Missing Meditation
There are many missing parts to advanced meditation. Some of these are hinted at in books like Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Some instructions gave basic general directions which are mistaken for complete instructions. The result is that most people who meditate never gain high experiences of other realms, of the supernatural and spiritual locales.
There are two types of meditation which people know about today. The first is the farce meditation where someone claims to be one with God, one with everything, one with the Absolute, and claims to have attained samadhi when in fact, that person did not achieve any such thing and has no idea of really what those attainments entail.
The second type is preparatory meditation. This is not mediation but it is part of the preparation to do mediation. The problem with this is that one may be stuck with it for an entire lifetime and never progress into real meditation. But here is the hitch: Every jackrabbit yogi wants to define meditation or to criticize someone else’s idea of what meditation is. If we argue over what meditation is, if we do not accept a standard definition and work from there, then our conversations are useless because of the shifting parameters used to suit ourselves and boost our images.
If meditation is flexible and changes according to who defines it, the conversation cannot be consistent. In science we see that they hold to definitions after giving solid proof of the various aspects of nature which they observe. No one argues over what a gasoline combustion engine is because the nature of petroleum is such that it only burns efficiently and is only converted into mechnical power under specific conditions. That is not subjected to my whim or your idea. There is no argument because petrol is a standard material.
What about yoga? Do we have a standard definition?
What about meditation? Is that a moving target or is it fixed?
Can we accept Patanjali’s samyama as meditation?
Should we say that Patanjali was just one person with his own idea and that meditation is something other than what he defined?
