We’re all familiar with the use of the verb “meditate.” By now, you’ve probably heard more than one person proclaim, “I meditate daily.” But – if we take a closer look – is there something inherently wrong with that statement?

All forms of meditations, including Sahaja, involve effort techniques, and guidance on how an individual can go about setting a meditation routine, but there is a fallacy lurking. People often speak of meditation as something they can do, an action like walking, sitting, or eating.

True meditation is a state.

The reality is that true meditation is a state and one can only be in that state, if focused and patient. In reality, we can only prepare ourselves to be in the state of meditation and attempt to get and stay there. In Sahaja, this happens by the practitioner raising his or her inner energy and then allowing the energy to achieve a connection with the all-pervading cosmic energy. This then results in the elevation of one’s consciousness to that higher state of Thoughtless Awareness.

Try as one might, the elevation to such a state can only happen through one’s own inner energy or the Kundalini energy. So, all we do when trying to “get into the state of meditation” is to allow this energy to work, be the witness and allow ourselves to be elevated to this state. At every step, other than the act of raising the energy, meditation is about allowing ourselves – our attention and our consciousness – to reach this state.

Through surrender, we can be elevated to the state of meditation.

This is also the secret to achieving Thoughtless Awareness and feeling calm – we do not try to reach that state by force or explicit or external effort. We also cannot reach that state by simply resolving that we’re going to. We surrender to the power and energy inside us and allow ourselves (our attention) to be guided by it.

And so, the next time you use or hear phrases like “I’ve been doing my meditation,” or something similar, remember that we can only aspire, desire and hope to fall into the state of meditation. Luckily, most of the time, we do end up achieving this state rather easily. But with real meditation, there’s no doing it.

Our group meditation sessions are a perfect place to experiment how it is so much easier to fall into the state of Thoughtless Awareness. Most practitioners report that collective guided meditation sessions have a much deeper impact on them – the reason is that the collective energy lifts us all much more easily into this state.