A QUEST FOR CHRISTIAN
MEDITATION
The Mantra Path
Joseph E.
Thomas, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2001 by Joseph E.
Thomas, Ph.D.
First Printing, Holy
Transfiguration - Madison, Wisconsin 2001
(see below about ordering
copies)
Meditation (Dhyanam)
can be fascinating and powerful. But how could we practice it within the
framework of Christianity? This article is the story of my personal journey in
the practice of meditation, and instructions for the beginner on how to
meditate if he/she chooses to.
Some people changed their ways for the better from listening
to Biblical discourses and reflections. But I was not one of those lucky ones.
I hardly remember any dhyanam-talks
that ever made a noticeable dent in my lifestyle or my insight into
experiencing God. People have different personalities and they might need
different tools for experiencing God. Some people love the ritualistic forms of
worship services with a large number of people reciting their prayers and
singing devotional songs in unison. Some others prefer to pray in private with
their doors closed. Jesus was not against either method. He attended the
Synagogues and also took time alone to converse with His Father. One key cannot
open all the locks in the world. People have to find out what works best for
each one for them. Therefore I explored alternate ways of practicing prayer and
meditation.
The Vedic tradition describes over a hundred forms of meditation. The Buddhist tradition has many more to add to the Vedic ones. The ancient Kabala meditation from the Jewish mystical tradition described in Zohar has gained popularity in recent years. Sufi mystics have made meditation a part of Islamic spirituality. Monks of the early Church, especially some of the fourth and fifth century mystics, have added a few more ways of meditating. But all of them talked about meditation as a way of experiencing God, the Supreme Being, and the ultimate Cosmic Reality.
Contemplative Meditation: My
teachers at Union Christian College in Alwaye showed me a new way of praying,
different from the communal recitation of long passages and hymns from a thick
Book of Prayer (Prarthana Kramom). I
would read a designated portion of the Bible and reflect on it each morning.
Often I read a devotional passage along with it, but sometimes read the Bible
verses only and sat quiet for a while -- with Jesus on my mind. Waiting upon
the Lord was a sweet and rejuvenating experience that I looked forward to every
morning. In today’s terminology I would call it Contemplative Meditation.
There is a flood of literature on Contemplative Meditation. However, we rarely come across books or instructions on other forms of meditation in modern Christian literature.
Imagery: During my college days, in a dream, I saw the image of a person made of glittering golden rays. The rays were cool and soothing and kept on flowing, maybe within it, maybe towards me. My mind was not in the mode of critical reasoning at the time. The figure was reminiscent of Jesus, and yet, the image had no recognizable features, contours or shadows in it. I felt deeply peaceful in the overflowing love and compassion that emanated from it. The Jesus-image did not say anything or do anything, but stayed just a Being right there. Today, forty-five years after that dream, that image is still vivid in my mind, and sometimes I bring up that image on my mind-screen as an image to focus on during meditation. I prefer a dream image to a painted icon. The dream image has more life to it.
Some of my cancer patients have told me that they have seen the image of a loving Jesus or an Angel in their dreams. I usually ask them to keep that image as a focus, and feel it as strongly as they can, making it real to themselves during their meditations.
Some people use visual images of a lighted candle, a
favorite flower, a favorite deity, or the olfactory image of a fragrance as a
focus for meditation. Mantra too sometimes becomes imagery -- an auditory
imagery.
Mindfulness Meditation: Zen meditators use methods
that expand the awareness of here and now, developing mindfulness of the
present moment. Most of us live in our past with our regrets and former
glories, or live in the future daydreaming or worrying what might happen. We
tiptoe through life without experiencing the present moment and our lives slip
by before we knew it. Our body is in one place but our mind is somewhere else.
You seem to be listening to your wife, child, or friend, but your mind is
somewhere else. Mindfulness meditation trains you to be fully present in
whatever you do. Focusing on your breath is one way to practice this
discipline. You observe your breath noticing the rise and fall of your abdomen,
coolness and warmth of the air at the tip of your nose, and so on while you
breathe in and out. Mindfulness meditation can be practiced with any activity –
walking, cooking, or gardening.
