Modern man is unfortunately plagued by a nervous tension
that makes it almost impossible for him to be quiet. If he actually wants to learn to pray
he must first learn to be still, to quieten himself. In fact, this very quietness
and stillness frequently becomes prayer when God manifests Himself in the form of
STILLNESS.
Repeat the exercise of becoming aware of sensations in your bodywhole body. This time
start with the top of your head and end it with the tips of your toes, omitting no part of
the body. Beware of every sensation in each part.... You may find some parts
of your body completely devoid of sensation.... Dwell on these for a few seconds—if
no sensation emerges, move on......
As you become more proficient in this exercise you will, hopefully, sharpen your awareness
to the extent that there will be no part of your body in which you do not feel several
sensations.... For the time being you must be content to dwell briefly on the blanks
and move on to the parts where you feel more sensations Move slowly from head to
foot.... then once again, from head to foot..... and so on for some fifteen minutes. As
your awareness sharpens you will pick up sensations that you hadn’t noticed
before.... you may also pick up sensations that are extremely subtle, too subtle to be
perceived by any but a man of deep as a whole. Feel the whole of your body as one mass of
concentration and deep peace. Now become aware of yours body as a whole. Feel the whole of
your body as one mass of various types of sensations.... Stay with this for a while, then
return to the awareness by parts, moving from head to foot.... then, once again, rest in
the awareness of your body as a whole......
Notice now the deep stillness that has come over you. Notice the complete stillness
of your body.... Do Not, however, rest in the stillness to the extent of losing awareness
of your body.... If you are getting distracted, give yourself the occupation of moving
once again from head to foot, becoming aware of sensations in each part of your body.
Then, once again, notice the stillness in your body. If you are practising this in a
group, then at occasions, notice the stillness in the whole room.
It is very important that you do NOT move any part of your body while doing this
Sadhana. This will be difficult at first, but each time feel the urge to move, or scratch,
or fidget, become aware of this as sharply as you can.... Don’t give in to it.... It
will gradually go away and you will become still once more........
It is extremely painful for most people to stay still. Even physically painful and you
become physically tense, spend all the time you need becoming aware of the tension....
where you feel it, what it feels like.... and stay with it till the tension disappears.
You may feel physical pain, rather severe pain. No matter how comfortable the position or
posture you have adopted, your body is likely to protest against the stillness by
developing aches and pains in various parts. When this happens, a serious Sadhaka MUST
RESIST the temptation to move limbs or read just posture so as to ease the pain. Just
become keenly aware of the pain.
Your awareness may wholly be absorbed by the acute pain. You may start sweating, may be
profusely. Your mind may think that you are going to faint with pain; at such moment
firmly decide Not to fight it, Not to run away from it, Not to desire to alleviate it, but
to become aware of it, to identify with it. Then you may see that the pain sensation is
broken into its component parts and you may be surprised to discover that it is composed
of many sensations viz., intense burning sensation a pulling and tugging, a sharp,
shooting sensation which may merge every now and then.... and a point which may keep
moving from one place to another.... This point you may identify as pain.... As you will
keep up this exercise, you shall find that you are bearing the pain quite well i.e., pain
without suffering.
Every Sadhaka has to experience some types of pains, as indicated above, until his body
becomes accustomed to remaining perfectly still. Deal with the pain through awareness.
When your body finally does become still, you will have a rich reward in the QUIET
BLISS that this stillness will bring you. The temptation to scratch is
another frequent temptation with beginners. This is because, as their awareness of their
body sensations sharpens, they become aware of itching and pricking sensations that were
there all along but were hidden to awareness because of the psycho-physical hardening that
most of us submit our bodies to and because of the grossness of their awareness. A Sadhaka
must resist such temptations during awareness Sadhana.
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