Ok, so first of all. Imagine your soul is at the center and around it is your mind/body like a jewelcase. Your immediate goal in meditating (and in the other methods of yoga, such as intense study like the gita line-by-line for instance) is to make little impressions/dents/holes in that case called samscaras. Through these holes, the soul can See better. Without samscara, your mind/body will entomb your soul and in total ignorance it will be trapped, suffering your stupidity (in this life and the next ones ad infinitum) – so the point of meditating is the same as living an examined life, basically. BaleD, in another context of discussion altogether, described this as reverse-blinking. You feel like your eyes are open all the time, but they’re not really. Occasionally they will open and you’ll be like HOLY SHIT I SEE CLEARLY for a second, then they close again. That second of clarity is a samscara.
When we got to the Bhakti part of the text (meditating all the time on God), Intense Guy got into the methodology a little as he’s a Bhakti-Yogi: Always meditate in the same place, so that place has no other associations – i.e. manage the phychic secretion(s) factor of your surroundings . You’re supposed to look at your nose so you can't look at anything else. He confessed that he doesn’t do that and most people don’t because crossing your eyes non-stop is very uncomfortable – I wanted to ask what he does look at, since he said that closing your eyes will make you sleepy and that’s not good, but I didn’t have the guts (aside: bc of course I was crushed out on him by this time even though I was trying to overcome my doglike-tailwagging-at-the-priest instincts, especially as I was sitting next to the French yogi for whom celibacy was only ever a metaphorical concept obviously, but to no avail and when Intense Priest Guy told the story of Indra's curse and self-consciously said the word 'vagina' like 'vagina' I was a goner and thus struck dumb [selfannoyedsigh, say la vee]). So if you get sleepy w your eyes closed, try a blank wall I guess. Sit w your spine like a rod and your ass like the base of that lightening conductor a few inches off the ground and your legs on the ground in front of you, like this
Concentrate on a mantra (you’re supposed to get this from your guru but if you don’t have one then use a generic) because it is impossible to truly empty the mind and thus you give it one single thing to hold itself up with and then it can find the power over time to empty of itself of everything else – you can chant it, or repeat it internally (or beginners can listen to one w/ headphones, which is what I'm doing). And if at all possible, meditate first thing in the morning rather than at night because during the day the mind fills with shit and thus it’s harder for it to empty – 4 a.m. is the most auspicious hour from some astrological-spiritual point of view that is still unclear to me. (But if you're French, 11 a.m. is early enough fyi.)
here's an om [link removed]
for VIRGO : Your nervous system has been delicate and physical exertion takes the edge off. Recreation is important and you’ll have playful company to join you in your favorite activities. [ha - yeah virgo strikes again w her idea of a good time, so everybody sit and think some shit about your soul! woohoo!]
