Meditation simply means ‘doing nothing.’ For some people ‘doing nothing’ is very difficult. How can we do ‘nothing?’ Someone asks you, ‘what should I do to get sleep? What can be done to get sleep faster?” Then the best answer to tell him, ‘you have to do nothing to get sleep. Just go and lie down. If you try to get sleep, then sleep shall not come to you. You can sleep very easily without making any effort.’ In the same way, meditation is also a process in which there is no need to do anything. You simply have to be present.

The techniques, which have been designed to kick start meditation or improve concentration, have also been called ‘meditation.’ These so-called meditations or concentration practices is a path to self-meditation. Self-meditation means meditation of the ‘Self’. This is the real aim of meditation. Just improving concentration is not the goal of meditation. The word ‘Self-Meditation’ is more appropriate than the word ‘meditation’. Concentration is ladder in the path of meditation. Concentration improves with meditation. But if someone is meditating with the aim of improving concentration, then he is taking the least benefit of meditation. Many a times it so happens that someone begins on the path of meditation to attain ‘Self-Realization,’ but he becomes very happy with improved concentration having gotten some powers and strays away from his real goal.

Meditation has also been understood as a Yogic Practice. Meditation (awareness) is necessary in every field of life. No work can be done without meditation. Meditation is essential for all activities of life. All your senses affect the body. Whenever your senses are directed externally and are involved in external things, then all the energy of your mind gets exhausted in the external objects. Therefore, it is necessary that you have some control over your senses. Meditation enables this. Through meditation, it is possible to direct the energy, which is being consumed in the external world inward. To shift the mind from external objects and stabilize it inside is the beginning of meditation.

This book has been written for beginners of meditation. Yet it can be useful for everybody – even for those who practice meditation regularly. While reading the book, practice regularly by following the instructions that have been given in the last chapter of this book ‘The Method and Technique of Meditation.’ Just as you can’t learn swimming only by reading a book on swimming, similarly you don’t get the benefits of meditation, you don’t get absorbed in meditation only by reading a book on meditation. Therefore, practice is necessary. Congratulations to you for your decision to make ‘meditation’ a part of your life. ….................................................Sirshree

Also See-

Complete Meditation- From doing meditation to being meditation.

This book is the most comprehensive book on meditation which guides you on the path of meditation, whether you are a beginner, a seeker, a disciple or a devotee. It answers questions according to the level of the seeker at each stage. It systematically explains the methods and techniques of meditation which benefit you in every aspect of life. It ultimately reveals that meditation is our true nature and takes you on a journey of spiritual evolution from doing meditation to being meditation. It shows how meditation not only helps to release stress, but is a path to attain supreme consciousness.