Meditation is a constant practice of silent observation of one's own mind, with a specific purpose of discovering the infinite wisdom that lies within.
Contentment is a prerequisite to aid meditation.
"Contentment arises from our attitude and approach to the external world and not from the objects themselves."
- Swami Vishnudevananda | Meditation and Mantra | © International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers 1978
Mind is like a phonograph record. It contains grooves or impressions called Root tendencies or Samskaras ( sanskrit)
Samskaras are formed when same thought waves or vrittis repeatedly occur and become habitual. These can either be positive or negative.
Meditation: Six negative Samskaras to Overcome
Six negative Samskaras that usually reside in us are called the 6 enemies or Arishadvairi or Arishadvarga and they are
Kama - State of mind when one desires Sensual pleasures / worldly objects.
Krodha - State of mind when one does not get what he wants.
Lobha - State of mind when one wants more after getting what he wants.
Moha - State of mind when one is not wanting to part with what he has.
Mada - State of mind when one prides over what he has while others do not have.
Matsara- State of mind when one wants what others have but can't.
Desire, subjugation, agony are all due to Ahamkara or Ego ( what one identifies himself is his ego, here it means wrongly identifying the body and mind to be self ) and Ego is the cause of all bondage and a barrier to the experience of inner reality.
Meditation: Start of a Journey
The process of meditation is to create new, positive samskaras in the mind and drive out old, negative ones. It entails purification of the functioning of, or the process within one's own mind. If we understand meditation in this perspective, we realize that meditation is to be practiced at every moment of our lives and is not a practice in isolation where one sits in silence in a secluded space.
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