True Definition of Meditation – Take the Test
Defining Meditation
What is Meditation
There are many ways to understand and define what meditation is, and today I want to present to you the highest and purest way of looking at this most important of human phenomenon. Understanding meditation via many different angles and approaches deepens your understanding about this sublime activity, and given that meditation holds the key to Heaven, it is essential that you encounter the Truth of meditation in this life of yours. Below you will find the great spiritual master J. Krishnamurti explain what meditation is in his own words. Following the excerpt I will provide some analysis and thoughts on this definition of his.
J. Krishnamurti Gives Definition of Meditation
Author: J. Krishnamurti
Book: Meditations
Page: 35-36
Meditation is the flowering of understanding. Understanding is not within the borders of time; time never brings understanding. Understanding is not a gradual process to be gathered little by little, with care and patience; understanding is now or never; it is a destructive flash, not a tame affair; it is this shattering that one is afraid of and so one avoids it, knowingly or unknowingly. Understanding may alter the course of one’s life, the way of thought and action; it may be pleasant or not but understanding is a danger to all relationship. But without understanding, sorrow will continue. Sorrow ends only through self-knowing, the awareness of every thought and feeling, every movement of the conscious and that which is hidden. Meditation is the understanding of consciousness, the hidden and the open, and of the movement that lies beyond all thought and feeling.
Definition of Meditation Analysis:
Let’s discuss this differently today, let’s do it in the form of questions. This will give you a chance to think things over for yourself and thus, lay the foundation for real understanding to take place. Ready to be tested 
?
Question #1. Does meditation have an ending?
Answer:
This is important to understand. Meditation is a process of self-knowing. It is forever, it does not have any ending. In other words, it is the constant light which reveals the activities of the mind and ego. So don’t think of meditation as an effort to reach some goal. Make awareness of your inner and outer environment the goal itself. This moment to moment awareness of “what is”, brings the flowering of understanding, which is what meditation is, and takes you beyond.
Question #2. Does Meditation occur on earth or heaven?
In other words, does meditation take place in our ordinary dualistic world, or does it take place in the non-dual world of enlightenment (Nirvana, Moksha, etc)?
Answer:
The answer is both. Meditation starts with simple awareness of the confused, groping, dualistic, petty, selfish mind, and as this mind diminishes and withers due to the light of awareness, meditation starts to move into the dimension which lies beyond. This is revealed by the last line of the excerpt above.
Another article, more focused on this aspect of meditation is What is Meditation by J. Krishnamurti.
Question #3. Why Meditate?
Answer:
I have written many articles that point out the great benefits of meditation. You will find a list of these below, but the answer is really quite simple. The only way to end sorrow is meditation. Nothing else will do it, as everything else in within the sphere is thought, and all that which is within the sphere of thought, ends in sorrow. This is the First Noble Truth of Lord Buddha. The only way to be free of that sphere, is through meditation.
If freedom from suffering is not motivation enough, here are some articles detailing other side benefits of meditation to get you motivated and started.
Top 10 Profound Benefits of Meditation
Homework for Understanding Meditation:
The only way to really understand what is being said with regard to the “explosion of insight” that meditation brings, is by experiencing it for yourself. This is my greatest wish for you, that you experience and therefore see the truth of what meditation is, and experience the subsequent shift in consciousness that takes place. So don’t delay in experimenting and exploring this gift of meditation. For this coming weekend, try as best you can to be aware of each thought and feeling that takes place, and try to understand the story behind each. I know that is almost impossible to do, but just do the best you can. That way you will be fulfilling your true purpose here on Earth, which is to practice self-knowing and move beyond the ordinary dualistic mind. That way you will discover Heaven on Earth.
For more information on this process of meditation and the explosion of insight, you can also read the following 2 articles.
very nice article for beginners like me,who need to understand definitions, before envoking on the journey of meditation, and becomming believers of it’s virtues.
Neil,
Yes visions are often reported on this path, especially by meditators. Take them as part of the journey and go with the flow, just as you are doing.
All the best,
Trupti
Hi Anmol,
I’ve been meditating for a couple of months now and I’ve just started following your yoga course. I’ve just a quick question about the whole meditation experience. I was wondering if it is normal to have visions during meditation. I keep having them and not always but very often I can see writing very clearly. Sometimes it is handwritten and other times its printed but whenever I try to read it I can’t and it just turns out to be a crazy jumble of letters and then disappears.
I’m not really complaining, it’s quite enjoyable. I’m just interested to know what you think about it.
Cheers!
Hi Tarkashya,
Thanks for stopping by and your thoughts and feedback.
Best,
Anmol
Excellent article. I agree that the only way to end suffering is through meditation, and also within that I believe it involved identifying with the observer Self instead of the movement (thoughts, emotions, body sensations). If you’d like to check out an article I wrote on the desire for freedom it is here:
Meditation: Science of mastering the mind.
Why do Meditation: There are a whole host of reasons. Reasons include liberation, elimination from physical, emotional, and even causal pain and suffering (Karma). Non spiritual phenomenal, like money, vitality, longevity, insight, discrimination, immortality, and even deathlessness.
Two of my favorite Meditations: 1) Mindfulnees-allow physical attachments, emotions, thoughts, ideas, physical sensations, etc. to pass through the mind, without attachment. 2) Visualization of how you want your life to become. Visualize yourself the way you want, with all relationships, health, intellect, creativity, jobs, family, money, etc. that you want, doing the things you want.
there is an important thing to know when doing meditation have no expectation. expectation will be like a block in your path of progressing in meditation.
Meditation is thoughtlessness. Being one with nature. Listening to a beautiful poem or a piece of music.When you are united with the sublime.
PS I stand corrected re my paraphrasing of Krishnamurti’s quote which, as it turns out, is more consistent with my own experience. I provide the quote below:
“The antidote to ignorance is not knowledge. The antidote to ignorance is awareness. Ignorance is the lack of self-awareness and knowledge is ignorance when there is no understanding of the ways of the self”.
Hi Anmol, what an interesting post!
Like so many other ‘key’ words, ‘meditation’ is one that I find hard to provide a definitive meaning for. The more I think about it, the more I find that the meaning is subject to what one wishes to emphasize.
For instance, I often explain the word in terms of the ‘practice of meditation’ because for most people, this is where it all begins. And all of us, whether novice or seasoned practitioner, are involved in the practice. Where that practice takes us is so beautifully expressed by Krishnamurti.
For myself, I see meditation as self-awareness which is forever expanding. ‘Understanding’ (verb) to me is a mental process of seeing meaning as well as a discovered or revealed body of information (‘understanding’ as a noun). But I have found that there is something beyond understanding which I describe as ‘knowing’. ‘Knowing’ is a state of awareness.
Ultimately, the purpose of meditation is to experience and increase self-awareness which, as Krishnamurti says (in another quote I’ve read of his), is the ‘knowledge’ (or as I prefer to call it ‘knowing’ because it has a more dynamic sense) that destroys ignorance/suffering.