PART TWO
Each individual is
like a leaf on a tree. Leaves come and
go, but the tree continues to exist.
This Absolute Reality is our true identity.
The only way to
overcome the maladies of life is to establish contact with the Ultimate
Reality, and the only way to make contact with It is through meditation.
Meditation leads to direct perception of the Ultimate.
Meditation is a
mental process by which the meditator becomes one with the object of
meditation. Concentration (Sanskrit
dharana) is the preliminary stage of this process; when concentration becomes
effortless and continuous, it takes the form of meditation (dhyana), in which
the mind flows continuously toward its object.
The culmination of meditation is total absorption (samadhi) in the
object of meditation.
Meditation is a
technique for gaining mastery over the mind.
Mind controlled is our best friend; uncontrolled, it is our worst enemy.
The harvest of
egotistic living is fatigue and failure, anxiety and frustration.
Life is action,
participation, interaction, and communication.
When the mental
focus is not conscious and deliberate, it is considered a lower type of
concentration…. Such subconscious, lower concentration dissipates psychic
energy to a great extent.
Worry, anxiety, and
mental restlessness deplete psychic energy.
Further, subconscious concentration on diverse subjects creates
scattered channels of energy that are not regular and straight. Such haphazard concentration creates endless
whirlpools in the mind and body.
Meditation restores this energy balance.
Ritualistic worship
and prayer merge in the Gayatri, which is the highest and most concentrated
prayer of the Vedas. The Gayatri then
becomes further concentrated into the sacred word Om, from which all words
emanate; and finally, Om merges in the profound silence of Samadhi. Meditation is thus the culmination of all
worship, the state before the final revelation.
There are three
components of every form of worship: the object of worship, the act of worship,
and the worshipper.
It is not that the
seeker attains the state of meditation, but rather the opposite: he or she is
taken over by it.
