About the meditation
In the initial stages of meditation, a student learns to clam his conscious mind.
He withdraws his attention from the external world and focuses it on an internal object.
When the conscious part of his mind is relaxed, he notices a train of thoughts disturbing his inner tranquility.
At that moment, the student should remain firm and should not identify himself with those past impressions.
He should pay full attention to the object of concentration, which will help him remain uninvolved with memories which spontaneously arise. Gradaully, he crosses that phase and starts experiencing the unalloyed truth.
The experience of the truth is pure in itself. When an aspirant has understood the conscious part of his mind, and thereby attained mastery over it he naturally performs his actions skillfully and efficiently.
Compared to the unconscious, the conscious part of the mind is very small.
However, there is close interaction between the unconscious and conscious minds.
Once an aspirant has attained freedom from the distractions originating in the conscious part of the mind, he can have better grasp of the thought constructs that originate from the unconscious mind.
Through his undisturbed, prolonged practice, a student dives deep and becomes familiar with his inherent potentials.
He observes how the experiences of the external world are a more reflection of his inner world.
Human beings inherit a vast treasure of knowledge.
They can have access to that treasure only if the mind is made one-pointed and inward.
Beyond the mind, there is the intellect.
The power of the intellect guides the functions of the mind.
When the mind is purified, distractions are removed, and thereby one-pointedness is gained.
Such a mind then begins following the guidance of the intellect.
Unlike the mind, which always remains in a state of doubt, the intellect is endowed with the power of discrimination and decision. The mind, fully guided by the higher faculty of the intellect, becomes a great instrument to achieve peace and happiness.
However, one should remember that a dissipated mind is too unfocused to listen to the voice of the intellect.
The intellect guides only the one-pointed mind.
Therefore, the most important step in spiritual practice is to make the mind one-pointed so that it can be guided by the decisive faculty called the intellect.
The method of making the mind one-pointed is called meditation.
Through meditation, an aspirant withdraws his mind from the external world, focuses on a given internal object, and develops an interest in delving within.
A meditation matures, the mind becomes one-pointed and its modifications are removed.
Such a tranquil mind begins working in accordance with the intellect.
No contradiction remains between the functions of the mind and intellect.
Usually, the impurities of the mind such as doubt and conflict pollute the intellect, but through meditation these pollutants are removed from the mindfield.
Thus, the intellect is not disturbed by the activities of the mind, and the meditator experiences an extraordinary peace within.
The intellect is described in the scriptures as a mirror that is in the closest proximity to Atman.
As long as the mirror of the intellect is clean, it reflects the clearest and least distorted vision of Atman.
Therefore, according to the Upanishads, one should remove all impurities from the mind, and make the mind free from all doubts and conflicts, so that the intellect can be a pure as crystal.
An intellect from the influences of the lower mind finds itself in a well-balanced state.
Only such an intellect is capable of making an aspirant self-confident and self-reliant.
Gaining such as intellect, the meditator knows the goal of life is not far away.
(Spirituality : Transformation within & without by Swami Rama)