Meditation

Today there is a lot of material available on meditation, much of which is seemingly conflicting. One feels at a loss to try and sort it all out. There exists, however, among the writings of the East, a classic text on meditation which gets to the heart of the matter, stating clearly and concisely just what meditation is. This text is held by tradition to contain the very essence of the science of meditation, received from the ancient Indian sages, and distilled through long ages of meditation experience.

How well I remember John Algeo pronouncing in his sonorous voice the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. Both, he said, are meanders that one walks through hoping to achieve the centre goal.  The difference is that if one continues pressing onward in a labyrinth, no matter how many…

AMONG the many forces which inspire men to activity, none, perhaps, plays a greater part than the feeling we call devotion — together with some feelings that often mask themselves under its name, though fundamentally differing from it in essence. The most heroic self-sacrifices have been inspired…

According to ancient tradition, the personality in which each one of us lives is only a small part of our true nature. Beneath the facade which we display there are depths of being in which are locked the untapped potential of the spiritual Self—the immortal, enduring part of ourselves. Unfortunately, we are caught up so much of the time with the pressures, demands, attractions, sorrows, pains, and excitements of daily life that most of us have little time to think about the unseen part of ourselves or even, perhaps, to be aware of the existence of any consciousness beyond our sensations, feelings, and thoughts.

Concentrate on the idea of the Higher Self., say for one half an hour at first. Permit no other thought. By degrees you will be able to unite your consciousness with the Higher Self. The Higher Self is always to be sought for within. To look outside is a fatal mistake

Many books have been written on the subject of meditation and yoga but very few in the light of Theosophy and fewer still against the specific teachings of H.P.B. and her Masters.The main sources of our information are the third volume of The Secret Doctrine (1897 Edition) (S.D.), Volume XII of the Collected Writings (de Zirkoff) (CW), certain passages elsewhere in the Collected Writings, the writings of Subba Rao and last but very importantly H.P.B.'s Meditation Diagram

In 1887-88 Madame Blavatsky dictated a Diagram of Meditation to E. T. Sturdy. This Diagram is interesting to study and useful to try to follow in meditation — but also in daily life. It begins with the words: First conceive of Unity. How are we to do so? We may think of the Unity of all things as something ‘other-worldly­’, rejecting the world of diversity that we know.

People come to meditation for a wide variety of reasons. Many of them see in it a relaxation technique, or a method to reduce the stress caused by daily living. Others look at it as a way to generate pleasant emotional or psychological states, like peace, harmony, and joy.

The word “meditation” stands for a large variety of mental exercises adopted by people who have a spiritual ideal of one kind or another in their lives and want to realize this ideal, at least to some extent. As the mental activity and discipline involved in meditation is of very wide scope, it is not easy to deal here with the subject systematically and comprehensively.

Each of us has a "soft spot": the place in our experience where we feel vulnerable and tender. This soft spot is inherent in appreciation and love, and it is equally inherent in pain.

The discussion about the nature of Samadhi in the first chapter of the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and the subtle mental processes which are involved in it might well give the impression that the technique of Yoga is not meant for the ordinary man and he can at best make only a theoretical study of the subject and must postpone its practical application to his own life for some future incarnation when the conditions are more favourable and his mental and spiritual faculties have developed more fully. This impression, though natural, is based upon a misconception.