A traditional list of immediate “basic needs” is food (including water), shelter, and clothing. Since years a meditation has become another basic need for me. I mean that. Meditation is something I cannot do without, just because it’s a natural physical requirement. It is not only the fact that I feel good after any meditation, but – what’s really fascinating! – that my body itself creates a demand for a meditation even if I manage to “skip” it due to the so-called lack of time.
I am practicing sahaja meditation for 15 years by now and through that time I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: if I happen to miss my morning meditation, my body itself “creates” it! This works the following way: when my body realises that neither at 8, 9 or 10 o’c clock in the morning I will have a chance to meditate, at the latest around midday (but never at the same time) my Kundalini starts rising stronger and stronger along my spinal cord, shooting out on top my head which creates the cool breeze above my head and I just literary fall into the meditative state because the bliss coming down my brain from above is just so amazing and relaxing that I cannot resist meditation for several minutes…
This happens totally without my thought about it and any effort on my side, naturally wherever I am at the moment – in the bus, in the office, at home… It feels like a huge portion of living energy is being poured down on me and I get a great energetic supply for the rest of the day. Isn’t it a wonder?
Basically all that happens without any concern of my mental self, a demand for meditation created by my own body and Spirit. Thus for me it became another basic need.
And I am sure I am not the only one with such experience.
Here is a short animation on how it apparently looks like:
LOVE
axinia
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
I agree for this .It is another basic need even not fulfilled I crave for it and it starts spontaneously. vibrations may be low quantity but i have that feeling of showering blessings ( energy ). I totally support for this as i now I can’t separate oneself from this phenomenon. more or less amount it works continuously and spontaneously.
Yes as soon as i read the tittle, i too felt that meditating has become as basic need as food air or water.. and although i dont experience it always, even i have experienced the raise of kundalini automatically and a cool breeze above sahasrara.. but its very momentary, does not last as long as i had wished for. and the funny part is that while travelling to work or back from work many times when i decide to meditate i instead fall asleep.. 😦 and there is this constant feeling of restlesness of not getting something so close by many a times, that it just makes me mad until i dont meditate, after which i get relaxed and joyful 🙂
Axinia , Why the title is like this ,I mean ” My need”?
Don’t you feel it is everybody’s need in today’s scenario?
Even in Maslow’s hierarchic it is at the Top of the triangle I feel it should be added in Basic needs rather than achievement needs i.e. at the base of triangle.
We must educate the people if they are unaware,even though the decision is taken in their freedom.I feel it is my duty as we practice need base and holistic approach in nursing.
I believe Axinia has indeed used the correct title, dear Maheshsaheb 🙂
Apart from the “basic needs for life and survival”, most people are mature enough to think for themselves and decide what their own “other basic needs” are 😐
🙂
thank you Raj, you got it right 🙂 Yes, mahesh, it’s MY basic need because it may not be so for others. You know, I prefer speaeking of my own experiences and not generalize as far as possible.
@ Axinia , you have not catch my point. There is need of generalization of true personal experiences otherwise there will be no value to research also. look around with open eyes and tell me whether it is right or wrong . people need it even they don’t feel it as felt need. ( Apart from meditation there are lot of things where they require education and we are giving it by putting so much burden of public education on health economy )it is nescessory to understand substle system also which is not only considered base for meditation but” Aurveda” also.
mahesh, I would love meditaion to become a basic need for everyone, but as it is currently it is not.
Hopefully it will be one day. But this is a very personal thing, has to be experienced and cannot be forced upon.
Thanks Axinia, I understand and aware also but feels hopefully work in that direction that should be our mission any way it also can not be imposed forcefully . Thanks again.
Raj,
Giving most respect to your consideration and understanding still i am having dought about statement – most people are mature enough to think for themselves and decide what their own as i have already mention-,even though the decision is taken in their freedom.
It sounds very difficult.
