Meditation
Meditation in the Hindu tradition can be discerned from a variety of sources. These include sculptural depictions that date from 3500 BCE, as well as a variety of texts that refer explicitly to meditation starting with the early Upaniṣads (c. 800 BCE). The quintessential Hindu manual on meditation, the Yogasūtra was composed by circa 200–400 CE.
Early depictions of what seem to be meditating figures were found in the excavations of Indus Valley cities including Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Lothal that date from 3500 BCE. Busts show what appears to be a kinglike figure in a reflective pose with half closed eyes, and steatite seals depict people sitting in an approximation of the lotus posture. In some seals, animals surround a meditating figure, perhaps indicating a shamanic, totemic origin of this tradition.
The sixth chapter of the Bhagavadgītā specifies how to meditate. Kṛṣṇa reminds his pupil Arjuna that one must gain self-control (BhG. 6.5–6). Such a person remains “composed amidst cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor” and regards “gold, a stone, a clod of earth” to be the same (BhG. 6.7–8). To accomplish this equanimity, Kṛṣṇa states the following:
Let the yogin always concentrate the mind,
living alone in solitude, mind and self restrained,
without cravings for possessions.
Let that person fix a clean place with a firm seat
that is neither too high nor too low
made of kuśa grass, a deerskin, and a cloth,
one over the other.
Sitting on that seat, making the mind one-pointed,
controlling activities of mind and senses,
engage in yoga for the purification of the self.
Holding body, neck, and head erect,
remaining motionless, gaze at the tip of the nose
and not with an outward gaze. (BhG. 6.10–13)
In addition to these physical requirements, Kṛṣṇa suggests that the practitioner of yoga direct the thinking process to himself as a symbol of the transcendent, to remain calm, as well as free from fear and lust (BhG. 6.14). These qualities, along with a lifestyle steeped in moderation in regard to food and sleep (BhG. 6.16), will allow one to control both thought and emotion. According to Kṛṣṇa, this will result in great attainment:
Having restrained the restless and unsteady mind,
controlling its outflows,
one comes under control of the (higher) self alone.
The greatest happiness comes to the practitioner of yoga
whose mind is peaceful, whose passions have ceased,
who has become sinless and like brahman itself.
Continually exerting oneself in disciplined concentration,
the practitioner of yoga becomes free from sin,
and attains the boundless happiness that arises
through contact with brahman.
The one disciplined through yoga
sees the self abiding in all beings
and sees every being in the self.
That one sees sameness in all beings. (BhG. 6.26–29)
Kṛṣṇa gives the highest praise to the doer of yoga, saying that such a person is greater than a mere ascetic, greater than a great scholar, and greater than one who performs rituals well (BhG. 6.46).
The Yogasūtra of Patañjali (ca. 200 CE) defines yoga as the restraint of the fluctuations of the mind (yogaś cittavṛttinirodhaḥ). The application of yoga allows for the gradual diminishment of karmic influences, referred to as seeds (bīja) or residues (saṃskāra). Yoga specifies five aspects of defilement that must be controlled: ignorance, egoism, attraction, repulsion, and a desire for life to continue. By following the practices of yoga, including meditation, karman dissipates. The practitioner reshapes his or her identity, abandoning attachment to fixed behaviors. By drawing inward, one reaches deeper self-understanding and approaches a state of lucidity and purification.
Numerous meditation practices can be found in the texts of Yoga, in contrast to the more generic descriptions of the earlier Upaniṣads and the Bhagavadgītā. Different objects of meditation are listed, including fixing one’s attention on Īśvara through the use of mantra . Patañjali defines Īśvara, sometimes referred to as a deity, as a special soul or puruṣa who has never been tainted by the actions of karman. By fashioning such an ideal through the imagination, one can then strive to emulate this rarefied being. In the Hindu bhakti or devotional tradition, fixing one’s attention on any one of a variety of deities can result in karmic purification, with Kṛṣṇa and Rāma being the most frequently worshipped Vaiṣṇava deities and Śiva, Gaṇeśa, and Devī (or Pārvatī) the object of devotion for Śaivas. Patañjali, through his concept of chosen deity (iṣṭadevatā), suggests that the meditative procedures engaged in order to purify oneself carry more significance than the actual object of one’s meditation.
Turning again to the Bhagavadgītā, Kṛṣṇa suggests that Arjuna can overcome his suffering by directing his attention on the supreme qualities of Kṛṣṇa’s universal form. In a series of chapters, Kṛṣṇa proclaims that all activities and the very act of transcendence are to be found in his own body. He summarizes the creative realm of prakṛti as an eightfold aspect of himself: “earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, understanding, and the sense of I” (BhG. 7.4). He proclaims that:
All this world is strung on me
like jewels on a string.
