Tract on Meditation

Meditation brings harmony to the physical, vital and mental. On the physical side, it removes many ailments through a change in the chemistry of the body.

In deep meditation, one is likely to smell uncommon fragrance, sees fantastic figures, colours, and lights and hears unheard sounds as well as sees waves of light out of which sound begins to flow. When one gets fully established in meditation, one awakes in the higher consciousness which transcends space-time continuum as also causal relationship.

Anchoring on the Infinity known as shakti, facilitates elevation to higher consciousness. She is to be meditated upon since she is the source and final resort of Creation.

Our body is the the house of Consciousness along with head as the treasure-chest of it. Nerves hundred and one get branched into seventy two thousand. Each one of the branches is as subtle as a part of hair divided lengthwise into a thousand. These according to Yoga have a fluid of several colours flowing through them. The fluid is the bearer of sensations, motor reactions as well as memories. The nerve extending from the pelvic centre to the top of the head, and called susumna, is the most important amongst them, since it is the bearer of higher consciousness having withdrawn attention from sensations carried by other nerves.

It is imperative for the student of Yoga to meditate on and awaken the consciousness borne by the susumna nerve having withdrawn attention from the functions of other nerves. This course of meditation spans from the pelvic centre up to the saharara through intense focussing on each cakra coming in the way successively.

Vedic seers seem to have meditated particularly from the heart plexus up to the sahasrara as is evident from their frequent use of hrida manisha on crucial epistemological points.

One whose meditation is directed exclusively to the sahasrara deserves to get immortalised. He has thus managed to exclude from the perspective of his consciousness, everything except for the Consciousness itself. This final state of meditation is indicated by the term samadhi since here the agent, object and act of meditation all the three factors involved in any instance of cognition get merged in the Consciousness.

Sahasrara is the treasure chest of the Divine safeguarded by the physical, vital, and mental sheaths are meant for safeguarding this divine sheath.

Directing the consciousness involved in the functioning of the brain to the heart results in the access to the sheath known as vijnanamaya. It is seer Atharvan who is said to have discovered how this meditative unification of heart and mind leads to the experience of bliss of Consciousness – ananda.

The five sheaths, namely, physical, vital, mental, supremely conscious and blessed are placed in an order gross to subtle as also from the outer to the inner. Sheaths from the subtle to the gross are distinct stages in the course of manifestation of consciousness on the universal scale.

The course of manifestation was retraced through deep meditation by Sage Bhrigu, the son of Varuna.

Asanas are a great help in the penetration of the physical.

Pranasandhana, likewise, is meant specifically for the penetration and transcendence of the vital. So does pratyahara in regard to the mental.

Vijnanamaya, on the other hand, is penetrated through reflective awareness of the witnessing consciousness. It opens the gate of the citadel of consciousness and bliss, know as anandamaya and forming the point of culmination of the yogic sadhana, the consciousness at this level is all-inclusive Consciousness.

The state of all-comprehending blessedness is known as Bhuman as unfolded by sage Sanatkumara to the divine sage Narada.

It is also the golden sheath bathed in light as envisioned by seer Narayana.