There are four stages of mental stillness as per an awakened meditator mentioned in his book [0]. As per my understanding, you seem to be at stage 3 which is a great achievement.

> On your journey so far, you’ve come off the freeway and you have driven through a suburban road. Now, you’ve hit the countryside road, the third stage of mental stillness. Just like effusive rivers rush into the sea but the sea remains unmoved, the mind of a yogi remains unaffected by the rise and fall of thoughts and emotions. Sea is not always calm, it has tides and it can get tempestuous, but such choppiness is not an everyday affair. A meditator in the third stage can have rough periods but they are far and few in between. From my experience, less than half a percent of meditators get to the third stage of mental stillness. This is not because they are not earnest about it but because wrong meditation does not lead to improvement. When a meditator has gone past the first two stages, they develop an unfailing stillness of mind that reflects through their actions, thoughts and speech. The energy of a stage three meditator has a quieting effect on those around him. The third stage is the countryside road. You can drive for several miles before you come across any other vehicle. Green fields, meadows, pastures, pristine air, blue sky, expansive views, beautiful landscapes, quiet surroundings, no rush – ah, the pleasure of countryside driving! You can go slower or a bit faster, you choose your own pace. The conditions permit you to do that. A meditator who has reached stage three learns to harness and channelize his thoughts. Most of their sessions comprise spans of quiescence and bliss with occasional thoughts emerging here and there, on and off. They don’t get up all relaxed from their meditation, for relaxed they already are, otherwise it would not have been possible to get to this stage. Instead, they get up feeling supercharged, refreshed and alert. A great meditator is always alert. Alertness is not only the reward but an essential ingredient for good meditation. A stage three meditator can easily sit unmoving for three hours.

I'd recommend you also read on Kundalini [1]. You have a great chance of awakening it in short time and experience the supreme level of bliss and peace.

Also, I request – it'd be great if you can join https://os.me/ and share your practice/experience as posts with spiritually inclined seekers out there.

0: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan... 1: https://www.amazon.in/Kundalini-untold-story-Om-Swami/dp/818...

there's a yogic practice – known as Trataka (Still Gazing) – which can fix short-sightedness or myopia. Giving it from the book A Million Thoughts (on meditation) [0]:

> How to Do It Right

1. Assume the standard yogic posture for meditation, preferably cross-legged.

2. Light a candle, at a distance of about three feet, in front of you. You can also keep any other object than a candle if you prefer.

3. Ensure the candle or any other object of focus is at your eyelevel.

4. Watch it unblinking for a minimum of seven minutes. You can gradually increase the duration.

5. During the actual practice, try to be aware of your wandering thoughts and gently bring your mind back to the object.

> Please see the chart below:

> You will notice that still body and still gaze are red impact items, which means if you move your body or shift your gaze while practising trataka; that is instant failure. Reset the clock and start again. If you are unable to control your eye movement and end up blinking, it’s not a problem, simply be mindful and carry on. You may experience your thoughts flow. Ideally it should be restricted but it is natural and a green impact item, which means you don’t have to stop your practice. Let us say you decide to do trataka for a period of seven minutes. For those seven minutes, you must be still like a rock restricting your eye movements as well. It is important to not blink at all. Tears will start to roll down, but you should stay unmoved. If it gets really uncomfortable, you can blink. The ability to not blink improves over time and with practice. Each time your mind goes off the tangent, bring your focus back to the object. You can do trataka on any object, but doing it on a candle flame has a purifying effect on the mind. It is best to do the practice at least twice a day: in the morning and before going to bed at night.

> Steadily and gradually increase your ability to stay unblinking as part of this practice. It requires patience and resolve.

0: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...

You can try a yogic practice (Trataka – Still Gazing).

