Page 38 - Wisdom Unfurled

and preconceived notions prove injurious – very often irrevocably. As such the visions of light, etc., are not to be artificially created or insisted upon. These may only be noted, when they do arise, without any feeling of personal attachment to any of them. The only object of personal attachment should be the Ultimate goal, viz., realisation, which is to be firmly held in view throughout; and this is to constitute the most reliable guarantee against any and every irrelevant diversion. One example of harmful misdirected emphasis, as already pointed out, is the insistence on concentration of consciousness, expected anxiously during every session of meditational practice by most raja yogic abhyasis. This has played havoc in the history of yogic sadhana in India and elsewhere. Methods of ascetic austerities, penances and physical mortification usually applied for keeping the mind under control, do not relieve it of its misdirected trends. On the other hand, they only serve to keep the evil subdued within and it might at any time burst forth, when, by chance, the control is somehow relaxed. The real solution of the problem lies, not in controlling the mind artificially by suppression, restraint or mortification, but in its gradual moulding which is to relieve it of its misdirected trends. In this, and every other matter therefore, having the attitude of a sincere student, grasping and allowing everything to work and develop in a natural way, is to ensure the most speedy progress.
Generally I advise meditation on the heart at the point where you feel its beats. Meditation on other points can also be undertaken such as fixing the attention on the point of the nose or between the eyebrows, etc., but in my opinion, meditation on the heart is the easiest and most beneficial. There is a great philosophy underlying meditation on the heart. The heart is the pumping station of blood. It sends out purified blood to all parts of the body and to the smallest cells. Now we have taken the heart as the centre for meditation. The blood that runs through our system is affected. The solidity due to our own thoughts and actions begins to melt away. This is the first thing that we begin to gain from the first day by this method of meditation on the heart. It is the nucleus and creates the vibrant motion, wherever it is directed. This is the field for the mind to work and this is the instrument by which we develop the discriminating faculty. The subtle force works in this place for the descent of divine energy. If somehow our thinking conjoins with it, or we train it so that it may percolate the right thing and direct it towards Reality, the problem is solved. People may ask why it is necessary to proceed with meditation. The answer is quite plain and simple, that by meditation we gather ourselves at one point so that our individual mind may leave its habit of wandering about, which it has formed. By this practice we set our individual mind on the right path because it is now metamorphosing its habits. When this is done, our thoughts naturally do not go astray. The heart is the only point at which the