Meditation is a state of thoughtless awareness . It is not an act of doing - it is a state of awareness. We either in this state or we are not, regardless of what we are doing in life. Truly, a man can be in meditation while doing his day's labors as another man can be very far from meditation while sitting in a lotus posture on the top of a mountain.

The ancient Indian scriptures speak about three states of consciousness namely, waking, dream and sleep. The fourth state of awareness is described as the pure thoughtless awareness where the mind is completely stilled, free from the whirl of thoughts. There is a gap between two thoughts and as the gap widens through the regular practice of meditation, the mind slips into the state of thoughtless awareness. The never-ending thought waves become still without ripples and a deep abiding peace is experienced, which signals the eternal dawn of pure awareness. When there are no activities in the mind, the stillness and bliss loudly speaks the language of the divine.

When we are established in thoughless awareness or the present moment, past or future no longer troubles the mind. We are not bothered about thinking the past events or on those which are yet to come. You become the master of yourself - you think when it is necessary and you are thoughtless when there is no need to think. We are anchored in the Self and enjoy the inner beauty at a deeper level. The vagaries of the mind are put at rest as they distract us from the simple joys of our existence. Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, explains:

Enjoyment is only possible when you are beyond your mind. With your mind you can never enjoy. It's like a big load. It will not act, it will not help. Enjoyment comes when you are in complete silence - in a rippleless lake. The reflection of all the joy that is created on the shores of that lake are completely reflected, they are not deflected. If there were ripples it would have been a different image altogether and would have been something nowhere near the image of reality.

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi