PM WILL BEGIN MEDITATION IN HOURS': THEN WHAT IS HE DOING BELOW, POSING?... A sad sign

ANI tweeted this red-carpet picture, which prompted Kanhaiya Kumar to tweet: "He walks the red carpet even to a temple! Ek Fakiri toh hai hamare Gappu Ji mein." ANI tweeted this picture, saying: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditates at a holy cave near Kedarnath Shrine in Uttarakhand." Over 50 minutes later, amid questions by some social media users whether photographers were also inside the cave, ANI quoted sources as saying: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi trekked 2 kms to the cave and on request of media allowed cameras to make initial visuals. PM will begin his meditation in a few hours which will last till tomorrow morning. No media or personnel will be allowed in the vicinity of the cave." This triggered a bigger question: if the Prime Minister "will begin his meditation in a few hours", what is the activity he is undertaking in the picture above? The "holy cave" has a bedroom, a dining place and a modern toilet. In the ANI picture, Modi is seen sitting on a bed and propped up by a pillow. One Twitter user asked: "Who meditates on a bed with cushion and pillows?" Some wondered whether the spectacles would remain in place through the night while Modi meditated..

DEEPAM CHATTERJEE, TT, 19 May 2019: Today (Saturday) is Buddha Purnima. It is the day that the Shakya prince Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened through meditation and became the Buddha. He subsequently taught meditation as an essential tool to achieve liberation from suffering.
`
In the yogic context, meditation, or dhyana, is defined as a state of pure consciousness.

In the Yoga Sutras, Rishi Patanjali gives clear instructions on how to meditate and describes what factors constitute a meditation practice. Patanjali states, "yogashchitta-vritti-nirodhah" (yoga occurs when the mind has becomes still).

One's posture in yoga should be steady and easy, Patanjali says. He compares this to resting like the cosmic serpent Ananta on the waters of infinity.

Although a real yogi can meditate anywhere and at any time, if meditation becomes a performance to impress people about how deeply "evolved" one is, it really is a serious issue in itself, which needs to be meditated upon.

It is a sad sign when pseudo-meditators sit with their eyes closed but with a calculating and restless mind, playing to the gallery for "effect".

Many pseudo-yogis go around the countryside making a fast buck, sitting under trees or inside caves, wrapped in saffron cloth, or sometimes even naked, sonorously chanting mantras, and spouting non-experienced, bookish wisdom, greedily waiting for the simple-minded public to pour money onto their feet.

Sadly, this is not where it stops. In India, elections bring about religious fancy-dress parties. The religious garb has become a foolproof means to garner votes.
Meditation, or dhyana, is an intimate, inner experience, not to be publicly displayed. Deepam Chatterjee, a retired army captain, has been a practitioner and teacher of various meditation traditions for 25 years. He can be contacted on deepamchatterjee@yahoo.co.in)