THERE are numerous teachers prescribing numerous types of meditation. The types vary from a mere five minutes transcendental meditation to about four or more hours mental repetition of a few chosen words. While the gullible persons will blindly follow such practices, the clever teacher will, all the while, be trying to drive into their brains suitable suggestion to keep them under his control. These suggestions also vary from flattery to threats. The final outcome is utter slavery: just the opposite of the ideal sought by a seeker.
No doubt, as some philosophers put it, absolute freedom is just a fantastic fancy of the suffering human being. Man is a slave, all the same. Either he is a slave of others, or he is a slave of his own desires and imaginations. Even then it is possible for man to realize his real slavery when he realizes Master – the One who is Absolutely Free. This realization releases him from all other kinds of slavery. Of course, then and only then man is released from all bondages. And whatever remains after it shall be his absolute natural state.
Therefore, it is necessary to have a clear view of the goal, to select a teacher who has attained that goal, and to adopt the practice of meditation under such a One’s guidance to reach the goal. Otherwise any meditation taken at random without having a clear-cut Goal and a worthy guide invariably lands a man in either lunatic asylum, or a world of fantasy and nightmares.
It is certain that mechanical repetition of certain chosen words cannot be termed as meditation. To concentrate on some chosen pictures or idols is also not meditation. Meditation consists of thinking about a pious idea for a sufficiently long time, with interest and even with love. Such a practice of meditation will drive that pious idea deep into the subconscious or unconscious level of the mind. Therefore, it becomes imperative to take the Highest Ideal as the object of Meditation so that such a thought may be driven deep into the innermost core of our heart.
The optimum duration of Meditation over a given pious idea is about an hour to get the best results within a reasonable period. It normally takes around 10 – 15 minutes for an average person to get steady to make the mind to have a continuous flow of that Divine Idea, due to the habituated fickleness of the mind. Therefore, a 10 or 15 minute meditation is just useless. Of course, if there is a capable and a worthy teacher who can transmit Divine Impulse, it will be a different matter. In that case much effort or labor of the abhyasi is saved. And fortunately, if we can catch hold of the Perfect Teacher or Sadguru, our object is immediately realized by connecting ourselves with Him with intense love and faith. As Sadguru is connected with Ultimate, Our connection with Sadguru will naturally connect us with That.
The efficacious meditation has a dual effect to produce – one is purification of the heart and the other is infilling with Divine Light. These two effects are mutually interactive. It is not possible to have one without the other. Therefore, any practice of meditation must co-ordinate the mental activities in such a way as to at once purify and divinise the heart. A certain amount of will force of an abhyasi or a little Transmission from a capable Master will augment the above process of purification and divinization.
The easiest and most efficacious form to meditate upon is the Form of the Perfect Human Being, who has attained the Highest, and is ever living in that. Where can such a fellow being be found? One has to search and pray for it sincerely to God. We take the example of our beloved Master in this regard. A sincere seeker’s heart immediately recognizes such a super-human form. It is literally true: “God Himself comes to the door of a sincere seeker.”
A sort of unconscious love envelopes the core of the heart when one comes across such a Personality. And if one strengthens that love by his practice of Meditation with devotion, interest and attachment, he is sure to realize the Goal in the shortest possible time.