Passive and Active Meditation

There are many different types of meditation practices which one may do, and there are also those practices which are given for the purpose of relaxing the mind and body. Though one may do meditation the body does not necessarily go into a state of deep relaxation. When one does a relaxation exercise the body becomes deeply relaxed and the mind becomes more susceptible. That is why deep relaxation is used for guided imagery and hypnotic processes.

But for sa'dhana', that is, meditation upon the Great, the components and the purpose differ. The point is not to relax the body but to stimulate one's mental function by concentrating it upon a single point of ideation, thus making the mind highly focused, intently focused, and through this intense ideational flow one becomes aware of that which is beyond the sphere of ones normal cognitive capacities.

So you see, the point of the two processes differs. Now in meditational practice there are many different types. But one may say there are two primary thrusts. In the one there are those practices in which one empties the mind, makes the mind devoid of thought, devoid of image. One does not try to focus with intent concentration. One merely empties the mind, watching the mental processes until the mind becomes of its own natural accord still and quiet. all the thoughts are watched as they come through the mind, then slowly, slowly the mind begins to move away from the thoughts, as the tension of the thoughts become released the mind begins to settle, and as it settles it begins to slowly sink into deeper state of awareness. And eventually in this process, slowly, slowly the cognitive awareness of the meditator goes to a deeper sphere of understanding. Like a stone sinking slowly through the water, the mind goes deeper though no effort is made, only the stone is allowed to sink. So this is one approach, one basic approach to meditational practice. There are many different types of sa'dhana', many different practices from around the world that incorporate this approach. It is utilized in many Buddhist practices.

There is also the approach of ideation or concentration of the mind. One is a passive approach, the other is an active approach where one chooses an object of ideation beyond the comprehension of the mind, one ideates upon the Great. And through mantra, through visualization, through various systematic processes of ideation, one removes the mind form its association with external phenomenon and thought projections and actively concentrates the mind upon the divine. In these types of meditational practice there is an active approach in which there is an active effort to concentrate the mind, to withdraw from the senses and to turn the mind inwards in ideation upon the Great.

Through this concentration comes the state of meditation, or beyond, where the mind is naturally associated with its object of ideation, so that it no longer becomes an effort to remain focused, but all of one's thoughts, all of one's feelings begin to revolve around the object of ideation. And this leads to the stage of complete absorption or samadhi, in which the ideation becomes so focused, so intensified that the object and the subject become one to varying degrees. And these are the stages of samadhi.

So in the yogic practices, this type of active meditation is utilized. And do you know why this is done? Because the mind is a malleable substance and when one has a malleable substance one that may change form, depending on what it is directed towards, the most direct approach is to focus that malleable substance, to actively mold it to a particular shape. So through ideation upon the Great, through active concentration of the mind in a proper meditational practice where the mind and senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused inwardly, there is maximum potentiality to achieve the intuitional experience which occurs in dhyana and in samadhi where the malleable mind concentrating with such intensity becomes absorbed in the object of its concentration, namely the supreme existence, and becomes so concentrated so that in that concentration there is an expansion of mind into a new dimension of experience.

So this is the yogic model for transformation of consciousness. Yoga means union. It means to yoke. One yokes the identity of the little with the identity of the Great. This is yoga, and it is done through active concentration of one's mind and the transmutation of one's understanding of self and other. This active transmutation of consciousness defines the path of yoga. So you see it is not a passive path, it is an active path.