MEDITATION
FOR BEGINNERS
By J.I. Wedgwood
MEDITATION
Reflect that
like all other virtues this is an attribute of the Divine Consciousness;
try to understand its nature and function in the world; consider it as a
binding power uniting one particularized self to another. Compare it with
love: sympathy implies understanding of another and the power to place oneself
in his position; love need not imply this understanding; on the other hand
for its complete expression sympathy requires the strong inner motive power
which love alone can supply. Picture the divine sympathy as poured forth
into the world through the ideal man: the Christ or the Master; and then
as directed towards oneís self individually.
The student should then with a strong active aspiration merge himself into
the stream of this ineffable influence radiating from the Master, and to
seek to reach the object of his devotion. Here the stage of contemplation
may be attained). He should then think of this virtue as applied in his
daily life, to his friends and loved ones ñ even to those with whom
there is need for better understanding; let him picture them one by one
before him and wrap them round with the influence which is pouring through
him.
Another and more elaborate meditation may be given for the benefit of those
who are unable to dwell for any length of time on a single thought.
Meditation To Expand the Consciousness
The student
should raise his consciousness and contemplate the immensities of the universe;
the picture of the starlit heavens, the soft radiance of the sunset, or
the thought of the cosmos enshrined within the infinitesimally minute atom,
will aid him in this, and he may, if he so desire, use the method of rising
through the bodies described earlier in this book. Let him then direct his
thoughts in loftiest aspiration to the Logos of our system and picture the
whole system as contained within the bounds of His consciousness: In Him
we live and move and have our being. He may then follow out the line of
thought developed in the pamphlet by Mrs.Besant entitled On Moods; namely,
that though we might naturally think of the loftier members of the Hierarchy
as being most distant from us and almost beyond the reach of our halting
aspiration owing to their remoteness from petty human interests, the reverse
is actually true, and we are literally in closest touch with the all-embracing
consciousness of the Logos. The student may find it helpful to think of
the increasing size of the aura as spiritual development is achieved; of
that of the ordinary man, of that of pupils and initiates, of the aura of
the Master and the close relation of consciousness between the Master and
the close relation of consciousness between the Master and his pupils and
others whom he is helping, of the aura of the Lord Buddha which according
to tradition extended three miles about His person, and so rising in thought
he may conceive of a being whose aura of field of consciousness encompasses
the whole of our planet and of One who thus embraces the whole of our planet
and of One who thus embraces the whole of the system to which we belong.
Literally is it true that every action, every feeling and every thought
to which we give expression are part of Him; nay, our very memory is part
of His memory, for is not all remembrance but the power to touch the akashic
records of nature, which is but the expression of Himself?
The student may then pass on to think of some of those qualities which we
may associate with the manifestation of God in His world; let us take justice
and beauty and love; that the justice of the Supreme is shown forth in the
invariable laws of nature, the law of the conservation of energy, the dictum
of Newton that action and re-action are equal and opposite, the law of karmic
retribution which gives unto each man the just reward of his deeds. Let
him think of what belief in karma really implies: the hand that strikes
a grievous blow is oneís own dead past come back to life again; and
from such reflections let him win content with that which is or which may
befall him. Let him think also of the innumerable relations under this law
made between man and man, the weaving of Godís plan in the universe,
and see in those complex relationships the immutable law of perfect justice.
Passing next to the aspect of beauty he may study the exquisite plan of
the Great Architect and Grand Geometrician of the Universe, and looking
with closer attention at all created nature may perceive the universality
of that aspect of the Supreme which expresses itself in beauty or harmony.
Turning from beauty of nature to that created by man he may soar aloft on
the wings of the imagination and contemplate the masterpieces of that human
art which borders on the realm of divinity, because in very truth the materials
in the hand of the artist are the divine powers of nature. Thus, in music,
the mighty structures of sound reflect in many hues those archetypal forces
of nature which stream forth through the blazing hosts of the Gandharvas,
revealing to man the power of the hidden Word and raising him aloft once
more to the kingdom of his divine heritage.
And in the compassionate love of the Supreme all human relationships of
tenderness and love have their source. To the eye of the spirit the beauty
of woman gives no cause for carnal desire, but is rather a reason that she
should be respected as a child of God and a manifestation of His supreme
beauty. There is but one love throughout the universe, given by the Divine
Father into the custody of His creatures; it is the one primal force which
in its elementary creative aspect produces multiplicity of form and in its
higher aspect draws souls together towards unity in the One Life.