Meditation
“We must experience Truth in a direct, practical and real manner; this is possible only in the stillness and silence of the mind, which is achieved through meditation.”
Gnostic Meditation
1- IMPORTANCE OF AN ETHICAL BASE
“First, purify your mind and your heart through the practice of a right conduct and then dedicate yourself to the practice of concentration. Concentration without purity of mind and heart makes no sense.
Some foolish and impatient students take to concentration at once without in any manner undergoing any preliminary training in ethics. This is a serious blunder.
Some occultists have concentration, but lack a good character. That is the reason why they do not make any progress in the spiritual path.”
Sivananda
2- SELF-KNOWLEDGE OF THE BEING
“There are two main aspects, two decisive factors in our studies: one, the Remembrance of oneself, the other, the relaxation of the body. Remembering oneself, one’s own profound Inner Being, and relaxing in profound meditation: thus how the new comes to us, thus, little by little, we go self-exploring ourselves…”
Samael Aun Weor
3- CONCENTRATION AND SILENCE
“Silence is a determinant factor in the work of concentration. The Law of Silence is the basis of any initial teachings, since it permits a virgin space for an inner creation. Universal Gnosticism teaches that if we want to achieve the development of something real in our psyche, we should learn to withdraw in our intimacy through the inner silence and with the saving of energies.
Watch the Silence in the silence of your mind and Pray to your Father who is in secret and you will find the Peace of Concentration.”
Rafael Vargas
4- BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
“We need to study Gnosis deeply. For that there are the books, for that there are the lectures, etc.; but a simple reading of the works is not enough, brothers, we need to go farther…
When we, by means of mediation try to know the intimate sense of that which we have stored in the memory, then such knowledge passes to the superior parts of the intellectual center; and if we try to be even more conscious of the teachings, finally it will happen that said knowledge will definitely be absorbed by the emotional center.”
Samael Aun Weor
5- CONCENTRATION
“When different forces or potencies of a psychical and physical order coincide in one same point of a given space, we call it concentration.”
Rafael Vargas
“If you focus the rays of the sun through a lens, they can burn cotton or a piece of paper; but the scattered rays cannot do this… Even so, if you collect the dissipated rays of the mind and focus them at a point, you will have wonderful concentration. The concentrated mind will serve as a potent searchlight to find out the treasures of the soul…”
Sivananda
6- RESISTANCE AS A SECRET WEAPON OF THE EGO
“Resistance is the opposing force. Resistance is the Ego’s secret weapon. Resistance is the psychic force of the ego opposed to the apprehension of consciousness of all of our psychological defects. Resistance acts on a defense mechanism that tries to omit unpleasant psychological errors, so that one doesn’t have consciousness of them and one continues in psychological slavery.”
Samael Aun Weor
“With the resistance desires grow and the yearnings of unity diminish.”
Rafael Vargas
7- SUPERLATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE "I."
“It is from the different events of existence where we can extract the psychic material necessary for the awakening of the consciousness. The best didactics for the dissolution of the “I,” are found in practical life intensely lived. Coexistence is a wonderful mirror where the “I” can be contemplated full-length.
In the relationship with our fellow men, the defects hidden in the depths of the subconscious spontaneously appear, they spring up, because the subconscious betrays us, and if we are in a state of alert perception then we see them such as they are in themselves.
The greatest joy for the Gnostic is to celebrate the discovery of any of his defects. Discovered defect, dead defect. When we discover some defect, we should see it in a scene like someone who is watching a movie, but without judging or condemning. …Hence, analyzing each one of our defects, we go on comprehending them; and a defect that we are comprehending must be eliminated with the help of the Divine Mother Kundalini. It is obvious that one will have to supplicate to her; one will have to beg her to eliminate the defect that one comprehends.”
Samael Aun Weor
8- AN ARDUOUS TASK FOR THE BEGINNER
“For the neophyte, the practice of concentration results, at the beginning, tiresome and disheartening. One has to go opening new layers of the mind and the brain. But after some months of practice, one will develop a great interest in concentration and one will enjoy a new type of happiness: the happiness of concentration or Ananda.
The vital point of concentration is to attract the mind towards the same object time and time again, limiting its movements at the beginning to a small radius. That is the main objective. In this way the moment will arrive in which the mind stays in a single point. Concentration can only be gotten when one is free of all distraction.”
Sivananda
Phases of Gnostic Meditation
“Speaking then, in the practical field of meditation, we must say that what we seek is precisely to go beyond the mind and feelings.”
ASANA
“Asana” is the posture of the physical body. There exist different postures for the Meditation exercise, for example: the posture of the five pointed star, the dead man posture, the lotus posture, semilotus, Siddhasana or perfect posture (which consists of creating a magnetic circle with the thumb and the index finger, supporting the back of the hands over the knees); Vajrasana or diamond posture (just like the Incas and the Japanese, with the hands leaning on the thighs and the torso resting over the heels), etc. The important thing regardless of the Asana or posture that is adopted is to maintain a straight spinal column.
PRANAYAMA
The science of the control of breathing. “Prana” is life, a product of the electro-sexual force. Prana beats in each atom as it beats in each Sun. Prana is the Vital Air. Yama: “Refers to the perfection of ethics.” Pranayama is the art of learning how to breathe.
PRATYAHARA
“Pratiahara”. Abstraction of the senses. It is to learn how to withdraw the mind from the senses to open the way for the Consciousness. However, one of the rules of Pratyahara is to reach the invisible or abstract by means of the visible or concrete, which in fact means that we should concentrate the attention on a point that is normally known by the Sensorial Mind and remain there until, first, getting to know the dual nature of thoughts and feelings, and later transcend that struggle of the opposites..
DHARANA
When we separate from the Sensual Mind, concentration spontaneously emerges, which is the state of Dharana. Dharana is not the result of a stubborn desire. Dharana emerges from the depths of the Consciousness as a mediator between the absolute and the relative.
DHYANA
“Dhiana” is Meditation. In that state the Conscience has the capacity to know in any direction.
SHAMADI
A profound state of Meditation. In such a state the Consciousness is dissolved like a drop in the Great Ocean and participates of the plurality of the Universe.
Samael Aun Weor