Monday, February 6, 2012
Meditation
When we think of meditation today we think of it as an act. Meditating and meditation are things we do, and Krishna speaks of it the same way. But also in another way too, and that is meditation as a goal. He says, meditation is a goal to aspire to and reach. Why is there a difference in language or translation, and was there something lost in translation?
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I think this may be a case less of the concept of meditation changing over time, and more one of the concept becoming muddled through the process of Westernization. While many Eastern civilizations practiced (and practice) meditation, few if any ancient Western societies did the same. Meditation mainly appeared much later in the west, as an imported idea from Eastern societies such as India and China. I am not entirely sure what the modern conception of meditation is in more Eastern countries, but I'd guess that it is at least closer to the concept expressed in the Gita than is the currently common Western conception.
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