Yoga institutions have come up like mushrooms in the country. Most of them advertise that meditation will be taught right at the outset. Many enroll themselves and get cheated. They proudly say that they have learnt meditation! As far as we know many “Sadhu” and “Sanyasi” have taught some exercise in the name of meditation. Thus a wrong way of meditation is taught!
One cannot practice meditation without concentration. There are three aspect of a mind which is in full concentration. i.e. 1) The thinker – awareness 2) Thought – mind’s function, 3) Thing thought about – the object about which the mind concentrates. When we say that I was thinking about this, the above three aspects remain. It a state of meditation there are only two things, the thinker and the object thought about, and mind in that state of meditation does not function. The thing thought about is directly seen by the thinker. The feeling or awareness becomes the thing thought about. The mind in that state becomes the thing thought about and because it functions at a high frequency it appears as though it is not active.
The above can be explained by an example. Suppose one is meditating about a table. First the table is taken as an object and concentrated upon. The awareness in us keeps seeing the table. In the meditational state one sees the external, internal set up of the table, it also sees the atoms that makeup to form the table and the mind in that state stands transformed as a table. At this stage, the mind remains no longer in the picture, the very form of table becomes our mind and mind becomes one with the table. In fact, the sub-conscious mind in oneself keeps extending to the table and if one touches the table the mediator feels as though he has been touched. If someone sits on the table the mediator feels as though someone is sitting on him. If the table is cut by a saw, the mediator feels as though he has been cut, but in this state the mediator feels no pain or pleasure he merely feels it because the conscious has expanded right upto into, and every atom in the table. This is the true state of meditation. So one who meditates on “Brahma” becomes “Brahma”. This is the meaning of “Aham Brahmasmi”- as stated in scriptures.
What are the effects of meditation? The mediator happens to be or his consciousness spreads to the table in every atom. He knows all about the table both physically and subtly because he himself becomes the table as explained above. Instead of knowing of full details of table by touching, cutting etc., by meditation, one is able to know within himself all about the table. There can be no fallacy in the experience gained. Every bit of knowledge acquired through meditation is true. This is called “Rutham Bara Thasya Pragya”.
Science of yoga affirms that whatever knowledge gained in a state of meditation is true. One can learn similarly, the full truth about the Universe, the earth or any creation. If a man meditates about himself he will know all about him viz., his composition of physical body, illness if any, his state of mind, the depth of knowledge, his education, character etc. Another beneficial effect of meditation is that we become or our conscious extends into the object meditated upon and we can acquire the object meditated upon if we desire so, one who meditates about his bodily strength gets immense bodily strength in due course. The man who mediates on good health acquires very good health in a short time. One can acquire beauty, wealth etc., through meditation very easily.
When one acquires whatever he desires through Raja Yoga, why follow Hata Yoga? And acquire powers. One who practices Hata Yoga acquires power but uses them to harm others. For example, through Hata Yoga one can walk on water but what is the use? Imagine the time consumed in the practices. Is it worth? If we pay a rupee or two to cross the water in a boat. So the Hata Yoga siddhis are useless. Truth, knowledge and other beneficial effects can be acquired through the practice of meditation.
As said earlier, concentration is the cornerstone of meditation. One should deeply concentrate, pass on to the meditation stage and know everything about the thing meditated upon. Here as we earlier said, the mind drops its identity as a separate mind, becomes one with the sub-conscious mind, the sub-conscious mind merging with universal conscious mind is the state of trance. When the sub-conscious merges with the universal conscious, there is no “chitta virudhi” or thoughts arising either in fore-mind or sub-conscious mind. We come to know the Universe when both the mind and sub-conscious mind become mere witnesses to things happening.
– By Dr. Pandit G Kanniah Yogi
