"Meditation is a very general word. It is not a word that explains all the three steps one has to take for meditating. But in Sanskrit language they have very clearly said, how you have to move in your meditation.

First is called as Dhyana, and second is called as Dhaarna; and the third is called Samadhi. Luckily Sahaja Yoga is such a thing that you get everything in a bundle. You avoided everything else and you got the Samadhi part. That's the beauty of it. The first part of meditation is the Dhyana. First when you have seeking, you put your attention towards the object of your worship. That is called as Dhyana. And the Dhaarana is the one in which you put all your effort. Concentrate all your effort. But this is all drama for people who are not realised. For them it's just a sort of an acting that they do. But for a realised soul it is a reality. So the first, the Dhyana, you have to do. Some do it of the Form, another of the Formless. But you are so fortunate that the Formless has become a Form for you. No problem, you don't have to go from Form to Formless, from Formless to form; it's all there, in a bundle. So you concentrate, or think of some Deity, or some point for Nirakar, for the Formless, or of Nirakar itself. It's all a mental projection as long as you are not a realised soul. But, once you are realised, you have just to think of Dhyana, whom you are going to concentrate, or you can say meditate on. But once you start meditating on a person your attention starts moving. That is also possible after realisation, though it is in a bundle; but some people have it-`part of it,' `part of it', like that.

So when you meditate, still your attention can get disturbed every moment. It can happen, depending on the intensity of your concentration. So, there are some Sahaja Yogis, I've seen, they are cooking, and there's another one is meditating. The meditating one will say: "Oh, I can smell it is burning".

So there is no Dhaarna. Dhyana is there but not Dhaarna. The second part of it is very important, that you have to put your attention continuously on to your deity. Then you develop a state which is called as Dhaarna in which your attention becomes one, with the Deity. But when these mature, the third stage, of Samadhi, comes in.

Now for people who think that without realization they can reach Samadhi, I think they are absolutely mistaken. But after realization also, when the Dhaarna is established you have to get to the position where you become Samadhi. Now, what is that state? When that state comes into your mind, then whatever you do, the Deity that you worship, you see that Deity in your work; whatever you see, you see the Deity giving you the show; you can put it like that.

Whatever you hear, you find the Deity telling you the truth, whatever you read, you find there what the Deity would tell you. So, in that state, whatever you do with your eyes, nose, and all these organs, all that, becomes a kind of manifestation of the Deity whom you worship, automatically.

You don't have to think-now I must concentrate, alright, I will not have these thoughts, I have to now think about this. It becomes, automatically there; you read a book, in that book immediately you find what is good for Sahaja Yoga. If there is a book, which is anti-God, you discard it, the state that is awakened within you is a new state of mind, in Sanskrit language it has a very beautiful name, Ritambhara Pragnya, which is a very difficult name.

Ritambhara is the name of the Nature, and that the whole Nature one feels is enlightened.

I'll give an example; when a child is to be born, the mothers start lactating, automatically. The nature itself works out for the birth of the child. In the same way, when this Ritambhara Pragnya starts expressing itself, only for Sahaja Yoga, nobody else, you are amazed how things work out suddenly. So the Ritambhara Pragnya has started working in your favour. You all tell me this is a miracle, that has happened Mother, and we don't know how it has happened. I'll give you an example; yesterday, we were doing something with cement and the Italian boy said that we will need two bags of cement. I said, you carry on, it won't finish. Even before I was leaving, they were carrying on, still not finished. Now cement, of all the things, imagine! So this special thing is your own state where you are feeling one with Nature and the Nature is feeling oneness with you. So the Divine itself is expressing through Nature, through various happenings, through various incidents-the love, the protection, the attention that the Divine is giving. And there's no end to it.

It just happens, and people don't know how it happens. But that is what is the state of Samadhi."

(Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Jan'- 1984)