In plain words
But not all of them are meditation.
If a mirror is set before us, what do we see? We see our own form. What is the mirror's work? Its nature is to show the object in front of it. In the same way, only when we purify the mirror called citta by the action of good qualities and good thoughts will the reflection called divinity be clearly seen. Whatever object you keep thinking of constantly, on and on and on, that same object appears to you in form. This is what they called ‘Brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati’. Whatever feelings are in you, such feelings alone come to you as reflections. So keep thinking of good things always. Keep doing meritorious deeds. Keep doing the karma called service to others. That alone will keep reflecting back to you always. With sacred feelings, keep driving away your impure thoughts. When we sit in dhyāna, we must not keep thinking of all the things that have gone off who knows where. In today's dhyāna only the place where one sits gets clean, that is all. We sit in the very same spot, without fail. Not only this. Sitting, too, without moving. If a mosquito comes, we strike it with a slap. Are you doing dhyāna on the mosquito, or doing dhyāna on the Paramātma? Above all, if you are doing dhyāna on the Paramātma, this mosquito should not even be seen! So, our citta is like a mirror. If the mind has gone onto the mosquito, it means we have put that mosquito itself into our citta. We must enquire into this in another way. Dhyāna is a sacred remembrance. It should concern no one but you and God. Some people sit right next to one another, touching one another, and do dhyāna. This is not the right method for dhyāna. We must do dhyāna in a solitary place. By doing dhyāna in a crowd, they take up all such thoughts about their neighbours: what are the people beside them doing, is he doing it or not. These keep those in their citta, and those keep these. They take up all such thoughts about their neighbours; these keep those, and those keep these, in their citta. With such a citta we are doing dhyāna. Not only that. We must not do dhyāna when we sit anywhere in a crowd. This dhyāna is not an exhibition. Among the many, be one of the many. Then you cannot bring the mind into sacred dhyāna.
If you are keen to do dhyāna, go straight to your room. Shut your door. Sit alone. There a kind of divine vibrations will enter into you. To sit down for dhyāna among the many is no more than an exhibition. It cheapens it. By it our dignity too wanes to some extent. Meditation is very precious. If you go to a diamond shop, the man does not sit with the diamond set out in front. He takes you alone inside, places it in a special glass and describes it to you. In the same way, there is the fish market. They set the fish out in front. Many people go to this market. But only one or two go to the diamond shop. So, if we sit outside, we are in the fish market. Diamond market: and by it, die-mind. Through meditation we must make the mind stand still. What makes the mind stand still is real meditation. But at the start it brings some wavering. You must not lose heart at that. Keep developing śraddhā more and more. Step by step, keep increasing Prema.
Here, in meditation there are three things. The one who is doing it is called the dhyāta. Whom are they meditating on? On God; Him they call the dhyeya. What is he doing? He is doing meditation. Meditation, the dhyāta and dhyāna: all three must become one. When I say I am doing dhyāna, I must do dhyāna until the feeling of ‘I’ is forgotten. For as long as one says, ‘I am doing it’, how can it be meditation? This ‘I’ must be forgotten. In this meditation God must come and merge. In dhyāna the dhyeya must come and merge. The dhyāta must be forgotten. That is why, as long as one counts the hours, saying, ‘I am doing dhyāna for three hours, four hours,’ it is not dhyāna. When one no longer knows how long one has been doing dhyāna, then it becomes dhyāna. In the past the great sages renounced all attachment and, eating only leaves and herbs, went through many hardships in the forests. If today, in the Kali age, artificial dhyāna is coming, can it really be had by us on so easy a path? What comes this easily goes easily. As fast as it comes, so fast it goes. It must sink its roots slowly into our heart and fill the whole heart. That is dhyāna. A small example. Brinjal plants, lady's finger plants, beans: all these give their yield quickly. They are gone quickly too. Mango, coconut and jackfruit give their fruit very slowly. These trees live very long. In the same way, as much as we waste trying to do dhyāna in a hurry, for the moment, so much of our life is wasted.