The science of meditation is used in the worldly conduct of life as well as in the realm of spiritual attainment. The higher the plane of meditation the greater is its usefulness.

Meditation is of immense value to man in his efforts to acquire, and use the resources available, in the best possible manner. This is true in the field of spiritual attainments as well. Meditation enables the realisation of one's inherent abilities and talents. It also sharpens the intellect and acutely enhances our determination to achieve the desired goal.

People generally forget the friends they have not met for a long time. They also forget that which they might have heard or read in the past. But it is very strange that one ceases to be aware of one's real self. This ignorance is surprising. It has made us forget ourselves, forget the blessing of God and the aims and importance of our lives. We are neither aware of our existence nor are we involved in the contemplation of God. We are lost in a labyrinth of darkness and ignorance. Most of us identify the soul with the body. We are not able to distinguish between the two. All our efforts are directed towards the comforts and pleasures of the body, totally forgetting that the body is nothing but the garment of the soul. If we understand the reality of, and the distinction between the soul and the body, then the resulting consciousness would lead us towards selfenlightenment. What is really happening is that we are according far too much importance to the body and the mind which are only the vehicles of the master, that is the inner consciousness (soul) and consequently we have lost our sense of direction. Spiritual contemplation aims at retrieving us from the situation caused by our ignorance of our real self and our destination. We are in the same situation as that of the child who is lost in a crowd. This is the root cause of all-round darkness and sorrow. And although we are aware of the divine nature of human life and the fact that we have lost our bearings, we are not doing anything to resolve this crisis. This dilemma dominates every aspect of our lives and causes constant chaos and turmoil.

The aim of life is to attain fulfillment. This fulfillment must be at the divine level. There has to be a mental image of the nature; actions and virtues of God and then, at a later stage, one has to establish nearness, unity and integrity with the God Almighty, the Supreme Being. This is the nature of the, process of meditation. In our daily life there occur many incidents and situations which plunge us into despondency. In such tense situations one loses one's balance and sense of discretion. This leads to irrelevant thought, speech and action which further complicate the issues causing physical and mental sickness and, in extreme cases, even lead to suicide or murder.

To restore the balance, there is no greater remedy than that of meditation. The mind is often dominated by feelings of anger, sorrow, sensual desires, revenge and frustration and the distinction between right and wrong is blurred. Meditation is concerned with the effort to restore the balance of the mind and guide it in the right direction. In meditation one has to concentrate on a particular deity or a direction. Its success lies in controlling the mind and monitoring and changing its direction. Thus one is able to control one's worldly desires and engage the mind in noble thoughts. There is no better method than meditation to achieve this state of self-control. This proves both physically and spiritually beneficial. Meditation channelises the thought process and helps concentration- and absorption, which are crucial to the pursuit of excellence and the achievement of success in life. The same degree of concentration and absorption is of critical importance in the spiritual realm also, right from rekindling the inherent strength of the individual to the attainment of God, the Supreme Being. The aim of meditation is to invoke the ability to contemplate about the basic nature of the Soul. Meditation seeks to arouse us from our deep slumber and awaken us to our real selves. It consists of remembering God and realizing the nature of one's own self. It refreshes the memory of the communion of the Soul with God. It helps us in understanding the eternal relation of Soul with the Supreme Being who is both our Mother and greatest well-wisher. Once this status is achieved and the Soul is able to establish closeness and identify itself with God the Almighty all the anguish and anxiety come to an end. Meditation helps us to reach this state. This is what Lord Buddha realized as he sat meditating under the banyan tree.

