Meditation and Its Methods

by Vivekananda

THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE STUDENT Three things are necessary to the student who wishes to succeed. First. Give up all ideas of enjoyment in this world and the next, care only for God and Truth. We are here to know truth, not for enjoyment. Leave that to brutes who enjoy as we never can. Man is a thinking being and must struggle on until he conquers death, until he sees the light. He must not spend himself in vain talking that bears no fruit. Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatry. The soul has no sex, no country, no place, no time. Second. Intense desire to know Truth and God. Be eager for them, long for them, as a drowning man longs for breath. Want only God, take nothing else, let not “seeming” cheat you any longer. Turn from all and seek only God. Third. The six trainings: First–Restraining the mind from going outward. Second–Restraining the senses. Third–Turning the mind inward. Fourth–Suffering everything without murmuring. Fifth–Fastening the mind to one idea. Take the subject before you and think it out; never leave it. Do not count time. Sixth–Think constantly of your real nature. Get rid of superstition. Do not hypnotise yourself into a belief in your own inferiority. Day and night tell yourself what you really are, until you realise (actually realise) your oneness with God.