"Siddartha 2/20"

Qoute: "Siddhartha learned a lot when he was with the Samanas, many ways leading away from the self he learned to go. He went the way of self-denial by means of pain, through voluntarily suffering and overcoming pain, hunger, thirst, tiredness. He went the way of self-denial by means of meditation, through imagining the mind to be void of all conceptions. These and other ways he learned to go, a thousand times he left his self, for hours and days he remained in the non-self. But though the ways led away from the self, their end nevertheless always led back to the self. Though Siddhartha fled from the self a thousand times, stayed in nothingness, stayed in the animal, in the stone, the return was inevitable, inescapable was the hour, when he found himself back in the sunshine or in the moonlight, in the shade or in the rain, and was once again his self and Siddhartha, and again felt the agony of the cycle which had been forced upon him."


   Displeased with all previous teachings, Siddhartha learned the ways of the Samanas, diving into deep meditation.  He sought to liberate the "self"  and become an empty vessel, which would recieve enlightenment and ultimately set him free from the meaninglessness of the world. In deep meditation, he learned to empty his mind of what was, is and would be. As the seasons passed and time kept going, he realized that there was no elightenment, that mediation was just a form of escape, that would inevitably lead him back to the cruel reality that he lived in. 

    I chose this passage because I disagree with Siddhartha on the effectiveness of mediation.  I believe that meditation is not a form of escape, but, rather, a tool used to achieve the "oneness" that Siddhartha always desired. I believe that deep meditation can help calm the senses to allow a freeflow of consciouness. It also allows the practitioner to be aware of the present moment and to feel a deeper sense of unity with the universe. I have practice meditation and yoga for two years now and it has completely changed my life around. At first, I found it almost impossible to close my eyes and think of nothing, because your mind flows constantly with ideas, thoughts and memories. Then I learned to focus on my breathing, to imagine the circulation of airflow within my body. It was in that cycle, in that darkness, that I understood, that time did not exist, that the present and future were just thoughts. That nothing mattered except what I was experiencing at that moment. I felt no pain, fear or discomfort, all that was felt was peace and spiritual fufillness. Like Siddhartha, I, too came back to my reality but the "I" does not come back the same, it has changed. Perhaps, even transcended in its way of thinking.