What is the significance of meditation

If you want to know the true quality of who you are, only if you transcend the limitations of your body and mind can there be a possibility for you to experience it.

Yoga and Dhyana are scientific tools, which help you to transcend the limitations of your body and mind and experience the true quality of who you are. Without experiencing this, just eating, sleeping, reproducing and dying, your life will not be fulfilled with these. All those things are needed in your life — this eating, sleeping and reproducing.

But our life is not complete because of these, even if you have fulfilled all these fully isn't it? This is because the quality of a human being has crossed a certain boundary of awareness. Now it is not physical fulfilment is needed, but you are not going to be fulfilled with that. It has to seek something more, otherwise it will never be satisfied.

It has to become unlimited. So Dhyana or meditation is a way of moving into the unlimited dimension of who you are. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a realised master, yogi and mystic, who has founded Isha Foundation, an international public service organisation. Sadhguru created Isha Yoga, as the vehicle to transmit a deep experience of the self. Isha Foundation administers the Dhyanalinga multi-religious temple, ashram and meditation shrine. A night long sathsang with Sadhguru will be held on Mahashivaratri, March 1st, when energies are most conducive for spiritual growth, at Isha Yoga Centre, 30kms from Coimbatore.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is founder of the Isha Foundation, an international public service organisation. Where there is division, man and woman must be in conflict. So, we are saying, to eliminate this conflict, psychologically, it's very important to understand whether the observer is different from the observed. If he is not, then the observer is the observed, and therefore conflict ends. I'll explain, go into this a little more. I hope you are working with the speaker, that you're not merely listening to a series of words, ideas, conclusions, but rather using the speaker, the words, as a mirror in which you are seeing actually yourself.

So that you are aware of yourself, because we're talking about human being, which is you. That human being is the story of the totality of mankind. And when you investigate that, when you look at it, you see the conflict has always existed between man and woman, between So part of this meditation is to eliminate totally all conflict, inwardly, and therefore outwardly.

And to eliminate this conflict, one has to understand this basic principle, which is, the observer is not different from the observed, psychologically.

Are we meeting each other? Do you see the fact, not the acceptance of what I'm saying? Look, when there is anger, there is no 'I', but a second later the thought creates the 'I' and says, 'I have been angry', and there is the idea that I should not be angry.

So there is 'me' who have been angry, and I should not be angry, so the division brings conflict. I hope you understand this. I hope you understand this because we are going to something which demands that you pay complete attention to this, which is the essence of meditation, and to eliminate totally, completely every form of conflict, otherwise there is no peace in the world.

You may have peace in heaven, but actually to live in this world with complete inward peace, therefore every action is born out of that peace. So it's very important to understand that the observer is the observed. When that takes place - please listen - that is, one is jealous - of which you all know - one is jealous; is jealousy different from the observer?

You understand my question? Or the observer is the observed, therefore he is jealous. There is not 'I am jealous', but there is only jealousy. Then what takes place? Before, there was division between me and jealousy, and then I tried to conquer it, I tried to suppress it, rationalise it, put away from, but now when I see the 'me' is jealous - right? Before, I tried to conquer it, suppress it, understand it, rationalise it, or say, 'Yes, why shouldn't I be jealous?

Whereas, we are saying, when there is no division between the observer and the observed, and therefore only the thing that is, which is jealousy, then what takes place? Does jealousy go on?

Or is there a total ending of jealousy? You understand my problem, my question? I wonder. When jealousy occurs, when there is no observer, you let it blossom and then end. Like a flower that blooms, withers and dies away. But as long as you're fighting it, as long as you're resisting it or rationalising it, you're giving life to it. So we are saying that the observer is the observed, and when there is this jealousy, let it And therefore there is no conflict in it.

I wonder if you see this. Please, madame. So, what then is action? We live by action, all our life is action - action according to a motive, action according to an ideal, according to a pattern, or action habitual, traditional, without any investigation.

So we're going to ask ourself: what is action? Because a mind that is in meditation must find this out. What is action? You are following all this? I wonder if it interests you, all this. Because, please, this is a very serious matter, all this. We are hear not to spend a pleasant morning under the trees, but rather to investigate into the things of our life.

One of the major problems in our life is conflict, in ourselves. And from that conflict all kinds of neurotic activities go on. And to end conflict and therefore end neurotic action becomes very important - to have a sane mind, a mind that's healthy, a mind that's not neurotic, caught in beliefs and fears and so on. So we're saying, we're investigating conflict and the ending of conflict. And also we're asking now, what is action, because we live by action.

