A) The attainment of Samdhi, or
B) The attaining of Balanced Self-Conscious Awareness
In everyday language, the ultimate goal of meditation is to remove all of your psychological limitations. With these limitations removed you realize all is mind.
Reflection upon the relationship between your meditation states and your life is called 'Tarka on meditation.' Tarka is a Sanskrit word that can be translated to mean logic, reasoning, speculation, inquiry. Therefore, Tarka is the practice of quieting the mind @ the end of the day, turning inward and upward, and then reflecting on the events of the day.
Tarka is a step beyond meditation. It shows our progress along the spiritual path toward maturity.
It is the nature of the mind to filter out certain aspects of an experience, and to over emphasize other aspects. As these patterns are revealed through Tarka, you will begin to see your mind as it is.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself @ the end of the day:
1) Have I hurt anyone today - physically, verbally or mentally?
2) What harm have I done to my body today?
3) What harm have I done to my mind today?
4) What positive things did I do today - physically, verbally or mentally?
The purpose of answering these questions is to make you more self-aware of your own mind.
BEGINNING:
1) Buy a pen that is to be used only for journaling. It should be beautiful and comfortable to use. Keep it with your journal and do not use it for anything else.
2) You should purchase a blank book to be used only for journaling your meditations and their relationship to your daily life. Your journal is a sacred place to store your thoughts and reflections that will support your meditation practice.
JOURNALING:
1) Always find a quiet place and time for journaling. Try to sit @ the same time and in the same place each day when you journal, if possible.
2) Begin your journaling process by closing your eyes and watching the breath for a few minutes. Take a few minutes to detach your higher mind from your personality.
3) Now offer up a short affirmation which will help you see your blind spots. One such affirmation could be, "Every day in every way, I am seeing my personality more clearly."
4) Now write the full date, time and the city in the upper right hand side of the page. Write the time and duration of today's meditation beneath this.
5) Put the pen down and with your journal in front of you, close your eyes again, taking a few breaths to further quiet the mind.
6) Now, in your mind's eye, move back in time to the beginning of the day when you first woke.
7) Write down the first thought of the day and your mood upon awakening.
Then put a horizontal line under that notation, separating the first thought of the day from your evening's tarka, in which you look for the relationship between the first thought and how your day went: tonus-wise and event-wise.
8) With as much detachment as possible, move from the first thought of the day to the next major thought, emotion or action of the day.
9) Reflect upon your experiences and write your comments and interpretations.
10)When you have written a specific thought, emotion or action in your journal, ask yourself how the meditation of the previous day has affected your attitude and your reaction to that particular experience. Write your interpretations.
11) Move forward in time to the next major experience until you have come to the end of the day. Reflect on each major experience of the day.
12) Having finished recording the day's major experiences, draw a line under the last sentence and leave @ least 1/4 page for any thoughts that may flash into your mind later. The task is to find the relationship between the previous day's meditation and today's attitudes, moods and reactions.
Try doing Tarka on Meditation for @ least a month. I think you will find that this practice will lead to greater Self-awareness.
Shanti,
S.