Times For Meditation

(Brief quotes from "The Notebooks of Paul Brunton" - Category 4: Meditation)

"By beginning each day with meditation on the Divine, a man begins well. This act helps to give a spiritual background to the work, duties, and meetings of the day. It comes every twenty-four hours as a reminder that his life has a higher purpose to which his worldly purpose must be subordinate. It refreshes his dedication and renews his self-discipline. Above all, it attracts grace and this may give him moral restraint or support or even a feeling of inner peace at relaxed moments later in the day."

"Right through his long life, the Buddha always began his day, after washing and dressing, in solitary meditation. Even the Buddha, illumined though he already was, did not disdain to begin his daily program with meditation."

"A new day can bring a new hopefulness to the most wretched of men, provided he begins it with a meditation at dawn. For then life is really fresh, the mind is quite unfatigued, and contact with the intuitive self is a little easier to get. A meditation at such a crucial yet glorious hour can fix the whole day's pattern."

"The aspirant who is really determined, who wants to make rapid progress, must make use of the early hour of morning when dawn greets the earth. Such an hour is to be set aside for meditation upon the Supreme, that ultimately a spiritual dawn may throw its welcome light upon the soul. By this simple initial act, his day is smoothed before he starts. Yet of the few who seek the highest Truth, fewer still are ready to make this sacrifice of their time, or are willing to forego the comfort of bed. Most men are willing to sacrifice some hours of their sleep in order to enjoy the presence of a woman and to satisfy their passion for her; but exceedingly few men are willing to sacrifice some hours of their sleep to enjoy the presence of divinity and to satisfy their passion for God-realization. "