Mantra Meditation: I came to America in January 1971 as a Post-doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology at the Northwestern University Medical School. During those days Mantra Meditation had been gaining popularity in the West. Transcendental Meditation taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi soon became a household word in America as a tool for Stress Management. My being a Psychologist of Indian origin my patients and colleagues assumed that I was an expert in Meditation and sought my guidance. But I had no idea what mantra meditation was. So I registered for training at a TM center, paid a $400.00 fee, and in return they initiated me to a mantra and asked me to meditate for twenty minutes twice daily. The mantra was a syllable with no recognizable meaning – like a nonsense syllable I had used in psychology laboratories to conduct certain experiments. The TM mantra was not supposed to have a meaning or an association with any objects in our minds.
I confronted some serious difficulties with the TM
mantra. A vivid image of an NBA star popped up right in front of me every time
I meditated with the mantra. For some unknown reason this man seemed repulsive
to me – his personality and his life style. The image was so stubborn that it
refused to disappear from my mind. The harder I tried the worse it got. I went
back to my TM teacher and told her that there was something wrong with the
mantra she had given me and that I would like to have an alternate mantra. She
ignored my request and I left the TM center in frustration. There went my
hard-earned four hundred dollars! (In today’s prices it was a good deal. The
current fee is three times what I had paid then!) Finally I decided not to go
through the aggravation of meditating.
Sometime later Metropolitan Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios
invited me to attend the World Congress of Spiritual Concord in Rishikesh, at
the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, for a weeklong seminar on Meditation.
Spiritual leaders from Christian, Hindu, Moslem, Sufi, Sikh, Buddhist and
Baha’i traditions led the teaching seminars. Many of them had been
internationally known meditation teachers and Yogis. Swami Rama of the
Himalayan Institute who taught us Pranayama and Vedic meditations had been well
known in the West for his supernormal control of physiological functions with
yoga and meditation. During the seventies he had demonstrated at the Menninger
Clinic in Kansas that he could stop his heart at will and start it again. In
the Rishikesh conference I learned that meditation practices were not for
Hindus and Buddhists only, and that all religions used meditation in their
spiritual path. I was surprised at the universality of this spiritual practice
as well as the uniformity of the experience regardless of what religious
doctrine you had chosen to live by. Genuine respect and love for each other
prevailed among all of us in that Conference. And as an Orthodox Christian I
was surprised to see all those Hindu and Sikh Yogis and Moslem Maulanas treat
Metropolitan Gregorios, a Christian Bishop, as the Spiritual leader among them.
Mature spirituality transcends all sectarian differences. There is only one God
and when you stand on top of a mountain all the different sides of the mountain
are seen as part of the same mountain. Besides learning from each other, our
meditation practice and our mutual love helped us experience the Oneness of
God, the Supreme Being. The Rishikesh Conference gave me a new impetus to
pursue meditation, especially mantra meditation.
There are different categories of mantras in the
Vedic scriptures. Different mantras are used for meditation and contemplation. Tantric mantras are meant to awaken
supernatural powers (Siddhis). Some
mantras are single-syllable sounds (Bija
mantras or seed mantras) whereas some others consist of a few words, or one
or more stanzas. Mantras are not necessarily based on meanings of words, but on
the energy inherent in a sound. Ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Hebrew, and
Aramaic, are said to be energy-based languages. The vibrations of the sound of
each word in the mantra evoke certain specific vibrations and energies within
us, like the vibration of a tuning fork making other tuning forks of the same
frequency vibrate in unison. For example, there are mantras that claim to burn
away negativity from your ego, to evoke love in you, to see through the
illusion of reality, to heal, and so on.
Mantra meditation had fascinated me although I had
initial difficulties with it. So I approached the Spiritual Director of Swami
Rama’s Himalayan Institute of Yoga Sciences who gave me a new mantra to
practice with.
Oh, well, this time the image of an ugly-looking
movie actor from the Malayalam cine world invaded my consciousness every time I
meditated on the new mantra. I fought it but the actor’s visage kept fighting
back. It wouldn’t go away. I felt frustrated and disappointed. What do I do
now? I stopped meditating. Maybe meditation was not for me, I thought.
A few days passed. I had a thought, “Why fight that
cursed image? Let him be there. Maybe my fighting had only made him stronger.”
As they say, what you resist persists. “Let go, Joseph! Start your meditation
again,” I told myself. Okay, I started again. The actor’s face became clearer
and clearer before my mind-mirror. I acknowledged it, but did not react to it.