I am the taste in the waters,
the radiance in the sun and moon,
the sacred syllable oṃ in all the Vedas,
the sound that resounds in space,
the virility of the strong,
the pleasant fragrance in earth,
the glowing brightness in fire,
the life in all beings,
the austerity in ascetics. (BhG. 7.7–9)
Kṛṣṇa suggests that by reflecting (and by extension meditating) on his qualities that he will become liberated from his self-obsessions and becomes free from rebirth ( saṃsāra ; BhG. 8.16). Arjuna eventually encounters this universal aspect of Kṛṣṇa and through his practice of devotional meditation feels transformed. By following Kṛṣṇa’s guidance, Arjuna uses the insight gained by this transformational meditation experience to carry on with his responsibilities, a key aspect of the Hindu approach to meditation, which emphasizes reengagement rather than retreat from the world.
Several other practices are listed in the Yogasūtra that do not require the presence of an inspirational, theistic object of devotion. They include becoming one-pointed in one’s activities, regulating one’s breath, experiencing inner radiance, reflecting on an auspicious dream, or “from meditation as desired” (YS. 1.39). Patañjali puts forward a progressive technique, where one begins with a gross, outward object (vitarka) and then takes it inward, seeing its relationship with and grounding in one’s mental constructs. This out-ward object might be a specific deity image such as a statue of Sarasvatī, the goddess of culture and learning, or Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth. By focusing one’s attention on this object, one may find it easier to reflect on the qualities conveyed through the deity’s representation. Eventually, as one moves from the external (savitarka) practice to an internal realization of the qualities of the deity without the support of the form (nirvitarka), skill is gained in absorbing the lesson to be learned by seeking after culture, learning, wealth, or whatever else one might desire to acquire or emulate. One then moves on to more subtle aspects of one’s psychological conditioning (vicāra), focusing on the patterns of past karman that tend to govern one’s personality. In active reflection (savicāra) on one’s karmic habits, patterns can be discerned and perhaps displaced by the active application of ethical precepts (see below). Eventually, one can become free from the conditioning that binds one to repeated activities that cause harm and distress through a process of liberating oneself through deep reflective processes (nirvicāra) that lead to transcendent experiences. By applying meditation techniques of focusing and calming the mind, and by probing into the root causes of one’s motivations, one gradually gains the ability to move into a seedless state of pure being, referred to as nirbījasamādhi.
Ethics plays a crucial role in the meditation systems of Hinduism. Patañjali specifies the practice of five abstentions or precepts (yama) and five observances or positive behaviors (niyama) that help prepare one for entering states of meditation. By holding to nonviolence ( ahiṃsā ) one engenders an atmosphere of well-being that brings calm and solace to others. By holding to truth, one’s word corresponds to reality. Through not stealing, one gains appreciation of all that exists without seeking to appropriate or horde it for oneself. By abandoning sexual obsession, one makes the world safe from one’s designs and manipulations. By giving up the acquirement of things, one can learn to understand one’s motivations and past predilections. These five vows, common to nearly all India’s meditative paths, allow for the deconstruction of destructive habits and the active construction of a safe, ethically grounded world (see YS. 2.33–39).
Additionally, one will seek to cultivate purity (sauca), contentment (santoṣa), austerity that generates creative heat (tapas), a habit of study and reflection (svadhyaya), and a devotional attitude (īśvarapraṇidhāna), which comprise the observances (YS. 2.40–45). A purified person who cultivates these behaviors naturally exhibits enlightened behavior, and is friendly (not jealous) toward successful people, compassionate (not scornful) toward those who suffer, happy (not envious) for those who are meritorious, and retain their equanimity (do not become hateful) in regard to those who lack virtue (YS. 1.33).
Meditation enables the practitioner to avoid the repetition of behavior that can be harmful to oneself and others. Yoga philosophy claims that due to desire (kāma) or thirst (tṛṣṇa), one engages in actions (karman) prompted by the residues of past actions (saṃskāra) that lead to repeated difficulty, darkness, and even despair (duḥkha). By the application of meditation and meditative ethical practices, one can cultivate an alternate way of being (pratipakṣabhāvanā) rooted in purity. By withdrawing the outward flows of the mind and the senses and reversing the tendency to be defined by external objects and realities, one can become free of psychological entanglements and social expectations, achieving the status of a solitary hero, in charge of one’s own reality.