When you go to the factory, when you go to your office, when you talk, when you walk, everything is action. Life is action. So when you're asked, what is action, and how do you act, according to what principle, according to what quality or state of mind from which you act.

Please investigate it together. You generally act from memory, the memory which has set a pattern, which has become habit, routine, which is based on remembrance and that remembrance having Or act on reward or punishment.

Reward and punishment. Or you act according to an idea, an ideal; having an ideal you say, 'I will carry that ideal out in daily life'. Or you have a certain ambition and try to fulfil that ambition. So there are these various types of action. So each of these actions are incomplete, fragmented.

Each action is not whole, holistic. You understand this? If I go to the office every morning for the next fifty years, I'm a business man - thank god I'm not - but I'm a business man, or a lawyer, doctor, some kind of professional careerist. Therefore my actions are divided. Do you see this? Divided, fragmented. I'm a business man and I come home and I love my children, but when I'm a business man, there, I don't love anybody, I want profit etc.

So my actions are divided, fragmentary. So, when there is a fragmentary action it must inevitably bring conflict, psychologically. So we're asking: is there an action - please listen to this - is there an action which has no conflict?

So we're going to find out, together, we're going to investigate into this question whether there is an action in which there are no regrets, no failures, no sense of frustration, and therefore an action which is whole, harmonious, complete, holistic.

But first we must see very clearly that our actions are fragmentary in our life. I may be a scholar, a painter, but my life, though I'm an excellent sculptor, my life is shoddy - I'm ambitious, greedy, wanting money, position, recognition, fame. So there is contradiction. And hence, where there is contradiction there must be conflict. And that's the way you live. I may be a priest but I am burning inside to be It's this pattern, goes right through the world.

And where there is division in action there must inevitably be conflict - that's law. Please pay attention. Let her I know, we know this lady. See how difficult it is to concentrate? So, we're trying to find out if there is an action which is whole and never contradictory, therefore an action that does not bring about tension, division and all the rest. So we must find out what is action. Not action in a particular field contrary to another part of the field.

Therefore one has to see what one is actually doing, how one actually is living, living a contradictory life, contradictory action, and therefore conflict. You must see that. You must become aware of it. Are you aware of this fact, that you, as a human being, live actively, and each action contradicts other actions. Are you aware of this fact?

If you are completely aware, then what takes place? Suppose I am I live a contradictory - actions, live in contradictory actions, and you tell me, 'Be aware of it'.

What do you mean by being aware of it, I ask. Awareness is not possible when you choose, when you say, 'Well, I like that particular action, I would like to keep that, and please help me to avoid all other actions - you follow?

You follow what I'm saying? Therefore that is not awareness, that is choosing a particular action which is most satisfactory, most comforting, most gratifying, rewarding, and all the rest of it, and I say, 'Please let me hold to that and help me not to have contradictory actions with regard to that'. That is not awareness. Where there is choice in awareness there is no complete, total, holistic awareness.

So I'm asking you: are you aware of this fact that your whole life is lived in contradiction with contradictory actions? Without any choice, just to be aware what actually is. Then if you are actually aware of it, there is no problem, is there? We'll go into it a little later. So, I'm coming back to it. We are saying that there is an action which is continuous, without any break. Our actions are broken, and therefore contradictory, changing, but we are saying there is an action which is continuous, and therefore holistic, whole.

The word 'whole' means to have good health, physically. It means also to have a mind that is sane. Sanity implies not being committed to any particular form of belief, dogma, church, nothing - sane, which is capable of reason, logic, and therefore able to think clearly, directly, objectively.

That is sanity. But neurotic mind cannot think logically, sanely. Therefore holistic mind - whole - the word 'whole' means having a good health, sane mind, and also the word 'whole' means holy, sacred. All that is implied when we use the word 'holy' - whole. So we are saying there is an action which has no break in it, and therefore a movement that is holistic, whole, and that movement we're going to find. Not, I'm projecting the idea and then finding it. But in the process of meditation, we're going to find that action.

You've got what I'm saying? So we're coming to the point: what is meditation? Not how to meditate, not how to sit in a particular posture, breathe in a certain way, and all that - to me all that is nonsense. Because you can only meditate, the depth of meditation and understand it fully, when there is no search or desire for power, when there is no storing up of hurts, when there is no fear, when you have understood the meaning of pleasure, in which there is joy and enjoyment - we went into that, I won't go into it now.

And when there is the ending of sorrow, this must be, and love and compassion and all that. Therefore this is the basis of foundation, otherwise you go So we're asking, what is meditation?

