Meditation is the art of being at ease. With what? With yourself and the world around. To be meditative simply means to be relaxed. Meditation creates a deep harmony between the meditator and Life. This harmony is the state of highest bliss, supreme fulfilment. The bliss beyond imagination, the fulfilment beyond definition.

Most people feel deprived of such bliss. They have to carry the burden of their unfulfilled selves.
Joy seems an illusion; peace a mirage. Tension, depression, loneliness, irritation, anxiety, overthinking keep torturing them. Not only is the mind a mess, the body, too, is a constant pain. The root cause of all diseases is our inability to relax. Osho explains disease as dis+ease. Dis-means away. Thus, disease means away from ease. Most of us are always restless, about one thing or the other. The fundamental reason for this restlessness is that we do not trust life. We believe that if we did not take hold of life, if we did not control life, if we did not guide life, we would be lost. So instead of letting life guide us, we start guiding life. There is bound to be a disaster. Life is such a vast phenomenon, it is impossible to take hold of it.

In addition to the lack of trust, there is a strange emptiness within us that keeps pinching us.

Haven’t you felt it? An inexplicable vacuum. It arises all of a sudden, from nowhere, for no rhyme or reason. We feel sinking in it. It is horrible. It threatens to swallow us. We do everything to rescue ourselves. What do we do for the rescue? Escape. We start watching TV, or listening to music, or chatting. Just somehow we want to forget it. We try to run away. It is the breeding ground of dreams. We indulge in fancy-tranquilizers. The lack of trust in life and the strange emptiness fill us with fears and dreams. Because we do not trust, we are afraid and because we are empty, we want dreamy stuff to fill it. Then running starts. We try to run away from fears and run after dreams. Away from fears because we feel they are chasing us and we need to protect ourselves. After dreams because we feel joy is somewhere away. We feel that we can be happy only and only when certain conditions are fulfilled, when certain circumstances are created, when certain people love us, or certain others leave us. So, we keep running.

And, I repeat, this running is double: fears are trying to catch us and we are trying to catch dreams. How exhausted we would become! Just imagine: you belong to a gang of robbers. Your gang break into a home. Pile up booty. There come cops, siren blaring, ferocious dogs barking. The whole gang rushes in a direction. The man with the booty rushes in the opposite. Fearing he might rob you of your share, you run after him. You are running after him breathlessly, madly; angry cops, hungry dogs after you! Now, take a break. Let the booty-man go. Don’t worry, cops won’t catch you, I assure you! Now recall some of your fulfilled dreams. Suppose you wanted a dream-job or a dream-girl. You strove for it/her. And you succeeded. Explosion of joy! Shower of bliss! Flood of happiness! Right? How long did it last? A week, a month, or a year. Right? Now recall some of your fears, like the fear of failure in exam or losing your beloved. You might have failed or lost your beloved. Pain! Suffering! Depression! Right? How long did it last? A week, a month, or a year. Right? But you survived. This simple realization frees you from the booty-man. And the moment he goes cops disappear too. With dreams go fears. Maybe your never saw the momentary nature of things. You know why? Because you were always running. How can you see when you are running? Hold a book in front of your eyes.

Now start shaking your head fast. You will not be able to read. Likewise, constant running never lets us see the temporary nature of all happenings. When you stop, you see, because then you are in the present moment. You are now and here. In this now-here space, you also realize that despite all running you never reach anywhere. It seems like running round a circle. Meditation makes us realize that we reach when we do not run. We reach when we are now and here. This simple realization creates a harmony between you and life. With this realization comes a deep relaxation. In this state, you begin to see that you have missed life just because you have been lost either in the past or the future. Isn’t it true? Just observe your mind for a while. Note down all the thoughts that pass through it. Then analyze them. They will either be memories or fancies/dreams/imagination. And both memory and imagination are unreal. Memory is past, imagination is future. One is dead, the other is yet to be born. Both are nonexistent. In the gap between memory and imagination lies the narrow now-here space. Meditation exists in this space. To discover this space is very simple. Just be conscious. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, no matter what, just be aware. Feel it. For example, you are drinking water. Do it consciously. Water is touching the tongue, be aware of this touch. It is flowing down the throat, feel the flow. Water is cooling down the stomach, feel this coolness. You have to feel it, you do not have to think about it. I mean no words such as ‘water,’ ‘drinking,’ ‘tongue,’ ‘throat,’ etc. should be present in your head space. The head space should be totally empty. When you are just watching, you are in the now-here. Another powerful, and the most ancient method of meditation is watching breathing. Breathing is the only process that continues round the clock. It never stops. You cannot drink or eat all the time. But you breathe every moment. Just by being aware of breathing, you can meditate. It is that simple! Conscious living can be practiced when you are active, i.e. you are walking, cooking, eating, bathing, dusting, driving, etc. However, there are moments when you are not doing anything, you are passive. Like, traveling, waiting for someone, waiting on the school bus, waiting for your turn at the grocer’s, relaxing after finishing a chore, etc. These are the moments when you can simply witness your breathing. Be aware of the inhalation and exhalation. Remember: do not try to control your breathing, do not try to deepen it, do not try to hold it. In short, do not make any effort. Try to be as effortless as possible. Even if you try to watch breathing as meditation, it will become laborious. Drop even the word meditation. Otherwise, breathing would become an effort. Many meditators feel that their breathing is generally normal but the moment they start meditating, it becomes hard and heavy. Reason: they try very hard to be effortless. Just be aware. Just feel the air passing in and out. And be patient. Do not be in a hurry. Beginners often start expecting results too soon. They feel they have invested a lot but nothing seems to be happening. They feel frustrated and defeated. Be aware of all these tricks of the mind. The more you become aware, the deeper breathing becomes. This is the magic. You do not try to deepen it, it happens automatically. As it deepens, you feel relaxed. In this relaxation is all running dissolved. And you are established in the now-here. Living in the present moment is blissful. A silence blossoms inside. It is filled with a subtle peace and joy. This peace and joy does not depend on any external conditions. It is entirely free from any material event. It is not a product of any worldly happening, nor does it need anything for its sustenance. It is purely self-born, self-sustaining, self-sufficient. Having discovered the meditative silence, you know the true fulfilment.

Now you are in tune with life. Then no fear exists. Your trust in life is so spontaneous. You feel the presence of a higher intelligence, a universal intelligence that generates and operates Life. Just a touch of it is enough to destroy all your fears. You know now that you will be taken care of. Nothing can harm you, nothing at all. Not only within yourself, you can see this intelligent presence everywhere, in plants and trees and rocks and rivers. Moreover, the fulfillment frees you from the strange emptiness that had terrified you so long. You taste the juice of the present moment. It is so delicious! When you eat something that is tasteless, the mouth is filled with that tastelessness. The past is tasteless, the future is tasteless. Only the present is juicy, full of nourishment. In conclusion, meditation is the art of finding ease and flow in life. It gives us an insight into understanding our hidden fears and hollow dreams and help us get rid of them by blessing us with trust in life and fulfilment within.