I know your opinion about meditation and I respect too still what I feel there are many health related benefits apart from spiritual ascend which can not be deny. All cases of psychosomatic illnesses are having better results which not only reduce the burden on health economy but improves personality and comfort at individual level so it is not only sort of primary prevention but works at rehabilitation level also. Still there are new pathophysiologic concepts are upcoming as challenge to medicine and farmaco as they dont have curative approach
it is now widely accepted in medicine also and many doctors not only practice but advice also It is another matter of fact that who will loose their OPD by giving permanent solution,? loosing intelligent business.?
Dear Maheshsaheb,
Let me put it frankly here. If you or Axinia feels meditation (or anything else, for that matter) happens to be your basic need which you cannot do without, then that is perfectly fine with me. I have NO PROBLEMS with it and I respect it. But ONLY as long as you don’t thrust YOUR basic need on me, that is!!!
PERSONALLY, I don’t feel meditation is a “basic need” at all. In fact, I don’t believe meditation is even necessary in the first place. Harsh as that may sound to you, that is what I believe and feel 😐
Sure, there are a few undeniable health benefits of meditation (as I’ve mentioned many times before), but they are by no means exclusive to meditation. There are other methods to achieve the same or even better it. As far as “Ayurveda” is concerned, I simply don’t believe in the efficacy of such a form of medicine that cannot even save a life in an emergency situation. The same is applicable to “Unani”, “Siddha”, “Homoeopathy” and some others. If people believe in the curative abilities and efficacy of such systems of medicine, fine, it’s their belief and I respect their right to choose whatever system of medicine they want as they seem fit.
But let them keep it to themselves or to those who want it. I don’t want it and I will oppose it if anyone tells me it is a basic necessity for me or for everyone.
Some primitive countries actually discourage (and want to ban) all forms of meditation and yoga as being opposed to their “culture”, for their own vested reasons. While I oppose the ban as being mediaeval and against the freedom of belief, I think it springs from exactly the same mindset that believes “meditation” is supposedly a “basic need” for all. Though they “seem” opposite on the surface, both are actually one and the same. Both beliefs spring from the desire to control others and forcibly impose one’s own views and beliefs upon others.
Almost all evil in the world arises out of the fact that someone or the other wants to control others by force and impose one’s own beliefs and ideas upon them. Whether you like it or not, I feel obliged to vehemently resist such tendencies whenever I come across them, by whoever proposes them.
Bloody mass-murdering ideologies such as communism, Nazism, Fascism and other forms of totalitarianism and tyranny all sprang from a mindset where some wanted to forcibly appropriate for themselves the ability of each individual to decide for himself/herself. Even more than the love of money, it has always been the notorious desire to totally CONTROL others that is at the ROOT OF ALL EVIL. The desire to control usually manifests itself in the beginning as the desire of some to take away the ability of all others to decide for themselves. I will continue to oppose it lock, stock and barrel to my very last breath!
I’m sorry if I sound harsh or rude, but I just wanted to state it clearly. If you believe “meditation” or “Ayurveda” is a basic need for you, fine, I respect it, but please keep it to yourself.
I’m NOT going to give up my ability and right to think and decide for myself to anyone else under any circumstance, and I will resist (and even use violence if necessary) if someone tries to take it away from me.
I know you DON’T have any desire to force anything down the throat of anyone else, Maheshsaheb, but I see your view of believing something as a “basic need for everyone” as threatening my belief and right to think, decide and choose my basic needs for myself.
That’s why I believe Axinia used the correct title that meditation was her basic need. I respect her right to decide her own basic needs and I’m perfectly fine with it.
🙂
Thanks Raj, i know your views very well and I am not imposing my views on you as I dont want to control you that is not my desire even for any body. I respect your views and struggle for freedom
one another important thing i want to tell you that meditation itself gives freedom to choose and it can not be imposed. Basically during meditation we develop love to one self as well as to others which not only teach us but man changes from within about surrendering of oneself to others rather than controlling so there is no question of controlling others. it is love which bound to everybody together at the same time keeping safe distance and respecting one’s identity.
