What is Meditation

by:

Maha-Mandaleshwara Swami Veda Bharati

Meditation is gathering the forces of our scattered minds so that they become channels of concentrated energy to help us accomplish whatever it is that we seek to accomplish with our lives.

One of the primary definitions of meditation is “the mind flowing in a stream with one, single cognition, with one single object of thought.” For example: awareness of our breathing.

To accomplish meditation there are some very simple steps: 

The First Step: Correct Sitting – for which you can take some lessons, or you can experiment on your own. You fold a blanket and place it under your hips.  You will judge the height that you need so that your spine is not pulled forward into a curve by the forces of gravity, and you can sit straight with your spine erect without any discomfort.

The Second Step: Relaxation – It has many progressive methods. For now and here, simply learn to keep your forehead relaxed. So long as you learn to keep your forehead relaxed, stressful thoughts, angry feelings and such will simply not arise in your mind. Gradually you will learn how to keep your entire neuro-musculature in a relaxed state.

The Third Step: Feeling the flow and the touch of the breath in the nostrils. There are actually some special methods, but those can be learned in a group, in a class somewhere. But for now and here it is sufficient that you learn to just feel the touch and flow of the breath in the nostrils, without a jerk, without a sound, without a break. When you come to the end of a breath, make no stop, but immediately begin to feel the next breath. 

The Fourth Step: Along with the awareness of the breath-flow, add one thought, such as your favorite name for God according your tradition, or a sacred phrase from your favorite spiritual text. And if you do not believe in any of those, you may exhale with the thought of “One,” without a break, and inhale with the thought “Two,” etc.

These are the simple four steps. Let’s do it together! If you are sitting in a chair, sit well forward. Do not sit on a very soft surface where you will sink down and gravity will not let you sit straight. 

Bring your attention to where you are sitting. Be aware only of the space that your body is occupying. Relax your forehead. Relax your forehead some more. And now feel the flow and the touch of the breath in your nostrils — breathing gently, slowly, smoothly with no jerks in your breathing. When you come to the end of a breath, make no stop, but immediately begin to feel the next breath. And whichever word or name of God you have chosen, exhale and think that name. And without a break, inhale, and think the same name — feeling the breath-flow in the nostrils — maintaining the thought of the same name. No break in the flow of the same name. Observe how the breath, the mind and the name are flowing together as a single stream. Maintain the feel of the flow, and gently open your eyes and maintain the flow even with your eyes open. 

Resolve in your mind to calm the mind in this way many times in the day. Whatever you do with your mind repeatedly will become the mind’s habit. And the mind will rediscover its original calm nature. Standing at a bus stop, before turning on the ignition of your car, waiting in your doctor’s office – whenever you have two minutes or three – come back to yourself, to the home of your consciousness. Let the ripples subside in this way, and let the mind enjoy its own peace.

God Bless You