Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A. (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D. Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India
Mrs Sudha Rani Maheshwari, M.Sc (Zoology), B.Ed. Former Principal. A.K.P.I.College, Roorkee, India
Meditation is all about the pursuit of nothingness. It’s like the ultimate rest. It’s better than the best sleep you’ve ever had. It’s a quieting of the mind. It sharpens everything, especially your appreciation of your surroundings. It keeps life fresh.
Hugh Jackman
Meditation is the practice of turning your attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word known as a mantra. In other words, meditation means turning your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment. Meditation originally was meant to help deepen understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction.
Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions and beliefs. There are many types of meditation, most of which originated in ancient religious and spiritual traditions.
The term meditation refers to a group of techniques: ( 1) -Guided meditation. With this method of meditation you form mental images of places or situations you find relaxing. You try to use as many senses as possible. (2) -Mantra meditation. In this type of meditation, you silently repeat a calming word, thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts .(3) -Mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation is based on being mindful, or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment. (4) -Qi gong. This practice generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance.(5) -Tai chi. In tai chi (TIE-chee), you perform a self-paced series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner while practicing deep breathing.(6) -Transcendental meditation. You use a mantra, such as a word, sound or phrase repeatedly silently, to narrow your conscious awareness and eliminate all thoughts from your mind. (7) -Yoga. You perform a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises to promote a more flexible body and a calm mind.
Most meditative techniques started in Eastern religious or spiritual traditions. These techniques have been used by many different cultures throughout the world for thousands of years. Today, many people use meditation outside of its traditional religious or cultural settings, for health and well-being. Generally, a person who is meditating uses certain techniques, such as a specific posture, focused attention, and an open attitude toward distractions. Meditation may be practiced for many reasons, such as to increase calmness and physical relaxation, to improve psychological balance, to cope with illness, or to enhance overall health and well-being. This Backgrounder provides a general introduction to meditation and suggests some resources for more information.
Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health. And these benefits don’t end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and can even improve certain medical conditions. On the emotional front meditation helps in building skills to manage your stress by focusing on the present. It reduces negative emotions through increasing self-awareness and helps in gaining a new perspective on stressful situations.
It is true that a higher philosophy of life is absolutely necessary for satisfactory living as it teaches us that all aspirations, hopes, and desires must be subordinated to the supreme goal of life, as previously explained. Effective understanding of a higher philosophy of life makes us see the necessity of regulating our inordinate affections and ambitions. On the other hand, the practice of relaxation and concentration is also absolutely essential. We may have philosophy; we may have theology; we may have religious principles; but they have to be applied in life individually through discipline, training, and exercises. History proves that philosophy does not become operative unless we apply it practically in our everyday life.. The practice of concentration brings out the initiative of the mind so that we can make our philosophy dynamic. Every child knows that it is wrong to lie; every child knows that it is wrong to be angry; every man knows that it is vicious and harmful to be hateful or jealous; and every man knows that suspicion destroys him and his peace; yet no one can overcome these lower emotions ,if he has not the will power to apply the principles of religion and philosophy to his emotional reactions. The practice of concentration unifies the mind, strengthens the will, and enables one to apply these principles in his human behaviour then his social contacts become harmonious, pleasant, and satisfactory. Suffice it to say that no person can have real spiritual knowledge or immediate awareness of God without being established in the methods of meditation. Mystics and spiritual aspirants may vary in their use of distinctive methods, yet they are all convinced of their utility.
Apart from the religious values of the practice of concentration, there is a great deal of advantage in it so far as the psychological problems of modern man are concerned. Hindu psychologists classify mental states into five groups: (1) extreme restlessness, (2) partial restlessness, (3) dullness, (4)concentrated state, and (5) absolute concentration.
All the modern psychologists fully realize that real satisfaction and happiness cannot be attained by a man unless he has overcome extreme restlessness. As a result, physicians and also psycho-therapeutists greatly appreciate the need for mental stability in their patients.
Practicing meditation has been shown to induce some changes in the body. By learning more about what goes on in the body during meditation, researchers hope to be able to identify diseases or conditions for which meditation might be useful. In many areas of research, scientists are using sophisticated tools to determine whether meditation is associated with significant changes in brain function. A number of researchers believe that these changes account for many of meditation’s effects.
