Concentration and Meditation

by Paramananda

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Spirituality

Paperback

First published October 28, 1974

Reviews

[Atri]

If you are perfectly pure and practise faithfully, your mind can finally be made a searchlight of infinite power. There is no limit to its scope.
-Swami Vivekananda

The well-resolved mind is single and one pointed, but the purposes of the irresolute mind are many-branched and endless.
-Bhagavad Gita

I go at what I am about as if there were nothing else in the world for the time being.
- Charles Kingsley

'Through mastery of concentration one gains access everywhere, from the atom to the Infinite.'

Any outside condition can be overcome through the power of concentration, because the mind when focused becomes strong and is able to shut out whatever disturbs it. Nothing can overwhelm us when our mind rests firmly in holiness, purity and love.

'Whatever our mind constantly dwells upon, that we become.'
-Patanjali

He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires and fears is more than king.
-Milton

Intensity of purpose is what brings concentration and true devotion brings intensity.

The very first requirement is to choose our inner Ideal. One cannot go contrary to one's natural spiritual instinct, therefore this instinct must guide us in our choice. Having chosen our Ideal, we must follow it in spite of failures, in spite of all obstructions. Day by day, we must hold it before us, and if we forget it, we must bring our mind back to it. In this way, the mind grows unwavering and one-pointed and meditation becomes possible.

They (Homer, Aeschylus, Dante, Shakespeare) had access to an illumination which came within their beings, as sunlight comes within the sea. I believe that this illumination exists eternally, and that all may know it in some measure by effort or through grace. Those who deny it, can never have felt it. It is so intense that that, compared with it, no other sensation seems to exist or to be real. It is so bright that all else seems to be shadow. It is so penetrating that in it the littlest thing, the grain of sand, the flower of the weed, or the plume upon a moth's wing, are evidences of the depth and beauty and unity of life.
-John Masefield

Tell me what that is upon which you most frequently and intensely think, that to which in your silent hours your soul most naturally turns, and I will tell you to what place of pain or peace you are travelling.
-James Allen

'Know this as a transcendent truthy, and capable of preventing all your future transmigrations in this world, that you should become accustomed to the free agency of all your actions without being dragged to them by your desires.'
-Maharamayana

So march on, and never halt till you have come up to the great Ideal of your life - the seeing of God.
-Sri Ramakrishna

Our life is most real when we are by ourselves alone, absorbed in our own thoughts.
- Tolstoy

Thought builds the universe...Any thing may be achieved by thought...Our thought must be clear and ordered. When this is done, we shall see, to our surprise, that it has become creative.
-Sri Aurobindo

As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back. Let the wise man guard his thoughts. Thoughts well-guarded bring happiness.
-Buddha

Once Beethoven takes hold upon an idea, he never lets it go until he possesses it wholly...when an idea occurred to him in the crowded street, in the course of a work or of a conversation, he had, as he used to say, a raptus; he no longer belonged to himself but to the idea.
-Romain Rolland

There is, in sanest hours, a consciousness, a thought that rises, independent, lifted out from all else, calm - like the stars - shining, eternal. This is the thought of identity - yours for you, whoever, you are, as mine for me.
-Walt Whitman

[Bella]

A man who is thoughtful is never idle. His whole being is full of ideas and wants to express itself. The external light can give us some inspiration to seek for our own light which is within oneself. This book talks about that...

[Dan Dumitrescu]

Excellent book about dharana and dhyana described by Patanjali in Yoga Sutra. In order to meditate you first need to attain high level of concentration. The cessation of the mind activities should be approach with the same perseverance as the practice of asana or pranayama. In order to develop these qualities of the ming long steady practice of concentration should be performed, and then the state of meditation is perceived as the most blissful state.

Meditation is inseparable from concentration. As long as the mind is agitated, so long our vision can never be unerring. We are constantly hoping that some one else may give us knowledge and happiness, but that is not possible. These can only come from within. What we need is to be active spiritually.

As long as we identify ourselves with conditions, we suffer; but when we cease to identify ourselves with these passing conditions, we never really suffer. At present our mind is going in many directions. We must turn it and direct it towards a fixed goal. We must train it to differentiate itself from its modifications.

Yoga means uniting ourselves with the object of our search. The highest form of meditation is not thinking of any external object. This means fixing the mind on the Real, the Unchangeable.

[Hel Armstrong]

after halving this book, i've started to practice the things i learnt so far. i've been doing it for a four days now and seems like i can control my thoughts much better anymore. i mean i didn't measure it but i was capable of relaxing whenever negative thoughts occurred thus, i became aware of the thoughts. instead of dwelling into them, lol magically, i chose not to.

the other improvement is how i am more inclined into defining "myself", even though it felt like hell- bc i hate doing it. normally i am tend to go along with my surroundings' will. still yet i caught myself asking myself questions related to my interests, my disses and my goals. that's kinda big - last time it happened i was like 17. (dancing doesn't count, i will always love it who doesn't love it)

i still did not complete it since the chapter started on introspection which (as you saw above) scares me. me and intrapersonality are not best friends. me and abstraction on introspection - especially not.

[Susan]

Yoga means uniting ourselves with the object of our search. Becoming whole and totally focused. it also means disuniting our body from disturbing influences that are not in tune with our mental search or focus.

[Joyashree]

It's good! ✨