1. Spiritual Music
2. Love
3. Meat
4.
Finding Good Teachers
5. Reincarnation - The Effects
6. Reincarnation - A Story
7. Positive Books
8. God is like Mozart
9. Proving God
10. God and the Banana: A Story
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There are many yoga and meditation teachers
in the world, good ones and bad ones. Who is who?
It depends what you expect
from your meditation. First choose the kind of meditation you want,
then find a teacher that fits you.
Meditation for relaxation
If
you meditate because you want to relax, then staring in the flame
of a candle will do, as will listening to new Age music, or doing
basic yoga exercises. You'll find many teachers who can help you
with this.
Meditation for concentration
If
you meditate because you want to be more concentrated, then also
quite a few teachers will be able to help you. Talk to several,
say what you want and ask them if they teach the techniques that
you need. Be careful, though Some teachers will promise you anything
you ask for. They may need new students. If you feel disappointed
after a few weeks or months without results, they will tell you
to be patient.
So how do you recognize an honest
teacher?
Search for a demanding teacher. The teachers
I trust more, will tell you from the beginning what you need to
do to get the results you came for. They will stress that you cannot
expect anything if you just come to the lessons. Even relaxation
comes only when you practice daily, preferably twice a day, the
yoga or meditation techniques you learned. Just coming to the classes
makes you feel good for that hour or so, but not for the rest of
the week. You didn't learn walking by trying only once in a while!
Meditation for spiritual growth
If
you meditate because you want to grow mentally and spiritually,
to become more open and broadminded and loving, you will have to
be quite selective when you look at techniques and teachers.
Meditation
for the highest goal
If you want to find your Inner Self,
or God, or feel the Oneness or interconnectedness of everything,
then you will have to look really hard for a good teacher.
How
do you know what kind of meditation you need?
If
you are just looking for a yoga teacher because of your back pain,
or you only want to be more concentrated when you are studying,
don't worry about all the following points. Just the first few may
be helpful for you.
For help finding the best teachers
check the following:
Your gut feeling regarding the teacher
Meet
the teacher. Let him talk about what he has to offer. Let him tell
about his view on life. Do you feel at ease with him? Do you trust
him? Does he make a balanced, peaceful impression on you? Some teachers
talk a lot, try to impress you with the force of their personality,
say that you have to become their student or else your life is useless.
Humbleness of the teacher
The
best teachers are those who are silently strong, who are humble
instead of telling you how long they have been teaching and meditating
and how good they are.
The teacher's response to criticism
Get
to know the teacher for a longer time before you commit yourself
to him. Find out how he takes criticism. The good ones accept and
thank you for justified corrections, the bad ones -the ones with
much ego- immediately explain to you why they seemed to be wrong
but were actually right. The very best ones will even accept criticism
that is partly wrong. One teacher that I got to trust very much
said (I paraphrase): "If someone criticizes you, and there
is even only a small amount of truth in it, don't justify yourself
but thank him, and apply what you learned from him."
The
price of the lessons
Does the teacher ask much money? What
does he say if you tell him that you need meditation very much but
you can pay only ten percent of the price he asks? The only teachers
I would trust are the ones who try to determine how much you want
to learn about meditation and -if you are sincere- adjust their
price to your financial capacities.
Are good teachers pleasant?
Exceptionally
good teachers may not always be pleasant! Spiritual growth means
overcoming our laziness and other weaknesses, and we often need
a push for this. A very intuitive teacher gives you a helpful push
or tests your desire to grow. You will feel frustrated but try to
distinguish carefully: does he frustrate you with a loving intention
behind his words? If so, (s)he is invaluable. Follow such a teacher
as long as your ego allows you...
Undogmatic philosophy of life
If
your teacher tells you to do or not to do certain things, he has
to be able to give you logical reasons for this. "Do it because
it is good for you," is not a good answer. If he doesn't know
the answer or the answer doesn't convince you, he should say, "You
can try out what I said, and after some time you will be able to
decide for yourself if it is correct or not." He should also
accept when you sincerely try out his advice and then decide that
it doesn't help you.
Social service
Helping
others is a necessity if you want to grow spiritually. It helps
you to gradually overcome the natural habit of thinking more about
your own welfare than about that of others. You don't have to sacrifice
all your time and energy, but if you spend at least some time for
others, it will help you very much in your spiritual and personal
growth. If your teacher never mentions this, something is missing
in his teachings.
Meditation alone may harm you -a
boost for the ego
Maybe you came only to learn meditation
to find God, but spiritual growth cannot come from meditation alone.
You also need to clean your mind from negative thoughts and feelings
and from and crudeness and selfishness. Meditation gives you a strong
mind, and with that strong mind you can influence and dominate others.
