Hear, Concentrate, Meditate, Dissolve

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant: Verse one, I am simplifying as I read these out, says ‘listening is to pursue by means of sentences their import’. Listening has been defined. Listening is to pursue by means of sentences their import.

Then thinking has been defined. ‘Thinking consists in perceiving the consistency of sentences with reason’. Then meditation has been talked of. ‘Meditation is indeed the exclusive attention of the mind fixed on (the import) rendered indubitable through listening and thinking’. So, listening has happened, thinking has happened. Now, that which has become indubitable, credible, certain through listening and thinking has to be attended to. So, meditation is the exclusive attention of the mind on that which has been proven through listening and thinking.

Then, concentration. It has been defined this way; ‘concentration is said to be the mind which outgrowing the dualism between the meditator and meditation, gradually dwells exclusively on the object of meditation and is like a flame in the windless spot.’ And, then he has quoted me. ‘Intelligence is that which enables you to simply see, intelligence is that which reduces the whole clutter and wipes away the dirt, intelligence is your fundamental nature, intelligence is the…