It is universally known that we waste most of our energy in baser activities and routine affairs. To take water from a lower to a higher level, against its very nature, one needs a pump and other mechanical equipment. Likewise, to absorb the mind in noble thoughts one has to resort to the process of meditation. It is not a great task to acquire power. The real challenge lies in preserving it and channelising it in the right kind of actions and deeds. To illustrate, here is an example. A lot of water is evaporated, but a limited, quantity of water in a steam engine is able to run a train and be of immense use to the people. The same is true about the controlled use of explosives in fireworks. Like the use of physical energy as illustrated in the above examples, spiritual power also when harnessed and deployed in an organized manner can yield useful results. The brain is like a power house which generates powerful electric waves and its vibrations scatter in the universe without being put to any use. If these vibrations are controlled and focused towards a definite target it can yield wonderful results. This focus and concentration can result in remarkable feats. Circus performers use this focus and concentration to their great advantage. In such situations it is not the physical power but the channelising, focusing and directing of the inherent mental faculties which enables them to achieve their goal. That is how Arjun the great warrior of the epic Mahabharat could hit the eye of the fish and win the hand of Draupadi.

Concentration has extra-ordinary powers. Lokmanya Tilak, the great Indian freedom fighter's concentration, while reading the Geeta, was so great that it acted as an effective substitute for anaesthesia when he underwent surgery on his thumb.

It is an established fact that one acquires the attributes of the object of one's concentration. This is the result of focusing one's consciousness on a predetermined central point.

A man has innumerable qualities and unlimited capabilities. All the ten senses work like magic. These senses, restrained from diversion, and controlled, planned and deployed in a creative direction can accelerate one's march towards the destined goal. Mind is said to be the eleventh sense. There is no limit to man's mental capabilities. But these capabilities are not used to their fullest extent.

The ability to avoid distractions and harness all the available energy to use it for the desired end is known as spiritual concentration. In the realm of spiritual knowledge this is known as controlling or restraining the mind. Meditation is discussed at length in the context of yogic exercises. Meditation is nothing but the ability to concentrate. Outwardly it sounds insignificant, but when used with ability and skill, one can channelise one's consciousness and achieve wonderful results.

There are innumerable examples to illustrate the power of concentration of physical sciences. The operative principle behind a needle or a nail is that the applied force is channelised and then concentrated upon a single predetermined point. As we dig deeper into the ground the various layers at respective depths provide proper soil, water or numerous precious stones, and many times remains of ancient civilizations, which further enrich our knowledge and understanding. Similarly, deep concentration enhances the effect or our inherent wisdom, power, learning and reputation.

Mesmerism or hypnotism is another wonder of concentration. The experimenter focuses his gaze upon a particular point and transmits his entire will power to that focal point. This in turn creates magic powers, resulting in hypnotism. This has the ability to effect mental changes and make the hypnotized ones behave in a desired manner.

Concentration produces unique power which can be utilized in physical as well as in spiritual spheres. Concentration is nothing but the monitoring of thought waves produced in the mind, controlling their direction, focusing them to achieve a definite objective. The thought waves produced in the mind are in no way less than a very powerful power-house. Power-house has their limited installed capacity and are restricted by their design and installed resources, but there is no such limit to the human mind. If properly harnessed and channelised, human capability can be multiplied manifold and the resulting wisdom which was being used in the sphere of family, can benefit millions and millions of people throughout the world. It can play a decisive role in transforming the whole world and changing its prevailing environment. Meditation owing to its unique ability in both physical as well as the spiritual fields is directly related to the system of worship in every community in the world. Its forms may change but the content remains the same.

In the field of worship, meditation is used while concentrating on God in the form of a human figure as well as on a point of light which has no definite form. Basically both have a form. Even the point of light is a definite point with a definite form. The only difference is that this is not a human form. For meditation there has to be a shape or a form of God-our ultimate goal. Meditation is not possible without a definite figure or form. It is the very nature of the mind that it proceeds with a definite figure even in the realm of formless consciousness. Thus, without bothering about the dispute over form or formless concepts of God, one should achieve one's purpose of self-realization with the help of meditation.

Any mind which has reached a higher level of development facilitates the meditation process. The mind sharpened by extensive study, deep thought and contemplation, absorbed in empathy and developed by serious reflection, is best suited for meditation. People of lesser intellect are able to react only after seeing or hearing about particular situations. They are incapable of subtle thoughts like poets, scientists or seers. Therefore, it is essential to resort to visual symbols in order to help them achieve closeness to God. In every profession one has to use different symbols and props to reach higher levels of expertise. This is true in the field of worship also. Even the learned ones have to resort to symbolic worship during their initiation into the process of meditation. These symbols act as scaffolding and strengthen the worshipper to advance towards this ultimate goal.