Most people cannot resist this temptation. Even those who were modest
and friendly people before they started to do meditation, can change
immensely once they have tasted the power that meditation can give
them. Once someone's ego grows, he becomes a different person. He
becomes vain, arrogant and dominates other people without much thought
for their welfare. His friends will leave him, he may lose the love
of his partner. He will then try harder to dominate others, but
instead of more love he will get less. Those meditators invariably
end up miserable people.
What can you do about that? Most
people think "this will not happen to me." Alas, once
their spiritual powers start growing, their ego becomes bigger.
The only one who can prevent this, is a teacher of the highest kind.
If you haven't found him yet, and also if you have, ask your teacher
about ethical guidelines. If you learn about Yama and Niyama, you
can use that to prevent the growth of your ego. If your teacher
doesn't take these ethical guidelines very seriously, he may be
a great relaxation teacher, but you'd better not trust him with
your spiritual growth. return to proving God
Meditation
alone may harm you -your body will protest
Maybe you came only to learn meditation
to find God, but spiritual growth cannot come with meditation alone.
You need to bring your body in balance, and prepare your nerve system
for the subtle but strong energies that meditation gives you. If
your teacher only teaches meditation, you run a risk that you will
get out of balance. The mind and the body are connected, and if
your mind grows faster than your body, the result is that you get
sick. Or your body is stronger than your mind, and slows down your
meditation. Or you become "spaced-out" and you lose contact
with reality. It has happened to many people. Ask your teacher to
teach you about yoga and food.
What does your teacher eat?
If
your teacher never tells you about the effect of food on your body
and your mind, he will not be able to teaches you the highest kinds
of meditation.
Does your teacher take the credit
for the kind of meditation that he teaches?
If
your teachers says that he designed the type of meditation that
he teaches, he most probably has a big ego and a low level of spiritual
achievement. Even great teachers like Yogananda gave all the credit
for what they taught to their teacher or to God.
Talk
with other students of your teacher
If you can't meet your teacher easily
before you commit yourself to following him (for instance, because
he is living in India), hear the experiences of those who do know
him. They may tell you things about the teacher and the techniques
that you need to decide whether to trust him or not.
Check
out your teacher's teacher.
What has he taught, did he live according
to his teachings, what have the people who have known him personally
experienced with him? The technique you will learn, comes from him!
These are all things that you
can take into consideration when you want the highest type of meditation.
If you just want concentration or relaxation, you don't need to
worry about most of these things.
In
short:
If you want spiritual teachings, not just relaxation
or concentration, then check if the teacher
- wants
to help you and not in the first place earn money
- lives
simply, without unnecessary luxury and according to what he
teaches
- makes
a balanced impression
- doesn't
advertise his achievements and long spiritual experience
- is
humble, accepts criticism
- can
answer your questions without dogmas or evasions
- doesn't
force you to do certain things
- teaches
that helping others is a part of spirituality, and lives accordingly
- teaches
both physical (yoga, food) and ethical and spiritual aspects
of life
- had
a teacher that you would trust
The
most important thing in your life?
By now you may think that it is impossible
to find a really good teacher. Well, it will take effort and determination.
But then, remember that if you want to do meditation to find your
inner self, to find God, then you are talking about the most important
thing in your life. That is worth some effort. (If you realize now
that it is not the most important thing in your life, then settle
for a relaxation teacher and check later if you want to go deeper.)
India
Some people go all the way to India
or Tibet and search there for a teacher. This is not necessary.
When you want something very much, you will get the chance to find
it. One of the oldest spiritual texts in the world puts it this
way: "When the disciple is ready, the guru appears." When
you are looking for the highest teacher and the deepest meditation
technique, you will meet the right person. Often through someone
else -don't reject the first person who doesn't live up to your
expectations. It may be his teacher you were looking for.
Give
me a name!
I hesitate to do that. The teacher
that is good for me, may not be good for you. I don't have experiences
with all the good groups and teachers. So many good ones are missing
if I make a list. But you can check out the web site or local office/ashram/yogacentre
of the following groups:
How do you know what kind of meditation
you need?
Often people begin to do yoga or meditation
because of their back pain, or their lack of concentration in their
studies. Later they may find out that they actually wanted more.
Looking for something
Meditation
gives an extra dimension to your life. Maybe you are successful
in your work and relationships, but you always feel that something
is missing.
Maybe you feel that you are healthy and concentrated
enough, but you notice that you buy lots of things you don't need,
drink or eat too much, feel disappointed about your relationships,
or find your life unexplainably unfulfilling.
In that case
you may be looking for something deeper than all that. You may have
never felt an interest in God or other "higher" things
of life, yet you long consciously or unconsciously for something
more than normal life offers.
What is that something?
You
can look for it in traveling far and wide, in doing dangerous sports,
in dabbling in spiritism. But usually you don't find there what
you are looking for.
If you recognize yourself here, meditation
can help you to find the thing that will give you fulfillment. In
that case you can start with a teacher that doesn't quite meet your
expectations, but you need to keep searching for one that does.
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