mindfulness | The Hare Krishna Movement

This morning while I was chanting my japa (chanting silently the Hare Krishna mantra) I was thinking of how Google defined mantra meditation. So many people today have heard the words yoga and meditation, but what do they think it means? Some think yoga is just a good form of exercise, and meditation is just a way of shutting out the noise, and thinking of nothing. So I did a Google search:

Mantra meditation involves repeating a sacred sound, word, or phrase to focus the mind and promote relaxation. This technique helps to quiet the mind and allow for deeper states of meditation. The repeated mantra acts as a point of focus, helping to direct the mind and reduce mental chatter.

Mantra meditation is a technique that involves using mantras to relax the mind and help it focus.

Not bad definitions really, but for me, actually Yoga means “Union with God”, and Meditation means “Meditation on God”. So the ultimate goal of Yoga is bhakti-yoga, and the highest form of Mantra-meditation is to focus on God (Krishna).

The Process of Meditation

…The process of meditation recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not to fix one’s attention on something impersonal or void.

The process of meditation should begin from the lotus feet of the Lord and progress to His smiling face. The meditation should be concentrated upon the lotus feet, then the calves, then the thighs, and in this way higher and higher. The more the mind becomes fixed upon the different parts of the limbs, one after another, the more the intelligence becomes purified. (SB 2.2.13)

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Canto Two, Chapter 2, Text 13-14