P.R. Sarkar on Ideation & Meditation [advanced]

The following is the first part of a discourse by P.R. Sarkar, given on 10th June, 1990 in Kalikata, India. The discourse is titled, Ideation and Meditation and is available in the book, Yoga Psychology.


With spiritual progress the mind grows in magnitude, the mind increases
its periphery, until it finally merges in the Supreme Entity. During
the course of this progress a spiritual aspirant will develop many
faculties or attributes, but one must always be vigilant that these
faculties do not divert one from the chosen path, from the cherished

What is the meaning of faculty and thinking? Faculty means a special
type of quality or attribute that separates one entity from other
entities. Thinking is the subjectivisation of external objectivity;
that is, creating an external object within one’s mental plate and
making it a part of one’s inner existence.

Thinking should be done in a methodical style. For example, try to
imagine an elephant of Indian or African variety. To think of this
one should start from the tail end and visualise all the parts of
the elephant’s body systematically. If the tusk is there, it must
be male. If the cranium is small, with a bulky body, it is of African
variety. If the cranium is big and the body is less bulky, then it
is the Indian variety. Thinking as per a method is called “methodical

Knowledge should be imparted in this methodical way. It should not
be imparted in a galloping style, because the gaps created by imparting
education in such a manner will destroy intellectual continuity.

Now, what is the meaning of discover, invention and remember?
Discover: “dis” + “cover”; “dis” means “against”, “anti” or “not”.
So “discover” refers to that which exists but is not known to us.
“Discover” means “removing the cover and knowing what was there but
not known”. For example, Vasco da Gama discovered the Cape of Good
Hope while in search of India and the land of the coconuts, or Kerala
South India. Invention: “in” (prefix) – “vent” (root verb) +
“ion” (suffix). It means “to find out something which did not exist
earlier, and then know it”; for example, saccharine. Remember: “re”
+ “member”. “Member” means “in existence”. Are you a member of the
Gym Club? It means you are in existence with the Gym Club. “Remember”
means “to bring back what was in existence under dark cover”.
When the dark curtain is removed, one remembers. Remembering involves
removing other pabula, diminishing the mass of appearances.

Concentrated thinking is called “meditation”. How can one
develop concentrated thinking? Suppose you want to visualise what
Mr. S is doing in the city of Berlin. How is this meditation to be
practiced? It concerns something physical and multi-coloured, so one
starts with the Vishuddha Cakra, which controls the idea of colour.
Then one is to visualise the glands and sub-glands: the Brhaspati
Granthi [thyroid gland] and the Brhaspati Upagranthi [parathyroid
gland]. This is the first phase. Then come to the ku’rma na’d’ii
[sinusoid nerve], and finally to the controlling brain cell. This
is the process of withdrawal or pratya’ha’ra. Then visualise the
panorama, the sound, the colour, and focus on the object of meditation.
This is the inner secret. In order to visualise odour, we should start
from the Mu’la’dha’ra Cakra. If it is uni-odour, it will take less
time; in case of a multi-odour object, it will take a bit more time.
In this way, one is to withdraw the mind and bring it to the particular
brain cell inside the skull. It is necessary to know the biology of
the human structure. But spiritual aspirants will not attach any importance
to occult powers. It is not their goal. They will only attach importance
to the Supreme Entity.

Every cell has a controlling point. The controlling point of all the
controlling points of all the cells is the Guru Cakra the
common controlling point. The Sahasra’ra Cakra is the psychological
name and the Guru Cakra is the physical name. The Sahasra’ra Cakra
has no corporal structure. Its spiritual location is on the outer
portion of the cranium (the point is called Brahmarandhra). The
Guru Cakra is just inside the cranium and is the controlling point
of all the controlling points of all the brain cells on the physical,
psychic and spiritual planes. In the Guru Cakra lies the
supreme potentiality of omniscience. Knowing the Supreme Entity
means knowing the secrets of all the cells. The lower functions of
the blended mind and spirit can be controlled even by elevated magicians,
but the upper portion is beyond their power. In the upper portion
of the blended mind, higher intellectuality merges with spirituality.

Now, what is the difference between deep thinking and meditation? You
already know what deep thinking is. [Deep thinking is thinking deeply
about any subject.] Meditation is trying to make the “I” feeling
coincide with the subjectivated form. Because it is a coincidence
of “I” feeling, it is concentrated thinking. Or in other words, the
endeavour to make the controlling point of the “I” feeling coincide
with some other subjectivated form is called “meditation”.

Mental flow is concerned with both theory and practice. When the unit
mind is established in psycho-spiritual parallelism, it is called
“idea”, while the psychic conception of psycho-spiritual parallelism
is called “ideology”. When idea maintains adjustment with the glands
and sub-glands, it is called “ideation”. But to effect psycho-spiritual
parallelism, knowledge, action and devotion are required. In spiritual
terms, it is a concept of Dharma. Concentrated thinking leads to
the development of positive ideas and occult powers in the process
the following things are involved brain cells, apexed or
pinnacled psychology, concentrated thinking, Guru Cakra and
ultimate devotion. All these are utilised in Dhya’na Yoga [meditational
Yoga], which ultimately ensconces the sa’dhaka [spiritual aspirant]
in complete omniscience: Rtambhara’ tatra prajina’ (the intellect at that stage becomes omniscient).