Beginning
Meditation
Anuradha asked Sage Agastya: “What must one know to begin meditation
practices?”
Sage Agastya
You have asked a question which is extremely useful for
people in the present day. Nowadays, people are turning towards the path of
realization. It is the innate nature of the soul to want to know its reality.
It is like the water in the river flowing towards the sea.
The river sometimes stops on its way. It becomes a lake, and
when people come to wash themselves or their clothes, the river is happy
thinking it is doing a great service. Slowly the water gathers dust and dirt
and becomes dirty, unfit for consumption.
It takes a little time for the lake to understand that its nature
is not stand still, but to flow. Similarly, people are caught in the web of
life. They think they are born to enjoy the pleasures of life and get attached
to people and materials. They forget their true nature. Finally, when
situations arise and they suffer, the mind realizes that its true nature is to
turn towards God.
In search of knowledge, people attend seminars, read books,
attend Satsang[1].
They try to understand the meaning of life through diverse types of meditation
and yoga. However, the moment they return to their routine, they forget what
they have learnt and feel that routine life is all there is.
If every person who attends a discourse or gathering
realizes the true purpose of life, such a person becomes good and useful to the
society and will walk on the path of righteousness. However, this is not
happening. The results of such gatherings show us what they have learnt.
Let us take the meaning of meditation. People have given two
meanings that are contradictory. One is that one must know oneself. The other
is to free oneself from all thoughts. Both are correct. The problem arises if
one attaches importance to only one of these ideas.
One has to do both. You must have a thoughtful nature,
indulge in thoughts for some time and then enter into thoughtlessness. It is
only when you know what a thought is will you know how to remove it from your
mind. It is like knowing white so you can understand black.
The first step for a beginner is to think about meditation
and to understand what he is trying to do. This aspect comes under knowledge.
That is why I stress repeatedly that the person who wants to walk on the
spiritual path and meditate, should also acquire knowledge.
That knowledge should pertain to who you are, what you are,
why this birth and death. What is the meaning behind attaining liberation? All
this needs to be taught to the person who is seeking to walk on the spiritual
path.
The next step is to prepare the person to undertake the
journey from thoughtfulness to thoughtlessness; from waking consciousness to
super consciousness. No other person has written a more comprehensive text on
this subject than Maharishi Patanjali. His concept of training is elaborate.
[1] Satsang: Literally means company of the good.
These refer to devotional and spiritual gatherings.
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