Movement (āsana, technically, ability to sit still), breath (prāṇāyāma), and the cultivation of an inward state free from distraction (pratyāhāra) complete the ascent to the more rarified states of meditation. From concentration of a particular object or idea (dharaṇa) one moves into a sustained state of reflection (dhyāna), a term often technically translated as meditation, leading to a state of rapture (samādhi). By the application of these three in a process known as saṃyama a state of transparent consciousness arises, described by Patañjali as follows:
"[The accomplished mind] of diminished fluctuations, like a clear jewel assuming the color of any nearby object, has unity among grasper, grasping, and grasped" (YS. 1.41).
Meditation and the threefold application of saṃyama results in the accumulation of powers, ranging from enhanced language learning abilities and physical beauty to memory of one’s past lives. Through focusing on the interior energy of the body, one gains intimacy with the various subtle energy centers (cakras) that correlate with locations along the spine. These include vortexes of the earth connected eliminative function, sexuality, and power found in the respective areas of the anus, the sexual organs, and the solar plexus. Above these three lower functions, one finds the seat of compassion in the heart, an array of emotions in the area of the throat, the third eye representing insight between the eyebrows, and in the area above the skull, a magnificent lotus. Through meditation techniques associated with Tantra (Tantrism) and popularized from the 8th century onward, one systematically advances from the lower cakras toward the higher ones, bring about the ascent of a force known as the kuṇḍalinī. However, Patañjali states that the powers (siddhi) must not distract one from the ultimate goal of self-purification (YS. 3.49–55).
Early depictions of what seem to be meditating figures were found in the excavations of Indus Valley cities including Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Lothal that date from 3500 BCE. Busts show what appears to be a kinglike figure in a reflective pose with half closed eyes, and steatite seals depict people sitting in an approximation of the lotus posture. In some seals, animals surround a meditating figure, perhaps indicating a shamanic, totemic origin of this tradition.
The Vedas, Upaniṣads, and the Bhagavadgītā
The earliest text of Indian literature, the Ṛgveda, which dates from at least 1500 BCE, mentions long haired ascetics who might be presumed to have been engaged in some form of meditation. The Ṛgveda lays out the philosophical foundations for later traditions of meditation. Ṛgveda 1.164.20 describes two birds in the same tree, one eating sweet berries while the other merely witnesses. This theme repeats itself in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad (3.1.1) and the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad (4.6). The Bhagavadgītā similarly discusses themes of the lower nature subject to constant change and activity ( prakṛti ) and the higher nature or inner true self ( puruṣa or ātman ). The worldview presented in this early metaphor delineates two major modalities of engagement with the world. One aspect freely and unreflectively participates in and contributes to the world. The other aspect remains aloof and transcendent, as a spectator or onlooker.The sixth chapter of the Bhagavadgītā specifies how to meditate. Kṛṣṇa reminds his pupil Arjuna that one must gain self-control (BhG. 6.5–6). Such a person remains “composed amidst cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor” and regards “gold, a stone, a clod of earth” to be the same (BhG. 6.7–8). To accomplish this equanimity, Kṛṣṇa states the following:
Let the yogin always concentrate the mind,
living alone in solitude, mind and self restrained,
without cravings for possessions.
Let that person fix a clean place with a firm seat
that is neither too high nor too low
made of kuśa grass, a deerskin, and a cloth,
one over the other.
Sitting on that seat, making the mind one-pointed,
controlling activities of mind and senses,
engage in yoga for the purification of the self.
Holding body, neck, and head erect,
remaining motionless, gaze at the tip of the nose
and not with an outward gaze. (BhG. 6.10–13)
In addition to these physical requirements, Kṛṣṇa suggests that the practitioner of yoga direct the thinking process to himself as a symbol of the transcendent, to remain calm, as well as free from fear and lust (BhG. 6.14). These qualities, along with a lifestyle steeped in moderation in regard to food and sleep (BhG. 6.16), will allow one to control both thought and emotion. According to Kṛṣṇa, this will result in great attainment:
Having restrained the restless and unsteady mind,
controlling its outflows,
one comes under control of the (higher) self alone.
The greatest happiness comes to the practitioner of yoga
whose mind is peaceful, whose passions have ceased,
who has become sinless and like brahman itself.
Continually exerting oneself in disciplined concentration,
the practitioner of yoga becomes free from sin,
and attains the boundless happiness that arises
through contact with brahman.
The one disciplined through yoga
sees the self abiding in all beings
and sees every being in the self.
That one sees sameness in all beings. (BhG. 6.26–29)
Kṛṣṇa gives the highest praise to the doer of yoga, saying that such a person is greater than a mere ascetic, greater than a great scholar, and greater than one who performs rituals well (BhG. 6.46).
