Meditation and Concentration: Understanding Concentration

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Meditation and Concentration: Understanding Concentration

Men of great success have been men of great concentration. Success does not come from outside. It is right within your brain. When a brilliant thought /idea strikes you, it needs to be nurtured and reared with patience, will, focus, and determined action. Only then will the tiny seed of an idea truly flower into a vibrant plant. The entire basis of the flowering is the mind and its powers. Had there been no thought in the mind and appropriate action thereafter, the result would not have been achieved. Like you focus the rays of the sun through a magnifying glass, you need to focus and re-direct the concentrated rays of the power behind your divine thoughts.

Concentration involves a honing in of the attention so that one's entire field of attention is thrown into whatever it is that one is doing. Concentration entails a focusing of energy-the energy that influences all our actions in life.

Existence demands that we use this omnipresent energy, but not waste it. Each day, in idle thinking and avoidable gossip we expend useful energy, yet nothing supreme will be achieved in our lives, without a conscious ascent on the ladder of Self-realisation. We may master the wind, water and animals, but have we succeeded in mastering ourselves?

Self-mastery demands tremendous will power and wise channeling of conserved concentrated energy, re-directed in the best possible way. A river, for example, may flow in various directions but when it is channelled towards a turbine, it can produce electricity or power of other types. Concomitantly, it is vital that with the power latent in our minds, we harness God's divine energy and use it for harmonious alignment of the body, mind, and soul.

Concentration is a two-edged gift to man. Metaphysically speaking, whatever we concentrate on we shall achieve. Concentrate on the positive, bright side of life, and your life lightens up; concentrate on the wild, sad side, and the whole world darkens. Even when the mind unconsciously dwells on despair, despondency shall be Nature's thanksgiving. If we train the mind to focus on love, purity, prosperity and wisdom, our life will be a receptacle for such energies to flow in.

Concentration is what the Almighty used, along with divine will, to create us. Let there be light said He, and there was light. To be measured in thought is most important. Our minds have millions of thought ripples in a split second. Even if it involves hardship, if we gradually attempt to dam this flow of thoughts and divert them towards a few good things, the mind will function with vigor and produce fruitful results.

In Yoga and in other spiritual disciplines, concentration precedes meditation. Most people mix up the two and construe activities on concentration to be meditation. True meditation is a scientific technique of concentrating on God. When all extraneous waves and ripples are stilled, one can go straight to the Source. You reach your destination not by flitting from route to route but by maintaining your focus and following only one of them.

Ordinarily like a monkey, our consciousness is running amuck all over the place. However, when anything of a sustained nature has to be done, we gather our scattered thoughts together and place it on one occupation, subject or object. This placement usually takes place in the brain, if it is a thought, and in the heart, if it is a feeling. Yogic concentration is primarily an extension and intensification of the same principle - it may be an idea, an object, a word, a name or a combination of all of these.

The yogis also make it a point to concentrate on the area between the eyebrows; some, on the region of the inner (subtle) heart - going inward and visualizing the idea/object/theme of concentration therein. This region is the seat of concentration and will power. As you keep persisting in your efforts of concentration from this area, you experience having your entire consciousness being centered in that region, though of course, only temporarily.

Control Of The Mind

Control of the mind is a precursor to success in attempts at concentration. Yet if your mind is preoccupied solely with the idea of having to control the mind , you will be so busy trying to control the mind that the object or concept of concentration will take centre-stage in Amnesia land! Attempt to control the mind by regulating your breathing, eating the right kind of wholesome food, and by awakening both the body and the mind through invigorating exercises.

Understand that it is the sensual distractions to which the mind is drawn that are the culprits of your inability to concentrate. So we must work at being able to successfully and scientifically isolating our attention from them. Calming the senses, withdrawing our life force away from the sensory-motor nerves which are the conductors of sensations, and channelling them into the higher centres of our consciousness is therefore the key. You must make it a habit to introspect and watch the mind carefully. Rising thoughts must be silenced and emotions have to be calmed.

Physical training that only exercises the muscles without understanding the principles of life force inherent therein are merely futile attempts at muscle bumping and give only limited and temporary benefits. Our bodies are made of the gross elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) and of the subtle energies that have over incarnations ensconced themselves in the consciousness of the mind. In simple terms, our thoughts make our body and the body influences the thoughts. So through practice and exercises in memory development and concentration, lead your mind naturally to the shores of the sea of concentration, wherefrom after plunging into the waters of meditation, through daily, diligent practice, increased concentration will become second nature to you. Each day, each night, when you awaken and before you enter slumber land, affirm your reality as a child of God. Made in His image, all that He is, is what you are. God is the epitome of power, light and wisdom. Never forget that you have all those divine sparks in you.

Never despair in all your attempts. The law of karma (cause and effect) is irresistible. In due course, all your efforts will bring fruition. Therefore shake off your hopelessness and put on the garment of discipline and regularity. Peace will surely come and dwell in you and the whole being will be saturated in calmness. Not much will be achieved without effort. Intensity is vital, just as it is vital to overcome sleep for success in meditation. And intensity should be without a sense of strain or effort. It is better to concentrate for a few minutes with intensity than it is to concentrate half-heartedly for a long time.

Mind Is Like A Wild Cat, Don't Fight With It

As you attempt to practice controlling the mind, never fight with it. An obstinate struggle only sets into motion more waves of despair and frustration. Beginners should beware of committing this serious error in their eagerness to succeed. Correctly practiced, engagements in concentration will quickly lead to a calming of the functions of the heart and thereby, the energy that was formerly used by the heart will now be available for use to meditate on God or to achieve any other noble ambition. Exercises in concentration are not only for the beginners, but are diligently practiced even by those seasoned in meditative practices. The mind is like a wild cat and needs to be tamed.

Be Aware And Be Mindful

Make awareness a regular part of your daily activity - walking or sitting. As you sit down to eat, be aware of the breath; as you walk in for a meeting, thank the breath for the benefits it bestows upon you in so humble a fashion. Apart from many physical benefits that such exercises have, they will help you transcend into awareness of a deeper hidden consciousness in which you will become aware of the real Self. It invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and consciousness, which has been longing for us to make contact with it.

Concentration is the magnetic manifestation that re-directs the needle of our mind from the enticing sense nerves to the recess of the Divine cave within. Inadvertently, blissfully unaware, we utilise this power each day. If we would only consciously activate and re-claim our divine birthright, great would be our power and achievement.

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See also: Meditation and Concentration, Meditation, Meditation for Beginners, Meditation Techniques)