What lies behind us
And what lies before us
Are tiny matters compared to
What lies within us.
–Oliver Wendell Holmes
Benefits of meditation
Some of the many gifts of meditation you will benefit from include:
Improved physical health – Stress, tension and negative emotions silently erode your life-force. As you decrease these negative influences through your meditation, you will experience positive effects on your physical health, from increased vitality to a greater sense of general well-being.
Deeper sleep – Meditation will have a positive effect on the quality and the quantity of your sleep. As your mind becomes calmer through your practice of meditation, you will fall asleep more easily and sleep more soundly.
You will be happier – We tend to seek happiness outside ourselves – where we are, what we possess, who we are with – but meditation helps us to realize that real, lasting happiness is an experience which flows from within and exists independently of our outer circumstances.
Better life decisions – In the whole history of the world, you are unique, and you have a uniquely special path to follow in life. In the silence and stillness of meditation, you will perceive more clearly the still, small voice within that can guide you safely along your life’s path. By bringing you closer to your life’s purpose, meditation sets you free to become more truly and uniquely yourself.
Spiritual growth – At the very core of your existence lives a being of great beauty, wisdom and delight. This being is none other than your own highest self. Through meditation you will grow into your highest self, and all of its inner wealth will be yours to use in your day-to-day life.
Inner peace brings outer peace – Everything starts from within! As you develop more inner peace through your practice of meditation, your outer life will become more peaceful as well. Little things start to happen as your outer life is touched by the expanding fragrance of your inner life: problems fall away or are resolved more easily; your dealings with people become deeper and more fulfilling, and you develop new and greater outer capacities.
Poems
Beyond speech and mind,
Into the river of ever-effulgent Light
My heart dives.
Today thousands of doors, closed for millennia
Are opened wide.
-Sri Chinmoy
Right now fear, doubt, anxiety, tension, and disharmony
Are reigning supreme.
But there shall come a time when this world of ours
will be flooded with peace.
Who is going to bring about this radical change?
It will be you: you and your sisters and brothers.
You and your oneness-heart will spread peace
Throughout the length and breadth of the world.
-Sri Chinmoy
True inner joy is self-created.
It does not depend on outer circumstances.
A river is flowing in and through you carrying the message of joy.
This divine joy is the sole purpose of life.
-Sri Chinmoy