THE ALCHEMY OF MEDITATION

Dr Sudhansu Kumar Dash

Researchers over the past few years suggest that certain states of consciousness brought about by meditation techniques appear  to evoke specific brain power patterns. These states  are now being created  by electronic stimulation in the brain or can be learned by bio feedback techniques .The traditional meditative state of sitting silently but quietly alert is composed of bilatrral,synchronous altra‘waves&.deeper mediation has bilateral ‘theta ‘ waves. A state called lucid awareness has the bilateral synchronous ‘alfa’and ‘theta ‘waves of deep meditation and the ‘beta’ waves of normal thought process. Lucid meditation can be learned through biofeedback technique, using modern equipments. But is there any technique beyond the technological techniques?

It is a very complex question to be answered. One of the most fundamental thing about meditation is that no technique leads to meditation. All the age old so-called techniques may be there or the scientific but are the same as meditation is concerned. The fact is that meditation is not the by product of any technique. Meditation happens beyond mind as no technique can go beyond mind. There is a great misunderstanding in the scientific circle. The basis of misunderstanding is that  when a person is in a state of meditation, it creates certain waves in the mind but these waves will not create meditation and this is the misunderstanding. By creating  the waves  one can see the happenings in the mind but not the happenings inside. There are sophisticated scientific instruments to judge as to what kind of waves are there in the sleeping,dreaming and in meditation. By creating waves one cannot create the situations because these waves are only symptoms and indications. So one should not be under illusion that there is no technique to meditation; scientific or otherwise. Meditation is simply an understanding. It is not a question of sitting silently, not a question of chanting a mantra, no biofeedback at all. It is a question of understanding the subtle workings  of the mind. As one understands the workings of the mind, a great awareness arises in which one is not of the mind. The awareness arises in one’s Being. So mind is only a mechanism and when the awareness arises it is bound to create a certain energy pattern around it. Meditation is not a question of cause and effect .The waves in the mind are not the cause of meditation, on the contrary they are the effects . But from the effect one can not move towards the cause. It is  possible that by biofeedback one can create certain pattern of the mind, that can give one the feelings of peace, silence and serenity. Because one does not know what meditation is ,one may be misled by it in believing that this is meditation, but not. When the moment the biofeedback technique is  stopped the waves disappear and all silence, peace and serenity  disappear. The procedure of this technique is not going to change anything in the being and one remains the same.

Meditation transforms one to higher levels of consciousness. It changes one’s reaction into responses to such an extent that a person’s anger in the same situation shall change him into a compassionate one and loving one .Meditation is a state of being arrived through understanding. It needs intelligence, not

technique .There is no technique that can give one intelligence otherwise all the idiots would have been changed into geniuses

For centuries the so-called gurus have been cheating the humanity, but in future instead of gurus ,the guru machines will cheat humanity. Certainly in chanting the mantras cantinously,one creates energy field of a certain wave length ,but man remains the same because it is only the surface. A pebble thrown to silent water creates ripples on the surface and moves on the whole surface but waves never touch the depth of the lake. The depth is completely unaware of what is happening on the surface what are seen on the surface are quite illusory. One thinks that the ripples are moving, but the truth is that nothing are moving. Putting a small flower on the water after throwing the pebble, one can be surprised to  see  that the flower is not moving but in the same place. the waves are not moving actually but the water is going up and down on the same place creating an illusion of the movement. The depth of the lake is completely unaware of the waves . So meditation by any technique is never going to change the depth of the character.

One cannot deceive a meditator  because the meditator  can see that these patterns  appear in the mind, may be peace, silence ,tranquility or serenity. No technique can deceive the meditator because no technique can give him the understanding of the workings  of the mind.

Understanding arises by becoming a mirror, a mirror of all that goes on in the mind. A meditator has to be just a mirror and to be just a mirror means just to be aware of all the cunning ways of the mind so that the mind is put aside. The mind is no longer between the Being and Existence and the door is opened.

Lecturer in English

Shreedhar Swamy College of Education &Technology

Sadangi,Dhenkanal,Odisha INDIA

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