In a few minutes a strange thing happened. As if a curtain was instantly
removed, I saw this actor as just a human being, neither ugly, nor beautiful.
The feeling that flooded my consciousness at that moment was beautiful and
peaceful, beyond words. I saw that no one was intrinsically ugly or bad. It was
my judgment that made people ugly or beautiful. Everyone is a child of God and
is lovable. God’s imprint is on every face, man, animal, plants and all the
inanimate objects. There is a tag stitched to every piece of creation,
“Hand-made in Heaven. Washing instructions – to preserve the original color do
not use bleach.”
It was a transforming experience for me. Since that
moment I have not seen any real person as ugly or dirty. No one was just an
Indian or an American, a Christian or a Jew, a Hindu or a Moslem, man or woman.
I could see through the façade that separated us and made us think we were
different – and if different, probably my enemy. I could cut through the
prejudice that the other guy was no good only because he was not one among my
people -- the special species known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Christians
who had declared allegiance to the Catholicos of the Ecclesiastical Throne of
Apostle St. Thomas. I could connect with the essence in everyone, and I felt
happy and secure. I could love people without clinging to them, without
expecting anything in return, and to my surprise, I found that many more people
became my friends. Love begets love. That transforming insight was a liberating
experience I cherish and hope to keep all my life. There are moments when I
slip back to my old modus operandi, but awareness makes it easier to snap back
on track when the old pattern sneaks in.
When I learned more about Vedic mantras I realized
that the mantras I had received from two different sources had essentially the
same objective – to burn away the negativity in one’s ego. That was precisely
what it did for me, removing of hatred and condemnation from my mind. Judge
not, lest you be judged, said Jesus.
Vedic and Buddhist traditions have a large
repertoire of Mantras, and many of those mantras, like the ones I had
practiced, have no reference to any particular deity. And yet, some Christians
feel uneasy about using them for meditation. When I wanted to train my cancer
patients to meditate, some of them -- especially the Christians from
ultraconservative backgrounds -- grew angry with me and scoffed, saying that
mantra meditation was paganism. I knew that the mantras and methods I had used
were not specific to any religion, but in the minds of many Christian patients
those mantras and techniques had a different cultural and religious connotation.
The Eastern Pagan connection! As a therapist, it was not my prerogative to
change their religious dogmas. I just had to rediscover “Christian” methods and
mantras for them to practice meditation.
I trained those patients in diaphragmatic breathing
and asked them to stay focused on their breath for 15 to 20 minutes once or
twice daily. They may also use a chosen word as mantra while doing this
breathing. Thus says the Bible (Genesis 2:7), “the Lord God formed man from the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the
man became a living being.” In Hebrew, Aramaic, and Sanskrit the word “breath”
also means life and/or spirit – Ru-ah in
Hebrew/Aramaic and Prana in Sanskrit.
So I asked them to say the word Ru-ah
mentally in synchrony with each
breath – Rhu as they inhaled and ah as they exhaled. Similarly, I asked
some patients to use the word Abwoon
(Ab-woon) in synchrony with their
breathing. Abwoon means Father, the
Breathing Life of all, the Source. The important thing in using breathing as a
meditation tool was to stay focused on breath, being aware of the moment,
“being there” at all times. For Christians, however, the Biblical connotation
of God’s Breath made the process more meaningful.
Meditation of a contemplative sort has been part of
the monastic tradition in Roman Catholicism. As for mantra meditation, Father
John Maine, head of a Benedictine monastery in England, introduced mantra to
the Benedictine monks. As a layman, John Maine learned meditation under Swami
Satyananda in Kaula Lumpur during 1955-56. Father John’s group of Benedictine
monks now train Christians in mantra meditation and have established over
twenty-five centers the world over, known as “The World Community for Christian
Meditation.” They use the word Maranatha
as their mantra. Maranatha is an
Aramaic word that means “Come Lord”. The Book of Revelation and St. Paul’s
Letter to the Corinthians end with the word Maranatha.
I have found this mantra acceptable to many Christians.
Meditation is not alien to Oriental and Eastern
Orthodox Churches. Meditation practice had been considered part of the
practices of routine prayers, particularly in the monasteries, as a way to
deepen our experience of the Divine. The books “Beginning to Pray” and “Living
Prayer,” written by Russian Archbishop Anthony Bloom, are worth reading to
learn about Christian meditation in Eastern Orthodox tradition.
