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20. Meditation

  1. Meditation is the focusing of the mind on some object. If the mind acquires concentration on one object, it can be so concentrated on any object whatsoever

  2. Within there is the lion - the eternally pure, illumined and ever-free Atman; and directly one realises Him through meditation and concentration, this world of Maya vanishes.

  3. The highest ideal of every man is called God. Ignorant or wise, saint or sinner, man or woman, educated or uneducated, cultivated or uncultivated, to every human being the highest ideal is God. The synthesis of all the highest ideals of beauty, of sublimity, and of power gives us the most complete conception of the loving and lovable God.

  4. The mind uncontrolled and unguided will drag us down, down for ever - rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us.

  5. It is meditation that brings us nearer to truth than anything else. All knowledge depends upon calmness of mind. 

  6. All minds are the same, different parts of one Mind. He who knows one lump of clay has known all the clay in the universe. He who knows and control his own mind knows the secret of every mind and has power over every mind. The concentrated mind is a lamp that shows us every corner of the soul.

  7. The will concentrates the mind, certain things excite and control this will, such as reason, love, devotion, breathing. The concentrated mind is a lamp that shows us every corner of the soul.

  8. The purer the mind, the easier it is to control. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' This sentence alone would save mankind if all books and prophets were lost. This purity of heart will bring the vision of God.

  9. There is infinite joy, unchanging. Meditation is the gate that opens that to us. Prayers, ceremonials, and all the other forms of worship are simply kindergartens of meditation.

  10. Meditation again is a constant remembrance (of the thing meditated upon) flowing like an unbroken stream of oil poured out from one vessel to another. When this kind of remembering has been attained (in relation to God) all bondages break.

  11. The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation. In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend on any external help in meditation. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, 'In the morning and evening the mind remains highly imbued with Sattva ideas; those are the times when one should meditate with earnestness.'

  12. Do not spend you energy in talking but meditate in silence; and do not let the rush of the outside world disturb you. When your mind is in the highest state you are unconscious of it. Accumulate power in silence and become a dynamo of spirituality.

  13. Think of a space in your heart, and in the midst of that space think that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul and inside the flame is another effulgent life, and that is the Soul of your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart.

  14. Dharana is when the mind holds on to some object, either in the body, or outside the body, and keeps itself in that state. The flow of this continuous control of the mind becomes steady when practised day after day, and the mind obtains the faculty of constant concentration.

  15. Meditation is one of the great means of controlling the rising of these waves. By meditation you can make the mind subdue these waves, and if you go on practising meditation for days, and months, and years, until it has become a habit, until it will come in spite of yourself, anger and hatred will be controlled and checked.

  16. To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I will drink the ocean," says the persevering soul "at my will mountains will crumble up." Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, Work hard and you will reach the goal.

  17. Practise hard; whether you live or die does not matter. You have to plunge in and work, without thinking of the result. If you are brave enough, in six months you will be a perfect yogi. One ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk.

  18. How are we to know that the mind has become concentrated? Because the idea of time will vanish. The more time passes unnoticed the more concentrated we are. In common life we see that when we are interested in a book we do not note the time at all; and when we leave the book, we are often surprised to find how many hours have passed.
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