What
is meant by Meditation?
Meditation
is not a concentration of mind. Similarly, meditation could not
be translated into samadhi as used in vernacular terminology.
Sitting silently for a couple of minutes or hours that currently
refers to samadhi is not really a meditation.
Meditation
is lifestyle. It should become the fundamental of one's
life, and then he's entitled to bear a predicate as meditator.
Concentration is the step heading for meditation. In essence,
concentration will make you uneasy just as climbing the steps
that make you tired.
Meditation
equals to the expansion of awareness. Final proceeding
of meditation is samadhi or balance. Having
arrived at self-balance, you will not longer feel uneasy, scared,
and worried. As a matter of fact, you get down to the life when
you have accomplished the self-balance (Anand Krishna, in 'Seni
Memberdaya Diri 1' or the Art of Self-Empowerment 1).
These
days, the demands of human life do not only concern with food
& drink. In keeping with the development of time,
its also keep on increasing. If calculated in details there are
at least four demands, namely that of personal, family, employment
and environment demands.
Personal
demands encompass the needs of having much money, savouring
delicious food, enjoying sexual pleasure, sleeping soundly, living
healthily, having good children, becoming an important person
and experiencing magical matters.
Family
demands, those who have got married must have husband
or wife. It means that other than satisfying the eight personal
demands, there are eight more other demands that ought to be born
together. They have not included one's children, brother or sister-in-law
and parents or parents-in-law. If they've done, just multiply
them by yourself!
Demand
of employment or profession, at workplace there must
be a senior, fellow colleagues and subordinates. Here, one is
obliged to make cooperation with others to satisfy the demand
of his or her senior.
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Demand
of environment, as human we have to be responsible where
we live. It's our duty to maintain the harmony, either with the
fellow humans, animal, and nature.
If
you are capable of satisfying the four demands mentioned above
it means that you live your life peacefully. However,
in reality we are not capable of meeting the entire demands. This
incapability can result in tension or stress. No matter what your
profession is, you can not take away from stress.
Dr.Setiawan,
a neurosurgeon, in his book Ilmu Medis dan Meditasi (Medical Science
and Meditation) writes that under the stress condition the hypothalamus
in the brain produces particular hormone and neurotransmitter
passing through the current of blood and transmission of sympathetic
autonomic nervous impulse, stimulates the suprarenal gland. As
a consequence, it produces Norepinephrine (NE), Epinephrine (E)
and Cortisol hormone. And the body consequently turns turbulent.
This neurologist enlists the alteration suffered by body as follows:
*Contraction of skin, kidney, intestines and spleen.
*Accumulation of sugar at liver gets broken apart.
*Accumulation of fat gets broken of apart.
*Activity of the heart increases so its beat is getting faster
and stronger.
*Blood tension rises or even goes down, if the sickness is too
acute.
*Rhythm of the lungs turns faster.
*Accumulation of protein gets broken apart.
In
the condition of prolonged stress, it will transpire serious complications
such as:
*Injury on the stomach and small intestines.
*Lymphous gland functioning for the bodily immune gets wrinkled.
*Physical stamina drops drastically.
*Damage on blood vessel.
*Hypertension.
According
to Dr. Setiawan, solution to avoid stress is by controlling the
mind. The only one way to control it is through meditation. Meditation
has been entrusted for thousands years to help achieve peaceful
condition. Peace can keep one away from stress.
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