Know Thyself

Dr Bijal Maroo provides us with signposts that help us assess our spiritual progress, the final goal being nirvana

- Dr Bijal Maroo

The famous philosopher Aristotle once said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

The spiritual quotient of the planet is rising steadily. Meditation is the journey of looking within ourselves to see and experience our own truth. More and more individuals are embracing meditation as a daily practice.

The ego is very deceptive. It can fool even the best and the oldest meditators into thinking that they are also the wisest. Thus, they fall victim to false pride. They end up deluding themselves that they have achieved great heights as meditators. Hence, the ability to analyse our progress in meditation is the urgent need of the hour. We need an accurate map to help us know if we are heading in the right direction. Or you can say a GPS to throw light on how much distance has been covered.

Meditation is essentially an abstract concept. There is no physical yardstick or objective method to measure our progress on this path. In this scenario, the onus of judging our progress falls on our own shoulders.

Following are some indicators which can help us gauge our progress:

The degree of peace we feel within

Situations that usually trigger an emotionally charged response no longer elicit the same feelings or at least not with the same intensity. We feel unperturbed, and fewer things ruffle our feathers.

Improvement in memory and concentration

Earlier, I used to forget a few phrases in my prayers. A few months of meditation helped me remember every single word clearly. This is because I have slowed down and feel a unity with the prayer or with my breathing. Also, when you meditate on a phrase, don’t repeat it mechanically. Instead, keenly utter the phrase with full focus, attention, and devotion.

Decreased stress levels