Developing
Concentration

Concentration

Is the midday sun-power.

As soon as you see this sun,

Your entire being is flooded with strength.

Meditation

Is the moonlit peace.

As soon as you see this moon,

You can feel peace within

And peace without.

The tip of your thumb. Concentrate on only one object. To concentrate on the tip of your thumb, imagine that your only possession is your thumb. The rest of the body does not belong to you—only the thumb. If you want to concentrate on the tip of your nose, feel that you are the possessor of only your nose; you are not the possessor of your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your limbs. If you begin to think of something else, feel that you are entering into foreign territory. In this way, you will develop your power of concentration.

You are at liberty to choose any part of your body to concentrate on, but try to use some part which you feel as your very own. And do not concentrate on your arm or your hand or your leg. Take a very small part of your body—the eye or the nose or a fingertip. The smaller the better for concentration.

The tiniest thing. When you want to acquire the power of concentration, identify yourself with the tiniest thing possible. Then only will you become all-powerful. God is all-powerful not because He is vastness itself, but because He is inside the ant as well as the elephant. God is all-powerful because He can be both elephant and ant. He is the Infinite and He is the finite. Just because He is finite and Infinite at the same time, He is Omnipotent.

A flame in your heart. Kindly imagine inside your heart a flame. Right now perhaps the flame is tiny and flickering; it is not a powerful flame. But one day it will definitely become most powerful and most illumining. So every day before you pray and meditate, try to imagine inside your heart a flame, a burning flame. And please try to imagine that that flame is illumining your mind. You cannot concentrate according to your satisfaction because the mind is not focused. The mind is constantly thinking of many things. It has become a victim of many uncomely thoughts. The mind does not have proper illumination, so imagine a beautiful flame inside your heart, illumining you. Bring that illumining flame inside your mind. Then you will gradually see a streak of light inside your mind. When your mind starts becoming illumined, it is very, very easy to concentrate for a long time, and also to concentrate more deeply.

The sound of your heartbeat. If you want to try to hear the sound of your heartbeat, that will be very good. If you fold your hands on top of your heart, you will feel your heartbeat. Then, after you develop the power of concentration, you can meditate on your heartbeat in any part of your body. If your mind is bothering you, you can bring the hammer—the heartbeat—there and strike the mind so that it will be good.

A spiritual Master’s photograph. When you want to practise concentration, you should choose something that gives you immediate joy. If you have a Master, your Master’s picture will give you immediate joy. If you do not have a Master, select something that is very beautiful, divine and pure, like a flower, for example.

As pure as a flower. Please look at the entire flower for a few seconds, and while you are concentrating on it, try to feel that you yourself are this flower. At the same time, try to feel that this flower is growing inside your heart—in the inmost recesses of your heart.

Then try to concentrate gradually on one particular petal of the flower. Feel that this petal which you have selected is the seed-form of your reality-existence. After a few minutes, concentrate on the entire flower again, and feel that it is the Universal Reality. In this way, go back and forth, concentrating first on the petal—the seed-form of your reality—and then on the entire flower—the Universal Reality.

While you are doing this, please do not allow any thought to enter into your mind. Try to make your mind absolutely calm, quiet and tranquil. Also, kindly keep your eyes half open.

After some time, please close your eyes and try to see the flower on which you have been concentrating inside your heart. Then in the same way that you concentrated on the physical flower in your hand, kindly concentrate on the flower inside your heart, with your eyes closed.

A flower signifies purity. Try to feel that your heart has become as pure as the flower.

Purify the breath. If you would like to develop better concentration, before you start your meditation, repeat the Name of God, ‘Supreme’, about twenty times as fast as possible. First purify your breath by repeating ‘Supreme’. The breath has to be purified; unless and until the breath is purified, the mind will wander and cannot remain one-pointed. If the breath is purified, then the mind will not act like a restless monkey.

Grow into the breath of God. Concentrate on your inner divinity. Always try to feel that you are safe when you are with God, with divinity. Let God and the divine qualities within you act against your human, undivine qualities. When you repeat the word ‘God’, please try to feel your real love for God. When you are concentrating, feel that you are really growing into God, into the very breath of God. Then your concentration is bound to do something for you.

