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From Intellect to Intuition - Chapter Four - The Objectives in Meditation |
Man is a point of divine light, hidden within a number of
enveloping sheaths, as a light is hidden within a lantern. This lantern may be either
closed and dark, or open and radiant. It may be either a light shining before men's eyes,
or a hidden thing and, therefore, of no use to others. We are assured in that basic text
book on meditation, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, of which an English paraphrase
and commentary is furnished in my book The Light of the Soul, that through right
discipline and [77] meditation
At one point in the history of every human being there comes a momentous crisis when the light must be sensed, through a rightly used intelligence, and the Divine inevitably contacted. This Patanjali emphasizes when he says:
Slowly and gradually the work of direct knowledge becomes possible, and the glory which is hidden behind every form can stand revealed. The secret is to know when that time has come and to seize the moment of opportunity. Meister Eckhart says:
Thus, East and West teach the same idea and in the same symbology. Meditation is, therefore, an ordered process whereby a man finds God. It is a system, well-tried out and much used, which unfailingly reveals the divine. The important words here are "ordered process." There are certain rules to be followed, [78] certain definite steps to be taken, and certain stages of unfoldment to be experienced before a man can garner the fruits of meditation. It is a part of the evolutionary process, as we have seen, and like all else in nature it is slow but sure, and unfailing in its results. There is no disappointment to the man who is willing to obey the rules and work with the system. Meditation calls for self-control in all things, and unless the work of meditating is itself accompanied by the other requirements under the "ordered process" (such as self-control and active service) it will fail in its objective. Fanaticism is not required. This is made clear in the Bhagavad Gita:
Meditation can be regarded rightly as part of the natural process which thus far has carried man forward along the path of evolution from a stage but little removed from the animal to his present position of mental attainment, scientific achievement and divine unrest. Steadily his center of consciousness has shifted, and steadily his attention has been focused on an ever widening range of contacts. Man has already passed from the purely animal and physical state of being into that of an intensely emotional and sensory awareness and in this state [79] millions remain at this time. But other millions are progressing beyond this into another and higher field of awareness which we call that of the mind. Still another group, much fewer in number, are passing into a sphere where a universal range of contacts becomes possible. These we call the Knowers of the race. Through all methods employed runs the golden thread of divine purpose, and the way by which the transfer of the human consciousness into that of soul realization and soul awareness is effected is that of meditation. This process of unveiling the Self through the negation of the form-side of life and the eventual inability of the various sheaths to hide it, can be described in terms of transmutation as well as in those of transference of consciousness. Transmutation is the changing, and redirecting of the energies of the mind, of the emotions and of the physical nature so that they serve to reveal the Self, and not simply to reveal the psychical and body natures. |
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