Meditation

Meditation is concentration of the mind – either through pondering on some deep aspect of outer life, through introspection of the inner workings of oneself within the 3 levels of the Deep Mind Sphere, or through a directed aspiration beyond the Deep Mind towards the True Self. Meditation may be practiced while fully involved in outer life, while lightly involved in outer life or while momentarily withdrawn from outer life. It begins when a proportion of the mind is turned back towards its source. Though meditation will later encompass the 3 aspects of the mind - consciousness, intention and intelligence - initially a division is created within consciousness so that while one part of the mind continues to act (producing thoughts, feelings or movements) an independent part of the mind is free to watch these manifestations.

It is crucial at this initial stage not to simply horizontally split of a part of the quietly watching superficial conscious, but to create a vertical split between the superficial-mind and something a little deeper. The truly natural way deeper is exactly the process of going to sleep - the superficial-mind reduces its activity, then an internal sense of the body grows, followed by immersion in the dream state culminating in disappearance into deep sleep. All true, balanced teachings, understanding this, initially concentrate the 'split' part of the mind back towards the deep body sensations to draw this part deeper - rather than allow it to look back out through the external senses creating the quiet watchful horizontal split which in itself cannot lead to anything deeper and if strengthened will lock a person in their head and block all further progress (being really, if practiced to an extreme, the first step towards psychological imbalance).

Ramanamaharshi: "Intellect (superficial mind) is of no use at all for seeing within, for turning towards the Self. For that it has to be killed or extinguished, or in other words it has to merge in the source from which it sprang."


Brain consciousness is directly connected to the activity of the neurons both in the head and spread throughout the body. These neurons divide functionally into 3 groups - sensory-neurons, motor-neurons and inter-neurons.

Sensory-neurons receive sensory information from both the 5 external senses (sight, hearing, smelling, taste and touch) and the 5 main internal senses (pain, muscle change, joint movement, pressure, and temperature). Motor-neurons initiate motor impulses to control muscle function, control the chemical balances and stimulate the endocrine system. Inter-neurons mutually stimulate each other in intelligent patterns. Only a small proportion of this final activity - mutual stimulation - produces conscious thought. To use various methods to stop conscious thought, typically with enhanced awareness of the information from the 5 external senses, produces a slightly unusual state. But in this simple brain state the main mass of neurons are still fully active, mostly on a subconscious level. Then to base all further progress on this 'slightly unusual' state is to trap your consciousness in the brain (which is just part of the body) and will not lead to the deep part of yourself nor to the inner worlds.

As the 2 most active outer senses are seeing and hearing, people trapped in the superficial-mind typically take on a fixed stare and talk with a carefully considered air while perhaps moving slowly and deliberately, all so as not to disturb their quiet awareness based in their external senses.

In that superficially quiet brain state with enhanced awareness of the outer senses, people unrealistically imagine that they then experience reality through pure awareness. In reality the mass of subconcious activity of the brain with all its unrealised conditioning dominates and distorts communication with their inner self. This quiet state cannot in itself carry the person beyond the reach of their own ego. Those teachers basing their methods in this quiet brain consciousness typically then stress the idea of 'being present' along with the idea that past and future do not exist, not realising that past, future and present are all simple brain perceptions. The deeper parts of a person do not operate in this time frame. Existence as a whole - including past, future and present - manifests simultaneously in the "ever present here and eternal now" in a way that is understood only according to the depth of Being used to perceive it.

Only deep training with someone who has themselves escaped the brain consciousness has any realistic hope of success. No system devised by thinking or found spontaneously from this quiet brain state will lead people to freedom. So, sadly throughout history, millions have meditated in each generation, while only a few have found the freedom of the True Self. Unfortunately for the deeply trained teachers, those others, who basing their systems on the few flashes of inspiration that do occasionally occur in the quiet brain state, mislead the mass of seekers, attracting them with systems that seem to require little effort.



Ramanamaharshi: "There are different kinds of silence. In the pursuit of inner silence one should not enter laya [temporary suspension of mental faculties]. If you remain in this [trance like] state no benefit will come to you. A complete absence of thoughts does not mean that one is experiencing the true silence of the Self. If there is a sense of freshness and clarity [of perception and understanding] in the silence, if one feels joyful and utterly peaceful, this is more likely to be approaching the real silence."