The sahaja yoga meditator aims to achieve and cultivate the experience of “thoughtless awareness”. As in the notion of “mindful awareness” the meditator aims to sustain that experience even while not formally meditating. Unlike Mindfulness however, the state is not one of introspective, non-judgmental observation of one’s cognitions, but rather a state in which unnecessary mental activity is eliminated. An adequate analogy for the practice of sahaja yoga meditation is that it can be likened to surfing, in that the meditator tries to capture a “wave” of mental silence, usually during the formal meditation at the beginning of the day, and then to ride that wave for as long as possible. The wave may last for a few seconds or for minutes or hours. As the meditator becomes more skilled, their ability to ride the wave increases. Moreover the state can ebb and flow throughout the day and the meditator learns over time to recognize the onset of the state and maximize it. With more experience the meditator also learns by trial and error, which internal and external factors can recreate the state, and over time adjust their lifestyle to optimize this.
Ramesh Manocha