What is Meditation?

Last comment may hardly be acceptable to any one who is immersed in meditation.Meditation will convert your life not into a park but into a beatiful garden,full of flowers and fruits.And note it,fruits will include lot of material gains-;name,fame,health,wealth and so on.Much more can be expected from meditation than the so called usual experts talk of.

Meditation is inner astronomy. You discover the stars, the moon, and the sun inside you.

Meditation is also an adventure of self-discovery.

"Meditation is the bridge that connects the lower mind with the higher mind. Through that the aspirant crosses over from the din and distractions of the sense-bound world to the world of stillness and silence, from the world of darkness to the world of everlasting light. All preliminary spiritual disciplines end in meditative awareness."

Meditation is a process of stitching, of reminding ourselves again and again of the deeper truths-;impermanence, loving kindness-;until the patch is sewn on so strongly it becomes a part of the cloth and strengthens the whole garment.Then we're not shaken by outer circumstances.

The path of meditation gradually takes us to a stage where we understand the illusory nature of reality,the impermanence that pervades everything. Even as it is it isn't, and someday it won't be at all.

"Some people think that if they meditate for fifteen minutes a day, they ought to become enlightened in a week and a half. But it doesn't work like that. Even if you meditate and pray and contemplate for an hour of the day, that's one hour you're meditating and twenty-three you're not. What are the chances of one person against twenty-three in a tug-of-war? One pulls one way, twenty-three the other-;who's going to win?

It's not possible to accomplish what must be achieved in the ground of the mind with one hour of daily meditation. You have to pay attention to your spiritual process throughout the day, as you work, play, sleep; the mind always has to be moving toward the ultimate goal of enlightenment."

For every action there is a reaction, not just in theoretical physics but in ordinary human life as well. When you create positive actions you will eventually reap positive reactions for yourself and for others. In this way what we call ethics and morality are woven into the very fabric of the universe right down to the subatomic level.

'Meditation,by creating space in the mind, serves to create more Prana in the mind. When the mind is brought to a silent and receptive condition, like the expanse of the sky, a new energy comes into being within it that brings about great transformations.'

In the path of bhakti this meditative awareness is attained through love. The devotee thinks of the Deity with so much love that his or her whole being vibrates with that single thought like a gong struck with a mallet. There is no room for any other thought in the mind which gets rooted in the living presence of the Deity and riveted to the present moment.

We need to relate and spend more time with our own self; Relating with one self means relating with breath, mind, brain and then consciousness. The more you bring this “pranic energy” in your body, higher will be the degree of your consciousness.

Just being calm is not meditation; just being concentrated is not meditation; just being focused too is not meditation. Meditation is far more than all these three things. It has the combination of these things but we can not single out that it is just concentration, or calmness, or focus. It has the ingredients of all these things, but it is more about heightened awareness. Gurumaa

'For a true Hindu,meditation is practically both telescope and microscope. Through meditation the Hindu realises his God and Humanity, in relations and inter-relations. The sense of eternity and eternal relations with the universe grows deeper and deeper. He is thus prepared to enter into the last stage of life, the stage of Sanyas, which means renunciation.'

Sri Krishna says in Bhagwat Geeta-;

O Arjuna! Though I am omnipresent
If you wish to find me, I am always dwelling in your heart!

'Meditation is food, and shelter for your spirit.'

'Creation is meditation.'

'Meditation is an attempt to free humanity from the tyranny of time by first slowing down the inner clock and then lifting the mind to a timeless dimension.'Swami Bhajanananda

'True meditation is a knocking at the door of the shrine within the heart. This higher meditation, intensely and persistently practiced, will at last open the inner door to the world of divine light, knowledge and bliss.'Swami Bhajnananda

'Meditation; which is at the level of the mind, is limited, true meditation, takes you to the level of the spirit – beyond the realm of thought.'

'Setting apart time for meditation is only for the merest spiritual novices. A man who is advancing will begin to enjoy the deeper beatitude whether he is at work or not. While his hands are in society, he keeps his head cool in solitude.'Ramana Maharishi

_{^{'Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life - perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority.'Jiddu Krishanmurthy}}

'Meditation is food, and shelter for your spirit.'

'Meditation cleans and strengthens the body, calms and balances emotions and reorients the mind away from oneself toward others.'

'Through meditation, the Higher Self is seen.'Bhagwat Geeta

'Meditation is not a state of concentration; it is not a state of mind at all. It is a state of total mindlessness -; and not a state of sleep either. No mind, no sleep; no mind, but total awareness.'