Among the books I have read on Christian mantra
meditation, The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, written by
an unknown nineteenth century Russian peasant has impressed me the most.
Looking into his heart and inhaling he said (mentally), “Lord Jesus Christ,”
and while exhaling, “have mercy on me.” We may use a word with similar meaning
and the one very familiar to us, Kuriae-elaison
or Kyrie-elaison as the mantra.
This peasant from the Russian Orthodox Church has described his meditation and
his subsequent spiritual transformations so well that it is profound, authentic
and at the same time simple enough that even an average farmer can enjoy
reading it. The Shree Ramakrishna Mission of India has translated those books
into Malayalam (Oru Sadhakante Sancharam and
Sadhakan Sancharam Thudarunnu). “The
Way of the Pilgrim” has become a very popular book among the monks of the Shree
Ramakrishna Order. Orthodox Christians may still have to catch up with them
though.
I would like to point out that the Christian mantras
mentioned in this article are for the spiritual unfolding of the practitioner.
The Vedic and Buddhist mantras claim specificity of goals, such as healing,
prosperity, transcendental consciousness and so on, but the Christian mantras
don’t go that far.
A distinction should be made between prayer and
meditation. In prayer there is an element of supplication or petition to God by
the one who prays. In meditation you make no such requests, but learn to accept
what you get. The Christian mantras mentioned above have a prayerful
connotation, as do some of the Vedic mantras, but in meditation the
supplication aspect is not to be emphasized. The awareness of the presence of
the Lord and the joy of being with the Lord are the major concerns in
meditation practice. Those who meditate learn to accept the prayer, “Let Thy
will be done”, wholeheartedly.
The following instruction is a simple way to start
meditation practice. Find a quiet place, away from telephone calls and other
distractions. Your meditation time is your own; do not allow anything or anyone
to take it away from you.
Sit comfortably on a chair with your spine straight
and your feet on the ground. If you are comfortable with the traditional padmasana (Full Lotus pose) or other
easy poses of Yoga, you may as well sit in that pose. But the important thing
is that you should not be distracted by an uncomfortable posture during
meditation. The Vedic science emphasizes that your spine be held straight for
flow of energy through the spinal cord. Place your hands in your lap, palms up
with your dominant palm (right hand if you are right-handed) supporting the
other, and the tips of your thumbs gently touching each other.
Scan your body for any trace of muscle tension. You
may focus your attention on your feet, be aware of the level of tenseness in
your feet, and let go of the tenseness as much as you can. Next, move to the
muscles of your lower legs, become aware of the tenseness, let go of the
tenseness. Work your way up like this until you relax the muscles of your
scalp.
Focus your attention on your breathing. Breathe
slowly and deeply. As you inhale let your abdomen push out, and as you exhale
let it drop. Most people I have trained have a habit of breathing with their
chest, expanding it while they inhale. This kind of breathing suggests tension
and anxiety. You want to practice diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing
for relaxation of your nervous system. You may not get it right in the
beginning, but you will get there with some practice. As you breathe in let
your mind pay close attention to the coolness of the air flowing in through
your nostrils, filling your lungs fully, pushing your diaphragm down, and
pushing your belly out. As you exhale feel the belly drop smoothly, and feel
the warmth of the air as it goes out through your nostrils. Continue the
diaphragmatic breathing for 2-5 minutes. Let your body and mind settle down
comfortably. Zen meditators do this type of breath awareness as the point of
focus – no separate mantras are used.
You may begin to chant (japa) the mantra mentally when you feel somewhat settled. You can
synchronize your mantra, for example, Kuriae-elaison,
or Mara-natha, or Ab-woon with your inhaling and exhaling
if you like to do it that way. You can also chant the mantra mentally
independent of the breathing rhythm. Some people use a rosary (Japa Mala) when they chant long mantras.
The Japa Mala has 54 or 108 beads and
you may thumb through one bead at a time with each recitation. Use of a rosary
is more practical when you chant long mantras as the Gayatri Mantra or prayers as the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary. In
any case let the chanting be effortless. After the initial active mental
chanting you may passively listen to the sound of the mantra as if the sound is
coming from within you. Let the sound of the mantra flow, without your mind
distracted by ruminations on the meaning of the words.
