MEDITATION :
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Meditation is prescribed as a balm to remove all the stress and strain of life. It is in fashion these days and every other person claims to be practising or propounding some new and original technique. It is therefore important to understand what the Scriptures and Realised Masters say about meditation. The guru, sage Yajnavalkya, teaches his disciple, his own wife, Maitreyi. He instructs, "The Self should be realised. For that, one should listen, reflect and meditate." Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4. Even though the Truth, the Self, is self-evident, we are unable to realise the same due to gross obstacles like dullness of the intellect (buddhi mandyam), attachment to pleasures (bhogasakti), objects (vishayasakti) and so on. There also exist subtler obstacles like non-comprehension of the existence or the nature of the Self or unavailability of the right means (pramana asambhavana), doubts regarding the Self (samshaya or prameya asambhavana) or a habit, accumulated fro