The Process Of Meditation

In an earlier article, I had introduced readers to the concepts of meditation. In this article, I will go a step further and discuss the meditation process. Please note that as meditation progresses, there is a need for a very specialized knowledge which we will discuss when I come to that stage of meditation. Broadly meditation consists of the following stages:

A: Develop a routine

Meditation needs dedication, a commitment and a willingness to put in effort even if results are not apparent at all.

It is absolutely imperative to develop a fixed schedule and stick to it. This is similar to any other human effort. If I want to get fit, I need to stick to a routine of regular exercises. If I have to reduce weight, I have to stick to a routine of exercises and diet control. Similarly, for meditation, it is absolutely essential to have a routine.

The suggestion is to select a quiet place away from regular activities. Over a period of time, that place should automatically be associated in the mind as a place for meditation. We go into the kitchen and the mind is associated with eating. We go to the bed room and mind associates with sleeping. Similarly, it is necessary to have a location, which the mind automatically associates with meditation. Practitioners are also suggested to have a fixed time every day to meditate.

Even if one does not gain the real benefits of meditation, the very act of following a routine, even if not exactly interesting, is something that can surely help in mind training and building discipline in life.

B. Get a hook to hang the mind

The mind is a very restless organ and moves from thoughts to thoughts. A key element of meditation is focus. The mind needs something to focus on, else will wander. So, it is suggested that practitioners  have something they identify with as positive as a hook for their mind. I identify with the picture of Miss Universe. Can I use it as a hook? This does not make sense from a meditation perspective. The idea is to hook the mind to something from which it will not stray into multiple thoughts. Hooking on Miss Universe will potentially move the mind to think of a date with her, dinner and much more and defeat the purpose of meditation. Typically, it is suggested to use a picture of something holy, like a saint, a monument, a holy book etc. If someone is not religious at all, one can use a light source like a candle.

Practitioners should sit in a comfortable position and focus on the object and to the extent possible think only of the object. As meditation progresses, it may be possible to eliminate the physical object and instead focus on the mental image of that object.

C. Concentrate on the object of meditation and develop awareness

In our day to day life, we are flooded with thousands of thoughts. Even as we are at work, we get thoughts of family and vice versa. So, when we sit for meditation on an object, it is very common for the mind to wander into different areas. We should not force the mind to come back to the object. It is very important to become aware that the mind has strayed and gently nudge it back to the object. It is fine to have imaginary conversations to enable the mind to get back to its original thought. In my case, as i meditate, I get thoughts of some individuals. I may not even be aware that my mind has strayed. Once I become aware, I imagine myself telling that individual who came in my thoughts, that I need to be excused and come back to my thoughts on object of meditation. As the practice progresses, it becomes easier and quicker to realize that the mind has strayed and to bring it back to the original objective.

D. Develop a stream of same thoughts

As the practice develops and one is quite comfortable with the routine of meditation, one can think of a phrase or a name and continuously utter it mentally as one thinks of it. The idea is to have a continuous stream of thoughts focusing only one element. An ideal term for meditating would be the word Om. It is suggested that the gap between thinking of the word be minimal initially. so it is almost a fast repetition mentally of the word.

E. Become aware of the silence

As one becomes more comfortable with the same thought process, one should gradually increase the gap between the repetition.  For example, if initially there is a small gap of about one second, it should gradually be increased. The idea here is to gradually make the mind free of thoughts even for very small periods of time.

Till this stage, there was the meditator and the  meditating object. As the period of silence increases, the object is gone and in the advanced stage, we lose awareness of our physical being and the mental being. It is as though there is nothing.

F. Develop understanding of the one source of consciousness

 As the time of silence increases, one should contemplate on the source of reality. I am not the body. I am not the mind. Why? Anything that I can experience or am aware of, cannot be me. I know my hands, legs etc. so I cannot be the body. I am aware of my thoughts and emotions. So, I cannot be the mind. Then who am I? I am the Awareness principle or the consciousness principle. Are there multiple awareness principles? Is my awareness or consciousness principle different from your's? As meditation proceeds to the highest level, the only awareness is that there is only consciousness and that consciousness is same for everyone.

G. Become the consciousness

This is in the final stage of meditation. The body, mind, intellect are all disowned and the meditator has himself become consciousness, after which there is permanent bliss.  The mud pot has realized it is mud and does not have to worry about other beautiful pots. The small wave has realized it is the ocean and does not need to be threatened by bigger waves. The meditator has realized that he is Consciousness or the Universal principle and need not be bound by the limitations of time, space and any other boundaries we as humans experience.

Conclusion

Meditation is a process and needs consistent practice. It needs dedication so as to overcome initial setbacks. It needs faith to continue on the path even with no apparent benefits. The initial stages of meditation do not require any major knowledge. However, to make progress from stage E onwards, needs a grounding in principles of spirituality. I suggest readers attend lectures on spirituality or at a minimum read books on spirituality. At the cost of being called, non modest, I recommend my book, details of which are below:



As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

Introduction To Meditation

Please read my book on spirituality which is available on Amazon.com.
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Whenever any spiritual discussions come up, one point that is surely brought up is about meditation. Many times, when people ask me how I am and I say I am fully relaxed, one of the most common questions is whether I meditate. Meditation means many things to many people. In this article, I will try to give my understanding of what meditation is and whether it should be done.