Many beginning practitioners get upset when their
minds wander jumping all over like a monkey. It is the nature of the mind to
wander, as much as it is the nature of the ocean to have waves. So do not fight
it, rather flow with it. You acknowledge its presence, witness it, and
consciously and deliberately, gently and firmly, let go of it. Go back to your
mantra right away. If the thought seems very important to you, tell yourself, “
Oh, a thought! If it is that important it will come back after my meditation.
Let me go back to my mantra now.” Do not judge, evaluate, or condemn any of
your thoughts and feelings that shoot up on your mind-screen as good, bad,
ugly, resentful, and so on. Treat the visitors in a neutral, dispassionate way
and put them away gently and firmly, and you should return to your mantra
instantly. If you feel angry about the content of a particular thought, say to
yourself, “Oh, it is a feeling of anger,” drop your feeling-thought and go back
to the mantra. If you feel angry and frustrated that you cannot concentrate,
say to yourself, “Oh, I am criticizing my performance,” drop the condemnation,
and get on with your mantra. You are like someone relaxing in his own back yard
reading a book. You see a bird fly by. You don’t fly with the bird, nor do you
let the bird build a nest on your head. Your mind during meditation is like a
mirror. When the bird flies within the mirror’s view you can see it, but when
the bird is out of its field the image is gone. The image does not get stuck on
the mirror. You are not the thought or the feeling. You are only a witness, a
detached observer, of the thoughts and feelings that pass through the
mind-mirror.
Generally, the thoughts will subside after a while and
your mind and body will reach a state of peace and tranquility as you proceed
with the practice. Sometimes you may feel upset, especially if too many
disturbing thoughts bubble up in your consciousness. But that is okay. Just
acknowledge that feeling and move on. Meditation is a process. Each session is
not an end in itself. Learn to take whatever you get in every session.
Some people tend to fall asleep during meditation.
Although many people use meditation for relaxation and stress reduction (and
that’s OK), meditation should lead you to increased awareness – deeper
awareness of your body, mental processes, and soul.
After your designated time to meditate, gently open
your eyes, and slowly re-enter your usual routines. Don’t hurry back into
intense activity.
If at all possible, find a regular time to practice
every day, like the traditional hours of our prayer in the morning and evening.
Tread the path steadily, and make meditation part of your routine. You will be
happy with it.
Finally, it is good to have an experienced person as
your guide.
In summary, 1)
Relax, 2) Listen to the sound of the mantra from within, 3) Let go of
distracting thoughts gently and firmly, and without judgment and condemnation,
and 4) Learn to take what you can get in each session.
Where Does
Meditation Lead Us To
All forms of meditation, in the end, will help us to
get in touch with our true self, the essence of our being. That is where we
come face to face with God, the Spirit, and the spirit in us that is greater
than our body, greater than our thoughts and feelings -- a spirit that is
connected to all other spirits and to God. When we develop awareness of that
connection with the animate and inanimate beings of this universe, we begin to
get a glimpse of the Love that Jesus talked about. With awareness of connection
with all beings we experience Love of God and Love of our fellow-beings. We
shall see God in everyone and in everything. People asked Mother Teresa how she
could pick up a leper from the ditch and hold him in her arms. Mother said,
"I see Jesus in his face." The boundary separating you and me
dissolves in divine love. You are no longer “the other” to be hated, but part
of me and part of God to be loved. Loving will become natural to us. Love each other
as I have loved you, Jesus asked His disciples.
Not at all! Service to humanity, uplifting the poor
and downtrodden, acquiring and imparting right knowledge and wisdom, sacraments
and worship are all ways to realize God. Many people follow those paths. I want
to point out that meditation is an underutilized path in our Church today.
Spiritual maturity should not be left only to Monks. It would be wise to
re-ignite the fire at the common man’s level.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I acknowledge the valuable help Suzanne Seed gave me in editing this article. I also want to thank Very Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock, Chorepiscopos for his constructive suggestions.
- Dr. Joseph E. Thomas
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Suggestions
or comments may be sent to Joseph E. Thomas, 16W731 89th Place,
Hinsdale, IL. 60521.
E-mail: joseph.e.thomas@mail.com
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