Meditation and Its Practices: A Definitive Guide to Techniques and Traditions of Meditation in Yoga and Vedanta

This comprehensive sourcebook examines the scientific, psychological, and spiritual properties of Yoga and Vedanta, Hinduism's two mainstream meditation practices, and explains how we can put these teachings into practice to enrich our daily lives. Drawing on the sacred texts of Yoga and Vedanta - including the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, among many others - this guidebook illuminates the principles of each of these traditions, the meaning of mediation, and the methods by which we can develop our concentration and self-control.

Publishers Weekly

Asserting that meditation leads to direct perception of ultimate reality and samadhi, a "state of blissful superconsciousness," Adiswarananda (Senior Minister of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York City) surveys the vast topic of meditation in the Yoga and Vedanta traditions within Hinduism. He begins by discussing meditation's characteristics, goals and benefits, then explores various objects of meditation, including a particularly informative chapter on the "most sacred of all sacred words," Om. Next, he examines the mechanics of meditation, such as chakras, posture, eating habits and japa, the practice of repeating a sacred word or phrase. He then turns to the tricky subject of charting one's spiritual progress, discussing mystical benefits of meditation, such as visions and psychic powers. (He does caution readers about the subjective nature of such phenomena, insisting instead on the centrality of reason, orthodox Hindu scriptures and especially the real-world transformation of one's character as gauges of effective meditation practice.) Finally, he rounds out the tome with a discussion of obstacles in meditation and methods of overcoming them. The sheer scope of the book allows Adiswarananda to strike a graceful balance between liberal inclusiveness and conservative exclusiveness: one may choose the meditation method that seems most suitable, but straying from that chosen path undermines one's efforts and is "fraught with danger." Yet his microscopic attention to so many intricacies makes distinguishing between Yoga and Vedanta difficult and prevents the book from being a practical, how-to guide to meditation, limiting its appeal to very serious students. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.