Learn Easy Meditation

Meditation has become very popular in recent times. The word meditation has taken on a number of different meanings according to the aims of the meditators or the teachers teaching it. Meditation seems to mean just about everything from quieting the mind, sitting in the silence, or even thinking things over.

We sit cross-legged on the floor or on a meditation cushion with a straight spine, close our eyes and try not to think about anything (including the pain that is often experienced). Or we use a meditation audio, the sounds of drums, bowls or trickling water, try to relax (while sitting up straight as a stick) and blank out our minds, all the while subconsciously waiting to hear the meditation timer ring so we can run off and do something else. Or maybe we try to open up to some idea we have of the Divine, or God, or Spirit, and try to have some kind of profound experience (oddly, it's usually the one person in the group who isn't trying that gets it; that should tell us something).

There is more to meditation than these things, but this is still a valid use of the word "meditation" because it is being used to point to things that could lead to a genuine meditative state. So we have accepted these many meanings of the word "meditation" in our society and time.

Essentially, what we want is easy meditation, and if we have to learn something, we want to learn easy meditation, and we assume that if we have to learn something we must learn meditation techniques. But if you've read the previous blogs, you know now that with correct understanding, you can do this without meditation techniques, naturally.

The word "meditation" is a translation of the Sanskrit word, dhyana. My Sanskrit-English Dictionary defines this word as reflection, meditation, and especially profound religious meditation (doesn't tell you very much, does it?). I think it is important to remember that lexicographers are not necessarily practitioners of meditation and that they often consult word usage in various Sanskrit texts. So we must turn to the sages for understanding, and to our own experience as well (once we have enough of it to consult).

In another installment, we will consult a sage and find out more about what meditation is really all about and where it lies in the scheme of things - things like that Touch of Truth we talked about before.

© Copyright 2009, Durga Ma, Phoenix, AZ