Meditation- Monks of the Ramakrishna Order

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It gives us great pleasure to present to our readers the Indian edition of this book published by the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

In this book, many eminent monks of the Ramakrishna Order discuss methods of meditation as found in the Upanishads. As they show us, meditation is not as simple as some Eastern teachers appear to indicate, nor is it as difficult as Westerners sometimes suppose. Most of the teachings were given first as lectures and informal discourses, and the reader will see how directly, in some cases, they were addressed to the circle of listeners. We have preserved this intimate style.

Originally meant for the students of the West unfamiliar with Sanskrit, this collection avoids most of the technical terms that are usually found in the Vedanta and Yoga works. This makes for a comfortable read for all. This book, with additional eight chapters in this edition, has many useful instructions about the techniques to silence the mind and concentrate it on the Reality within. We believe Indian readers would also find in this book valuable guidance for their spiritual practice.

We thank the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Bourne End, for permitting us to bring out this Indian edition.

Swami Bhavyananda

Before we begin a detailed study of the practice and theory of meditation we must consider the context in which this pursuit is to take place. Success in meditation is closely related to peaceful living. For meditation to be fruitful, the mind must be calm, and if the mind is to be calm we must conduct our normal life and activities in a peaceful way.

A prayerful attitude in relation to work is most helpful; whatever activity we may be involved in, we must practise awareness of the Divine Presence in every situation. You may say that this is difficult to do in the midst of occupations which require our full attention. Granted, but it is also a fact that as soon as a preoccupying activity is completed, we can return our mind to the Presence of God. And if we are honest we will discover that many tasks do not require the full attention which we give them, thereby wasting much of our time. Just before and after sleep; while engaged in manual work, such as serving or cleaning; attending to some of our bodily needs-all these are times which we could transform into a kind of conscious prayer and remembrance of God. Introducing the act of remembering God into our daily occupations helps to prevent many a distracting thought seeking entrance to our mind. Many useless and sometimes damaging desires come up which can be easily stifled thereby.

By these methods the mind becomes tuned to the meditative mood; when we sit for the practice of meditation at the appointed hours, it easily becomes stilled and concentrated. Disturbance from outside (in the form of sense-perceptions) or from inside (from the sub-conscious) can be easily turned aside.