In concentration the mind is not allowed to move. In ordinary thinking, it is allowed to
move anywhere; in contemplation, it is allowed to move only somewhere; in concentration, it is not
allowed to move, it is only allowed to be at one point. The whole energy, the whole movement stops,
sticks to one point.
Concentration is gathering together of the consciousness and either centralizing at one point or turning on a single object. There can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In Meditation one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.
Concentrate on any of the seven centres:- first behind the heart, third eye between the eye-brows, on the head or above the head etc.
One can concentrate on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.
‘Contemplation’ means directed thinking. We all think; that is not contemplation. That thinking is
undirected, vague, leading nowhere. Really, our thinking is not contemplation.Thinking becomes contemplation when it moves not through association, but is directed. You are
working on a particular problem – then you bracket out all associations. You move on that problem
only, you direct your mind. The mind will try to escape to any bypath, to any side route, to some
association. You cut off all the side routes; on only one road you direct your mind.
A scientist working on a problem is in contemplation. A logician working on a problem, a
mathematician working on a problem is in contemplation. A poet contemplates a flower. Then
the whole world is bracketed out, and only that flower and the poet remains, and he moves with the
flower. Many things from side routes will attract, but he does not allow his mind to move anywhere.
Mind moves in one line, directed. This is contemplation.
Science is based on contemplation. Any logical thinking is contemplation: thought is directed,
thinking guided. Ordinary thinking is absurd. Contemplation is logical, rational.
Yoga is concerned with concentration, ordinary mind with undirected thinking, the scientific mind
with directed thinking. The yogic mind has its thinking focused, fixed at one point; no movement is
allowed.
And then there is ’meditation’. In ordinary thinking, mind is allowed to move anywhere; in
contemplation, it is allowed only in one direction, all other directions are cut off. In concentration, it
is not allowed to move even in one direction; it is allowed only to concentrate on one point. And in
meditation, mind is not allowed at all. Meditation is no-mind.
There are four stages: ordinary thinking, contemplation, concentration, meditation.
Meditation means no-mind – not even concentration is allowed. Mind itself is not allowed to be! That
is why meditation cannot be grasped by mind. Up to concentration mind has a reach, an approach.
Mind can understand concentration, but mind cannot understand meditation. Really, mind is not
allowed at all. In concentration, mind is allowed to be at one point. In meditation, even that point
is taken away. In ordinary thinking, all directions are open. In contemplation, only one direction is
open. In concentration, only one point is open – no direction. In meditation, even that point is not
open: mind is not allowed to be.
Ordinary thinking is the ordinary state of mind, and meditation is the highest possibility. The lowest
one is ordinary thinking, association, and the highest, the peak, is meditation – no-mind.
When mind is, what is there? A process of thinking. When there is no-mind,
what is there? No process of thinking. If you go on decreasing your process of thinking, if you go
on dissolving your thinking, by and by, slowly, you are reaching no-mind. Mind means thinking; no
mind means non-thinking.
If you leave your consciousness
alone, without doing anything with it, it becomes meditation.
So there are two possibilities: either slowly, gradually you decrease your mind, by and by. If one
percent is decreased, then you have ninety-nine percent mind and one percent no-mind within you.
It is as if you have removed some furniture from your room – then some space is created there.
Then you remove more furniture, and more space is created there. When you have removed all the
furniture, the whole room becomes space.
Really, space is not created by removing the furniture, the space was already there. It is only that
the space was occupied by the furniture. When you remove the furniture, no space comes in from
outside; the space was there, occupied by furniture. You have removed the furniture, and the space
is recovered, reclaimed. Deep down mind is space occupied, filled by thoughts. If you remove some
thoughts, space is created – or discovered, or reclaimed. If you go on removing your thoughts, by
and by you go on regaining your space. This space is meditation.
Slowly it can be done – suddenly also. There is no need to go on for lives together removing the
furniture, because there are problems. When you start to remove the furniture, one percent space
is created and ninety-nine percent space is occupied. That ninety-nine percent occupied space will
not feel good about the unoccupied space; it will try to fill it. So one goes on slowly decreasing
thoughts and then again creating new thoughts.
So from ordinary thinking it is good to become contemplative – that is the gradual method.
From contemplation it is good to move to concentration – that is the gradual method. And from
concentration it is good to take a jump into meditation. Then you are moving slowly, feeling the
ground at every step. And when you are really rooted in one step, only then do you begin to go
for the next one. It is not a jump, it is a gradual growth. So these four things – ordinary thinking,
contemplation, concentration, meditation – are four steps.
