DHYANA
Meditation
In the eight steps of Yoga, meditation forms the seventh step. Its objective is to concentrate all mental thoughts in one direction and get rid of all other thoughts. When physical control, mental control, abstinence and patience have been well practiced by the practitioner, then the mind stops wandering here and there. One is able to concentrate his thoughts just on one thing. This is the position of meditation.
According to Yoga Darshan 3.2, ability to concentrate and continuously maintain concentration of the mind on the object which has been visualized is called mediation.
Being deep in thought is synonym of meditation. Since thinking takes place in the mind, thinking in one direction is called meditation.
According to Garakh Samhita, the process of thinking about hidden forces within oneself is called meditation.
Thinking about oneself is meditation. A seed does not know that one day; he may possibly become a tree. The same applies to human beings. The man does not know who he is and what he can do. A seed being inanimate cannot look within itself. However, the man can look within himself and introspect. This introspection is meditation. Everyone is capable of meditation and it is the birth right of each and every individual. Meditation comes together with birth of a child. Meditation is with us each and every moment.
Not only this, when a meditation becomes extrovert then it concerns with material things and when the meditation becomes introvert, then truth about life dawns. Sinking deep into meditation, gives knowledge about great possibilities. And whatever is possible, starts taking shape of a reality. Meditation is a medium which introduces one with oneself. The only thing that is required is that the man devotes his energy, time and determination towards meditation, with the clear understanding that there is nothing more precious than meditation.
In sixth Chapter of holy Gita, Lord Krishna has described about meditation in detail.
To mediate the yogi should sit in some comfortable position at some clean place with full mental concentration. What he sites on, should be like this: the lowermost should be grass, above is should be deer-skin and above it should be some comfortable cloth. The practitioner should sit on it pleasantly. The seat must neither be too high nor too low.
It is impossible to meditate without proper seat. That is why the lord directs that:
Sit comfortably
Controlling the pleasure seeking body and the mental thoughts.
Try to concentrate on just one thing
Mental concentration is of two types. Concentration without thoughts and thoughtful concentration. When there is no thought in the mind, this situation is called concentration without thought. When we concentrate on some thing, some light or some deity, then this situation is called thoughtful concentration. In Holy Gita, both these types of meditations have been permitted.
In Upnishadas (Ancient Hindu Texts), meditation has been mentioned at a number of places. According to these, the practitioner of meditation should sit with his head, neck and chest slightly raised, with body erect and there should not be any movement in body. If this is not done, then laziness, drowsiness and mind-drift occur, hindering meditation.
Thereafter, keeping the entire sensory organs shut (being dead to the outside world) one should consider about god and the god alone.