What Happens When You Meditate And The Incredible Benefits Of Meditation

Meditation is widely practiced today by people from all walks of life and from various backgrounds. The fact is, while meditative practices have gone into mainstream, what many don’t discuss are the origins of meditation, what it’s purpose is and principles to ensure meditative practices are done correctly with the greatest benefits. Therefore, in this video, I aim to help you understand what meditation is and the principles of meditation that help explain it’s origins in the Hindu religion and the reason it’s so highly valued in today’s world… 1. First Known Evidence - The first known practices of Meditation were documented in India approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE, showing people seated in meditative postures with half-closed eyes, with the first written evidence of any form of meditation was first seen in the Vedas around 1500 BCE - In India, the tradition of the teacher and disciple has been around for millenia, where students would be sent to Gurukuls, or schools, mostly in the forests to live and learn under a learned teacher - In this time and for centuries, possibly even millenia before, all learning and knowledge was passed on by word of mouth, rather than through written text, so the practice of meditation is likely to be significantly older than docuemented - Almost all the Hindu religious books talk of meditation in some form or the other and meditation was an integral part of the knowledge that the Gurus were teaching their students 2. Why People Meditated - Often referred to as Dhyana in Hinduism, meditation has often been taken up in Yoga exercises, with the aim to attain self knowledge and samadhi - Samadhi is described as the perfect union of the individualised soul with infinite spirit, being a state of oneness and complete absorption achieved through practicing meditation - In Hinduism, meditation is a part of a self-directed awareness and unifying Yoga process by which the yogi realizes Self, or their Atman or Soul, and it’s relationship with other living beings, and Ultimate Reality, often understood as energy or the divine in modern contexts - The ultimate goal through this practice is to reach a state of enlightenment in life, or a full comprehension of a situation, in the same way the Buddha taught to seek enlightenment through meditation 3.

02:41 - Moksha - By understanding the principle and traditional purpose of meditative practices, we move what this ultimately means in the context of traditional practices, which in Hinduism is to seek Moksha, or liberation - In the case of Hinduism, Moksha refers to freedom from samsara, which is the cycle of death and rebirth, which the Atman, or our soul, follows as time passes, taking various forms in different lives - While there’s various schools of thought on precisely how Moksha is attained, in effect the principle idea is to seek liberation from samsara and become one with Brahman, or God - With this goal in mind, meditative practices in Hinduism are synonymous with the spiritual teachings of the religion and form a fundamental part of life for Hindus 4. Other Forms Of Meditation - Today Meditation is used in many practices, both religious and practical, with famous examples such as Zen Meditation in Buddhism and Mindfulness Meditation - While initially this might appear confusing to someone beginning out, in essence the practice and the various forms it take always have related central tenets - This is that meditative practices are about focusing within and on the self, achieving a state of calm and fundamentally seeking self knowledge and realisation - Therefore, if you practice one form of meditation as opposed to another, that’s perfectly fine, as we’re all unique and therefore one form might work better for us than another 5. Should You Meditate - The fact is whether you meditate or not is totally up to you, as what works for one may not work for another and therefore they may find greater benefits from doing something else - For example, we’ve discussed many of the core principles as to why Hindus meditate in this video, but at the same time Hinduism doesn’t limit achieving Moksha to having to practice meditation - That said, meditation has many known benefits for mental health and its impact on the biology of the brain, meaning even if you only practice meditation at a basic level, it can still have benefits to you - If you think this is of interest and would be interested in more topics around meditation, Hinduism or other concepts like this, then let me know with a thumbs up for this video and in the comments Did you know of the origins of meditation? Let me know in the comments section below. I’ve also done other videos on meditation before and if it’s of interest, then I suggest checking them out. I will link them down in the description below.

05:29 - Please Like, Share and Subscribe as we help you live life on your terms. Don’t forget to hit the bell icon to ensure YouTube notifies you of the latest uploads. Thanks for watching .