In 2000, the ABC News website featured an article called, ‘Meditation made easy’. The article spoke about five easy steps to learn meditation and maintained that one does not need a Guru to master meditation. In fact, the testimony of one practitioner featured in the article says, “Like most men, I’ve always been skeptical about meditation. You don’t have to visit a guru to learn meditation. My solution was to meditate on my own to become, in effect, my own guru. I’ve since discovered that just fifteen minutes a day of meditation helps me not only to relax, but also to concentrate better when I’m working. It can do the same for you.” Today, many people practice such fifteen-minute meditation and fall prey to the myth that by doing so, they are being spiritual and following the Path of Meditation.

    The Path of Meditation (Dhyanyoga), in reality, consists of many steps such as yam - niyam, asan, pranayam, pratyahar, dharna, dhyan, and samadhi. Quotes like, “Meditation isn’t about sitting in the lotus position. Even being engrossed in a game and losing track of time and what’s going on around you, you’re doing what’s called active meditation,” reflect the speaker’s ignorance about the Path of Meditation. One has to be initiated by an evolved seeker practicing this path, to truly start practicing meditation as a pathway to salvation. Otherwise, quick fixes like fifteen-minute meditation have no real or lasting value in Spirituality. Individual impressions in the mind can undergo dissolution to an extent only if one meditates for an entire day, week, month, or year. So imagine the intensity of meditation necessary for complete dissolution of all the impressions of the mind, intellect, and ego! Since this kind of intensity of meditation is very difficult to achieve in the present era, all saints and Holy texts have advocated the spiritual practice of chanting* the Lord’s Name for the current times.