Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae
Disciple:
Does it matter if you repeat a mantra or can you just look at something? There are many ways to meditate. Is one better than the others?
Master:
There are many so-called techniques of meditation that are mere mental exercise. There are people who try to get into meditation by gazing at a tree, or a spot, or by looking in a particular direction. Real meditation however, happens spontaneously, as a result of grace; you do not have to learn it.
Mediation should happen automatically. However, a Guru in whose presence you get automatic meditation is rare.
There are two kind of meditation – one is with Japa, and the other is without Japa. Japa is mantra repetition. Mantra has great power and is very necessary. If you meditate with a mantra, (Om SathGuru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae) you would be absorbed very quickly. However, in pure meditation there is absolutely no thought or object in mind, not even the mantra. But you reach that only through the mantra. As you repeat a mantra more and more, the mantra begins to disappear, and you get into a state in which you are aware of neither yourself nor God.