Anyone who has reached here has already probably read most of everything that there is left to read on said matter.
The intention of writing this was to paraphrase the essential learnings, and in the process, hopefully, to be of some help to someone, someday.
What we are, is the experiencer of the innumerable experiences (within, and without) and not the experience itself.
We suffer because we have given value to the experiences and forgotten the experiencer, the Self.
Without us, without the experiencer, no experience is of any worth.
Nor are the experiences of any worth anyway, because there is no permanence, no absoluteness, no essentiality. (anicca)
All experiences come under the domain of Maya, the changing reality, phenomenon.
The process of concentration is the process of transcending, or unchaining from the changing.
From what lies outside us, and also from what we consider to be us.
The 5 sheaths as per the Hindu scriptures, or the 5 aggregates as per the Buddhist scriptures. (anatta)
We're already aware of the preliminaries, so let's get down to brass tacks.
Once we've established the Sila (moral principles), and after we've secluded ourselves from all distractions (vairagya), we can choose any object that is suitable to us.
As long as the object is 'sattvic' in nature, and of some interest, it'll be fine.
Now the entire task is to gently continue keeping the object in attention, or in other words, to rest our mind on the object. (abhyasa)
Now, trust me, the mind, which is nothing but momentum, compulsion, desire, and ignorance, is going to do what it has always done, and it'll be not that different from a tiny canoe challenging the tsunami.
All I can say is, have faith. And persevere.
What we're doing, in a sense, is creating a new way of being. A favourable way for the mind to be.
We're creating pathways that sway the mind into tranquility, one-pointedness, and equanimity.
The canoe is turning into a ship, and the tsunami is turning into a tide.
This process carries on till a time comes when the chosen object seems more real, more essential, than absolutely anything else, inside, or outside.
This is Meditative Absorption, or Samadhi.
The water has stilled.
Patanjali has said all of the above in four lines.
The translations are by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait
1.2 yogaḥ cittavṛtti nirodhaḥ
Complete mastery over the modifications of the mind is called yoga
1.12 abhyāsa vairāgyābhyāṁ tannirodhaḥ
The modifications can be controlled through practice and non-attachment
1.13 tatra sthitau yatnaḥ abhyāsaḥ
The effort to retain the peaceful flow of mind free of roaming tendencies is Abhyasa.
1.14 dṛṣṭa-anuśravika-viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjṇā vairāgyam
Vairagya, or Non-attachment, belongs to the one who is free from the craving for sense objects, and objects mentioned in the scriptures.
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