People have many questions about meditation. Is meditation a state of mind? Is it a tool for relaxation? Does one need some type of spiritual instruction in order to meditate? What is the difference between concentration and meditation? The answers may be quite varied, depending on the perspective of the

person who is responding. There are also many misconceptions about meditation that should be addressed.

BY CHARLES SHAHAR

What isMeditation?

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Most people equate meditation with relaxation.

I once heard someone remark that he did not need to meditate because he was a good sleeper. He felt so refreshed after a nap, what was the point of meditating?

Of course, there is much more to medi-tation than just rest. But he didn’t seem interested in pursuing the matter, so I did not elaborate.

The body relaxes significantly in medi-tation. For this reason, meditation is an exceptional tool for coping with stress.

There are many studies proving that the risk of heart attack is lower for those who practice meditation regularly; the blood pressure drops, the heartbeat slows, the muscles relax. Tension is such a basic part of modern life, that simply sitting still is beneficial from a physical standpoint.

The mind relaxes as well in meditation.

The mind and body are intimately linked. If the body is tense then the mind will also likely be disturbed.

When we sit in a quiet space and allow the body to remain still, the quality of our mental processes eventually changes. The thoughts become less insistent, there are fewer of them and we are less wrapped-up in them.

At a certain point in meditation the mind may start to drift, and we may fall asleep.

Are we still meditating?

How is taking a nap any different?

The answer is not simple. When one meditates something special happens to the texture of their mind.

The meditative state is one in which the mind remains

alert and yet calm.

In meditation one can reach a state of profound clarity.

This happens when the meditator becomes so detached that they can watch the thoughts parade before the mind, and no longer feel distracted by the senses or any physical discomfort or agitation.

A remarkable serenity characterizes such a state.

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The beauty of such detach-ment is that you can carry

it into your daily life. You can function adequately in the world but without the worries that may other-wise preoccupy the mind.

Sleep will make you peaceful.

It will detach you from the world in the sense that you are not conscious of it when you are sleeping. But when you wake up, all the worries and struggles come flooding back, and the mind is once again caught-up.

Sleep will not change the texture of your consciousness.

We indulge in five to eight hours of sleep each night, but very few people will say it makes them any wiser.

On the other hand, something happens through meditation that connects you to a subtler way of acting and thinking, even after you open your eyes and interact in the world.

You could not accomplish this if you slept for fifteen hours a day.

In fact, a lot of sleep will likely make your mind more sluggish, rather than more alert.

Meditation represents a state that is different from sleep or waking consciousness.

Should we then consider it as a mysterious or even mystical process?

Some saints and mystics of the past have described episodes of intense reverie, where grand visions or revelations came to them.

Is meditation about soaring into fantasti-cal realms where deities appear, accompa-nied by brilliant lights and celestial music?

This all sounds exciting but you will find that most practitioners of meditation gen-erally do not seem wild-eyed, withdrawn, “lost in space”, or incapable of functioning in the world.

Neither are they necessarily monks or nuns.

Although meditation may lead to open-ings of a mystical quality, the day-to-day practice is often less dramatic and the experiences subtler, and more easily inte-grated into the activities of modern life.

One does not have to be a mystic to prac-tice meditation.

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What is the difference between medita-tion and concentration?

A person once remarked to me that he had no need for meditation, since he achieved a certain feeling of wellbeing while tending to his stamp collection.

The hobby relaxed him and provided a focus for his mind.

Isn’t any activity that concentrates the mind similar to meditation?

The answer is that it depends what one is concentrating on.

In meditation the attention is focused, not on any form,

object or sensation, but rather on existence itself.

The mind is turned inwards; the flow of mental consciousness is directed towards its source, through various levels of expe-rience, until the mind itself dissolves.

What remains is consciousness alone, or pure Awareness.

The point is that meditation cannot be considered simply a situation where the mind is focused or directed, because at a certain level of awareness one transcends the mind, the mechanism of thought or perception; indeed, the very nature of human experience.

One can become very deeply involved in the world, concentrating on attaining success or finding pleasure. With suffi-cient application, almost anything can be attained.

But the question is, how much closer will such application bring one to the essence or knowledge of who they are?

There are some basic questions that have been asked by humankind since it first developed the capacity to evaluate its own existence.

• What is the Self?

• Why have we manifested in this world?

• What determines our fate?

• What happens when we leave the physical dimension?

• What is our relationship to God?

These questions go beyond factual or worldly inquiry. They relate more to a wish to have a deeper understanding of our true nature, the source of our existence.

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A scientist, philosopher or mystic will approach such questions differently.

But whatever perspective is applied, there is something that remains consistent throughout.

And that is, the one who knows, the power behind the intellect.

It is the “Knower” that is responsible for the revelations that unfold in the mind.

Without this Knower, there would be no inquiry, no understanding and no communication or expression of any such achievement.

How can meditation help us answer the key questions of life?

It puts us in touch with the Knower and unfolds a space, or state, of pure “Knowingness”.

This does not mean that if one meditates, one becomes all-knowing, in the sense of knowing every detail of this world.

Rather, I am referring to a state where no questions or doubts arise and no confu-sion emerges.

We can call it the “answered state.”

This is a state of amazing fullness. The mind is not full of explanations or facts, but is brimming with the bliss of the Absolute.

There is nothing more to gain, no feelings of and no ideas that one is limited by any-thing. Rather, there is a connection with an inner vastness that holds, not the little concepts of the individual mind, but the totality of existence itself.

There is nothing quite like this understand-ing which emerges through meditation.

Scientists can devote their intellects to a single issue, and still, at the end of their lives, claim that they are no closer to solving the puzzle that had so preoccupied them.

A person can close their eyes, meditate for a few minutes, and reach a state where the problem, the solution, and in fact, the intellect itself will dissolve into space.

What remains? The Knower behind the mind— pure Consciousness alone.

Charles shahar is a clinical psychologist by training, and a social researcher by trade. He has lived and studied Vedanta philosophy in India, and has taught meditation and yoga for more than 17 years to diverse populations.

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