Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on June 4, 2017.

In this first lecture of a series on meditation, Swami Bhaskarananda defines meditation as extreme concentration of the mind and distinguishes it from japa, or repetition of a holy name. Comparing the ordinary mind to diffused light and the concentrated mind to a powerful laser beam, he explains that Vedanta regards meditation as a means of penetrating the limitations of time and space and directly experiencing the transcendental Divine. He describes divinity as equally present everywhere but manifested to differing degrees, with consciousness representing its manifestation in living beings. Drawing on the Vedantic teaching of the essential divinity of every person and the Mahavakyas, or great declarations of the Upanishads, he emphasizes that the ultimate purpose of meditation is not merely relaxation or mental control, but realization of the divine reality underlying individual existence.

The second half of the lecture explains the progressive stages through which concentration develops. Swami Bhaskarananda describes pratyahara as withdrawing the scattered mind from other objects, dharana as fixing it upon a chosen object of contemplation, dhyana as sustaining that concentration without interruption, and samadhi as its highest culmination, in which divinity is directly experienced. Using the story of Arjuna concentrating solely on the eye of a wooden bird, he illustrates the degree of focus required for spiritual meditation. He then turns to the difficulty of training a mind naturally drawn toward distraction, novelty, old habits, and sensual experience, emphasizing that the mind itself must gradually be used to transform and purify the mind. Drawing on Sankhya philosophy, he explains the three gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—and identifies a pure mind as one in which sattva, characterized by clarity, serenity, selflessness, and nonviolence, predominates. The lecture concludes by introducing the obstacles that arise in meditation and indicating that the next talk will examine those obstacles and the means of overcoming them.