Before going deeper into meditation, let us pause for a while and recapitulate some of the first principles of the path to enlightenment. I have covered earlier about the three principle routes for a practitioner in the field of spirituality. They are:

1. Karma yoga, the practice of doing every act as an obligation to society and for a higher cause than self gain
2. Bhakti yoga, the practice of living a life of gratitude and attributing every personal success to the people who made it possible
3. Jnana yoga, the practice of discriminating between the real existence which is Brahman and the unreal existence which is this colorful world.

 Now, as one progresses on the above paths, there is s subtle. slow but sure change that happens to a practitioner. His association with anything that is connected to the physical/emotional/intellectual world reduces.  Now, we know that nature abhors a vacuum. As the above practice continues, the vacuum increases and in cases where the practice is done without the proper guidance of a spiritual teacher, there is the likelihood of a person slipping into a disinterested, carefree type of life. These are the type of stories we hear in some types of spiritual camps, where ultimately the people end up in drugs or in some extreme cases even mass suicide, because the anchor that holds them to this world is loosened and there is nothing else for them to hook on to.

All this would happen if the practice is not done under the control of the intellect. Many often in conventional religion, focus is given on Bhakti and Karma. Almost every religion says we should glorify the Lord, praise the Lord, do good tings, not to be selfish etc. Very few focus on building the intellect. Again, I would like to differentiate between Intelligence and Intellect. I am not talking of intelligence gleamed from studying books. I am talking of the Intellect which independent of intelligence acts as a beacon to everyone if properly trained and used. This is where the fourth part of the practice, Dhyana Yoga or meditation comes in.

Through Jnana yoga, we realize that we are not the body/mind/intellect with which we most often associate ourselves. Jnana yoga tells us that there is something much beyond all this called the Brahman and that is my true reality. But just learning about this is of no use. At some point the reality has to fully sink in to become enlightened. I am telling all this to talk about countering the void that could come due to practice of Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga without the guidance of the intellect. With the intellect's guidance, in the absence of association with body/mind/intellect, a practitioner can fill the void with the thought that his association is with the Supreme Brahman.

Let me plot a graph with Time on the X-axis and association with the individual body mind intellect as one parameter on the Y axis and another being  association with the Supreme. Initially my association is highest with my body/mind/intellect. Hence at time 0 or at beginning of the spiritual practice, the graph starts at the highest point on the Y axis.  At the same time if we look at our association with the Supreme, it is almost at zero level and hence this graph starts at the bottom of the Y axis. As time progresses and my practice of Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga continues, there is a gentle drop in association with the worldly objects and this graph begins a slow descent. At the same time assuming there is an intellect governing the spiritual practice, there is a slow uptick in association with the Supreme and with passage of time, this graph starts looking up.

Now to the question of meditation. Should it be done? During the stage when the practitioner is full of desires, any attempt to meditate will be pointless. Meditation is to be done to realize the essential unity of myself with the Supreme. As can be seen based on the graph I explained above, in the initial stages of spiritual practice, the gap between identification with objects and with Supreme is very wide and may not be found suitable to achieve any tangible benefits. As time progresses and the two graphs progress, with the graph of physical identification dipping and the graph of Supreme identification rising, the gap between the two keeps decreasing and at some point, the two intersect, at which point the seeker is in a perfect state to focus on meditation to further their spiritual awakening.

Does it mean that till the point above is reached, one should not meditate? I am of the opinion that there is no harm in meditating so long as the objective is clear and one is ready to face the consequences, if any of meditation. One is advised to seek out a calm lonely place and select a fixed time every day to do meditation. There are several techniques suggested for meditation. Some of them are as follows:

a.Taking an image of a favorite God or angel or spiritual teacher and try to focus thoughts on that
b. Focusing on one's own shadow in the mind
c. Focusing on one 's own image as though in a movie
d. Focusing on a word or "shloka"
e. Focusing on one's own heartbeat
f. Focusing on one's own breath

There is no single technique that can be good for everyone. Readers are encouraged to try any of these and see what works best for them. During initial phase of meditation, it is almost impossible to focus the mind. The nature of the mind is to wander and create thoughts. So a practitioner can become disillusioned about the absolute lack of progress.  But this is very normal. The best strategy is to let the mind wander, but try to be aware that the mind is wandering and slowly bring the mind back to focus. The other issue that is seen as meditation continues is the type of thoughts that crop up. One shudders as to the type of thoughts that come up. This is again natural. Each of us has myriad desires buried in our mind. So long as the mind is active in the physical world, these are suppressed by the normal physical thoughts. But in meditation, when the mind is silent, these hidden desires or vasanas sprout thoughts which may make the practitioner feel disgusted. Again this is natural and should not discourage the practitioner. The strategy is to be aware of such thoughts as they arise and observe them as they pass through the self. The idea is to be non-judgmental and just observe the thought as a third person.

I mentioned earlier that real benefit of meditation comes in a very advanced stage and till that point, it may be useless. So, what is the point of meditation till then. I would see the following benefits:

1. A sense of discipline: Just as a regular physical exercise is a discipline that keeps the body fit in the long run, meditating regularly is a discipline that enables one to keep the mind fit for the long run.
2. A sense of calmness : All the while we are focusing our mind outwards and getting frustrated in the illusory world.Meditation turns the mind inwards generating a sense of calm.
3. A sense of positiveness : During meditation, especially focused on breath, if thought is of all positive things coming in as I inhale and all negative things going out as I exhale, there is a feeling of positiveness.

I encourage readers to mull over this article and give me feedback on their own experiences with meditation.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality