The concept of meditation is crisply yet most effectively captured by the following sloka of the Bhagavad Gita: yato yat niścarati ( = to where where, wanders) manaś cañcalam astiram ( = mind, fickle, unstable) tatas tato niyamyai tad ( = from there there, restrain, it) atmany eva vaśam nayet ( = the Self, only, authority, bring under ) ( Wherever the fickle and unstable mind wanders, restrain it and bring it back under the authority of atman.) BG. VI.26. Meditation as commonly understood is not the control of the mind. It is, on the contrary, the erosion of the mind, by being indifferent to it and starving it of thoughts. Control generates conflict, whereas indifference causes gradual erosion. It is like folding up the sail to break the force of the wind and taking over the steering command. When the mind is famished for lack of food ( thoughts), it loses its dominance and starts to dissolve. With the mind, the ego too gets weakened and emaciated. Because the mind is the egos main channel of expression and operative field. When the ego too is thus tamed and attenuated, what remains is pure awareness.This awareness is a filtered version of the ego, mind and intellect, having got rid of blemishes of all the three. This awareness, though it has no mind or ego or intellect, views the world as a divine play field where there is no good or evil, or any such contrast, contradiction or duality. Attaining that awareness does not mean the individual ceases to function as an individual. On the other hand, he or she functions with optimum efficiency and fecility (=smoothness of doing or karma kaushalya). Meditation is essentially to reach this state, also called samadhi, or the state of equipoise ( sama+dhi). This article is written by K P RAMESH RAO. My senior friend.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 07:29:54 +0000
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