About Jnana Yoga Meditation

Last message we saw about Raja Yoga Meditation and how it involves 2 things – the subject ( meditator ) and the object ( i.e object of meditation ) .In Jnana Yoga Meditation the subject and object are one and the same i.e the object of meditation is not a breath , a mantra or deity etc but “ an enquiry in to the meditator himself “ . This type of meditation is a very tricky one and is suitable only for advanced spiritual aspirants and not for beginners .It is tricky or difficult because we are always used to focus on things outside or apart from us and here it involves “re-directing” the focus to ourselves . Here meditation is not just a 15 – 30 mts activity but a continuous 24 hr activity and we have to have “eternal vigilance” of ourselves . But to do this type of meditation a person must have had thorough knowledge of “Advaita Vedanta “ where the subject of “Self or Atma “ is dealt elaborately . Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi also gave a refined form of this Jnana Yoga Meditation in his technique called “Atma Vichara or Self Enquiry” . Modern teachers like OSHO , J Krishnamurthy , Eckhart Tolle Nisargdatta Maharaj , Papaji ( Poonja ) have talked about the same in different tones . They may differ in their way of interpreting it but they are all quite clear in the fact that “Meditation is not just an exercise in concentration “ but “ an enquiry in to the meditator himself” . They believed that meditation is successful only when you can transcend the mind permanently .This is quite difficult to understand and I am just giving it to help people understand the broad 2 categories of meditation .

But before a person involves in “Jnana Yoga Meditation” , he must thoroughly prepare himself for the same through an “intense practice of Raja Yoga Meditation “ to keep the mind pure and one pointed .Only very few people have the natural ability to start directly the Jnana Yoga Meditation right from the beginning and those are exceptions and it is better that every spiritual aspirant starts with the path of Hatha or Raja Yoga to prepare himself for the higher spiritual journey .

For those who are interested in the Path of Jnana Yoga Meditation , more specifically the path of Self Enquiry of Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi and other Masters like Eckhart Tolle , Lakshmana Swamy , Annamalai Swamy , Papaji etc may kindly follow an exclusive blog maintained by my friend at http://shravanam.blogspot.com/ .This is also listed in my links under “ More spiritual links “ .This blog of my friend focuses mainly on the subject of Jnana Yoga / Atma Vichara / Self Enquiry / Nonduality .

Now that we have got a broad idea of the types of meditations , we will maintain our focus on the Raja Yoga Meditations itself from the next message onwards .

Krishnanand