Meditation on Form
It is one of the most common and most misunderstood forms of meditation. I say ‘misunderstood’ because meditation on a form doesn’t mean that you keep a pebble, picture or an idol in front of you and stare at it. That is neither meditation nor concentration. Your mind will continue to hop about while you gaze at an external form. In reality, meditating on a form is one of the most difficult and tiring form of meditation but it does result in superior concentration. Regardless of whether the form you are meditating on is external or internal, it is always an internal visualization.
For example, you may have a pebble in front of you. It’s a simple form and you decide to meditate on the pebble to build your mindfulness and concentration. Here’s how to do it right, step-by-step:
Sit in the yogic posture correctly and comfortably.
Observe the pebble for a couple of minutes. Be mindful to not analyze the pebble for why it’s shaped a certain way or has a certain color and so on. Simply observe it with the intention to hold the image in your mind.
Close your eyes and begin visualizing the image of the pebble.
After a while, a few seconds, the image of pebble will fade. At that time, gently bring it back to your focus and you will be able to visualize it lucidly again.
When you hit a point that you simply can’t bring the image of the pebble in front of your mind, gently open your eyes, stay in the posture and look at the pebble again for a minute or two and then follow the same process of visualization as above.
Initially, the image will fade every few seconds but with practice, you’ll be able to hold the image for much longer in front of your inner eye. After a while, your mind will get tired and you may feel exhausted.
You are free to open your eyes and gaze at the pebble again to regain the lucidity of your object of meditation. It is important to visualize internally because remember you are meditating on a form and not simply concentrating on it. Let me explain the subtle difference between the two. When you are meditating, your mind is flowing like a continuous stream and you become more mindful of the boulders of thoughts that may come your way. Meditation is the art of being aware, super-aware in fact. Concentration is simply a way of maintaining your focus. Good concentration leads to great meditation.
You are also free to choose an internal visualization without any external physical form. To meditate like this, just think of anything that pleases you. It should not be something that excites or arouses you physically or emotionally. Just something you find pleasing, joyous. It could be an image of your chosen deity, the sight of the ocean, a peacock with its covert spread into a fan, anything at all. Close your eyes and start visualizing the object. The image will keep disappearing from your vision, gently keep bringing it back. It requires great concentration to hold the mental image in front of you.
After about 3,000 hours of practice, you’ll be able to hold the mental image without the slightest of fading for roughly four minutes. After 10,000 hours of practice (if you fancy being a siddha), you will be able to hold the image in your mind for as long as you wish. It’s a remarkable state, beyond any description, to have such supreme one pointed concentration.
Meditation on Breath
Meditating on your breath is the easiest form of concentrative meditation. While strengthening your mindfulness and alertness, it also has great calming effect on the mind. It is particularly useful in tackling restlessness that one experiences during meditation. While meditating on the breath, do not practice pranayama (alternate breathing) or any other yogic forms of breathing. Just breathe normally and watch your breath, pay attention to inhalation and exhalation. Concentrate on your breath. You can keep your eyes open or closed as you like. Here’s how to do it right:
Sit comfortably in the yogic posture.
Breathe deeply and normally for a few minutes with both nostrils.
Close your eyes, or lower your eyelids a bit if you don’t wish to completely close your eyes.
Simply listen to your inhalation.
Pay attention to the small pause that occurs when inhaling ends and exhaling starts.
Listen to your exhalation.
It’s the best meditation to do when you feel restless or anxious. It empties your mind and calms you down. Please note that you must not hold your breath after inhalation (as done in some breathing exercises). Instead, simply just listen to your breath going in and breath going out. Over time, the duration of your breath (both while inhaling and exhaling) extends automatically helping you retain more prana, vital life force, from your breathing.
On a side note, sometimes when you can’t fall asleep at night. Just lie down in your most comfortable posture. Be absolutely still and meditate on your breath. A great calmness will come over you and you will fall asleep. Some sleep on their left or right side, some like to sleep on their tummy and some on their back. Before meditating on your breath to fall asleep, it is important to lie in the posture you normally go to sleep in. Whether trying to meditate while sleeping or meditating while awake, physical movements disrupt meditation.
Meditation on Sound
This is one of the most ancient forms of meditations and I’ve personally invested many thousand hours in this form. Meditation on sound requires you to meditate on a repetitive sound. It can be a mantra or any pleasant sound you like – vocal or instrumental. The only condition is that it must be repetitive because you are training your mind to stay on one thing for very long periods of time.
Once again like meditating on a form, meditation on sound is not simply listening to a certain music or mantra. It’s not about chanting that mantra. Parrots do relentless chanting, they don’t gain enlightenment. Chanting a mantra, even mentally, is not the same as meditating on a mantra. There is a subtle but significant difference in chanting or meditating. Even if you are chanting out loud, whispering or mentally chanting, it is still an act of speaking. It will not allow you to merge in the sound.
The auditory consciousness will be a hindrance. Meditating on a mantra means recalling that mantra gently, one after another. Recollection is quite different from speaking. Recollection requires certain visualization. Before you recall, your brain visualizes it. It happens fast but nevertheless it happens.
Here is how to do it right:
Sit comfortably in the yogic posture.
Listen to the sound for a few minutes if you are meditating on an external sound and then turn off the source, or simply chant the mantra a few times if you are meditating on a mantra.
Breathe deeply for about five minutes with both nostrils.
Close your eyes or half-close them if you like.
Start recalling the sound you just heard. Or start recalling the mantra you just chanted if you are meditating on a mantra.
It is best to meditate on a mantra you have been initiated into.
The power of initiation cannot be overstated, however this is not the right place to go in detail regarding initiation. If you haven’t been initiated in any mantra yet and you really wish to meditate on a mantra, feel free to do so. When it comes to meditating on a mantra, there are no hard and fast rules. All those rules apply when you want to invoke a mantra according to the science of mantras (which is a different subject matter altogether). Thus, initiation is the least of our worries when meditating on a mantra. The sacred syllables of the mantra silently work on your inner transformation.
When chanting on a mantra, if you simply maintain the same pace during a session, you may experience periods of restlessness and torpor more quickly and frequently. Feel free to vary your pace to retain freshness and clarity. For example, let’s say you are meditating on the simple mantra of Shiva, Om Namah Shivaya.