Every year I read this parsha, and I'm always struck by the detail given to Aaron's garments, especially by the verse: the bottom of his robe was lined with scarlet wool pomegranates and golden bells. It is repeated twice, "a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate," on the hem of the robe all around. I love this detail, and I can hear the little jingles of the small gold bells as the robes flowed. Why are these two objects placed together? I think they represent the unity of the path and the destination, the paradox of the spiritual life. Pomegranates, as we know from Sukkot, represent the 613 mitzvot, each seed being a mitzvah. A pomegranate, as the system of mitzvot, is the path on which a Jew travels to serve G-d and the world. The sound of the bells is the call of the present - a bell is used to wake you up to realize what is happening in this instant. A bell is sounded to bring us back into the holiness of this moment. The bell and the pomegranate together typify the holy tension of spiritual life - moving along the sacred way, knowing it leads nowhere but here.
Meditation: Sit up straight and close your eyes. Breathe naturally and deeply; follow your breath with your full attention. Follow the flow, the path of air in and out, the rise and fall of your chest. Follow this flow back to yourself, to your simple state of being, again and again. No matter how many times your mind flies away, follow the path of your breath back to here and now. Let your journey begin and end here.