On
Meditation
for Westerners
Question:
Is it possible for Westerners to meditate? Jiddu Krishnamurti: I think this is one of the romantic ideas of Westerners - that only Easterners
can meditate. So, let us find out, not how to meditate, but what we mean by
meditation. Let us experiment together to find out what meditation means, what
are the implications of meditation. Merely
to learn how to meditate, to acquire a technique, is obviously not meditation.
Going to a yogi, a swami, reading about meditation in books and trying to
imitate, sitting in certain postures with your eyes closed, breathing in a
certain way, repeating words - surely, all that is not meditation; it is merely
pursuing a pattern of conformity, making the mind repetitive, habitual. The
mere cultivation of a habit, whether noble or trivial, is not meditation. This
practice of cultivating a particular habit is known both in the East and in the
West, and we think that it is a process of meditation.
Now,
let us find out what is meditation. Is concentration meditation? Concentration
on a particular interest chosen from among many other interests, focusing the
mind on an object or an entity - is that meditation? In the process of
concentration, obviously there is resistance to other forms of interest;
therefore, concentration is a process of exclusion, is it not? I do not know if
you have tried to meditate, tried to fix your mind on a particular thought.
When
you do that, other thoughts come pouring in because you are also interested in
those other thoughts, not only in the particular thought you have chosen. You
have chosen one particular thought, thinking it is noble, spiritual, and that
you should concentrate on it and resist other thoughts. But the very resistance
creates conflict between the thought that you have chosen to think about and
other interests; so you spend your time concentrating on one thought and
keeping off the others, and this battle between thoughts is considered
meditation.
If
you can succeed in completely identifying yourself with one thought and resisting
all others, you think you have learned how to meditate. Now, such concentration
is a process of exclusion and therefore a process of gratification, is it not?
You have chosen a particular interest that you think will ultimately give you
satisfaction, and you go after it by repeating a phrase, by concentrating upon
an image, by breathing, and so on.
That
whole process implies advancement, becoming something, achieving a result. That
is what we are all interested in - we want to be successful in meditation. And
the more successful we are, the more we think we have advanced. So obviously,
such forms of concentration, which we call meditation, are mere gratification;
they are not meditation at all. So, mere concentration on an idea is not
meditation.
What,
then, is meditation? Is prayer meditation? Is devotion meditation? Is the
cultivation of a virtue meditation? The cultivation of a virtue only
strengthens the 'me', does it not? It is I who am becoming virtuous. Can the
'I', the 'me', ever become virtuous? That is, can the center of resistance, of
recognition, which is a process of isolation - can that ever be virtuous?
Surely, there is virtue only when there is freedom from the 'I', from the 'me',
so the cultivation of virtue through meditation is obviously a false process.
But
it is a very convenient process because it strengthens the 'me', and as long as
I am strengthening the 'me', I think I am advancing, becoming successful
spiritually. But obviously, that is not meditation, is it? Nor is prayer - prayer
being mere supplication, petition, which is again a demand of the self, a
projection of the self towards greater and wider satisfaction. Nor is
meditation the immolation of oneself to an image, to an idea, which we call
devotion, because we always choose the image, the formula, the ideal, according
to our own satisfaction. What we choose may be beautiful, but we are still
seeking gratification.
So,
none of these processes - concentration, repeating certain phrases, breathing
in a special manner, and all the rest of it - can really help us to understand
what meditation is. They are very popular because they always produce results,
but they are all obviously foolish ways of trying to meditate.
Now,
what is meditation? The understanding of the ways of the mind is meditation, is
it not? Meditation is the understanding of myself, it is being aware of every
reaction, conscious as well as unconscious - which is self-knowledge. Without
self-knowledge, how can there be meditation? Surely, meditation is the beginning
of self-knowledge, because if I do not know myself, whatever I do must be
merely an escape from myself. If I do not know the structure, the ways of my
own thinking, feeling, reacting, of what value is it to imitate, to try to
concentrate, to learn how to breathe in a particular way, or to lose myself in
devotion? Surely, in that way I will never understand myself; on the contrary,
I am merely escaping from myself.
Meditation,
then, is the beginning of self-knowledge. In that there is no success, there
are no spectacular processes. It is most arduous. As we do not want to know
ourselves but only to find an escape, we turn to Masters, religious books,
prayers, yogis, and all the rest of it, and then we think we have learned how
to meditate. Only in understanding ourselves does the mind become quiet, and
without understanding ourselves, the tranquillity of the mind is not possible.
When
the mind is quiet, not made quiet through discipline - when the mind is not
controlled, not encased in condemnations and resistance, but is spontaneously
still - only then is it possible to find out what is true and what is beyond
the projections of the mind. Surely, if I want to know if there is reality,
God, or what you will, the mind must be absolutely quiet, must it not? Because,
whatever the mind seeks out will not be real - it will merely be the projection
of its own memories, of the things it has accumulated; and the projection of
memory is obviously not reality or God. So, the mind must be still, but not
made still; it must be naturally, easily, spontaneously still. Only then is it
possible for the mind to discover something beyond itself.
Source: from the book
“Total Freedom”
“Total Freedom”
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