Meditation is the evolution of the mind

In Western countries, the practice of asanas and pranayama is called hatha yoga, but hatha yoga is something more. Ha means life-force; tha means mind. In an electrical cable there are two wires. They are known as positive and negative. When these two wires connect with each other, an electrical manifestation occurs. The same principle applies within your body. In the spine there are two nerve channels, or nadis. The one that flows on the left side, ida — feminine, lunar, cooling energy — carries the flow of consciousness, while the other, which flows on the right side, pingala — masculine, solar, warming energy — carries the flow of life. These forces are distributed throughout the body from distribution centers. When any blockage arises in the distribution of energy, you fall ill, physically or mentally. Yoga postures, pranayama, and other hatha yoga exercises remove these energy blockages.

There is, however, another fact connected with hatha yoga. The purpose of hatha yoga is not to cure disease. In the times when hatha yoga was discovered, people were not as sick as they are today. The intention of hatha yoga was to prepare the body and mind for deep meditation and higher consciousness. It is very important for every person to understand that simply closing your eyes will not bring you into a higher realm. When you want to meditate, when you want to practice dhyana, when you want to quiet your mind, when you want to look deep within yourself, simply closing your eyes is not enough. Every morning or night, thousands of people around the world close their eyes and try to concentrate their minds. They try to pray in peace, they want to think in a completely one-pointed way, but they are unable to do it.

There is no doubt that meditation is the highest achievement of a human being. Sleep is not the highest achievement of a human being. Work is not the highest achievement of a human being. When you are able to step out of this objective experience and are able to experience inner light, inner mind, or inner feeling, that is a human achievement. This outer mind, through which you operate in your life, has its limitations.

Traveling within yourself, you will discover that a great wave of energy flows through you, and that you are not a limited or a sick person. But the question is, how do you meditate? When you close your eyes, the mind is active. You can close your eyes, you can plug your ears, you can tense your body, but you cannot do anything about the mind. Even if you try very hard to concentrate, the mind simply slips into the plane of the subconscious and wanders, dances...

For thousands of years, people have been discovering methods, ways, and means of meditation. People have discovered wonderful methods, absurd methods, indecent methods, dangerous methods. People have tried to influence the mind chemically. Yet apart from yoga, everything has failed. It is easy to hypnotize the mind; it is also easy to affect brain chemistry. Take any drug, and that happens. But meditation does not shut down the mind. Meditation does not affect brain chemistry in that sense. Meditation is a practice through which you create an evolutionary process in the mind, the brain, and consciousness.

Remember that meditation does not shut down the mind. I repeat once more: meditation does not shut down the mind. Meditation is a process through which you develop the mind. The mind becomes a better mind. The better mind becomes a higher mind. The higher mind becomes a super-mind, and the super-mind becomes the Self. This is called evolution. And when you shut down the mind, everything is finished. I am finished, you are finished, everything is over. There is no light, there is no knowledge.

To practice meditation, you must systematically practice all forms of yoga. But karma yoga is essential — otherwise you will not be able to balance the archetypes of your brain. Without karma yoga, you cannot heal the schizophrenic mind. This schizophrenic mind reveals itself in meditation and in dreams. There is only one way to heal this schizophrenic mind: karma yoga, selfless work. Then other practices follow. So, if you want to practice yoga, remember that you practice yoga to change the quality of your mind, the quality of your body, and the quality of your conduct in every sphere of life.

Adapted from the lectures of Swami Satyananda Saraswati