... પછી જ ખરો વિકાસ.

"ધ્યાન ધરે તું કલાક, પાંચ!

શ્વાસોચ્છવાસ ગણ કે અટકાવ,

કલ્પનાઓ ઘડી એમાં રાચ 

કે સૂતેલા અશ્વો જગાવ! 

અંતે તો જોવો રહ્યો બદલાવ,

શું પરિસ્થિતિ જ્યારે ખુલ્લી આંખ!

ક્રિયા, કાર્ય મધ્યે કેવો વર્તાવ,

ધ્યાનની અસર કેટલી અસરદાર?"

"એટલે જ કહું છું એકાગ્રતા વધાર,

પ્રારંભ અને અંત અને દરમ્યાન.

એકધારી એકલક્ષની ટેવ ને સિદ્ધાંત 

એકાગ્ર મન, બુદ્ધિનાં અનેકો પ્રભાવ.

હોય કોઈપણ વર્તન, વલણ, વિચાર, 

એકાગ્ર સ્થાનમાંથી નીકળે ધારદાર

રહે સ્થિર સ્થિત અને હંમેશ સભાન

સક્રિય ધ્યાનાવસ્થા પછી જ ખરો વિકાસ."

પ્રણામ પ્રભુ...

'મોરલી'

ઓકટોબર, ૨૦૧૮

(Another child) Mother, here it is said: "One can relax and meditate instead of concentrating."

It's not I who have said it! (Laughter) Good. So? The difference between meditating and concentrating?

Yes, Mother, because when one meditates, isn't there a concentration of the consciousness?

Meditation!

There are all kinds of different meditations! What people usually call meditation is, for example, choosing a subject or an idea and following its development or trying to understand what it means. There is a concentration but not as complete a concentration as in concentration proper, where nothing should exist except the point on which one concentrates. Meditation is a more relaxed movement, less tense than concentration.

When one is trying to understand a problem which comes up, a psychological problem or a circumstantial one, and he sits down and looks at and sees all the possibilities, compares them, studies them, this is a form of meditation; and one does it spontaneously when the thing comes up. When one is facing a decision to be taken, for instance, and doesn't know which one to take, well, ordinarily one reflects, consults his reason, compares all the possibilities and makes his choice... more or less. Well, this is a form of meditation.

Now, there is the form of meditation which consists in a concentration on an idea and concentrating one's attention upon it to the extent that that alone exists; then this is the equivalent of a concentration, but instead of being total it is only mental.

Total concentration implies a concentration also of all the movements of the vital and physical. The method of gazing at a point is a very well-known one. So it is even physical, you see, one's eyes are fixed on this point, and one does not move any more... nothing more... one sees nothing, doesn't move his sight from that point, and the result usually is that one ends up by becoming that point. And I knew someone who used to say that one had to pass beyond the point, become this point, to the extent of passing to the other side, crossing the point, and that then one opened to higher regions. But it is true that if one succeeds in concentrating totally on a point, there is a moment when the identification is absolute, and there is no more any separation between the one who is concentrating and the thing upon which he is concentrated. There is a complete identification. One can't distinguish between himself and the point. This is a total concentration, while meditation is a particular concentration of the thought, a partial one.

* Writings by The Mother

Meditation, Concentration and Contemplation

24 August 1955

It is well known that the value of a man is in proportion to his capacity of concentrated attention; the greater the concentration the more exceptional is the result, to the extent that a perfect and unfailing concentrated attention sets the stamp of genius on what is produced.

Concentration is a state one must be in continually, whatever the outer activity. By concentration I mean that all the energy, all the will, all the aspiration must be turned only towards the Divine and His integral realisation in our consciousness. TM

Our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly, something always aspires in our secret nature. There must be a large, many-sided yet single concentration of the thought on the idea, the perception, the vision, the awakening touch, the soul's realisation of the one Divine. There must be a flaming concentration of the heart on the All and Eternal and, when once we have found him, a deep plunging and immersion in the possession and ecstasy of the All- Beautiful. There must be a strong and immovable concentration of the will on the attainment and fulfilment of all that the Divine is and a free and plastic opening of it to all that he intends to manifest in us. SA

Flower Name: Euphorbia milii
Crown of thorns, Christ thorn

Significance: Concentration
Does not aim an effect, but simple and persistent.