MARY'S EMAIL:
ournaturaldestiny@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) Mary Terhune 2007    Email:  ournaturaldestiny@yahoo.com    Tel: 978-505-9554
Mary is a meditation practitioner studying eastern philosophy for the past 20 years. She has
travelled to India and has a living Self-Realized teacher as her guide to the inner knowledge of
Self-Realization.

There are 4 parts to meditation:

1.  Posture
2.  Breathe
3.  Mantra
4.  Self

According to Webster's dictionary, the word meditate means to focus one's thoughts on something;
reflect on or ponder over so as to understand it deeply.  We actually meditate every day when we try
to solve a problem, be it a math problem or a new recipe.  Meditation is part of our innate ability.

Although many people meditate to just relax or reduce one's stress levels, the highest purpose of
meditation is to experience one's own innate, divine, blissful nature.  This divine nature is often
referred to as the Self.  It is called many things by different cultures and religions:  God, Holy
Spirit, Chi, Buddha, Shiva, to name a few.   Even though it is called by many names, there is only
one divine nature and it exists in everyone, everywhere and in all creation.  I will use the familiar
term of God, but one can substitute it with another according to one's preferences.

The sages say the purpose of life is to experience our innate divinity.  They call this experience,
Self-realization.  Self-Realization is the experience that God lives in us as us. The main feeling
associated with Self-Realization is bliss.  Some might describe it as profound feelings of peace,
contentment, joy, love, or fulfillment.

Bliss they say is our innate nature and our true destiny.   Meditation is the inner path which leads
us to our innate nature.  It lead us back to the experience of God within.  

So why mediate?  The answer is to relieve us from suffering.  Suffering the sages say comes from
wrong identification; from thinking that we are a particular man, woman, or position in life, in other
words living in ego/personality. They say these are wrong identifications because these things are
temporary, while our divine nature is eternal bliss.  They say we come into this world to rediscover or
remember our divinity and to live from that centerpoint while living in the world.  

So how does one begin to meditate?  Here are the 4 parts to meditation explained:

POSTURE: First, find a quiet, clean place.  Sit either on a chair with your feet flat on the floor with
your hands in your lap or on your thighs or sit on the floor in a meditation posture like the image at
the top of this page.  Be comfortable.

BREATHE: Close your eyes. Begin to focus your mind on your breathe.  Notice that your breath has 4
cycles to it:  the inbreath, a pause, the outbreath, a pause and so on.  Just notice the 4 cycles for a
while.  Let your whole body breathe, not just your lungs.  The breath is throughout your body, in every
cell.  If your mind begins to wander and make lists, gently bring it back to your breath.  If thoughts
appear just let them flow by like a river and bring your mind back to your breath.

MANTRA: You can repeat a mantra to yourself such as Om to help focus your mind on something
other than your thoughts while following your breath or you can just follow your breath.  The sages
say that all of creation is really a vibration of molecules of blissful eternal light created and
maintained by the primordial sound of God: OM.  Om is often referred to as the unstruck sound that
is always present.  Some people hear it during meditation.  The sound is like a struck Tamboura
(Indian stringed instrument) or the humming of bees.   Om is also spelled as AUM.  A stands for the
creative aspect of God, U for the preservative aspect and M for the destructive aspect.  So in every
moment everything is being created, preserved, destroyed.  Everything is in a constant state of
newness or change.  

SELF: Remember the Self, your true, divine, blissful nature.

You can meditate for a few minutes every day at an appointed time and see how this effects the rest
of your day.  Remember, your true nature is divine so expect the highest!
MEDITATION
Our Natural Destiny
However we may picture the relationship
between God and Soul, one thing is certain:
that the Soul cannot be nothing but.
             - Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
and God spoke: Here is your Divinity,
the Divinity that awaits all Mankind.