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The ancient sage, Patanjali, describes the process
of achieving the highest state (remember the "Touch of Truth"?)
as having eight steps, or limbs. Of these eight, dhyana,
meditation, is number seven, yet we think nothing of presuming
to begin at number seven without having the faintest idea of the
first six. In fact, most people don't even realize there
are six things that have to be achieved, to some degree at least,
before meditation is even possible! On top of this, some
Sanskrit texts don't even mention dhyana. Now, why
is that?
In ancient texts on attaining Truth, dhyana is
sometimes used synonymously with the words samadhi (absorption
into Truth) and yoga (union with God), and most mention
only four or five "stages" rather than eight. Patanjali's
eight aren't really different that these others, but they provide
us with a different way of looking at them and, hopefully, clarifying
them a bit. I won't go into Patanjali's eight steps here;
I cover that at greater length in a very practical manner in Maximize
Your Meditation, another module in Learn
Easy Meditation.
Suffice it to say, the word "meditation"
has two meanings: (1) meditation is a special state,
and (2) meditation is the word we use for the many processes
we use to try to attain that state. But maybe you're not
interested in reaching that state; maybe you want other meditation
benefits — maybe you only want some peace, to be able to
relax, to sleep better, to concentrate or focus better, to heal
some physical ailment, to attain some awesome powers, etc. Well,
there's no reason in the world why you shouldn't get what you
want, and meditation can provide it. Just remember to stop
when you reach your goal — but don't stop until you
get there.
If you don't stop when you reach
your goal, you'll be taken on to other things that may not be
on your agenda. Whatever you want from meditation, it can certainly
take you there, but you should know that without meditation guidance,
you might get more than you bargained for, so keep that in mind
when you go shopping for a meditation "how-to," meditation
techniques, or any source of easy meditation . . . or even more
challenging routes.
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