by Joseph Emmett, Vedanta Teacher, Philosopher, and Visiting Master at AyurMa
What is meditation? Meditation is holding the mind on a single thought, to the exclusion of all other thoughts, under the control of the intellect. One thought, called a mantra. The point is to hold it there long enough that even this one thought eventually falls away, no thought remains, and the intellect dissolves, leaving only Pure Consciousness. At this point, you return to your original nature of undifferentiated, non-segregated, ever-fulfilled peace—your true Self. This state has been called Nirvana, Moksha, Self-realisation, Enlightenment, Becoming, Awakening, and many more. It is described as Purnam in Sanskrit, meaning "absolute fullness."
But it is not that easy.
Many people have a meditation practice or even ‘meditate on’ this or that. Those practices certainly can have benefits of relaxation, blood pressure reduction, and even temporary flashes of mental stillness, but they are not meditation in the classical sense as defined by Vedanta, the very source of the practice. They rarely involve the aforementioned single-pointed focus and almost never result in full Enlightenment.
So, what might we be missing in the modern understanding and practice of meditation? To answer these questions, it is useful to look back at some fundamentals:
Every human being is a body, mind, and intellect plus Consciousness. Or you could say Consciousness wrapped in a body, mind, and intellect. The body is obvious. It’s the vehicle that moves us from place to place to have experiences. The mind, called manas in Sanskrit, is what in the West we might call ‘heart.’ It is the seat of feelings, emotions, likes and dislikes, and impulses. The intellect, called buddhi in Sanskrit, is that which reasons, contemplates, philosophises, concentrates the mind, decides, and ideally directs the mind and body. Mind and intellect together comprise the ‘subtle body,’ compared to a river. The water flowing is mind; the banks of the river are the intellect. Intellect gives shape and direction to the mind.
Manas, the mind, has no capacity to focus itself, stay within a form, say ‘enough,’ etc. It has no direction or dimension of its own. It certainly cannot meditate. Only a very powerful intellect can hold the mind on one thought in the seat of meditation. Simply put, meditation will not work if the intellect is not strong enough and the mind is too unwieldy. This is the problem. This is why practitioners are often left with the same stagnant thoughts and feelings (or even an inferno of boiling ones), even after decades of regularly sitting with eyes closed and breathing. Many people report they are not ‘getting anywhere.’
The reported benefits are temporary and at best, merely therapeutic. But meditation is meant for more than that. It is a sacred, extraordinary practice not to be reduced only to relaxation and stress relief.
To be truly ready for meditation, effort is required. Meditation has prerequisites.
The way is to first govern the senses, purify the emotions, reduce desire and strengthen the intellect. Just as the way to run a marathon is to start by running around the block, or to surf big waves is to surf a lot of little ones first. To do this, the intellect must first be known to exist. This is achieved through Vedantic education. Then it must be understood, developed and strengthened. To strengthen the intellect, we must:
1. Not accept anything for granted.
2. Question everything.
3. Never follow anything until our reason and judgement accepts it.
4. Exercise the intellect daily by reflection upon Higher truths and values of life. Study and reflect upon the profound and time-tested wisdom of Vedanta.
I recommend the study of Swami A. Parthasarathy’s four books – The Fall of the Human Intellect, Governing Business and Relationships, The Holocaust of Attachment and Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities in the early hours of the morning.
For those seeking a guided, more in-depth course, I recommend Swami A. Parthasarathy’s three-year e-learning program. Composed of more than 400 lectures recorded at Vedanta Academy during its residential three-year course, this online program is the most comprehensive available short of doing the program at the ashram.
Whether studying on one’s own or following the e-learning syllabus, your intellect will slowly begin to gain the objectivity and capacity to guide the mind. It will achieve general concentration. Given further ammunition of higher values, the intellect will begin to resist the justifications of the mind for its wanderings. It will see things from a higher perspective, become more philosophical, less impulsive and calm. Slowly, the mind will be caught. The intellect will effortlessly maintain a firm hold, like a rider with a good grip on the reins.
Finally, as the Vedantic mainstay Bhagavad Gita says, one can attempt to ‘sit and focus on Me as Supreme’. That is, sit and single-pointedly think of God, the Self, your core Being. Then, one is meditating.
There is no other way to Self-Realisation. One must meditate. It is the gateway to Liberation. The question is, where in one’s journey should it be placed?
In his book Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities, Swami A. Parthasarathy writes:
“You cannot practice single pointed meditation until your mind becomes free from worldly attachment and desire. When your mind becomes free from worldly attraction and entanglement. Remains under the control of the intellect. And you are objective in your transactions of life. The progress and success in meditation is therefore directly proportional to the preparation of the mind. Your mind must be cleansed before you reach the seat of meditation. The purer the mind the easier it is to practice meditation. Purity of mind means rendering it free of desire and expectation. Means renunciation. Nothing less. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,’ assures Christ. You must first gain the purity of mind. But people directly try to meditate without the initial preparation. Without purifying their mind. They will not give up their attachment and desire, their hope and expectation, yearning and craving. They will not pay the price for what they seek. Those extroverted people, living a material and sensual life, wish to become the Buddha overnight.”
In my talks at AyurMa we will learn about the intellect, exercise it and begin the journey towards authentic meditation.
Joseph Emmett returns to AyurMa at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru from November 1–10, 2024. Explore the schedule and topics of his upcoming Vedanta talks by clicking here.
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