A while ago, I wrote about the typical meditation cliches and stereotypes. These are times when meditation is exploding in the market. Virtually anyone with a bit of knowledge of meditation wants to make a quick buck. Capitalize on the trend as they say. While there definitely are effective forms of meditation that we appreciate a lot, an exceedingly high number of meditation offerings in the market like to dumb meditation down to something very simplistic and often frivolous, either deliberately because they think the audiences cannot take something that isn’t too simple or likely because that’s all they know.

Turns out that a lot of people are. More specifically, the question almost always with a lot of people is “Why should I meditate?”. The unstated sentence after that is “I’m happy already”. The reasons for the lack of motivation to meditate range from a complete lack of awareness of what meditation can do for them to leading a life they think is entirely fulfilled. As we would put it, they aren’t seeking meditation all that strongly.

The debate rages on. Are robots and automation going to take away a majority of our jobs very soon? Will Artificial Intelligence do most of our brain work in the future? Then there is the talk of education and training in newer areas and skills to meet new demands. Can people leading normal lives and earning their livelihood match the pace of change about to come upon us?

But what does the journey of meditation, spirituality, and self-improvement have to do with all this? Quite a lot, apparently. Here at Sahaja Online, our take is that most of these predictions are likely to come true. But not because the experts are saying that they will, but because we know that human beings must continuously evolve to higher states of maturity, skills, and pursuits in their lives. In fact, the very basis and foundation of Sahaja is that people must take to higher reaches human development progressively till they become almost god-like in their personality and character traits.

Fall colors – probably few better places to admire the verdant Autumn transition than Syracuse in Upstate New York. However, when I headed for Syracuse University in the Fall of 2001, I wasn’t going there for the picturesque road trip. I was headed to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications for a graduate degree in Advertising. I was one of the thousands ‘immigrating’ to the United States from India, with hopes and aspirations of living the fabled ‘American’ campus life.

Meditation is almost a fad these days. Just about anyone is offering a new technique or method for just about any application. And while there certainly are good meditation techniques out there, sometimes they miss the mark. For instance, the NY Times recently published an article titled “How to be Mindful at a Wedding.” Have we forgotten how to enjoy a wedding? Do we really need a new meditation technique to do so?

And then there are the spa-like meditation offerings, promising rejuvenation, pampering, and relaxation. Is that really all there is? Can meditation really be defined so simply? Or, are these types of meditation merely skimming the surface?