Some types of meditation might work by affecting the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. This system regulates many organs and muscles, controlling functions such as heartbeat, sweating, breathing, and digestion. It is thought that some types of meditation might work by reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system which helps in mobilizing the body for action and increasing activity in the parasympathetic nervous system causes the heart rate and breathing rate to slow down, the blood vessels to dilate improving blood flow, and the flow of digestive juices increases.
Meditation is not a luxury like a reflexology foot massage. It’s a way to disconnect from everyday stresses, if only for a few minutes a day. You deserve to feel good, to have the energy you want to enjoy life, to be healthy and happy. Start living the life you were meant to live. Meditation has a calming effect and directs awareness inward until pure awareness is achieved, described as “being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself.
Meditation is usually practiced in a quiet location with as few distractions as possible. Depending on the type being practiced, meditation can be done while sitting, lying down, standing, walking, or in other positions. Focusing one’s attention is usually a part of meditation. The person may focus on a mantra , an object, or the sensations of the breath. Some forms of meditation involve paying attention to whatever is the dominant content of consciousness. When the attention goes to distracting or wandering thoughts, they are not suppressed; instead, the person gently brings attention back to the focus. In some types of meditation, the person learns to “observe” thoughts and emotions while meditating.
These days, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. It carries different meanings in different contexts. Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.
Sometimes it is argued that this practice of meditation for a few minutes in the morning and evening would not stabilize d man’s life, but experlence proves that the steady practice of concentration for months and years does gradually stabilize the mind and creates a satisfaction which is the objective of psychotherapeutists. We cannot understand how the mere knowledge of conflicting emotions and of the causes of frustration can stabilize the mind. On the contrary, we find that people often get discouraged and disturbed over the very causes of their conflicts, so it is imperative that their minds be trained. to achieve at least partial concentration. This method also clarifies the higher values of life. It is observed that restlessness of the mind, due to conflict and frustration or any other such difficiency, creates serious physical disorders. We have observed that when a man practices concentration and meditation, he gradually overcomes extreme mental restlessness and spontaneously strengthens the nervous system, resulting in the proper functioning’” of the organs.
There are critics of the practice of concentration and meditation among the religious groups as well as among those who are outside the field of religion. Some of the religious people seem to think that it makes one passive and negative. They are almost afraid of even the name of meditation, thinking that it will take initiative away from their minds and make them vague or negative. They, no doubt, advocate doing good to others through social service and philanthropic work; yet in a peculiar way, they are critical of and antagonistic to the practice of meditation. There have been rare reports that meditation could cause or worsen symptoms in people who have certain psychiatric problems, but this question has not been fully researched. We often hear it said that Occidental people should not follow the so- called Oriental practice of meditation because it will make them other-worldly and passive. The implication is that they are aggressive, dynamic, and intellectual and, therefore, not suited to habits of contemplation. Some persons even go to the extent of saying that the Occidental mind is fitted only for scientific methods of observation and experiment, or, in other ,words, that the people of the West are best suited to the study of the objective world in an objective sense.
Professor Jung ‘was appreciative of the effect of the practice of concentration and meditation in Oriental countries like India and China, yet it was his opinion that the methods adopted in the Oriental countries could not be adapted to Occidental types of mind. He seemed to feel that Occidental people should develop a technique of their own. It is also implied by him that the minds of the Occidental people are different from those of the Orientals. On critical examination, we fully understand that the minds of Occidentals and Orientals are not different. There is no such thing as an Occidental mind and an Oriental mind. Psychological study , reveal that the actions and reactions of both groups are similar. A mother loves her child as intensely in the Orient as she does in the Occident. Hatred, jealousy, and envy are not the exclusive qualities of anyone group. Intellectual achievements are also not to be found in one group alone. Above all, the spiritual experiences of man are the same in the Eastern countries as In the western countries because of the similarity in menta! attitudes and emotional expressions. The emotional devotees of Oriental countries, like Tulsidas and Mirabai, are similar west’s Anthony and St. Teresa. The intellectual type of spiritual realizations of Yajhavalkya, Sankara, and Swami Vivekananda is similar to that of St. Dionysius, St. Bernard. The differences in the type or form of spiritual achievements and realizations are due to the nature of the mind itself rather than to Oriental or Occidental habitation.
Such an opinion cannot be justified by the study of the lives and teachings of Oriental and Occidental mystics. St. Teresa of Avila says: If you had asked me about meditation, I could have instructed you and advise anyone to practice it even though they do not possess the virtues, for this is the first step to obtain them all; it is for all Christians to begin this practice. We do not find any fundamental differences between their systems of practice and those advocated b the Hindu teachers. What difference we find is between devotional and intellectual types of mentality rather than between Oriental and Occidental minds. This difference is observed even within the same group, either Oriental or Occidental, where there are various mental types.