In meditation, focus on form is not sufficient. It has to be accompanied by total absorption. In the field of form worship one has to imagine closeness to a particular deity and establish a relation which may be identified with any worldly relationship. This helps in strengthening the bond and identifying the self with the Supreme Being. This identification is the sole aim of meditation.

In meditation the worshipper surrenders the gross, subtle and causal forms of his body with his deeds, feelings and devotion to God and consolidates his determination to involve himself for divine purposes only. Surrender means the end of worldly desires and the acceptance of divine will, together with the determination to act accordingly This acceptance, adopted and internalized with total integrity, is known as self-surrender. Meditation heightens and perpetuates this integrity.

The complete surrender of the devotee or the worshipper, is rewarded with the blessings of the Almighty. In form worship, the worshipper is free to visualize the deity and all its related aspects in any form that he likes. He is also free to remain completely engrossed in his own vision. The concentration involved should be such that the dialogue between the worshipper and Almighty should continue without material considerations being allowed to creep in. The state of complete concentration known as Samadhi, or total absence of consciousness, is the highest state of meditation. Samadhi is that state of concentration of the mind at which absolutely no distraction has any effect on the mind. This concentration is impossible to achieve in the initial stages of meditation. The practical aspect of meditation should aim at achieving a dialogue between God and the Worshipper. In this situation the devotee surrenders all his belongings and worldly desires and in so doing identifies himself with God. This is the state of enlightenment, joy and divine blessedness. Communion with God does not mean that a devotee, either in a dream or in an awakened state, glimpses the figure of a deity or sees some divine light or any other strange vision. If anybody does see such things it is nothing but the extension of his preconceived beliefs. What is important to internalize is that God enters into the life of man in the form of divine thoughts and beliefs. When the divine ideals acquire the status of a beloved and one acts in that light then the resulting bliss and ecstasy is a sure sign of closeness to God. In the formless system of worship, generally, sunlight is taken as a medium. The rising sun is the symbol of the Sun God known as Savita. Its divine rays affect the body and the mind of the worshipper, causing him to do good deeds, think holy thoughts and experience a feeling of empathy. Concentration is crucial to meditation but one must bear in mind that concentration is not meditation The practice of concentration takes time and it does not help to be hasty or impatient. If one were to constantly keep the goal of life in mind, then this very process would itself serve as a definite direction pointing the way to real concentration.

The practice of concentrating the mind upon one point is a very advanced concept of meditation. Initially one has to take the help of mental images. Those who practice formless system of worship also take the help of symbols, but even this system has its own distractions and diversion. Likewise, in the symbolic images of the deities, various related aspects of the figure distract one's attention, thereby making it difficult to concentrate. Those who practice the formless system of worship visualize the entry of sunrays in all parts of the body or during meditation, hear peculiar sounds. This also contains ample scope for the diversion of the worshipper's attention. If the mind has so much latitude for wandering it cannot concentrate.

Concentration means controlling the aimless wandering of the mind. It implies restriction of the mind in a well-defined sphere. This is a process which continues over a period of time. One must not be impatient for its culmination.

It should be borne in mind that complete concentration which is the culmination of a long process is needed neither at the initial stage nor throughout the process of meditation. One should neither be overly anxious to achieve this stage nor should one feel sad if it is not achieved. To have made the effort itself is enough. A study of the lives of the Bhakti Saints, Meera, Surdas, Chaitanya and Rama Krishna Paramhans reveal that what they achieved was not complete concentration but total absorption, total involvement. In the Bhakti cult union, separation, embrace and surrender dominate the efforts of the devotee and in such a mental state, concentration is not possible. Had concentration been the supreme goal, the ecstasy and resulting laughter, weeping, dancing and sorrow would have been great obstacles in the realization of such a goal. But this did not happen because concentration was not the ultimate goal.

