Meditation is the art and science of optimal self-integration. We are naturally nested in Nature. Meditation is being at-peace with oneself and at-home in the world. It is the art of self-observation, learning, and developing presence of mind and selfless love. It is a unique mode of being present in the moment. It is a natural state of health and happiness. We should let go of the vicious cycle of negative feelings and discover the virtuous cycle of positive feelings like joy, cheerfulness, equanimity, friendliness, compassion, and love. This is possible through meditative practices like yoga, mindfulness, flow-state, and nature-experience. With advancement in neurobiology, we can understand how these meditative skills are learned, developed, evolved, and mastered. These meditative skills and lifestyle are the key to positive psychology and mental health. These secular meditative practices are being recommended in our education and health care systems.
TopVedic-Upanishadic Meditation
The non-REM wake state of Turiya or Chaitanyam, is the fourth state of consciousness-as-such which is non-narrative, non-cognitive, non-conative awareness. It is nondual, non-plural, spontaneous, effortless, selfless, egoless, primal, timeless, eternal, sentient arousal-aware-being. It is the sacred, divine perfection. There is nothing beyond it. It is the Ground of all, the Source of all. WE are THAT! Let all REM dreams, wandering thoughts, mental travel, mind-agitations, ruminations of the past, and simulations of the future, dissipate freely, completely, and naturally into the immeasurable ocean or the sky-like space of Life’s self-experience and existence. It is the Consciousness-as-such, Life-as-such. It is the spontaneous, still, silent, serene, supreme energy-awareness-being. It is the ultimate existential feeling or qualia of existential presence” (Deshmukh, 2020).
Meditation according to the yoga tradition has an exceedingly long history. In fact, the original lineage goes back to the Vedic-Upanishadic period. Most of the Vedic-Upanishadic literature is devoted to spiritual growth, Atmonnati, and actualization of one’s essential being with clear self-understanding. This leads to complete calmness, natural peace of mind and a well-composed being in reality. Vedanta described such a state as sat-chit-anand or blissful conscious being. What one personally experiences from moment to moment depends on one’s self-perspective or the mindset. One can look at oneself as an isolated living being, a living organism in the environmental niche, a passionate human being, a cognitive intellectual individual, or a holistic human being embedded in its natural surroundings. The extraordinary self-perspective of this existential being is possible only after a profound self-understanding and self-realization. This wise stage in human life has been described in the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita as the supreme self-integration, unity and equanimity called Turiya, Sthita-prajña, Atma-prasād, and Brahmi-sthiti (Deshmukh, 2011).