Become the witness. First you try to focus your attention on a particular object, then you enter into it, then you go beyond it. Then you come back to yourself and you become the witness, or Sakshapurusha. This is real concentration. This is the secret of meditation. If you know it, you can concentrate most effectively.

Pierce the object. Take an idea and try to make this idea into a living being. Then place it on the wall at your eye level. If it is too difficult to use an idea, then take some material object and place it on the wall. Keep your eyes open. It is always better to concentrate with open eyes. Look at the object and start concentrating. Now enter into the object. You have to apply all your attention and pierce through the object to the other side. When you have gone to the other side, from there start concentrating. You are there, your body is here. You start concentrating from the other side and from there look at your own body.

The black dot on the wall: three approaches If you want to achieve extraordinary concentration, please try these exercises.

Drilling a hole. Stand right in front of a wall, and put a dot on the wall right at the level of your third eye [the spiritual centre between the eyebrows]. It should be a black dot; you should not use any other colour. Then look at the mark. First look at it with your eyes wide open, and then gradually, gradually, close your eyes, but not totally. Try to see the black dot with the least vision of your human eyes. Make your eyes as wide as possible and then immediately try to make them as tiny as possible, so your vision is next to nothing. Then repeat this again.

After you have succeeded in this, keep your eyes open and try to feel that you are drilling a hole into the wall and entering. Increase your determination to pierce through the wall. In a few minutes you will see that your body is here, but something of you has passed through the wall to the other side. Your power of concentration has taken you to the other side of the wall. Feel that on this side of the wall is the body, and on that side is the soul-power. So from your body you look at your soul, and from your soul you look at your body. Let the body see the soul’s capacity, and let the soul see the body’s eagerness to become one with the soul. If you can do this exercise, your power of concentration will increase immensely and most rapidly.

Breath from the dot. If you want to develop the power of concentration, then please do this. Before you concentrate, wash your face and eyes properly with cold water. Then make a black dot on the wall at eye level. Stand facing the dot, about ten inches [25 cm] away, and concentrate on it.

After a few minutes, try to feel that when you are breathing in, your breath is actually coming from the dot and that dot is also breathing in, getting its breath from you. Try to feel that there are two persons: you and the black dot that you have made. Your breath is coming from that dot and its breath is coming from you.

In ten minutes, if your concentration is very powerful, you will feel that your soul has left you and entered into the black dot on the wall. At this time, try to feel that you and your soul are conversing. Your soul is taking you into the soul’s world for realisation, and you are bringing the soul into the physical world for manifestation. In this way you can develop your power of concentration very easily. But this method has to be practised. There are many things which are very easy with practice, but just because we do not practise them we do not get the result.

You are all eyes. Make a very small circle on the wall at eye-level, and inside it make a black dot. It should be black, not blue or red or any other colour. Then stand facing the wall, about three and a half feet [one metre] away, and focus your attention on the circle. Your eyes should be relaxed and half open. Let the force of your concentration come from the middle of your forehead.

After three or four minutes open your eyes fully and try to feel that, from head to foot, you are all eyes. Your whole physical existence has become nothing but vision. Then please concentrate on the dot inside the circle, and start making the object of your concentration smaller. After a few seconds try to feel that your whole body has become as tiny as this dot on the wall. Try to feel that the dot is another part of your own existence.

Then enter into the dot, pierce through it and go to the other side. From the other side of the dot, look back and see your own body. Your physical body is on one side, but on the strength of your concentration you have sent your subtle body to the other side of the dot. Through your subtle body you are seeing your physical body, and through your physical body you are seeing your subtle body.

When you began to concentrate, your physical body became all vision. At that time the dot was your reality. When you entered into the dot, then vision and reality became one. You were the vision and you yourself were also the reality. When you looked back at yourself from the dot, the process became reversed. At that time, you became the vision there, and the place to which you returned—your body—was the reality. Then, the vision and the reality became one again. When you can see the vision and reality in this way, your concentration is absolutely perfect. When your power of concentration can bring you to the other side of the point which you were calling reality, at that time your whole existence will be far beyond both vision and reality. The moment you can feel that you have transcended your vision and your reality, you will have boundless power.