WHAT IS MEDITATION

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WHAT IS MEDITATION

By

Sri Swami Sivananda

While concentration is fixing the mind on a concrete object or an abstract idea,

meditation is a regular flow of thought with regard to the object of

concentration. It is an unbroken, uninterrupted or incessant flow of ideas of

the object that is being concentrated upon. Meditation follows concentration.

It is very difficult to say where concentration ends and meditation begins. In

Dhyana, all worldly thoughts are shut out from the mind. The mind is filled or

saturated with divine thoughts, with the divine glory, with the divine

presence.

Meditation is the flow of continuous thought of one thing or God or Atma.

Meditation is the keeping up of one idea of God alone always like the

continuous flow of oil from one vessel to another, Tailadharavat. Yogins call

this Dhyana. Jnanins term this Nididhyasan. Bhaktas style this Bhajan. Tatra

Pratyayaikatanata Dhyanam. A continuous flow of perception or thought is Dhyana

or meditation. There is a continuous current in the mind of one object like the

Pravaha or flow of water in a river. There is only one Vritti in the mind. It

is Ekarupa-vritti-pravaha.

Meditation is the seventh rung or step in the ladder of Yoga. Yama

(self-restraint), Niyama (religious observance), Asana (posture), Pranayama

(restraint or regulation of breath), Pratyahara (abstraction or withdrawal of

the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi

(superconscious state or blissful union with the Supreme Self) are the eight

steps of Yoga.

Dhyanam Nirvishayam Manah. This is how meditation is defined in the Patanjali

Yoga Sutras. When the mind becomes Nirvishaya or free from thinking of

sense-objects and their enjoyments, it is meditation. That state of the mind

wherein there are no Vishayas or sensual thoughts is meditation.

To think of nothing is to attain the highest contemplation. In Nididhyasana or

profound and continued meditation, thinking ceases. There is only one idea of

"Aham Brahma Asmi". When this idea also is given up, Nirvikalpa Samadhi ensues.

In Vedanta or the path of Jnana, the terms 'Mariana' and 'Nididhyasana' we very

frequently used. Manana is reflection. Nididhyasana is meditation on Atma. It

is deep and intense contemplation. The mind is perfectly established in the

Absolute. No worldly thoughts will intrude now. The contemplation is like a

steady flow of oil.

Lord Jesus says: "Empty thyself and I shall fill thee. This corresponds to the

teaching of Patanjali Maharshi: "Yogas-chitta-vrittinirvdhah". Yoga is

restraint or annihilation of all mental modifications, of all mental functions.

This emptying process or making the mud blank is no doubt a trying discipline.

But continued practice of an intense type will bring success. There is no doubt

of this.

>From the book "Meditation Know-How", by Sri Swami Sivananda

Published by The Divine Life Society, 1996

 

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