Take example of one drop if it fall on rock it spoils but if it fall on sea itself become sea so like that we mix with each other. It is not controlling.
we have become habitual of daily meditation so we need it as basic need I know it may not be same for you. Your priorities may be different
( For sake of example of priority, I know the person who had liver failure, kidney failure, just 10 min before dying he earned 3.5 lacks form selling shares, from ICU.)……
Meditation is not a basic need.
Nobody dies from not meditating.
People dies from the real deprivation of real basic needs.
I ask myself how long the middle class will confuse her privileged lifestyle with essential human needs.
of cause nobody dies from not mediating 🙂 but may be in the process of evolution it will become a basic need, who knows?
Great article Axinia, and great blog!
Just a small observation: the word meditation is mistyped in the title (first t is missing) as well as in your comments (well that is not so important, I guess)
thanks, dear, undrotuntatly I tent to be clumsy with typing…thanks a lot for pointing it out!!!
…you mean like some assuming they can not live without a certain product?
All this not scientific wishful thinking reminds me creationism. If you don’t have it your way now, who knows maybe later if neglecter of evidences repeat it loud enough.
It needs only a look in the past to figure out that meditation has been used in society’s to create social apartheid (Brahman/untouchable), not to mention all kind of other groups in history who legitimated their evil doing with a spiritual hierarchical determinism.
Liberation movements were mostly nourished by philosophy , but I am more than willing to hear from anybody here at least one, who was based on meditation.
Dear brother antiphonsgarden
there are certain things in life which don’t have survival value but they gives value to survival like love,passion, art,music,relationship etc. meditation is also one of the component… so should be included in basic needs like oxygen .. I can understand your experience with suffering . on the contrast you can better understand it’s importance if you are deprived one and sufferer. ( as I am not sure about personal detail sorry if i used any wrong term. our main concern is human concern through personal experience rather than guessing and generalization !!!)
I miss meditation so much too, sadly I literally do not have even 5 minutes for it.
no you are not the only one, i hope one day they ll join us and the world will b as one, imagine :))))))))))))))
….and when we will be in the meditation without brake, or need to sit down, and “meditate”…the evolution will have another step successfully realized.;)
Great observation!
Thahks for sharing it!
Obviously your meditation has not improve your capacity to make the difference between a basic need and a personal choice.
As if meditation would prevent humans from starvation or a missing of shelter.
Mahesh,first…I am a woman.Second..don’t worry about my basic needs.Third,…I bet even you would noticed the difference between not meditating and missing oxygen.
I see clearly why you have an evident problem to make a difference.
If meditation would solve social injustice,humanity would have noticed…India is such a splendid example how meditation is used to distract from them.
Antiphonsgarden,
I know your comment is addressed to Mahesh, but it has served to highlight a terribly wrong assumption of mine.
Please accept my sincere, humble apologies for assuming that you were a man 😦 and for repeatedly addressing you using associated phrases like mon cher ami, parisien, terrien etc. when they really should have been ma chère amie, parisienne, terrienne etc. instead 😐
I didn’t really have a clue that you were a woman from your comments or from your posts. I probably missed noticing the obvious signs when you were repulsed at the way in which European women of past centuries were treated by society and by themselves.