>>> Many years ago, someone who used to work for me was struggling with poor memory. He wanted to be alert and disciplined but it was almost like laziness was a disease and he was suffering from it. Not in the physical sense because he was out and about working on stuff all the time but there was no productivity, focus or any significant output. We (him and I) figured he severely lacked focus. I told him to practice trataka for three months every day. It would help him with his memory and focus. He followed the instructions diligently and at the end of three months, there was remarkable improvement in his memory and recall. But, memory improvement wasn’t the main thing. As a result of the practice, another, totally unexpected, thing happened. He reported a blurred vision in spite of wearing spectacles. He went to the optometrist only to find out that he no longer needed the prescription glasses (for short-sightedness or myopia). He had been wearing glasses for more than a decade. I’ve observed on numerous occasions that yogic practices do channelize the flow of various energies in the body. It changes your gaze, gait and movements. It even affects your speech in its own positive way. You slow down a bit but become more effective, more mindful. An unfailing sign of a true yogi is stillness of the gaze. Even some advanced meditators struggle to keep their eyeballs still (even when their eyes are closed). Stillness of the gaze has a remarkable effect on the energy flow in your body. There is a specific yogic practice to perfect your gaze. The method of fixing your gaze on an object is called trāṭaka. Movement in the eyes, flickering of the eyelids represent a subtle flaw in your posture as well as meditation. Practice of trataka is the best practice to eliminate this flaw. Like all other yogic practices, do it every day for at least 40 days to benefit from it.

Excerpted from: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...

> How do I tell the difference between myself achieving enlightenment and merely having an opinion that I have achieved it?

How would you describe a state of mind in which you remain thoughtless as long as you want? Thoughts will only arrive in your conscious mind when you summon them and you can hold a thought as long as you want. You remain perfectly peaceful, tranquil without blabbering and urges of the mind without exerting as in meditation. Meditation is no longer an act but a state of your mind.

When your mind is perfectly under control without effort, you have become awakened (or enlightened), because now you truly possess a free will in the truest sense of the word. Earlier when your mind was in control, your innate tendencies were driving your actions, based on external stimuli. Anger, greed, lust, envy, fear and other negative emotions thrive in such a state of mind naturally and one has to exert to check them.

I'd urge you to try concentrative meditation, wherein one tries to hold a thought (could be visualizing a form, or listening to a sound ETC) and see the power of conditioned mind. Observe how long you can hold it. For instance, if you're visualizing a form, you may discover that within matter of few seconds it starts fading, dancing or completely gone. Similarly If you are meditating on sound, you will find that within few seconds your mind has distracted and you have to exert to retain your focus. The mind is not in your control and such a conditioned mind can form opinions and dilute you. But an enlightened mind, perfectly in control cannot have delusion and ever lives in present moment. Opinions and judgement are tools of a conditioned mind, ever fearful and constantly striving to ensure survival of the body.

That said, I'm not yet an enlightened being; I'm striving for it by walking path of meditation, kindness and chanting [0]. I do have experiences and glimses confirming most of what I've written, but I have not attained the final state yet. If you're truly curious and want to read, learn and practice more about this, I'd encourage you to read Om Swami's books. The one on meditation [1] takes you through the journey of a meditator with states and stages of mind and awareness that you'll find intriguing and hopefully interesting to pursue. Simple yet precise methods and practices have been given along with a method to measure one's progress.

0: I use Black Lotus app for logging and measuring my meditation and chanting sessions as well as random acts of kindness (RAKs) (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rt.pinpric...) - inspired by same author 1: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...

I also practice concentrative meditation and the sensations just keep on increasing as you keep walking on the path. Seems like one is just full of these sensations. As per yogic texts, we have three bodies [0] comprising of five sheeths. One of the sheaths is called pranik (energy).

I alternate between sound (mantra) and form, and sometimes formless as well [1].

Ke to do concentrative meditation can be summed up in one line (taken from [2]) “Exert when relaxed and relax when exerted.”

As one walks the path, one invariably goes through these nine states of awareness: http://omswami.com/2015/02/nine-states-awareness.html

The rewards of concentrative meditation are huge. But most of them requires intense effort eventually [3].

0: http://omswami.com/2011/10/depression-definition-cause-and-c... 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPL_eQKExN0 2. https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan... 3: http://omswami.com/2015/01/types-of-meditator.html