What is Meditation

What is meditation?

Patanjali, an Indian sage who lived around 2500 years ago defined meditation in his famous book, How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali as the unbroken flow of thought in a single direction.

Note the words: Thought – Single Direction – Unbroken Flow

Meditation is basically thinking but thinking more in a sense of directing your awareness rather than thinking in the normal sense of the word.

Single direction means focusing your stream of consciousness toward something specific. You may call it putting your attention on something. If you are thinking about an apple, let’s say, then the object of your attention is an apple and your thoughts are going in the direction of an apple. The moment you start thinking of an orange you have changed the direction of your thought and with it, the focus of your attention.

Concentration is the act of fixation of attention. If you keep your attention fixed on the apple then you are concentrating on the apple. Meditation happens when your concentration remains steady.

So meditation is a three step process. You start with attention, give it a direction and lastly you fix your attention to the level of concentration and stay there.

So the mantra is A-C-M.

ATTENTION >> CONCENTRATION >> MEDITATION

Visualize the idea of pouring oil from one container to another in a constant steady motion. That is meditation.

Remember that meditation happens automatically when the two preliminary conditions are met. You can not force meditation. It is the result of directing your attention toward an idea or an object and then concentrating on it. You do not make it happen, you rather fall into it just like you fall asleep when your your body is ready for it.

That is about as precise as one can get when talking about meditation.

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