075-Learn_Meditation.pdf
Dharmadeva
Meditation means concentrated thinking: concentrating on the idea - the
feeling - of bliss (infinite happiness).
Concentration means only one thought. But there are usually many different
thoughts in the mind. So how do we control them? We have to channel all our
thoughts towards a greater one; a stronger and more positive one. And the
strongest and most positive thought is that of bliss; perfect peace and
contentment - the essence of our existence.
That positive thought is introduced into the mind through what we call a
mantra. Man means "mind," and tra means "that which liberates." So mantra
means a word or phrase which "liberates the mind." Although we rely mostly
on our eyes, sound actually has the most powerful effect on the mind. So the
internal sound of a mantra is the most powerful way of concentrating the
mind. It concentrates the mind on a particular idea - the idea (or rather
feeling) of infinite peace and happiness.
The mantra has three qualities which empower it to do that:
1. Concentrative: It acts as an object of concentration, because the mind
has to have something to focus on; it cannot be objectless.
2. Incantative: Everything has a particular vibration. You like music with a
congenial vibration to your own. You like someone when their vibration suits
your own. The mantra also has a particular wavelength, and that wavelength
vibrates the mind with the feeling of infinite happiness - bliss.
3. Ideative: "As you think, so you become." This powerful psychological
principle is the mainstay of meditation. If you think negatively, your life
will be negative; if you think positively, your life will be positive. We
are continually in the process of becoming the object of our ideation. So
the meaning of the mantra is vital. It must be the most uplifting ideation;
the most positive of thoughts. Again: infinite happiness; perfect peace and
contentment - bliss.
By ideating regularly on the thought of bliss, one's mind gradually expands,
and that expansion continues until one's limited sense of existence merges
into the infinite cosmic existence. One's individual experience of pleasure
and pain eventually gets transformed into the constant experience of cosmic
bliss, just as a river attains total freedom when it merges with the sea.