Childlike Innocence in Your Meditation

by Ajayan Borys

Years ago when I was traveling with Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) and she addressed an audience, a student of meditation asked her, I have been meditating for many years, yet I am not having any spiritual experience. I try and try, but nothing happens. What can I do? Amma's answer revealed a secret of meditation: Spiritual experience depends upon childlike innocence and faith.

Christ said that the kingdom of heaven is within you, and to enter the kingdom, you must be as innocent as a child. But what exactly does that mean? Well, watch children at play. One thing you may notice is that they spontaneously follow the charm of their experience. When they are having fun, they revel in it. If they become bored, they move on to more promising play. This is the essence of innocence - following our own intrinsic nature to seek more happiness. This is also the key to successful meditation. Savor each moment of meditation; enjoy it with the quiet enthusiasm of a child at play. If you find yourself having thoughts, gently come back to the practice, which will take you toward inner bliss.

This raises another interesting point about childlike innocence: a child at play naturally expresses enthusiasm; he or she is not passive. You can go through the steps of meditation passively, without much care, or you can be fully alert, savoring every moment as if you were relishing your favorite dessert. Both approaches can be effortless, but there will be a world of difference in the results.

I call this quiet enthusiasm creative receptivity. Traditionally, people meditated in pursuit of the Divine, the Infinite, or liberation from suffering. They were highly motivated, vitally interested in the interior experience that meditation could provide (think of Saint Teresa of Avila or Rumi; you will not detect passivity in their writings). They meditated with childlike innocence and with an abundance of quiet enthusiasm, creative receptivity, or, you may simply say, love.

Creative receptivity is the attitude that you are ready to receive a gift, ready for something significant to happen. It's approaching meditation as if you're sitting on the edge of your chair, ready for the best. Perhaps you're ready at long last to feel relief from a constant, nagging anxiety or depression. Perhaps you're ready to embrace a more conscious, healthy lifestyle, to restore your cardiovascular health, or to enhance your artistic creativity or your sense of well-being. It may mean you're ready to dive deep into the bliss of your cosmic Self, or to explore what Saint Teresa of Avila called your interior mansion. You don't have to do anything to be creatively receptive. You need only not turn off and tune out.

Creative receptivity is one side of the innocence of a child at play. Another side is that a child innocently at play doesn't strain; the child's enjoyment is spontaneous. Many people I have talked to mistakenly think meditation is a matter of discipline - as if it's intrinsically a rather unpleasant task. Not so! Remember, meditation works only because it brings us to greater and greater happiness and eventually lands us in unrestricted joy, in bliss consciousness. As such, meditation is the essence of play.

So let yourself enjoy the play of your meditation. Enjoy every nuance. Be childlike and innocent in your inner, quiet play of meditation. Let it be spontaneous. Yes, there is structure to your meditation, but if you're having a delectable experience, let it lead you where it may; then come back to the steps of your meditation. Those steps are there only to be transcended. They are there to land you in unrestricted joy. And if you have a wonderful experience, be willing to let that go, too. Don't hold on to it. There are always bigger things yet to come. Spontaneity also means opening to all possibilities. In sum, meditation is the flow of grace that fills the heart and mind. You can't script grace. You can only receive and enjoy it, gratefully, with the innocence of a child.