young Indian

meditation brings miracles

It's late afternoon here in Himachal Pradesh. I'm sitting watching the sun sink slowly lower towards the horizon. As usual at this time of day, the birds are very active. A group of parakeets or something has just flown by. However, I want to say a few words about a young Indian woman I was talking to earlier, in a chai shop. Marnya was her name. And she had that amazing vitality of youth: very alive, curious, receptive.

And she had been meditating since the age of eight, when meditation was taught at her school. And I thought, how lucky some Indian people are to be taught meditation at such an early age. We had a beautiful discussion, and one of her comments really stuck in my mind.

It was, meditation brings miracles. And she used the word miracle advisedly, not just poetically, but really in a more strict sense. If one meditates, then the whole quality of life, the whole feel of life can change, without one doing anything else. And the example she gave was, if one meditates enough, then things that before had perturbed one no longer caused such perturbation. One can respond calmly. And that's just one example, of course. It's this amazing capacity to transform our life experience. The feel of life, the feel of the moment, can really change with this spiritual journey, of which meditation is a key ingredient.

So I smiled when this young woman said that meditation brings about miracles. That has also been my experience. I also wanted to include this in this series on Received Wisdom, because it just shows that teachings can come from so many sources, not just people who are older and perhaps wiser than ourself. It can come from anyone we meet in the street, and from any situation.

And these chance encounters over a cup of chai are often the most beautiful, a great place to receive wisdom.