meditation is a state of no-mind or a state when thoughts have ceased to exist and you are also totally conscious or alert. mind is thoughts and meditation is no-thought.
so meditation is a journey from mind to no-mind state. you have to go beyond your mind. as long as you are entertaining the mind and its thoughts, you are in the dimension of mind. to go beyond mind you have to watch the thoughts or become the witness to thinking process. witnessing is the art of watching thoughts without getting involved with them. in witnessing, you don’t judge the thoughts but you just passively watch them.
when your witnessing becomes stabilized, then only you can go beyond the mind. the correct approach is to witness the thoughts and then in the next step witness the emotions.
meditation = consciousness + relaxation.
1. why relaxation is important – because in moment of great emergency also, the mind stops suddenly and you are in a blank state and you take decision from your hara center. in this case, although mind has stopped but you are in a state of panic. whereas in deep meditation state, you are totally alert/conscious and also relaxed. totally at ease… no tension at all… totally present in the moment. take another example, even while doing trekking or river rafting etc you are totally alert but again not relaxed. so being totally alert is not meditation if you are not relaxed also.
2. totally conscious – you can be in no-thought state in deep sleep also. in deep sleep one stage comes when there are no dreams. this dreamless sleep actually rejuvenate you. so you can be in no-thought state and totally relaxed in deep sleep also but you are not conscious.
3. so meditation is a state of relaxed awareness where all thoughts have ceased to exist. when thoughts are not there, mind is also not there. mind is thoughts and thoughts. so meditation is a state of no-mind with relaxation.
4. there are hundreds of meditation techniques devised by mystics. but the aim of these meditation technique is to give you a state of no-mind. if you are practicing meditation techniques for years and have not experienced no-mind state then you have not been in meditation.
5. it happens with many people that they practice meditation techniques for years and yet don’t find any transformation in them. it is because they have not been able to taste the no-mind state. your witnessing capability should increase with time as you progress in meditation.
6. once you start enjoying no-mind states. then next important step is to bring the grace, stillness and consciousness which has been showered on you in no-mind state to your day to day activities. which implies, do your all acts totally, consciously and gracefully.
7. choose a meditation technique which suits you and be total in it. reach to the no-mind state and yet remain relaxed.