After meditation, keep your attention in the heart

The effort is to carry the condition that is bestowed during meditation throughout the day into all aspects of our life. To achieve this, those five or six minutes after meditation is so productive. Use them wisely to your advantage. The inner meditative condition is subtler than the fragrance of a rose. It can easily dissipate into thin air so that we cannot recall it. So there are a few things to avoid immediately after meditation in order to retain the condition that has been given to us.

Try not to draw your attention outwards straight after meditation. This means not changing things in the outer environment. If the fan is turned on, let it remain on. If the fan is not switched on, don’t turn it on, because it will draw your attention outwards. Similarly, avoid drinking water immediately after meditation. When someone is crying or you have to give bad news to someone, you go with a glass of water so that the person quietens down, because it redirects their attention from inwards to outwards. In that situation, by giving water, you are changing the condition for the better. After we meditate, the condition can be lost by drinking water for the same reason – it redirects your attention outwards.

Take the example of freshly-laid concrete; it is better not to walk on it until it has settled properly. If we walk on it, allow dogs to run over it, and let someone write, ‘I love Monica’ on it, then that concrete is spoilt forever. Like concrete, our inner condition also has to settle in our heart, and it needs attention. Observe how it settles inside you, feel how it drenches your system, and then, when you are confident that you can observe and hold on to it even with your open eyes, confidently get up and carry on with your day.

The condition you receive in meditation is much finer and subtler than concrete. Mere carelessness can make it disappear. So be tender and careful with it. Spend five minutes to savour it, absorb it, and then get up with the resolution that you are getting all the help you need to nurture it and let it grow. The guidance will come from inside you. Have the willingness, interest and intention to preserve it and let it grow.

Try to remain in that meditative state with your open eyes. Centre yourself in your heart, be perceptive, and try to understand things with your heart. When you observe things around you, keep your attention in the heart. Let your inner radar open up. If you want to become very discerning, this is the habit to cultivate.

(Concluded)

(This is the fifth and final part of theseries, ‘How to tame the tornado of thoughts in the mind’)