Many people think that meditation has something to do with the mind and not with the stomach. They do not understand that we are homogeneous. The stomach and the mind are the same thing. Mind is all-pervading. The two forces, prana and mind, are permeating through and through the body. There is not a point in the body where there is no mind and there is no point where there is no prana.
A sincere meditation practitioner should leave at least three hours between a meal and meditation. The best time for meditation, in fact, is the same which is best for sleep. How nicely you sleep in the morning from four to five o’clock. That is the time when you have a high quality of sleep and that is time when you have the highest quality of meditation. The requirements of first class sleep and first class meditation are the same.
Another important factor has been noticed. As you go on meditating, the wave patterns in the brain undergo a change. As the brain waves change, the stress is reduced from different parts of the body and the blood pressure falls. When the blood pressure falls, there is a feeling of total relaxation. Therefore, meditation in the higher stages must be done in padmasana, siddhasana or siddha yoni asana. At the same time, foods that bring down the blood pressure should be avoided. This little piece of revelation should be enough for all of you.
The final point: As a race, we are advancing in our external realization. We have gone far in our scientific advancements and have developed technology and the external material aspect of society. However, it seems that in the last few thousand years we have not stirred a bit on the spiritual plane. It seems that in the last few thousand years, our consciousness has been very static. It has remained at the same point, it has not moved.
We have changed the manner of our body, we have changed the ways of dressing and living, we have changed the system of housing and civic styles, but the awareness has not changed. The little that it has changed is because of the natural law. Why has it been like this? Why have only a few people received enlightenment? Are only a few people destined for illumination? Is truth the destiny of only a few selected people? Is truth only a destiny for those who are pure and divine? Or is enlightenment the birth right of everybody?
In my short span of life, I have come to this point of realization: man is born for enlightenment. Enlightenment is the purpose of human incarnation. If only he is exposed to a spiritual life, humankind can move from its present state of stagnation. Thus we visualize meditation as an important ingredient of social revolution.
April 1981, Torino