The idea here is not to belittle the importance of concentration or to look upon it as an eminently dispensable commodity. The importance of concentration can not be overemphasized. But one must be clear in one's mind that rather than repressing the faculty of reasoning what is desired is the monitoring and control of one's mental disposition. More emphasis must be laid on proper direction rather than on concentration as the main goal. Only then would one find one-self in the proper setting and context for meditation.

It is difficult for the human intellect to comprehend the total divine power of the controller of the Universe, the Supreme Being. The universe is very vast and its expanse is beyond our imagination. Our planet earth differs from the other planets in nature. There are vast differences in the size, shape, nature, thought processes and modes of living among the animate forms which inhabit the planet earth. In that case how can we visualize the nature of animate forms if any, of the other planets? Similarly it is neither necessary nor is it possible to comprehend the nature of the Controller of all the Universes, the Supreme Being. That part of universal consciousness associated with human consciousness is known as God. Closeness to God is, therefore, enough for worship. God is that focal point d worship. It is he who plays the major role in our happiness and our spiritual upliftment.

One may resort to worshipping a particular deity for achieving a definite subtle power but the worship of God, the Supreme Being, is the true, fulfilling and best worship of all. An ideal diet is that which has all the nutrients in it. Protein may be important but taking only protein in one's diet will serve no useful purpose. Worshipping any particular deity is like taking a diet of only protein or only calcium. Just as a particular nutrient may be recommended at a given time, so also depending upon one's need one may undertake to worship one particular deity at a given time. But for all-round happiness and upliftment one must worship the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient God the Almighty. Offering prayers to various Gods and Godesses and asking for blessings for fulfillment of various desires is not worship. Worship means concentration, devotion and the focusing upon God the Almighty the Supreme Being. In seeking to propitiate several Gods and Goddesses the worshipper loses focus and his attention is diverted.

The converging of meditation and faith is very important in worship. The worship of God the Almighty in the form of Savita, the Sun deity may be regarded as the best kind of worship. The worship of light is rewarding for those who believe in the formless system of worship as well as for those who believe in form worship. Communities and religions everywhere have accepted the importance of light in one form or another. Every devotee recognizes light as the conscious and visible form of his deity. That is why light is called the universal symbol. Savita is the deity of the Gayatri Mantra. The gross, the subtle and the causal forms come together in the Sun, the pious symbol of knowledge. One may visualize in its rays, both the harmony of the Gayatri Mantras as well as the figure of the all-loving Mother Goddess. This system of meditation fulfils the need of all the three aspects of the human body, the gross, the subtle and the causal. The form and the formless systems of worship are co-ordinate in the symbol of the Sun. Thus this symbol of meditation is considered to be the most appropriate for the highest level of worship.

God represents Truth, Goodness and Beauty (Sat - Chit - Anand). The concepts of truth and goodness are based respectively upon the realization of light and that of God being our well-wisher. Instead of adopting light as a symbol, to experience deep feelings of bliss one may involve the more suitable symbol of God as representing blessedness and noble feeling, in our meditation. Our life is dreary and unhappy because we ignore this blissful aspect of God. The Scriptures say ' RASOVAI SARA" (God is supreme divine bliss).

The Khechri form of worship is an additional form of worship, besides meditation and recitation. Therein God is visualized as a stream of joy by joining the tongue with the palate. Our mind represents the abodes of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, - the Gods of transformation, preservation and creation. This centre is instrumental in making our contact with the universal consciousness and is, therefore, useful in the realization of divine consciousness in the form of absolute bliss. The meditation on light, a source affecting all parts of the body, may be done separately as well as in conjunction with recitation. But in the Khechari form of worship, the tongue being in a specific position, recitation cannot be practiced and has to be done separately.

If we are able to understand the real nature of meditation and use it properly all the hurdles in our worldly advancement and spiritual upliftment may be overcome. Adopting a regular and balanced practice of meditation proves most beneficial in our lives.