On the brighter side, my wrong assumption and the subsequent realisation have only served to solidify and strengthen my respect and admiration for the civilisational, progressive, educational and humanist values of the civilised societies in general and Western Europe in particular (including France, obviously)! 🙂
You see, I live in a notoriously uncouth turd world cess-pit called the filthy, sub-human, evil Indian empire which is home to the universe’s most satanic and despicably rotten “culture” where hordes and hordes of women deliberately murder their own girl babies and abort their own female foetuses and then deceptively and shamefully LIE about their “great spiritual nature” inspired by their “special and unparalleled culture” 😡 Having been used to such a filthy “cultural” mindset, I honestly did not expect a woman to hold such frank, candid, honest, realistic, truthful and strong views (such as calling a donkey a donkey) on different things on the planet as you frequently express in your comments. It was very foolish on my part to do so 😦
That’s probably the reason why more commentators than just Mahesh and I incorrectly assumed your gender, mon amie 🙂 And I’m truly sorry for such foolishness on my part 😦
🙂
Mon tres cher ami,
I have tried before to correct this assumption about me, but I had not been heard.How pleasant, I succeeded now.Not that it truly matters, as I consider myself first as human amongst other human,but as you say, it is slightly annoying that the capacity to reflect deeply is associated so directly with being a man.I forgive you without any problem, I have always enjoy your strong argumentation with me, if you agreed or not.I consider you as friend.
I come from a long line of strong women, who had the courage to “call a donkey a donkey”, and like them, I truly think that only if women are truly respected , men can be themselves too in all their potential.The repression of women creates immature men with despotic demands out of insecurity. I hope for a future overcoming such limitation of the human potential.Merci for your willingness to welcome this future too!
Merci beaucoup for forgiving my foolishness, ma chère amie 🙂
I understand how terribly annoying it would have been to observe so many people just blindly assume you were a man based on your views, ideas and reflections. It is a clear sign of a planet that is badly male-dominated and where women almost never get their due. If they do get some respect, then it’s only because they happen to be a mother, sister, daughter, niece, wife, girlfriend, mistress, concubine etc. of some man (i.e. “the woman behind a man”) and they almost never get their due for just being themselves and for having a mind, heart and soul of their own. It’s indeed a terrible pity 😦 and a sign of how unevolved and mediaeval the planet still is 😐
I was so terribly embarassed 😳 to learn that I failed to think beyond such a conditioned mindset 😦 Of course, being from a notoriously filthy “culture” of a stinkingly evil sub-continent did not help either 😐 A “culture” in which “holy books” 😡 describe women as sub-humans who were “born of sinful wombs” as they were cursed by previous births’ karma to be born as women and suffer the resulting indignities. The savage, uncouth, abysmally low IQed barbarians whose tiny little pea-brains believe in the turdy concept of previous births’ karma are instructed by their sub-satanic “religion” that a woman should be completely controlled by her father (and brothers) when she is young, by her husband later and by her sons in old age”. It is such uncouth savages who boast about their “great culture” and the supposed “spirituality” of their sub-human crap hole of a land.
I too believe that unless women are truly respected for just being themselves, men will always be worthless, insecure creatures. It is obvious in the stark differences between the civilised societies and the sub-humanly uncouth ones. Societies where women get some of their due (not what they truly deserve, but atleast partly) all happen to be civilised, humane and evolved. In sharp contrast, the primitive, uncouth societies where women are merely regarded as either showpieces and/or as the “property of men” (who must perform the role of being “breeding machines” and “child-rearers”) all happen to be uncivilised, regressive and despicably rotten.
Take certain societies rolling in wealth acquired from liquid resources beneath their soil. Despite having access to easy and enormous wealth, they still happen to be mediaeval and uncouth crap holes where women are living non-entities at best, and don’t even have the right to drive a vehicle or step out of the house alone at worst. It is solid proof that uncouth savages will continue to be savages no matter how much wealth they have or how “spiritual” they claim to be.
The good thing of course, is that the civilised societies of the world are showing how it should be. The overwhelming number of insecure savages of the mediaeval, uncouth turd world will always refuse to behave in a civilised way and will seek to destroy the civilised societies with their primitive barbarism, for their primitive pea-brains can neither evolve on their own, nor will they allow others to evolve. The sick turd-heads will continue to behave like the scum beings they truly are. But as usual, the task of acting as the guiding beacon for the whole of humankind and the planet rests with the few evolved, civilised societies of the planet.
