MEDITATION

MEDITATIONS


I walk inside my daughter’s apartment here. Outside it is getting colder and moreover outside it is only apartments and not the right place for a long walk. Broad and clean roads, too many cars and too little people. May be a walk in the Forest Park would have been invigorating. But it is not near. My daughter had taken me there earlier and it was beautiful with Fall colours. It is true that a walk outdoors is a great relaxation. I used to walk along the Tiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai in the morning, though there was a crowd of people walking there ( some very early birds ), it was a great experience just observing each one lost in their own thoughts, or overhearing a bunch of older people walking in front of you discussing and analysing the latest happenings in the city and the country. On the other side, the sea set its own rhythm with the sound of the waves. If you are early enough you could catch the sun rising as it changed from a mellow red to orange to gold in all its splendour. I have watched some very old couples sitting and watching the sea and the sun, a certain serenity on their faces which comes from having a lived a life together and having seen the various travails of life, now at peace with themselves. Many times I have felt like getting my camera and capturing these various moods. I may do it one day when I am back in Chennai. A walk outdoors is a meditation, where you are an observer of all the things around you, maybe as time goes on you may achieve a state of merging with the Absolute. However that would depend on the state of your awareness within.

But like I said, I started walking indoors not out of choice but due to constraints that I have outlined earlier. After my surgery I was forced to walk inside my house for at least two weeks, as I was advised against going outdoors for fear of catching infection. The walking space in my living room was adequate. I used to walk for about forty five minutes mentally measuring the distance I would have covered during that time, which was adequate for post surgery activity. Later when I was better I ventured out and later did all my walking inside the Marundeeswarar temple which was next door literally. Inside the Temple the path around the sanctum sanctorum was paved and quite long enough for a good walk. This was another experience as I was doing the rounds around the sanctorum absorbed in my thoughts and chanting the prayers I knew ( very few of course ). I always used to do this and continue doing even in my walks indoors. Each cycle would last about six minutes and I would have covered about half a kilometre. I used to do this even in Ahmedabad when I was in a better physical shape and used to jog covering about seven kilometres in an hour. My walk inside the temple brought in a more religious and spiritual element.

Now here in Saint Louis my walks have become more internalised. The apartment being large enough, I am able to walk at my normal speed without any disturbance as people here wake up late, of course the only exception being my wife who is up before me and in the kitchen. I would like to do it earlier before the sounds and smells of cooking from the kitchen distract me and my silence. Yes, here within the quietness of the apartment where no external sounds permeate, I take a walk within myself also. It was during one such walk that I awoke to the fact that this was meditation. Physically I cover a good three kilometres in forty five minutes, which I guess is good enough for my repaired heart. But it is this internalisation that has spurred me in my reflections.