What is meditation? It is to be aware of the self directly!

Let us discuss awareness. By awareness, i want to clearly distinguish awareness of the usual kind (of external objects etc) from awareness of the internal kind or awareness of the self. To be aware of the presence of another person, we need to see that person, feel them, hear them or smell them etc, but do we need to see ourselves, hear ourselves or feel ourselves or smell ourselves to detect our presence? How do we know that we exist? Can we know that we exist even without relying on our senses? Our knowledge of our existence is independent of our senses. That 'I' that is our self exists irrespective of whether the senses exist or whether they are functioning correctly. When spiritualists talk of 'knowing the self' or 'awareness of the self' they mean knowing the self directly, without needing to resort to sensory experience or rational thought.

A person who knows from the senses and reason based on sensory input says 'I see myself, therefore i am' or 'i feel myself therefore i am'. He identifies with the sense object that is perceived by his senses. A person who knows from actions and reason says 'i act therefore i am' and identifies with the actor. A person who knows from thought and rational deduction says 'i think therefore i am' and identifies with the mind or the thinker. All of these are indirect approaches of knowing the self. To know the self directly is the state of 'I am.'

What is meditation? Meditation is to be aware of the self directly. Meditation is a state of bypassing the senses and thought to obtain direct knowledge of the self. It is to find your center (not just your extensions such as your arms or legs). Since meditation involves being aware of something that exists independent of the senses, people are advised to close their eyes while meditating. However, the eyes are only a small part of the sensory input. Distractions continue to exist even when the eyes are closed.

In fact, closing one's eyes can create an outward illusion of being in meditation. However, even with the eyes closed, one can be focused on the extensions and not the center. A person who is 'realized' maintains awareness of the self even with his eyes open, even when he is thinking and even when he is acting. He is not only aware of that 'self' directly, he also chooses to express that self through his thoughts, words, actions etc. He may also choose to express the self passively (e.g., in a state of passive meditation). In such a person, the self determines the thoughts, words, and actions and not vice versa. While seeing, thinking and acting, he knows that he is neither merely the seer, thinker or actor. He is aware of the self which is independent. Such a person is always in meditation even when he is not 'meditating.'