🙂
I too request for sorry if i have used hard words and for incorrect assumption of gender as I always respect to women and her powers . I am also from India but not as bitter as Raj ,still keep some hopes from humanity though Raj say’s about true facts of India. …..
The repression of women creates immature men with despotic demands out of insecurity. really true !!!! but most of time I found and I have written also women are stronger than men always and they are better ruler of family still i dont know why some where something goes wrong and they always labeled themselves poor, weak and dependable ( Some times dependability is expected from part of love I agree) and feels always insecure….so sorry if i have hurt ed you unknowingly.
Don t worry dear friends,it is forgiven, and was not a big problem to me anyway.But I might have to teach you guys the art of decent hand kisses in society! 😉 (should I claim the respect of such absolutely indispensable behaviour, I expect from all decent cultivated gentlemen, as a basic need of mine?….As much as the use of a side saddle for lady’s…did I mention the subtle language of flower or the art of fighting with a sword as absolute surviving necessity for all?)
Today in our interdisciplinary conference of KIMSU A doctor deliver a very good lecture on evolution of brain along with human species from single cell.
desire to serview make single cell species to adapt change in a particular adaptive cycle i.e. from awareness to erge to react. it doesn’t require brain then multicellular reptile brain develop which still present in spinal cord pons and medulla which perfectly work through reflex action. then it evolve in lymbic brain or emotional brain ( Lymbic area)where all emotions and its reaction develop ( ego and superego ) then it comes to intellectual brain where all hemisphere are interconnected with specialized function like all sense organ and its experiences . all theses experiences are communicated to temporal lobe and stored in the form of memory and also generate thinking and its related reactions by secreting enzymes like peptides .such peptides also present in intestine ( Gut feeling), lymphocytes ( immune system) so these cells also think and generate reactions. now forth brain has come up which is called as spiritual brain which is located in the frontal bone which connect to all the hemisphere to collect experiences either may be intellectual or emotional ( mamelian type) or may be reptile type i.e. through reflex action. The most important characteristics of this brain is it can introspect so we can observe ourselves ( our thinking process) from outside. when we are in meditative state means watching ourself we disconnect all the messages from all the hemisphere including emotions so we enter in thoughtless awareness state where all the energy is conserve as we are not using our mamelian or reptile brain. what happens usually either we use mammalian brain i.e. intellectual or emotional component or reptile brain ie react through reflex action and we enter into stress. so doing meditation means being enter into spiritual brain i.e observing state or witness state which totally break the initial adaptive cycle ie even unicellular are using without brain. watching without reaction helps to enter into thoughtless awareness which is ultimate aim of spiritual brain. s these brains are still working at different level we show different behavior and reactions and its effect on body as well as environment contd…
very few people uses spiritual brain as it require training ( Sadhana) if you are in anger means using your emotional brain definitely your intellectual brain is going to affect. now take a example .You are very much angry with your child .You are about to hit him and somebody tap the door.when you open the door and find somebody is watching you ,you immediately change the reaction and bring smile on your face by the time your anger goes as it is emotion .so in the state when your spiritual brain is watching you you are less likely to miss balance thus your behavior become more refine . You my be having emotions like joy happiness but not for one ,for all . It explains behviour of many who are working for animal,save tiger,or for green earth
Mahesh, I don’t need social or even worse, religious control to care with compassion.It is my nature as human.
I find it very critical to oppose emotionality, to the intellect, to the spiritual.
This division leads to unnecessary confusion and not to the expression of our interactive potential.
I hardly imagine the therm spiritual brain neurological scientific.
And I doubt that actual neurology is still bound to an hierarchical mechanic concept, I would more suggest that modern neurology is about starting the understand the interdependence and interactivity of all aspects impacting all aspects and THAT is a spiritual view, during dividing the human into higher and lower organ, is the old religious disdain towards nature searching for representations of the old paradigm confirming the idea of an elite/caste society, even in the organs.