Meditation is a state of mind where we train our minds and increase consciousness. It is often confused with ‘Yoga’, however meditation focuses more on mind and spirituality rather than physical health. In today’s world where ‘depression’, ‘blood pressure’, ‘heart diseases’ , ‘anxiety disorders’ and other mental diseases have taken over the world we need channelize our energy and also promote relaxation techniques. Medicines can act in emergency but meditation is a permanent solution to create a positive state of mind.
The practise of meditation has been in various religions – right from the ancient Hindu religion, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Sufism, Taoism, Judaism or any religion for that matter.
Ancient Hindu Meditation – One of the oldest form of meditation comprising of various techniques. Attempts were made by many ‘gurus’ and scholars to understand these techniques right from 20 B.C. till 20th century. ‘Dhyana’ (concentration), is one of the primary technique where we focus on the breath – breath consciously. Meditation means looking into self and concentrating. As it is difficult for many people, they use an external source like idol worship and concentrate or focus. These are just different ways of separating ourselves from our real being and making the mind strong. Various sacred books like Vedas (e.g. Rig veda), Bhagavadgita, Puranas and other scriptures contain valuable information in Sanskrit. A lot of this knowledge also spread to different countries in the far East and later in the west.