For a beginner what is the best way to begin meditation?
I can only give you a glimpse into how one should meditate. There are three stages of meditation. The first stage is when you try to block the thinking process, the second stage is when you try to centralize it and the third stage is when you eliminate it. In raja yoga these three stages are technically known as pratyahara, dharana and dhyana. In modern psychology we call them relaxation, concentration and meditation. First you must try to relax the thoughts, then concentrate on a symbol, and when you become one-pointed on that symbol, meditation arises automatically. First you have to know how to relax and how to concentrate. Do not ask how to meditate because meditation is something that happens. It is an event, not an action.
Relaxation is a difficult technique to achieve because in it you confront all the challenges and agonies of the mind. You do not know whether to let it function or to control it. It is like dealing with a naughty child at home. If you beat him he becomes bad, if you love him you feel you are spoiling him, and if you leave him alone or send him to boarding school you feel you are neglecting him. This is the same problem people have with the mind because it is also a child. I have come to the conclusion that of all the yogic practices, meditation is the core of yoga, no matter how difficult it may be. No matter which path you choose, it is not easy to attain the goal of yoga. One should not expect attainment in this life. Even without reaching the goal, the very practices of yoga, founded by the ancient yogis many thousands of years ago, constitute one of the best sciences known to man.
In the last few years there has been a lot of scientific research conducted into the effects of meditation, not only in India but also in America, Japan, Australia, East European and other countries. Researchers have found that the practice of meditation even for a few minutes can bring about great changes in the whole body. Investigations were carried out on subjects who had no previous contact with yoga and those who had been doing yoga for some years. They were placed in control groups under laboratory conditions. Different practices were given to them, including chanting of mantras such as Aum, concentration on the mid-eyebrow centre, navel and other parts of the body. Within 10 to 15 minutes they started reacting. Their brain displayed greater clarity in thinking and decision making. Their breathing rate as well as their need and utilization of oxygen decreased. Investigations at Harvard Medical School in the USA found that the level of oxygen decreased by approximately 10% during sleep, while during the practices of meditation it decreased by 20% indicating that a greater degree of rest was obtained in meditation. The brain waves showed an increase in alpha waves and decrease in beta frequency.
One definite and major result that was displayed in all scientific investigations was that the practice of meditation, whether through mantra, kirtan, concentration or pranayama, eases the tension in the coronary system. Blood pressure gets lowered. The heart rate and metabolism decrease and in most cases the use of drugs is either significantly lowered or stopped altogether. Therefore, let us say, even if yoga is not good for anything else, science has shown conclusively that at least yoga reduces hypertension. According to medical authorities, hypertension is the cause of more than one hundred diseases. Statistics released in the USA show that one third of American males suffer from hypertension and one half of the deaths in America are from coronary diseases. Hypertension can cause divorce, suicides, murders, heart failures, insomnia, migraine, loss of appetite, premature blindness, brain haemorrhage, paralysis, digestive problems, arthritis and many more medical conditions. So, if yoga can reduce hypertension it can also alleviate hundreds of related diseases.
What is the best way to reach the state of meditation?
Practising mantra or any other technique is meant to attain the state of meditation. Meditation is not a technique or a posture. It is a state of mind which is attained through great effort using such techniques as kriya yoga, mantra yoga, bhakti yoga and karma yoga. Karma yoga is the fastest way to reach meditation. You can reach the state of meditation faster through karma yoga than through any other yoga, even faster than kriya yoga.
Should we try to control the mind during meditation practice or should it be allowed to wander?
There are three categories of sadhakas: sattwic, rajasic and tamasic. During dhyana, a mind predominately sattwic in nature will seldom wander. It will mostly be one with the object of concentration. However, people who are rajasic and tamasic by nature, who happen to constitute the majority of the population, have minds which are very disturbed by worldly anxieties of day-to-day life. If they try to withdraw their minds during dhyana, they will face mental tension and may even develop a headache. When two lines of thought fight each other there is a state of conflict. Your mind wanders, so you pull it back. It goes out again and you try to pull it back again. During this process of wandering and returning, the mind develops a kind of tension which in an advanced age can result in blood pressure, or in youth, cause migraine headaches, hysteria, epilepsy, and so on. The purpose of concentration is not to stop the mind but to explode the subconscious so all that is hidden underneath in the subliminal mind comes up. That is where everybody is making a mistake. If the mind is allowed freedom in the beginning, it will automatically settle itself after some time and it will not be necessary for you to drag it back and forth. There is another point to consider. When you are concentrating on Shiva for example, and your mind is wandering, are there two minds or only one? The mind is one, but its vrittis are two. One vritti is trying to concentrate and another is trying to wander away. This conflict between the two vrittis of your mind can develop into a mental condition known as a split personality, which can further develop into an acute condition called schizophrenia. With people who constantly fight their minds, men, women and children alike, the vrittis are not able to compromise with each other. If one compromises, it is alright, but often one or both vrittis are not prepared to compromise. The wandering mind says, ‘I’ll go’. The tranquillized mind says, ‘Sit down’, resulting in a split in the mind between the ego and the superego. This is how neurosis arises. This happens not only in practices of meditation but also in day-to-day living. Therefore, in meditation, first there should be relaxation of the mind, second concentration, and third meditation.
I want to make one thing very clear – do not suppress the thought currents before concentration takes place. The purpose of dharana is to ignite the dynamite in order to explode the subconscious mind, just as dynamite is ignited to explode a whole mountain and everything blows up like a volcano. In the same manner, suppressions in the personality and subliminal province must be brought up during concentration.
What does it mean when a person who has had very little success with meditation has a beautiful vision and then nothing thereafter?
It is not success or lack of success when you see some pleasant vision or when you experience bliss. Similarly, it is not failing or falling down in your meditation when you have an uncomfortable, unpleasant experience. No, you must not feel like this. These experiences do not mean anything. You are like a pot full of samskaras, full of all kinds of things. These samskaras are sometimes good and sometimes bad. It is like a reel of film on which there are good photographs and bad photographs. When you close your eyes to try to practise higher awareness, you sometimes notice the samskaras with greater clarity, and you consider that this is bad and that is good. This does not mean that you are experiencing success or failure.
It does not matter whether you have good or bad visions, good or bad experiences. Through yoga all the samskaras are taken away, good and bad. When the good ones come, do not think that you are having success. When the bad ones come, do not be disappointed or afraid. They are the same on the spiritual path because they are not permanent.
What can be gained by developing dhyana?
When one knows dhyana, one can go straight onto the spiritual path. Dhyana is an art. It is like shooting a rife. Anyone can pull the trigger, but to hit the target bull’s-eye is difficult. Everyone can close their eyes in padmasana or siddhasana, but they lose consciousness, trying to pull the mind back again and again or suppress it. In dhyana, consciousness expands; it does not contract, and for this to take place one must know the proper way. Therefore, we have to revive meditation. A dhyana yogi knows how to die as well as how to live. This atman can see, hear, smell without a body. A dhyani can separate the atman from the body, choose his next birth or not die if he wants. Shankaracharya said that even if a man has everything in this world, he has nothing if he does not have dhyana.
1979–1980, Ganga Darshan, Munger