EDITORIAL NOTE:

(In this great Discourse on Meditation, first dictated by BABA in 1936, and used constantly since for meditation by his devotees and disciples (In 1942 BABA asked them to meditate on it for one hour every day for forty-six days), BABA gives us the “summa” of the Divine Theme of Creation from beginning to glorious end, in simple language that all can understand, We are happy to reprint it here in the original form . . . perhaps for meditation on the Beloved’s Birthday . . . )

THE VALUE OF MEDITATION:

EDITATION,” says SHRI MEHER BABA, “is one of the ways which lead the aspirant to the Divine Path. For those who are in contact with a Master, meditation is unnecessary. It is enough for them to be under His guidance and to have love for Him. Also for the few who are in an advanced spiritual state, this preliminary process is unnecessary; while those rare Beings, who are self-realized, themselves become the object of meditation.

MEDITATION AND CONCENTRATION:

Meditation should be carefully distinguished from concentration. Meditation is the first stage of a process which gradually develops into concen­tration. It consists in thorough thinking about a particular subject to the exclusion of every other irrelevant thing, while concentration is a natural process of fixing the mind upon one particular thing, in which there is the peaceful intermingling of love and longing for the object of concentration (and not a mere mechanical process, in which there is a regular, drill-like rigid monotony). Further, the subject-matter of meditation, unlike the object of concentration, cannot consist of a single form, or a pithy and terse formula, but must consist of a reasoned exposition.