Posted on: 04 Feb 2005
Some people say that meditation is sitting with perfect silence without any process of thought. Such a contention is meaningless because it virtually amounts to a nice sleep. These people further misinterpret that such a meditation is the concentration on formless God (Nirakara). The Gita says that one cannot concentrate on the formless God (Avyakthahi Gatih). The meditation on formless God becomes real if one concentrates on the true knowledge of God. The Veda says that true knowledge is the real form of the Lord (Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma). Knowledge is formless. Therefore the formless God only means the true divine knowledge about the Lord. This is the correct interpretation of Shankara’s philosophy.
The great ancient Vedic sages sat in formless meditation and this statement means that they concentrated on the divine knowledge (Brahma Jnana) which was expressed as Upanishads in their mutual discussions (Satsanga). The actual meaning of the word Dhyanam is the process of functioning of intelligence (Dhee or Buddhi) and it pertains to the field of knowledge (Vijnanamaya Kosha). Some people interpret that meditation means concentration on the form of the Lord like the light blue colour, peacock feather on the head, flute in the hand etc. [referring especially to Krishna]. Instead of concentrating mentally upon such objects, one can see these things in a picture or see the objects directly kept on a table. If these things constitute divinity, then there is no need of concentrating on these things. One can attain the divinity by applying light blue colour on his own body, by wearing a peacock feather on the head and by holding a flute in one’s hand. Such a divinity can be attained without any meditation. So meditation of this type becomes meaningless. This is the reason why Shankara discarded the meditation on a form (Saguna Brahman).
Of course attraction towards the Lord due to these external things will help a person to develop attachment for the Lord. One may be attracted to Lord Krishna by such things and then finally get attracted towards His divine knowledge as preached in the Bhagavad Gita. These things may be initial promoters but the final end is only the divine knowledge, which will help a person in his effort (sadhana) to please the Lord. The divine knowledge resulting in self-realization will impart a tension-free peace and tranquility to the mind. In this state, one will attain perfect health of body and mind and thus the benefit is directly seen here itself. E.g. If one realizes that this gross body of the soul is only the external dramatic dress as said in the Gita (Vaasamsi Jeernani), he will immediately realize that these family bonds are just like the bonds in a drama. The soul forgets the bonds of the previous birth as an actor forgets the bonds of the previous drama. If these bonds were real, the soul would have remembered its relatives of the previous birth. Such a divine knowledge, on memorization, enters the nerves of a person and he will not have any tension about his family members. He will do his duties without any trace of tension. This is the salvation while alive (Jeevanmukti).
Thus meditation means continuously remembering the divine knowledge, which yields the direct fruit here itself. Such a person gets a fruit in the upper world also. The one and only Lord is the authority both here and there. Anybody blessed here will also be blessed there. If one is not blessed here he is not blessed in the upper world either. The grace of the Lord or the anger of the Lord is uniform both here and there. One who is not blessed here cannot be blessed there. Thus the true knowledge blesses any person here and there. Meditation is the continuous thinking of such knowledge and other interpretations are either useless or of little use.