And why should we meditate? First of all, the Asiatics, including India, have brought to this country their idea of what meditation is - right? You have in this country, and also brought from India, the thing called transcendental meditation. The word 'transcendental' is misused. They give you a mantra. You know about it, don't you, some of you at least. Krishnamurti: Yes. You know what the word, that Sanskrit word 'mantra' means something entirely different from what you have been told - the root meaning of that word.

It means, 'man' means reflect - please listen, for god's sake, listen - reflect on not becoming or being. Reflect on it. Look at it, observe it, see what is implied in it. Therefore reflect on not becoming or not being.

So mantra means reflect on not becoming, and dispel all movement born from the centre as the 'me'. That is the meaning of that word. And you have made it into something extraordinarily Which is, you repeat a word or a series of words, given by another for dollars or 20 dollars or some absurd money, and then you repeat it three times a day, for 20 minutes or 5 minutes, and have a good siesta.

Laughter You know what a siesta is, don't you. Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain. Cortical thickness and pain sensitivity in zen meditators. Khalsa DS. Stress, meditation, and Alzheimer's disease prevention: Where the evidence stands. J Alzheimers Dis. Meditation training increases brain efficiency in an attention task. Hemodynamic responses on prefrontal cortex related to meditation and attentional task.

Front Syst Neurosci. A week-long meditation retreat decouples behavioral measures of the alerting and executive attention networks. Front Hum Neurosci. Beyond medications and diet: Alternative approaches to lowering blood pressure: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

Stress reduction programs in patients with elevated blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Curr Hypertens Rep. A randomized controlled trial on effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on blood pressure, psychological distress, and coping in young adults.

Am J Hypertens. Stress reactivity to and recovery from a standardised exercise bout: A study of 31 runners practising relaxation techniques. Br J Sports Med. Meditation and coronary heart disease: A review of the current clinical evidence. Ochsner J. Can the neural-cortisol association be moderated by experience-induced changes in awareness?

Sci Rep. Adrenocortical activity during meditation. Horm Behav. Catecholamine levels in practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Physiol Behav. Travis F. Transcendental experiences during meditation practice. Ann N Y Acad Sci. Effect of Transcendental Meditation on breathing and respiratory control. Marked reduction of forearm carbon dioxide production during states of decreased metabolism. Acute increases in night-time plasma melatonin levels following a period of meditation. Effects of Hatha yoga and Omkar meditation on cardiorespiratory performance, psychologic profile, and melatonin secretion.

J Behav Med. Stress reduction and preventing hypertension: Preliminary support for a psychoneuroendocrine mechanism. Effects on regional cerebral blood flow of Transcendental Meditation. The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during the complex cognitive task of meditation: A preliminary SPECT study.

Psychiatry Res. Cerebral blood flow changes during chanting meditation. Nucl Med Commun. Meditation effects on cognitive function and cerebral blood flow in subjects with memory loss: A preliminary study.

Cerebral blood flow changes associated with different meditation practices and perceived depth of meditation. The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. Is meditation associated with altered brain structure?. A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners.

Beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity in subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation. J Psychosom Res. Role of meditation in reducing sympathetic hyperactivity and improving quality of life in lupus nephritis patients with chronic kidney disease. J Med Assoc Thai. Review of controlled research on the Transcendental Meditation program and cardiovascular disease.

Risk factors, morbidity, and mortality. Cardiol Rev. Effect of Raja yoga meditation on the lipid profile of post-menopausal women. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. Vyas R, Dikshit N. Effect of meditation on respiratory system, cardiovascular system and lipid profile. Mind-body practices: An alternative, drug-free treatment for smoking cessation?. A systematic review of the literature. Drug Alcohol Depend. Treating alcohol, nicotine and drug abuse through Transcendental Meditation: A review and statistical meta-analysis.

Alcohol Treat Q. Royer A. The role of the Transcendental Meditation technique in promoting smoking cessation. Usefulness of the Transcendental Meditation program in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease. Am J Cardiol. A randomized controlled trial of the effects of Transcendental Meditation on quality of life in older breast cancer patients.

Integr Cancer Ther. Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention. Neuroplasticity, psychosocial genomics, and the biopsychosocial paradigm in the 21 st century.

Health Soc Work. Saatcioglu F. Regulation of gene expression by yoga, meditation and related practices: A review of recent studies. Asian J Psychiatr. Ageing and the telomere connection: An intimate relationship with inflammation. Ageing Res Rev. Reduced telomerase activity in human T lymphocytes exposed to cortisol.