In meditation, we go to war

There are many reasons why we meditate.

To be more peaceful.

Get inspired.

Relaxation.

And so on.

When you really get to the core though, you see it's to wage a battle of a kind.

Funny that such a seemingly gentle practice takes on a war like character.

The ancients knew we had a certain destructive, madness living inside of us.

That madness, that enemy of humanity, is the ego and its incessant, judgmental thought stream that runs from the moment we get up, to the moment we go to sleep.

Keeping us separate from the now, in our heads, thinking, analyzing, interpreting.

Most of us listen to that voice all day long and identify with it.

We believe its lies.

Its false judgments.

We act blindly on its counsel.

Symbolically, it is the dragon guarding the treasure chest.

And the dragon must be slayed, you can't outwit it—it's too smart, it knows you too well.

In meditation we come face-to-face with our enemy. That raging river of thought that lures us in just like television programming.

Lures us in and removes us from the now, from the presence of the moment, from our Self.

Keep us busy, keep us agitated, keeps us seeking.

On the battlefield of the mind, attention is your shield, concentration your sword.

The ego will throw everything it has your way. You can't blame it, its very life is at stake.

It challenges you to stand up. To become the general you're waiting for.

It's not going anywhere and does not have your best interest at heart.

So get up and take up your weapon.

And know the ego's two main weapons are: distraction and judgment.

Memories will be thrown at you, items on the to do list, people, places, circumstances. Ad infinitum.

So tempting it is to latch on to the thought and follow it. Or to be so distrubed by the disturbance, to escape from it in the outside world.

You defeat this by turning your attention to the tactic.

You say internally, "This is restlessness. Come back to the now."

As many times as you have to. Even if you see no progress at first. You must train.

Same with judgment. About others, especially about yourself.

The ego knows your weaknesses and like any good opponent, will exploit them to its advantage.

So know the ego's fatal weakness.

It's weak.

And can only be sustained by giving concentration to it (or avoiding it).

So you give concentration to something else.

To something in the now.

Like the rhythm of your breath.

So you sit there and follow your breath.

You say internally, "Breathing in. Breathing out. Breathing in. Breathing out" on every ingoing and outgoing breath.

Or, you can focus your attention on the middle of your forehead, as Yogananda recommends.

This will anger the ego.

It will hurl more at you.

You have to use your will at this point, some personal effort.

And keep your attention fixed, singular—like any good warrior would tell you to do.

Even the slightest lowering of your defense and you can lose headway.