Don’t jump to meditation, develop perception first
By Vivek Sharma
Let me make it very clear to you at the very outset. Perception is like sitting on the sea shore and watching the waves come and go. Absorption is being the wave of the sea—being the sea itself!
In perception, there is a separation between the object of perception and the perceiver while in absorption, the separation is minimal to nil—you are the object itself! The perceiver is the object of perception!
Perception Is Limited
Think! Why you don’t see the fan when you are absorbed in some thought? It is there, but you are not perceiving it. You are not even thinking about the air it is churning. It is there as an image, but not affecting you. You don’t notice even when somebody switches off the fan (it may vary from some time to more time. But, the experience is the same).
It means you are not the object of perception while perceiving, but you are always what you are absorbed in! The thought you are absorbed in is you yourself. What do you do in meditation? You are absorbed in the thought of your Ishta or deity or sound or an image…whatever. The absorption is not in the object of meditation but in the energy of the object. Absorption is like immersion into the energy of the thought, the idea. It is of four major kinds. (1) Wood Plank-like (2) Cotton ball-like (3) Salt ball-like. (4) Ice ball-like.
Wood Plank Absorption
Here you are in the pool of the energy, but you are afloat. You have maintained a separation, which doesn’t really separate you from the energy. One surface is always absorbed in the energy, without losing itself fully into it. Like the plank, you bob up and down the water, bathing fully and then partially. This state of absorption is called being of the energy, but not really being it. Rather being its instrument. The waves of energy decide where your direction of drift shall be. This is the absorption of the Gurus—they retain their shape to help others cross the ocean while themselves remaining afloat.
Cotton Ball-Like
You are soaked in the energy of the thought like a ball of cotton. You absorb the energy as much as you can and then give it out when squeezed, only to absorb again. They are Bhaktas. They are cotton balls which soak in ghee and burn like lamps. They show others the light and become light themselves. But, the time of their burning depends on how big the ball they are! They are fully absorbed in the energy, yet they retain their shape, as long as they wish to distribute energy as light around….They remain as long as they are not burnt out…or they don’t fully disintegrate in the waters of energy.
Salt Ball-Like
They are absorbed in the energy or water for sometime and then fully dissolve in it. But they leave their influence on the world, like the salt does in the fresh water. They are great paigambars, messengers and the likes. They come with a purpose to re-set the world order. Their absorption is like the salt doll…they dissolve in the energy and leave their impact on it….Christ, Buddha, etc are in this category.
Ice Ball-Like
This is the highest kind of absorption. Here, like ice is nothing but frozen water. The ice keeps the shape as long as the temperatures are not changing, the environment is conducive for it to keep the shape. Such kind of people are of the highest order. They are made of the same energy they are absorbed in and take shape only when they are required to. They do their jobs and dissolve in their own energy and become continuous with it. They satiate many thirsty people, lift them up and then reappear whenever a thirsty person comes. Their absorption is full and their objectification is full. They are called avataras—Krishna, Ram, Ramkrishna come in this category.
They include all the three qualities. They float like a plank, soak in water like cotton balls, dissolve like salt dolls and ice blocks too.
All these states of absorption depend on your experience and nature developed during the past lives. According to Sanatan science of spirituality and evolution, you can develop from perceptive level to absorption. So for any growth to take place, you would have to reach the perceptive level first. Krishna says in Discourse 2, shlok 49 that you can get rid of natural selfishness only by learning to depend on your perceptive faculty. If you are not using your perceptive faculty, you cannot grow into the science of absorption even through meditation. You will be facing situations challenging your selfish nature till you learn to use your perceptive faculty.
Why the use and development of perceptive faculty is required? Krishna details it in Discourse 13, Shloka 17 and says God or Consciousness has a form of perception (gyanam), worth perceiving (gyeyam) and can only be perceived (gyangamyam). It means you can only perceive the Reality, you cannot analyse and know it or know it through any other means. It is because of this that perception has been stressed by Krishna. In Discourse 10, Shloka 11, He says how He lights up perception in you. Perception is not reasoning. Just make it clear in your mind. It is like seeing the reality from a side in the sunlight. How does perception develop and what does it do? Krishna says, I light up the lamp of perception in the heart of the people out of compassion so that they could see the reality in that light by killing the darkness and revealing the reality.
Who qualifies for perception? Krishna reveals in the 10th shloka of the same discourse that those who love Me (The Reality behind everything) continuously, without a break, I grant them perception through which they unite and reach Me.
So, without perception you cannot evolve in the science of meditation. This also explains why Patanjali used eight steps to absorption(Samadhi)—yama, niyam, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyan, samadhi. The first four steps prepare you for right perception. The next three are different states of absorption that lead to samadhi after attaining the state of perception.