The origin of meditation dates back to the ancient books of the Upanishads, composed by the philosophers of India from 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C.
They tell the story of two identical birds sitting on different branches of a tree. One bird sits on the top branch, just watching the world go by and letting it be, whereas the other, enmeshed in the excitement of the tree, jumps from one branch to another satisfying its inexhaustible curiosity. When the active bird sees a fruit, it rushes toward it, eats it, calls it sweet and enjoys it. Excited by its charm, the bird repeats this experience by jumping to another fruit, bites it, eats it, finds it sour and though disappointed by its taste, still goes after another.
To keep its excitement going, the bird tries out the next fruit that turns out to be tasteless. As the active bird expends its energy on the sweet, sour and tasteless fruits, it wonders why the bird on the top is not indulging in this excitement. By desiring and tasting the diverse fruits, the active bird keeps moving up. As the active bird reaches the top, it is surprised to find the other bird to be identical to itself. The two happen to be one and the same.
The two birds metaphorically depict the nature of a human being to be outwardly a disturbed awareness and inwardly a calm consciousness. We are brought up to believe the stressed-out part to be our real self when in actuality its nature is to be a serene-joyful consciousness.
Meditation was designed as a technique to move us from the everyday disturbed awareness to that of calmness that resides within. Various sound-symbols were planned as mantras to move the disturbed mind toward this inward journey where this calm-witnessing self resides. When the Buddha was practicing meditation, he realized that each person was a witnessing self.
Because of our ignorance, we mistake the disturbed self to be our real self, which we are not. According to the Buddha, we do not need a mantra to realize our real self because that is what we are. He designed Vipassana meditation which consists of sitting down in a lotus or half lotus posture to observe how our disturbed mind, just like the active bird, is driven by the excitement of new experiences, thus making itself anxious and restless. This shift from using mantra observing the restless mind came to be called the Vipassana practice or meditation.
The exercises given below are recommendation only. If done for a long time, they might help.
Meditation with a mantra
While sitting in an easy posture, close your eyes. Become aware of breathing in and out. As you breathe in, think about the sound “So.” As you breathe out, think about the sound “Hum.” If other ideas come through your mind, recognize them and then set them aside. Go back to breathing in “So” and breathing out “Hum.” Keep your mind on “So,” “Hum.” Continue your meditation for two minutes. After you have completed this process, go back to your normal breathing.
Vipassana meditation
Sit in a half lotus or full lotus position. Keep your back, neck and head up. If it is convenient for you, sit next to a wall. Let your witnessing self observe your ordinary mind. It will try to pull you toward unfulfilled desires and tasks. Just observe and do not be dragged by them. Keep observing without being pulled by them. Do this exercise for five minutes and then resume your normal activity. Next day increase this observing by one extra minute and then resume your normal activity. Keep practicing it for a month.