The Art of Meditation – Swami Mukundananda
The mind is the most important aspect of the human body. All the organs work with the inspiration of the mind and the intellect, that is a part of the mind. A sound mind is required for healthy functioning of the human body and all is various organs. A healthy mind is the key to happiness and peace.
At present, our mind is scattered. This scattering of the mind in various directions, not only reduces our effectiveness at work, it also becomes an impediment in enlightenment – the ultimate aim of human life. We experience that we sit to focus on a certain point like a dot or the image or God, but the mind wanders towards the material world. Meditation is a process for practicing to focus the mind.
The untrained mind has been compared with a monkey. By nature, a monkey is restless. Now if it also has hysteria, how restless will it be? On top of it, if you make it drink alcohol, then consider its state! And further, if you tie a scorpion to its tail, then imagine the monkey’s condition.
Saint Tulsidas said in the Ramayan, “My Lord! My mind is like such a monkey.” He said it out of humility, but it is the experience of all of us that the mind does wander beyond our control. This negatively impacts our performance at every task.
Concentration increases the effectiveness. Water vapor keeps rising from lakes, and ineffectively drifting in the sky. But the same water vapor, when concentrated in the form of steam and focused on the piston of the railway engine, becomes so powerful that it is able to push the engine on the railway track, along with thousands of tons of carriage and at great speed. Similarly, an unwavering mind has tremendous power. This is the reason why different people in diverse cultures around the world use a variety of meditational techniques to improve their concentration.
Some meditate on the breath, others on the centre of the eyebrows, other on the psychic centers in the spinal cord, others on a tranquil lake, and others on a source of light. These different meditation techniques do improve the focus of the mind. However, their benefits are limited, incomplete and impermanent. The problem with these mechanical techniques is that they do not address the issue of purification of the mind.
As long as lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion, etc. reside in the mind, these forces again weaken the concentration gained from limited meditation. The second problem is that they aim at stopping the thought flow and 'immobilizing' the mind or make it still. This is against the nature of the mind, and hence these techniques are difficult and monotonous.
Meditating on a form of God is considered the most beneficial of all the techniques and is even acknowledged in the Vedas, Upanishads and the Shastras.
Advantages of Meditating upon God
Let us say, you are riding a bicycle. If you apply the brakes, you will not be able to retain your balance. You will either fall to the left or to the right. However, if you turn the handle, the cycle will turn very easily in the direction you want. Similarly, the mind is such a machine that continuously generates thoughts. If you want it to stop thinking, it becomes unstable. Such a thoughtless state is difficult to sustain. However, if you turn the mind toward God, it very easily begins meditating upon the Divine realm.
Meditation upon God is also very sweet and blissful. The mind by nature desires attractive forms, activities, sounds, smells, sensations, tastes, etc. In devotion, the 'all-blissful' forms of God are attractive subject matter for the mind to meditate upon. As God is infinite, His names, forms, attributes, pastimes, abodes, and associates (God-Realized personalities) are also infinite. Among these, whichever options the practitioner likes, he can opt one of them in his mind and undertake the meditation practice.
Most importantly, God is all-pure, and when we fix our mind upon Him, the mind too becomes pure. The Bhagavad Geeta states:
Mam cha yo’vyabhicharena bhaktiyogena sevate
Sa gunan samateetyaitaan brahma bhuyaya kalpate
Shree Krishna tells Arjun,
“I am beyond the three modes of material nature. By engaging the mind in meditation upon me, through Bhaktiyog (Surrendering everything to the will of God), your mind will transcend the three modes and become Divine.”
One of the samples of meditating on the Divine virtues of God is given below:
Our mind is also attracted to people’s qualities. We say, “This person is so kind-hearted.” “This woman is so gentle.” “This boy is so intelligent.” “This girl is so honest.” In this way, our mind’s nature is to dwell upon peoples qualities. We can do the same in devotion too. We can bring the unlimited Divine qualities of God of our own choice to our mind.
With the image of your God of own choice in front of you, think of His qualities. “He is an ocean of mercy.” “He possesses unlimited Divine knowledge.” “He is so calm and contented.” “He is the veritable form of love.” “He is so beautiful.” Think of these virtues in Him. And then, visualize these qualities flowing from Him to you. In this way, feel yourself becoming calm, peaceful, contented, knowledgeable, generous, loving, etc. Similarly, perceive the Grace of God flowing into your mind and body.
This type of meditation, known as 'Roopdhyan' is the most beneficial and powerful of all techniques. One can achieve great spiritual progress, concentration and strength of the mind by practicing this technique.