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her a box) Now at this moment you are a receiver of a box!
Dhyana means meditation and ananda means bliss; bliss that comes through meditation. This word dhyana is one of the most significant words. In English you have three words: concentration, contemplation, meditation. Concentration means putting your mind, focusing your mind on one object, centering the mind on one object. That is the meaning of concentration. But it brings tension because you have to focus and narrow the mind. It is a forced state, and I am not in support of it. That is not real meditation.
And this is what is thought by people to be meditation: you concentrate on something outside or some imagined light inside or some mantra, but you concentrate. Concentration is not dhyana, because dhyana is a very relaxed state and concentration is very tense. Concentration is very forced, disciplined, and dhyana is very spontaneous.
The second word is contemplation. Concentration is more of the head and contemplation is more of the heart: that is the meaning of 'temple' in it. Contemplation means to become a temple, 'templum' -- from that root comes the word. So it is more prayerful, more compassionate and one is working through the heart. Better than concentration but still not dhyana, because whether you concentrate through the mind or through the heart, there is some activity going on -- either of the head or of the heart. Meditation is a state of no activity, no ripples arising. One simply is -- neither thinking nor feeling, neither concentrating on anything nor thinking about anything. One is simply a pool of energy.
The third word is better than the other two but still not perfect. The word meditation comes from the same root as medicine: 'med'. It means to care about. Medicine means to take care of the body, and the medical profession means the profession that takes care of the body. Meditation means to take care of the soul. Just as medicine is good for the body, meditation is good for the soul.
So these are the three layers: head -- concentration; heart -- contemplation; the soul, your innermost core -- that is meditation. Meditation comes closest to dhyana.
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