Sāṃkhya and Yoga
Sāṃkhya philosophy, one of the six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy, builds on the vedic notion of seen and seer, spoken of in the Bhagavadgītā as the field and the knower of the field (BhG. 13). Articulated in a concise text known as the Sāṃkhyakārikā by the philosopher Īśvarakṛṣṇa in the early centuries of the Common Era, Sāṃkhya delineates a cosmology based on a dynamic tension between the processes of activity and witnessing. The realm of activity includes psychological states (bhāva), operations of the mind (manas), sense and motor capacities (indriya), as well as the subtle and gross elements (tanmātras and mahābhūtas ) that manifest as discrete, concrete objects. By understanding and harnessing the karmically influenced outflows that arise when the witnessing consciousness becomes intrigued and defined by the particularity found in the manifest realm of activity, one gains mastery over and release from compulsive behavior, resulting in liberation (kaivalya). This philosophy undergirds the system of Yoga, which presents a variety of meditation techniques to accomplish the goal of liberation, whereas the Sāṃkhyakārikā does not delineate any particular meditation techniques, other than to invoke the need for knowledge.The Yogasūtra of Patañjali (ca. 200 CE) defines yoga as the restraint of the fluctuations of the mind (yogaś cittavṛttinirodhaḥ). The application of yoga allows for the gradual diminishment of karmic influences, referred to as seeds (bīja) or residues (saṃskāra). Yoga specifies five aspects of defilement that must be controlled: ignorance, egoism, attraction, repulsion, and a desire for life to continue. By following the practices of yoga, including meditation, karman dissipates. The practitioner reshapes his or her identity, abandoning attachment to fixed behaviors. By drawing inward, one reaches deeper self-understanding and approaches a state of lucidity and purification.
Numerous meditation practices can be found in the texts of Yoga, in contrast to the more generic descriptions of the earlier Upaniṣads and the Bhagavadgītā. Different objects of meditation are listed, including fixing one’s attention on Īśvara through the use of mantra . Patañjali defines Īśvara, sometimes referred to as a deity, as a special soul or puruṣa who has never been tainted by the actions of karman. By fashioning such an ideal through the imagination, one can then strive to emulate this rarefied being. In the Hindu bhakti or devotional tradition, fixing one’s attention on any one of a variety of deities can result in karmic purification, with Kṛṣṇa and Rāma being the most frequently worshipped Vaiṣṇava deities and Śiva, Gaṇeśa, and Devī (or Pārvatī) the object of devotion for Śaivas. Patañjali, through his concept of chosen deity (iṣṭadevatā), suggests that the meditative procedures engaged in order to purify oneself carry more significance than the actual object of one’s meditation.
Turning again to the Bhagavadgītā, Kṛṣṇa suggests that Arjuna can overcome his suffering by directing his attention on the supreme qualities of Kṛṣṇa’s universal form. In a series of chapters, Kṛṣṇa proclaims that all activities and the very act of transcendence are to be found in his own body. He summarizes the creative realm of prakṛti as an eightfold aspect of himself: “earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, understanding, and the sense of I” (BhG. 7.4). He proclaims that:
All this world is strung on me
like jewels on a string.
I am the taste in the waters,
the radiance in the sun and moon,
the sacred syllable oṃ in all the Vedas,
the sound that resounds in space,
the virility of the strong,
the pleasant fragrance in earth,
the glowing brightness in fire,
the life in all beings,
the austerity in ascetics. (BhG. 7.7–9)
Kṛṣṇa suggests that by reflecting (and by extension meditating) on his qualities that he will become liberated from his self-obsessions and becomes free from rebirth ( saṃsāra ; BhG. 8.16). Arjuna eventually encounters this universal aspect of Kṛṣṇa and through his practice of devotional meditation feels transformed. By following Kṛṣṇa’s guidance, Arjuna uses the insight gained by this transformational meditation experience to carry on with his responsibilities, a key aspect of the Hindu approach to meditation, which emphasizes reengagement rather than retreat from the world.
