Meditation in Relationship to everyday Life
by Dinu Roman

meditationSitting with the eyes closed is the most convenient way for beginners to control their wandering minds. However, when you get to know, even to a small extent, how to exercise this control while sitting quietly in meditation, you must continue to do so while walking, standing or performing any of the everyday life activities.

This is realized by splitting your attention in two, and using one part of it for your inner meditation and the other part for your daily activity. You will discover that, contrary to the appearances, your daily activity will become much more meaningful and highly efficient. The meditation that goes on inwardly and the subsequent state of tranquillity provides an energetic support and gives meaning to your outward activity.

If meditation bears no relationship to everyday life, what good is it? A meditation that ignores the society is meaningless and not good to anybody. Meditation in the midst of activity means bringing the whole world into your meditation. The true practice of meditation has nothing to do with whether one sits in a quiet place or not, closes his eyes or not, is in solitude or not.

Meditation in the midst of activity is immeasurably superior to the passive approach. This kind of meditation really produces significant inner transformation and enlightenment. Of course, meditating in the midst of distractions is initially much more difficult -- with fewer short-term rewards -- than sitting quietly alone. However, if you want to make the heightened awareness of meditation a part of your life, then you must meditate in daily life continuously, you must remain inwardly in meditation no matter what you do outwardly.

Frequently you may feel that you are getting nowhere with the practice of meditation in the midst of activity, whereas the passive approach brings unexpected and quick results. Yet rest assured that those who use the passive approach only can never hope to enter meditation in the midst of activity, which is the true meaning of meditation.

The passive meditation tends to separate our spiritual life from our daily life, and this is merely hiding from reality. A true yogin or yogini ( a female practitioner of yoga) does not do that.