ideas embellished is to “release” one’s intentions and desires in the gap. I think I understand most of what is being inferred, however the “release” wordage has me a little confused on the specifics of what is being requested of me. Could you clear this up? And if this actually reaches Chopra, than thank you so much for your contributions to mankind, from what I’ve read of your work, not a great deal but some, I think what you say is wonderful.Answer:
Releasing one’s intentions into the gap is very simple. In the stillness of the gap you have the intention and then you don’t. You have the thought and then you stop thinking that thought for a few moments. Then you can reintroduce the intention and again stop thinking it for a little while. That’s all there is to releasing desires in the gap. Once you are in the gap alternate your intention with periods of silence of non-thinking.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Breaking the Cycle of Hardship
November 21st, 2008
0Question:
I have been self-studying meditation and alternative healing for over 17 years; I will be 37 years old this December. I am not financially stable at the moment. I am in the process of having to move out of my apartment. I have found myself living this cycle of loss every year around the same time for the last 4 years. I have had many breakthroughs spiritually and have helped many do the same. As a healer, I have help people have better lives. My question is, even though my intention in life is to bring love and joy into others lives, why must I go through so many hardships; and how can I bring an end to this cycle?
Answer:
An essential aspect of getting out of this cycle is to shift your perception of this situation so that you don’t frame it as a cycle of loss. That conceptual package in itself sets the image that you are doomed to come back and repeat this current set of circumstances. Focus on what is new and different in your life right now, because there are undeniable differences between the present and your past. Magnify and empower those forces of transformation with gratitude and positive acknowledgement. Gratitude is an immensely powerful force of change that is always available to us if we only stop and take notice. This will help pull you into the present where you are more unencumbered by your past and able to create something useful for yourself.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Coping with Grief
March 12th, 2009
0I am the eldest of 12 children and only survivor who did not perish the Australian fires. I feel the guilt being spared from working abroad.
Despite my own problems here, being wiped out financially and facing homelessness, I realize the God I know does not care.
I find myself disgusted and truly disappointed with Him.
I tried to end my life only to awaken alive in a worse way.Why does he take the lives of precious people who doesn’t want to die yet the ones who truly wants, he keeps alive?
As I read thru your blogs, I can’t help but notice you and your followers are the chosen favorites of a caring God .
As a last call to ease my pain, I want to know your God, your Higher Power.
I have fired and through with mine.
Show me the path to yours.Answer:
I’m so sorry for your loss. That is more than anyone can be expected to bear. I strongly encourage you to speak to a grief counselor there to help you deal with these heavy feelings of guilt, sorrow and anger. I can well understand how this event would change your belief about God. I have no explanation of God to offer you that can lessen your pain. It’s natural enough to try to make sense of this tragedy by applying our core beliefs about life to it. I honestly do not think such an explanation exists for you nor do I believe a pursuit of such an idea will bring you closer to healing and resolution. There is no emotionally satisfying answer to why this happened, so it is only going to make your more miserable insisting upon one. Your loss and sorrow is not about God’s indifference to suffering , any more than your life before this tragedy reflected God’s caring nature toward you. Ultimately your well being doesn’t depend upon how well your concept of God explains the events in your life, but rather how fully you know yourself outside of your concepts and beliefs. This is the only real path I can offer you that will really lead you out of your suffering.As you come to terms with the pain of your loss you may find that there is nothing more to know of this than to say “it happened.” Its meaning is in its reality–its reality may be the only meaning there is. I know this existential position may sound indifferent and cold, but after you have allowed for the raw grief and anger to run its course, you may start to recognize that there is one inside you that is having those feelings of sorrow and rage. That experiencer has thoughts and feelings but is not limited or exclusively defined by them. That knower is your true Self, your core existence and being. Learning to simply be and experience this inner state of your being through meditation, will help you learn to be with what life is outside of meditation as well. That is your key to finding peace and direction in your life now.
So rather than seeking to replace your understanding of God with another concept, perhaps what can come out of this tragedy for you is a life built on the solid rock of your experience of your own existence that no beliefs or events can alter. Don’t try to rush past your feelings for now . These feelings need their expression and there is an natural arc of healing to your process, but at the same time, gently remind yourself when you find yourself spinning your wheels looking for a theological message or meaning in this that that is only diverting your attention away from your actual healing process. When you are ready, you can allow your healing process to take you to a deeper sense of self-knowing that will bring wholeness to your heart once again.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Teen Spirituality
February 10th, 2009
0Question:
I have a question about how to introduce spirituality to teens. I was a single teenage mom and now I have a teen age boy 17 and girl 15. My son is very charismatic and very “what can I get out of the world”, my daughter is very compassionate, old soul and “what can I give to the world”. With two very different teens how can I introduce spirituality in a way that will appeal to them, especially to my son.Answer:
The key is to try to engage them in an aspect of spirituality that is aligned with their current interests. For your daughter it might be easy to introduce meditation as a means of developing compassion and kindness. The qualities of the heart and devotion may be more appealing to her.For your son, it may not be as simple, but insofar as he is intent upon being effective in accomplishing his goals, you can explain to him that meditation is the most powerful way to develop the strength of the mind, and that strength of mind will make him much more effective in achieving his aims in life.
