Meditation

According to the The Eight Limbs Of Yoga Sutras is mentioned by sage Patanjali, Meditation is considered to be the seventh limb while the eighth limb being Samadhi. There are various methods of concentration practice which leads to meditation. The main reason behind meditation is to understand and grasp the knowledge of the real nature of the object of meditation. When it comes to meditation, the mind is the instrument.

There is a requirement for a certain amount of study pertaining to the nature of the functioning and activities of the mind which is necessary before one takes up to meditation. The existence of the mind can only be discovered and found using these activities. It reveals the inner consciousness and spirituality of the person and establishes the connection with the Supreme being.

Pravaha of thoughts

To dwell into deeper, we need to understand that there is a continuous current present in the mind of one person like water flow in a river, also known as Pravaha.

When should meditation?

Only one Vritti is in the mind which is called Ekarupa-Vritti Pravaha. The meditation should only be done at the particular appointed time on daily basis.

The meditative mood will eventually come by itself without putting any effort. One needs to sit in the same place, same Meditation chairs for meditation daily. The act of Meditation of God needs to become a habit.

How to meditate?

First, meditate about Lord Vishnu with all available sorts of ornaments. Then meditate on Him without keeping any ornament.

What is Mindfulness meditation?

Mindfulness is without a doubt difficult thing to do. It is quite tough and may be impossible for any beginner to take and start subtle meditation all at once. There need to be graduated practices, and the mind should be rendered quite subtle for different higher practices of meditation and concentration. There needs to be a gradual ascent in the Yoga’s successive stages.

The object of meditation in the starts needs to be the Personal God, the body of Virat or the flute- bearer Lord Krishna or Rama or four-armed Maha Vishnu or any other object the person wish. Later on, the meditation should be practiced on Impersonal God. In case of Savitarka meditation the person has to has a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the objects along with their excellence and defects as well as the features, present, past and present. It should also have those of near and remote, even those who are unheard of or never thought of. The entire knowledge of the elements and objects will gradually be revealed to you.

In meditation, you will know everything about yourself and your spirituality. Close your eyes and withdraw your senses. Merge yourself deep in the Supreme Soul which is the Light of Lights and the Sun of Suns. It will reveal the complete knowledge to you. You will get to know the direct intuitional knowledge as well as diving wisdom through direct perception. Your doubts will vanish. All the torments present in your mind will disappear. All heated discussion, hot debates, and angry thoughts will vanish. Peach and Jnana will be the only things that will remain.

In meditation, you need to forget the body and the surrounding. You need to forget all relative and friends. Forgetting these is the essential for the highest Sadhana. It assists in meditation by a great deal. By just remembering God, you can easily forget all these materialistic things and merge within the God by practicing silent and deep meditation. You will taste the spiritual consciousness by means of withdrawing the mind from different sensual objects and fixing it on one particular object of meditation. This will lead you to Samadhi which is the highest goal of Yogis.

However, you need to carefully monitor yourself whether you are remaining stationary in the path of spirituality even after doing meditation for years or whether you are progressing. There may be times when you may even fall downwards or retrograde in case you are not careful and vigilant enough. Some people practice meditation for several years but fail to make any spiritual progress. It is due to lack of earnestness, Vairagya and the keen longing for liberation along with intense, constant Sadhana. The energy is wasted in different wrong channels through Raga and also through undercurrents which are lurking, subtle desires. Suppressed desires will grow and start harassing you. Unconsciously you will become these desires’ victim.

When you make advances in the spiritual practice, it will become quite difficult for you to meditate and do your daily work at the same time because the mind will feel a double strain in such situation. It works in various channels and grooves with various Samskaras during Dhyana. It becomes quite difficult to adjust itself to various kinds of uncongenial activity as it comes down from the elevated and higher plane of sublime thinking. The mind needs to move in opposite direction, and the mind gets groped in darkness. It starts to get bewildered, puzzled and confused. You must have experience how your mind gets confused in simple daily activities of life when you go to different place in matters of bathing, resting, eating food and even answering the calls of nature.

When you sit for meditation again in the evening, you will certainly find it difficult to wipe out the new worldly Samskaras that you have gathered during the entire day and in order to get a calm as well as one-pointed mind again. This struggle of the mind to achieve the calmness can lead to a headache. The Prana which moves inwards in our body in various grooves and channels and which is quite subtle during meditation now has to move from a completely new channels during daily worldly activities. It becomes quite gross during work. The Prana is essentially taken up to the head during meditation.

If you wish to advance in meditation, you may have to follow what Grihastha Yogic students do. They stop all worldly activities for a certain period of time in case they desire to advance further. They force themselves to give up all the world in order to remain really sincere. Work is essentially a hindrance in meditation for any advanced Yogic student.

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The content is purely informative and educational in nature and should not be construed as medical advice. Please use the content only in consultation with an appropriate certified medical or healthcare professional