To meditate on something means lingering over it, devoting attention to it, for more time than usual. In spirituality, meditation means voluntary and relaxed contemplation. The intent is to increase spiritual presence, over a sustained period of time.
The meditative state is a natural state which we encounter between sleep and wakefulness. In meditation, unlike in sleep, this state is induced voluntarily and consciously.
You start by focussing attention on being alert and aware, in the present moment. You aim to quieten the chattering of your mind, and to intensify the feeling of awareness or spiritual presence. The ultimate aim of meditation is enlightenment, or union with the divine.
A beginner may aim simply to calm the mind for a few minutes. You sit at peace, focus on your breathing and awareness of your body, and aim to replace the chatter of the mind with a positive mantra or visualisation.
As you progress, your aim becomes to go beyond thought completely, to achieve spiritual silence, a focused awareness of divine consciousness, a state of simply "being".
At first, you may succeed in sustaining your attention only briefly, before wandering off. After a while, you may generate brief bursts intermittently. As you go you will increase both the length and intensity of meditation. With regular practice, you may stay focused continuously, for a longer and longer time. Eventually, if you persist, the spiritual awareness becomes a general habit in everyday life, and meditation becomes continual and automatic.
The benefits of meditation are many. The state of divine consciousness is a blissful love-filled one-ness with the universe. This is the natural consciousness of the soul - unlimited contentment, peace, harmony, love, bliss, and spiritual might. When this state or awareness is achieved for even a moment, an afterglow feeling will persist for quite some time thereafter. It is as though you are a battery that has been charged by the meditation. The more you charge up, the longer and stronger is the resulting feeling of peace, purity and bliss. These feelings cannot be adequately described - they must be experienced to be believed. Regular meditation brings a lasting feeling of well-being, contentment, and inner joy. It also brings enhanced clarity of mind, and greater ability to focus the mind at will.
There are many aids to meditation. These can be used individually or in combinations. You can focus on being aware of your breathing, your touch sensations, your whole body or some part of it, your feelings and emotions. You can adopt beneficial postures or movements, such as sitting straight and immobile, or walking slowly and mindfully, or performing tai chi exercises. You can focus on bodily energy centres and flows, such as chakras, meridians, and chi flows. You can focus on visual sights: a candlelight, a symbol, mandala, statue, or picture. You can focus on sound, on music, chanting, reciting a mantra. You can focus on visualised sights or circumstances, such as radiant light, within yourself, or in others.
Meditative states can also be generated through performing everyday activities in a state of awareness, and through studying spiritual texts and reflecting on them.
Whatever the technique used, the essence of meditation is being relaxed and mindful - remembering repeatedly to be fully aware. You cannot force things, but must be wilful and determined. You have to be flexible also - able to change techniques as you go, so that the meditation advances and does not stagnate.