Love,
Deepak -
Ask Deepak: Faith
February 24th, 2009
0Question:
I have read almost all of your books, & other spiritual books for no avail about faith. why is it neglected, or become above human knowing despite it was the basic of Jesus’ teaching. can u have a clear insight about it like how it can be developed, lived. Please do not say faith is the ego’s fear to future & a way of controlling the future. Thank you for any suggestion you may have.Answer:
I don’t talk or write much about faith because it is a term that has been so thoroughly defined by literalist religions that it requires a lot of work to redefine it. And after all that I don’t think “faith” is the best word to explain the phenomenon.
The faith that enlightened teachers such as Jesus spoke of – the faith that can move mountains – is not a function of the desire or trust that something is true or real. That profound spiritual faith comes from the recognition of one’s essential nature as divine and unified with all creation. That experience of faith is not about belief, but self-realization, and the knowingness and confidence that comes from an awakening of consciousness. That experience of trust and confidence born of the cognition of one’s own Self aligned with all the forces of nature is the source of true faith.
The best way to cultivate that kind of faith is through meditation where you develop the full potential of your consciousness.
Love,
Deepak -
Spiritual law of the day: The Law of the Pure Potentiality
June 21st, 2009
0Sunday – The Law of Pure Potentiality
Take time to be silent, to just BE, Meditate for 30 minutes twice a day. Silently witness the intelligence within every living thing. Practice non-judgment.
Deepak Chopra
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Ask Deepak: Transforming the kleshas
June 26th, 2009
3Question:
My question today is about kleshas which I believe are sometimes described as defilements and I understand them as character traits rooted in the unconscious mind which give rise to unwholesome behaviour, such as fear, greed, envy etc.Following my shift in consciousness I spent about 5 years in a blissful state. Emotions arose but seemed to pass through and I didn’t have the sense of being driven by them. It was as though life was living itself through me and there was a lack of a personal self.
About 2 years ago I began to experience very strong emotions. It was as though the emotions were suddenly back and the gloves were off. Things that had not bothered me at all, suddenly seemed very important and after a while I had to admit that they were definitely driving me. I found this very confusing. About a year ago, I met an Indian gentlemen who is a Hindu and has studied extensively in that tradition but also in the Buddhist tradition. He was able to help me with an explanation. He makes a distinction between levels of samahdi and levels of enlightenment. He said that there are 4 levels of samahdi which can be experienced in a human body and that the shift I experienced in 2002 took me to the third level. I had described it as feeling as though nobody was driving the bus and he said that I could think of it as moving from a relatively small bus, to a huge bus, so huge that I could no longer find the driving seat. The driver was still there but at a subtler level. There are also 4 levels of enlightenment which can be experienced in a human body and the first level is attained when the kleshas of wrong view, envy, avarice and doubt are gone. He said that through the mantra meditation I had done (TM sidhis), I had dealt with the branches and trunk of the kleshas but that the roots were still there, hence the strong emotions. I’ve since read up on some of this in Theravada buddhist books and have also read Joe Dispenza’s “Evolve Your Brain”. Following the 2002 shift, the mantra didn’t seem to do anything anymore so I hadn’t had a daily practice since then. About six months ago I learnt vipassana meditation from my Indian friend during a 10 day silent retreat that he held for a small group. My program now is about 2-3 hours in the morning comprising physical yoga, yogic breathing and vipassana meditation. I also do about an hour of vipassana meditation in the evening. I am enjoying this and feel it is right for me at the moment, however, I’m finding these very strong emotions quite hard to deal with even though I now have a greater understanding of what is going on. I have another 10 day silent retreat coming up soon so I’m sure that will help.
I would be very grateful for your insight.
Answer:
From what I can tell, it seems that your understanding of what is going on in your spiritual evolution and the guidance you are finding is exactly appropriate. You seem to have exposed a deeper, rawer level of the kleshas in your growth process. When this happens, it sometimes makes sense to incorporate another practice that can address the issue directly, as you have found through vipassana meditation. I think the asanas and pranayama that you do in the morning are also good ideas to help you process these powerful emotions you are going through. Even though it continues to be a challenge, you are on the right track. You are in the middle of shifting your sense of identity (bus driver) that has been rooted in these old memories and emotions, to your true non-local identity. This process can be disorienting, demanding and just plain scary. Stick with what you are doing and you will come through this a new person.
Love,
Deepak