There is a question in the minds of some of the experimental psychologists as to whether or not religious zeal and overemphasis on a religious ideal creates a fear complex and serious conflict. The real religious attitude cannot create any fear and conflict in the mind. On the contrary, a proper understanding of the values of religion removes the causes of fear and conflict. A sound philosophy helps in overcoming the extreme restless and also the dull states of the mind. The practice of concentration creates interest in an aspect of God and so gradually helps to overcome restlessness.
Spiritual decline has also occurred in the Eastern and Western civilizations, and great spiritual personalities have arisen in both parts of the world to revitalize the people. Buddha, Lao-tze , Lord Krishna, Sri Ramakrishna, and others again and again spiritualized the life of the Oriental countries and saved the people from utter materialism. Similarly, Christ, St. Francis, St. Bonaventure, and other great mystics saved the West from complete disintegration. It may be true that Western scientific and objective methods gave man the power to remove some of the onslaughts of nature and make him comfortable, but that does not prove at all that man’s inner nature has been changed by scientific discoveries and achievements, or that the mind of a Westerner needs less meditation and religious exercises for the attainment of spiritual realizations than does the mind of an Oriental.
A man of meditation who has direct realization of God can successfully serve humanity. We have seen time and again that men often start social service work with good intentions; yet in the course of actual performance they lose their high ideals and get mixed up with ambition, name. fame, and power. The history of religious and welfare organizations substantiates this observation. On the other hand, the people who conduct social service activities and at the same time practice concentration, meditation, and other devotional exercises can maintain the spirit of service and worship in and through their work. Some of the greatest men of meditation were the greatest servants of humanity, such as St. Francis of Assisi of Christian tradition and Swami Vevekananda of Hindu tradition. Buddha and his were the people who flooded the ancient world with social service and unselfish work.
To the rationalistic thinkers we say that they should not come to any hasty conclusion about the effect of meditation without critical observation of the technique and its effect on the human mind. Apart from its religious value, the practice of meditation has a tremendous influence in building up the total personality of man. We again maintain that it really brings out the dynamic power of the mind with all its latent possibilities.
The critics among the nonreligious groups naturally disregard the practice of meditation, not because they know anything about its technique and its real effect) but because in their eyes it is a kind of mysterious habit as it is practiced by Oriental people. The tendency to regard meditation as mystifying is, we are afraid, coloured by the achievements of Western science and its application to everyday life. The objective study of nature, as advocated by Grecian thinkers and adopted later by European minds, has given man a great deal of power over the nature and made him successful in the attainment of pleasure. Without knowing the technique and value of concentration, these Occidental groups are often afraid even to think of it lest they lose their initiative and aggressiveness. Being, therefore, ignorant on this subject, they naturally fear,what they do not understand.
There is also an erroneous idea that because Orientals generally practice concentration and meditation have not attained worldly success. On the other hand, it is the prevailing impresslon that Occidental people, by their objective study of science and material progress, are comparatively more successful. It is true that the Occidental countries, with the help of scientific achievements, have done a great deal for the. betterment of the everyday life of man. Yet in the West, because of the restlessness, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction of the mind, there are constant conflicts and frustrations resulting in extreme forms of mental disorders, nerve trouble, and functional ailments. This shows that the modern ways of life, based on scientific discoveries and their uses, have not solved the psychological problems of the West. On the other hand the problems are becoming more and more frightening. So the West must find a way out of this dangerous situation.
It is not the intention to evaluate here the achievements of science and its pragmatic value in giving man real happiness and satisfaction. That is an entirely different question’ Yet they are compelled to refute the unscientific conclusions of scientific thinkers and some of the religious leaders. Our answer to the religious leaders is that the practice of meditation and concentration has been used not only by Oriental religious groups but also by Occidental religious groups such as the Christian mystics-St. Bernard, St. Ignatius, St. Teresa, and St. John of the Cross and many ancient and medieval Jewish mystics of Europe as well as of Asia.
The conclusion is almost inevitable that without meditation the conflicts cannot be removed. Meditation does not make one passive or negative. On the contrary, it brings out the dynamic power of the mind. Modern psychotherapy might help one temporarily, but it alone cannot give sufficient strength and stamina to the mind to ward off the evil influences of modern life.
Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.
Thich Nhat Hanh