Objectives of Meditation

There are various methods of practicing meditation. Each method depends upon your objective of practicing it. One of the common objectives of meditation is to acquire a tension free, relaxed, happy and peaceful state of mind so that you can face the day-to-day challenges of life, relationships,  business or office in a more creative, balanced and objective manner. Another objective of meditation may be purely spiritual, to develop divine awareness or a relationship with God, to be united with Him, imbibe His spiritual virtues in your life and feel the supreme state of spiritual bliss or the ‘ananda’. In fact the spiritual objective can fulfill the worldly objectives also.

Meditation for Relaxation

In case your objective of meditation is former, that is, to develop a healthy state of mind, the easiest way to meditate is to sit preferably in a lotus posture—comfortably erect with your legs crossed.  You can do it while lying or sitting on the chair also. Start breathing easily. Try to focus on your breath as you inhale it. Look at it as it enters your nose, traverses through your throat into your lungs and finally into your stomach. Hold it for a short while as conveniently as you can and then release it. Keep a track of it on its outward travel starting from the stomach and exiting out of your nostrils. Again hold it for a short while and breathe in again. You will certainly start feeling relaxed and peaceful after a few days’ practice.

When we start practicing meditation, we start feeling relaxed, peaceful and happy. This is a kind of inter-generative process. You meditate and you get the reward in forms of joy and happiness, which in turn motivates you to meditate more. In course of time, it becomes your automatic practice, a kind of ‘sanskar’.  You feel uneasy and think something is missing from your life if you do not meditate on any particular day. When you start your day with meditation, the peace and joy generated last with you whole day whatever the nature of your activities. It is like taking a healthy and nourishing diet before the start of a strenuous and stressful routine of the day.

Meditation enables you to become aware of your inner resources of joy and peace. You can tap them whenever you feel stressed and worried. You acquire a habit of detached observation. So if something wrong and irritating happens in course of your day, you can view it as a detached observer. You learn to understand the monkey tricks of your mind. You thus get an inner poise that ultimately percolates into your daily life. The peace and joy that you acquire become infectious to those around you. In this way you try to make the whole environment happy and peaceful.

Although meditation is a great tool for relaxation and peace of mind, it can become a path for our spiritual quest for the ultimate spiritual goal of self-enlightenment and God realization or nirvana. Meditation may help us overcome our ego and body consciousness which are the main causes of most of human suffering, tensions, conflicts at personal and larger levels. Meditation helps us understand that our real nature is an integral part of the divine or transcendental consciousness.

Scientific studies have conclusively proved the benefits of meditation for our mind and body. According to search results released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meditation has been shown to produce lasting beneficial changes in immune-system function as well as brain electrical activity. “Researchers found about 50 percent more electrical activity in the left frontal regions of the brains of the meditators. Other research has showed that part of the brain is associated with positive emotions and anxiety reduction.”