[Music]
I was 22 when I was imprisoned as one of
Australia’s first convicted terrorists
it took seven long years before I was
eventually exonerated and compensated
during that time I did a lot of
meditation and eventually I experience
the amazing bliss of higher
consciousness
I remember four days I was just floating
loving everything the buildings the
grass the people even the hated guards I
wanted to embrace but I didn’t because I
knew they’d locked me in the section for
insane prisoners apparently they didn’t
like prisoners hugging guards
I even shocked one of my visitors saying
I actually didn’t mind being in maximum
security in fact I’d become the happiest
and most contented I’ve ever been in my
life thanks to the meditation I first
learnt to meditate when I was 17 I was
quite a happy and successful surfer at
the time but I had history with drugs
and alcohol and smoking and I thought
that meditation would help me give them
up I’m 63 now and I can tell you I
haven’t touched any of them since the
first day I learned to meditate although
I still surf I’m now an Acharya meaning
a meditation teacher and while there are
many kinds of meditations I want to talk
about two major ones on one hand we have
the popular mindfulness meditation and
on the other hand we have the
traditional mantra meditation both
originated from India where traditional
coming from the ancient yoga disciplines
while mindfulness came from Buddhism
although it’s been greatly modified to
suit the Western secular mind there’s
been over 3000 scientific studies done
on meditation and as you can see they
have tremendous physical and mental
health benefits and that’s regardless of
what kind
of meditation you do but the techniques
and goals are different for example
mindfulness has been described as a
mental state achieved by focusing one’s
awareness on the present moment while
calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s
feelings thoughts and physical
sensations it means to have a heightened
awareness in the present moment with
compassion without judgment or worry
it is therefore psychophysical meaning
the mind is focused on something
physical or worldly traditional
meditation however is psycho-spiritual
meaning the mind is focused on God or
higher consciousness the meditation
usually involves a spiritual mantra and
various visualization techniques which
helps you firstly to withdraw from the
outside world then from your body then
from the mind itself to the unending
bliss of infinite consciousness you
could say from mindfulness to blissful
mindlessness consciousness is very
subtle
in fact the yogi say it’s the essence of
everything including the universe and
some scientists are suggesting the same
to experience consciousness therefore
needs a very subtle and intuitive mind
giving a profoundly peaceful loving and
universal feeling generating tremendous
inner strength confidence and positivity
even in a place like prison and that
reminds me of another story one time a
very big prisoner came into my cell he
was drunk and he started abusing me
spitting in my face pulling my beard
trying to start a fight but I didn’t
react
I kept calm I focused in the moment I
then concentrating on my Higher Self the
very peaceful and loving feeling that
created without saying a word to him I
mentally projected it onto him that
feeling he suddenly stopped abusing me
he went outside he came back in he
apologized and said if anyone ever
bothers me too
here take care of them I suddenly
realized that I had a new friend I also
realized how powerful the meditation was
and how people like Swami Rama could use
this power to control his brain mind and
body the way it did but you have to be
careful one time I couldn’t eat or drink
anything for three days I was so upset
with myself when I realized my words had
seriously distressed some very good and
innocent people
so vigilance on behavior is also very
important for traditional meditation to
conclude both have great physical and
mental benefits mindfulness however is
more to do with focusing on the moments
presence without judgment whereas
traditional meditation is more about
focusing on the infinite love of
consciousness both can be a great
catalyst for creative personal change as
well as for creative global change but
they require regular practice so the
real question is how already are you for
creative change in your life thank you [Applause]
I was 22 when I was imprisoned as one of
Australia’s first convicted terrorists
it took seven long years before I was
eventually exonerated and compensated
during that time I did a lot of
meditation and eventually I experience
the amazing bliss of higher
consciousness
I remember four days I was just floating
loving everything the buildings the
grass the people even the hated guards I
wanted to embrace but I didn’t because I
knew they’d locked me in the section for
insane prisoners apparently they didn’t
like prisoners hugging guards
I even shocked one of my visitors saying
I actually didn’t mind being in maximum
security in fact I’d become the happiest
and most contented I’ve ever been in my
life thanks to the meditation I first
learnt to meditate when I was 17 I was
quite a happy and successful surfer at
the time but I had history with drugs
and alcohol and smoking and I thought
that meditation would help me give them
up I’m 63 now and I can tell you I
haven’t touched any of them since the
first day I learned to meditate although
I still surf I’m now an Acharya meaning
a meditation teacher and while there are
many kinds of meditations I want to talk
about two major ones on one hand we have
the popular mindfulness meditation and
on the other hand we have the
traditional mantra meditation both
originated from India where traditional
coming from the ancient yoga disciplines
while mindfulness came from Buddhism
although it’s been greatly modified to
suit the Western secular mind there’s
been over 3000 scientific studies done
on meditation and as you can see they
have tremendous physical and mental
health benefits and that’s regardless of
what kind
of meditation you do but the techniques
and goals are different for example
mindfulness has been described as a
mental state achieved by focusing one’s
awareness on the present moment while
calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s
feelings thoughts and physical
sensations it means to have a heightened
awareness in the present moment with
compassion without judgment or worry
it is therefore psychophysical meaning
the mind is focused on something
physical or worldly traditional
meditation however is psycho-spiritual
meaning the mind is focused on God or
higher consciousness the meditation
usually involves a spiritual mantra and
various visualization techniques which
helps you firstly to withdraw from the
outside world then from your body then
from the mind itself to the unending
bliss of infinite consciousness you
could say from mindfulness to blissful
mindlessness consciousness is very
subtle
in fact the yogi say it’s the essence of
everything including the universe and
some scientists are suggesting the same
to experience consciousness therefore
needs a very subtle and intuitive mind
giving a profoundly peaceful loving and
universal feeling generating tremendous
inner strength confidence and positivity
even in a place like prison and that
reminds me of another story one time a
very big prisoner came into my cell he
was drunk and he started abusing me
spitting in my face pulling my beard
trying to start a fight but I didn’t
react
I kept calm I focused in the moment I
then concentrating on my Higher Self the
very peaceful and loving feeling that
created without saying a word to him I
mentally projected it onto him that
feeling he suddenly stopped abusing me
he went outside he came back in he
apologized and said if anyone ever
bothers me too
here take care of them I suddenly
realized that I had a new friend I also
realized how powerful the meditation was
and how people like Swami Rama could use
this power to control his brain mind and
body the way it did but you have to be
careful one time I couldn’t eat or drink
anything for three days I was so upset
with myself when I realized my words had
seriously distressed some very good and
innocent people
so vigilance on behavior is also very
important for traditional meditation to
conclude both have great physical and
mental benefits mindfulness however is
more to do with focusing on the moments
presence without judgment whereas
traditional meditation is more about
focusing on the infinite love of
consciousness both can be a great
catalyst for creative personal change as
well as for creative global change but
they require regular practice so the
real question is how already are you for
creative change in your life thank you [Applause]
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