Discovering the 'garden' in your heart
The concept of discovering a 'garden' within your heart is a metaphor for realising a state of inner consciousness that radiates beauty and peace. Physically a garden within the heart is impossible, but not the concept of what a garden represents or the calming benefits it can bring to an individual with an aspiring heart!
A garden is a creation of beauty, a place of colour and peaceful tranquillity, a place of fragrances, textures and sounds. A place in which to retreat to lose oneself in appreciation or a labour of love. A soothing and relaxing location where the problems of the day can be left behind, where we can feel closest in our connectedness with Mother Nature and God.
But how do we hold the tranquil feelings that a garden brings, making them a permanent state of joyful awareness that stays with us during our hectic lives? For this we need to dive deeper than the limitations and doubts of the physical mind. We need to open ourselves to the solid and peaceful realisations that spontaneously flow from the quiet reality of the spiritual heart. This we gain through the silence of regular meditation and quiet contemplation.
On meditation the spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy says, (1) "Meditation in the spiritual heart is the quickest, surest and most fulfilling path for spiritual realisation. In this meditation we focus all of our attention on the heart, diving to ever-deeper levels of harmony, poise and wisdom. You cannot see your spiritual heart, but you can focus all of your attention into it. The power of your concentration enters into this region opening your awareness to its highest realities this takes you away from the limitations of the finite mind.
Now kindly imagine a flower inside your spiritual heart. Imagine that the flower is not yet fully blossomed; it is still a small bud. After you have meditated for a few minutes, please try to imagine that petal-by-petal the flower is slowly blossoming. See and feel that flower blossoming petal by petal inside your heart. Then after five minutes, try to feel that there is no heart at all; there is only this flower and its divine beauty and fragrance. The flower has become your heart and your heart has become a flower. After seven or eight minutes, please feel that this heart-flower has covered your whole body. Your body is no longer there; from the head to your feet you can feel the fragrance of a beautiful flower. Everywhere the fragrance, beauty, delight and purity of the flower have permeated your entire body.
Immediately feel that you are standing in a flower garden. This flower garden is your spiritual heart. A child can play in the garden for hours. He will go from this flower to that flower, but he will not leave the garden, because he will get joy from the beauty and fragrance of each flower. Inside you is the flower garden and you can stay within it for as long as you want. The moment you feel that you are a child you can easily meditate in the heart's flower garden".
With this meditation visualisation coupled with your own peaceful realisations from your favourite garden, or nature's own infinite garden you can bring the reality of a beautiful garden right into your spiritual heart and let it blossom there. As a result your physical mind shall be flooded with the heart-garden's perpetual fragrance, beauty and peace, helping you to permanently hold these tranquil and joyful feelings deep within. Where they shall never be disturbed by the doubts, expectations, negativities or frustrations of the outer world.
Ref: (1) Sri Chinmoy's book - Meditation
Biography - Sahayak Plowman by nature is a calm, positive and happy person. He attributes this to the growing experiences gained through his own meditation practice with the guidance given by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. He is a writer on spiritual topics, compiler of a published book of poetry Sri Chinmoy's Heart-Garden, meditation teacher and web master for Sri Chinmoy Books.com
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