Seven Keys to Preparing for Superconscious Meditation

How to Establish a Steady Meditation Practice

Be Steadfast

The first instruction is: try constantly. Be steadfast.

We cannot practice meditation once or only sporadically and conclude that it does not work. The capacity to meditate comes through steady, daily practice. Our ability to concentrate improves as we practice. As we become able to hold attention and awareness steadily on a single point of focus, meditation naturally unfolds.

Meditation unfolds in a concentrated mind. Initially, the mind can seem like a wild horse that runs off with the slightest distraction. It has been conditioned to roam toward whatever stimulation arises through the senses, thought, or memory. Consistent practice gradually changes that conditioning. The mind is remarkably capable of developing the intentional focus meditation requires.

And remember: divine grace supports our efforts. We already have what is needed to move toward success in superconscious meditation.

Concentrate on the Supreme Reality

The second instruction is to concentrate on the Supreme Reality.

Superconscious meditation aims to restore us to our innate wholeness through direct experience of the essential Self. We encounter our own essence by reversing the searchlight of attention.

A prayer we often use in satsang expresses this inward movement:

“Lead us from the unreal to the real.

Lead us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth.

Lead us from fear of death to the realization of immortality.”

We turn from changing external conditions and the continual movement of thought toward that which is unchanging and real.

S. Radhakrishnan explains that meditation aims to raise consciousness from its ordinary waking condition toward higher levels until union with the Supreme is realized. The human mind ordinarily turns outward. Attention flows toward circumstances, activity, sensory stimulation, and thought. When this outward orientation becomes excessive, it depletes our energy and vital force.

Meditation provides a course correction. We learn to turn attention and energy inward.

Remain in Solitude

The third instruction is to remain in solitude. As much as possible, we meditate in a place where we will not be distracted or interrupted.

I remember that one of the challenges I faced decades ago as a beginning meditator—along with being a householder with young children and finding sufficient time and space—was simply turning off the phone. I would think, “What if there is a really important call? What if someone needs to reach me?”

Occasionally, that concern is appropriate. More often, it can reveal a reluctance to disengage from the outward flow of attention. We are trying to meditate with one ear tuned to the world while the other listens for the silence within.

Over the years, I have seen many dedicated students find creative ways to meet the challenge of solitude. One person cleared out part of a walk-in closet and made it into a small meditation space. Someone else turned a car parked in the garage into a temporary temple. Others found unused meeting rooms at work where they could sit quietly during the day. Householders may face real challenges in finding quiet time and space. With sufficient determination, we can often find a way.

Alone and Sufficient in the Self

The fourth instruction is alone.

No one else can meditate for us, and no one else can be committed for us.

Earlier in Chapter 6, verse 6.5, we are told to lift ourselves by ourselves, by the Divine Self. The power we need is within us.

Meditating with a teacher or group can be supportive. A recording can also help us establish practice. Eventually, we need to discover our capacity to meditate on our own.

We can understand this as an affirmation:

I have, and I am all that I need.

An example from the world of sports comes to mind. Basketball player Jalen Brunson described five words he uses to steady himself under pressure: "Me alone in the gym.” His attention goes back to disciplined preparation.

For meditators, we might carry that same orientation: Me alone on the cushion.

When we are in the Kurukshetra of daily life—the battlefield of responsibilities, relationships, and challenges—we can remember that dedicated inward focus. My guru often remarked that the spiritual path is one of aloneness and never loneliness. Aloneness is self-sufficiency in the higher sense. We are inwardly complete and anchored in the Self.

A commentary attributed to Lahiri Mahasaya offers this esoteric insight:

“Holding on to the Self, transcending all desires, living with all yet alone, he does not look outward. That is, he goes to nobody’s house except that of the Self.” Lahiri Mahasaya was an enlightened yogi and a householder. He lived with family and responsibilities while remaining established inwardly in the Self.

The awakened yogi lives with all and remains absorbed in the One Reality.

Self-Control and Clarity of Purpose

The fifth instruction is to be self-controlled.

Self-control has a purposeful quality. The yogi knows the goal and does not want to waste energy. Through experience, we learn what external conditions can provide and where lasting peace and happiness are found.

The yogi consciously redirects attention and awareness.

Body still.

Breath steady.

Eyes steady.

Mind steady.

As the mind becomes steady and thoughts subside, the peace and bliss of the Self can be revealed. This is the deeper meaning of self-control: knowing what we truly seek and orienting our energy toward it.

Set Desire Aside During Meditation

The sixth instruction is to be free from desires.

This teaching applies specifically to the meditative period. We create a space and time free from what normally pulls the attention outward.

The to-do list can wait.

The phone call can wait.

The groceries can wait.

The report can wait.

The argument can wait.

We consciously tell the mind: this is meditation time. Without that intentional decision, the to-do list often follows us onto the meditation cushion. One thought leads to another, and before long we are planning the day instead of meditating.

A subtler desire to release also arises: longing for specific meditative experiences. It is right to intend to meditate superconsciously. We need that clear orientation. Attachment to visions, inner lights, samadhi states, or previous pleasant experiences creates agitation in the mental field. Our approach is to intend deeply, focus steadily, and remain receptive. Let grace reveal what is to be revealed.

A beautiful meditation can easily lead us to want the same experience again. Yet meditation experiences rarely repeat themselves in exactly the same way. Seeking yesterday’s meditation is like looking for yesterday’s sunset. We can see another sunset. It will have its own beauty.

Freedom From Longing for Possessions

The seventh instruction is without longing for possessions.

This brings us to the deeper purpose of superconscious meditation: freedom.

The ego function in the mind creates the sense of an individual, separate self. This function helps us interact in the world. When we identify completely with that sense of separateness, we naturally begin to feel that something is missing. We imagine ourselves as separate from the whole of life and from the One Reality that is the source of our being.

From that perspective, we keep looking for something that will make us whole.

More possessions.

More approval.

More security.

More accomplishment.

More experience.

More of something.

Much of the advertising that surrounds us speaks directly to this imagined lack: You are missing this. You need that.

Beneath those surface desires is our search for wholeness.

Superconscious meditation allows us to discover that the wholeness we seek is already present.

All the way to freedom is freedom.

Free yourself now from longing for more and more and discover the blissful fullness of your Divine Self. Alone in solitude with a quiet mind, experience your inner radiance again and again.