Right way to learn meditation is through Ashtanga way

To begin with, indeed you can learn meditation, however, the path is a tough one and needs complete dedication and relentless effort. The right way to learn meditation is through the Ashtanga way, where “Dhyana” (meditation) comes as the seventh stage in the practice of Yoga! To meditate in the real sense, one has to prepare the mind and the body for it.

The first stage, therefore, is “Yama” where you discipline your life by practicing nonviolence, truth, abstinence, non-covetousness and non-possessiveness. Then you follow the “Niyama” by keeping your body clean and engaging in learning and reflections. Next, you train your body through “Asanas” and control your breath through “Pranayam”. With rigorous practice of these four, you will subsequently, in stages, be able to withdraw your senses from external objects though “Pratyahar”, and be able to concentrate through “Dharana”. Now you would be ready to get into the seventh stage, which is “Dhyana”: Meditation. Once you reach this stage, I would guide you how to go about it. There are two aspects to your question, one a philosophical one and the other, a practical one. Philosophically, I do not subscribe to the theory that you need a formal degree to be good at anything. You need learning, but that learning can come from many sources and not necessarily institutionalized ones. Experience itself is a great teacher, and I count it right next to learning through books and/or institutions, if not more.

Having said that, you must also appreciate the dilemma of a recruiter. The recruiter has many applications and resumes to sift through, and therefore, needs some metric to shortlist. The easiest, as well as a reliable metric, is the qualification, the degree, as well as the institute that degree comes from. The recruiters have no means to understand the value of your experience and the prohibitive costs of hiring prevent them from calling everyone who has applied for the next round of the process. So while it is not mandatory to hold a degree to be good at HR, it is essential to be considered for a good company.

MDP is usually a supplement and helps you update a very narrow aspect of some field in management. It is like a refresher course that assumes that you already have the background, read, degree. It is not a substitute for a degree. I suggest that you go for a regular MBA programme in HR if you wish to make a career in this field. If extenuating circumstances prevent you from taking up a regular programme, do a good parttime or distance program. Have any questions about life, management, philosophy, education, literature, yoga, mountaineering in India, or psychological issues or all of these? Ask Himanshu Rai. He is a Professor at IIM Lucknow, an author, mountaineer, yoga enthusiast and a Sanskrit scholar. Mail at askhimanshu@htlive.com DISCLAIMER: The responses in this column given by me are based on my learnings and experience. They should, by no means, be taken as a substitute for medical/professional help.

THE RECRUITER HAS MANY APPLICATIONS AND RESUMES TO SIFT THROUGH, AND THEREFORE, NEEDS SOME METRIC TO SHORTLIST. THE EASIEST, AS WELL AS A RELIABLE METRIC, IS THE QUALIFICATION, THE DEGREE, AS WELL AS THE INSTITUTE THAT DEGREE COMES FROM