Several other practices are listed in the Yogasūtra that do not require the presence of an inspirational, theistic object of devotion. They include becoming one-pointed in one’s activities, regulating one’s breath, experiencing inner radiance, reflecting on an auspicious dream, or “from meditation as desired” (YS. 1.39). Patañjali puts forward a progressive technique, where one begins with a gross, outward object (vitarka) and then takes it inward, seeing its relationship with and grounding in one’s mental constructs. This out-ward object might be a specific deity image such as a statue of Sarasvatī, the goddess of culture and learning, or Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth. By focusing one’s attention on this object, one may find it easier to reflect on the qualities conveyed through the deity’s representation. Eventually, as one moves from the external (savitarka) practice to an internal realization of the qualities of the deity without the support of the form (nirvitarka), skill is gained in absorbing the lesson to be learned by seeking after culture, learning, wealth, or whatever else one might desire to acquire or emulate. One then moves on to more subtle aspects of one’s psychological conditioning (vicāra), focusing on the patterns of past karman that tend to govern one’s personality. In active reflection (savicāra) on one’s karmic habits, patterns can be discerned and perhaps displaced by the active application of ethical precepts (see below). Eventually, one can become free from the conditioning that binds one to repeated activities that cause harm and distress through a process of liberating oneself through deep reflective processes (nirvicāra) that lead to transcendent experiences. By applying meditation techniques of focusing and calming the mind, and by probing into the root causes of one’s motivations, one gradually gains the ability to move into a seedless state of pure being, referred to as nirbījasamādhi.
Ethics plays a crucial role in the meditation systems of Hinduism. Patañjali specifies the practice of five abstentions or precepts (yama) and five observances or positive behaviors (niyama) that help prepare one for entering states of meditation. By holding to nonviolence ( ahiṃsā ) one engenders an atmosphere of well-being that brings calm and solace to others. By holding to truth, one’s word corresponds to reality. Through not stealing, one gains appreciation of all that exists without seeking to appropriate or horde it for oneself. By abandoning sexual obsession, one makes the world safe from one’s designs and manipulations. By giving up the acquirement of things, one can learn to understand one’s motivations and past predilections. These five vows, common to nearly all India’s meditative paths, allow for the deconstruction of destructive habits and the active construction of a safe, ethically grounded world (see YS. 2.33–39).
Additionally, one will seek to cultivate purity (sauca), contentment (santoṣa), austerity that generates creative heat (tapas), a habit of study and reflection (svadhyaya), and a devotional attitude (īśvarapraṇidhāna), which comprise the observances (YS. 2.40–45). A purified person who cultivates these behaviors naturally exhibits enlightened behavior, and is friendly (not jealous) toward successful people, compassionate (not scornful) toward those who suffer, happy (not envious) for those who are meritorious, and retain their equanimity (do not become hateful) in regard to those who lack virtue (YS. 1.33).
Meditation enables the practitioner to avoid the repetition of behavior that can be harmful to oneself and others. Yoga philosophy claims that due to desire (kāma) or thirst (tṛṣṇa), one engages in actions (karman) prompted by the residues of past actions (saṃskāra) that lead to repeated difficulty, darkness, and even despair (duḥkha). By the application of meditation and meditative ethical practices, one can cultivate an alternate way of being (pratipakṣabhāvanā) rooted in purity. By withdrawing the outward flows of the mind and the senses and reversing the tendency to be defined by external objects and realities, one can become free of psychological entanglements and social expectations, achieving the status of a solitary hero, in charge of one’s own reality.
Movement (āsana, technically, ability to sit still), breath (prāṇāyāma), and the cultivation of an inward state free from distraction (pratyāhāra) complete the ascent to the more rarified states of meditation. From concentration of a particular object or idea (dharaṇa) one moves into a sustained state of reflection (dhyāna), a term often technically translated as meditation, leading to a state of rapture (samādhi). By the application of these three in a process known as saṃyama a state of transparent consciousness arises, described by Patañjali as follows:
"[The accomplished mind] of diminished fluctuations, like a clear jewel assuming the color of any nearby object, has unity among grasper, grasping, and grasped" (YS. 1.41).
Meditation and the threefold application of saṃyama results in the accumulation of powers, ranging from enhanced language learning abilities and physical beauty to memory of one’s past lives. Through focusing on the interior energy of the body, one gains intimacy with the various subtle energy centers (cakras) that correlate with locations along the spine. These include vortexes of the earth connected eliminative function, sexuality, and power found in the respective areas of the anus, the sexual organs, and the solar plexus. Above these three lower functions, one finds the seat of compassion in the heart, an array of emotions in the area of the throat, the third eye representing insight between the eyebrows, and in the area above the skull, a magnificent lotus. Through meditation techniques associated with Tantra (Tantrism) and popularized from the 8th century onward, one systematically advances from the lower cakras toward the higher ones, bring about the ascent of a force known as the kuṇḍalinī. However, Patañjali states that the powers (siddhi) must not distract one from the ultimate goal of self-purification (YS. 3.49–55).
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