We train a child to focus his mind, to be able to concentrate, as without concentration he won’t be able to cope up with life. But the moment the mind becomes able to concentrate, it tend to become less aware. Awareness means a mind that is conscious but not focused. Awareness is a consciousness of all that is happening.

Concentration is a choice, which excludes all except its object and subject of concentration. It’s a need in order to live, to survive and exist.

Children, as we know, are never focused or concentrated. Their consciousness and mind is open from all sides. Everything is coming in, nothing is excluded, and so much is coming in that’s why they are so wavering and so unstable. They must learn how to narrow their mind and thoughts, how to concentrate.

The moment you narrow the mind you become particularly conscious of one thing and simultaneously unconscious of so many other things. You will become a specialist, you will become an expert, but the whole thing will consist of knowing more and more about less and less.

The narrowing of mind is necessary to exist, as life exists it is needed, but it is not enough. It is useful or you can say Utilitarian to survive or exist, but simply your survival is not enough. So when you become utilitarian and your consciousness or focus is narrowed, you deny your mind from much of its capacity. You are not using the full strength of mind, but just a small part. And the remaining- the major portion of your mind will be unconscious.

“Conscious mind“, according to me, means that part of the mind that has been used in the narrowing process. “Unconscious mind”, similarly means that portion which has been neglected, ignored and closed. This creates a split in your mind and the greater portion of the mind is alien to you. This “unconscious mind” will always be in fight with the “conscious mind” arising a conflict within.

If the major portion of your potentialities remains unfulfilled, your life will be full of frustration. That is why the more utilitarian a person is, the less he is fulfilled, the less he is blissful. Utilitarian life is necessary but at a great cost you have lost the festivity of life. Life becomes a festivity, a celebration if all the potentialities come to flowering.

The denied part of you, the unconscious part, can become active and creative only if you add a new dimension to your life- the dimension of the festive, the dimension of play. So meditation is not a work, it’s a play. Praying is not a business, it’s a play. Meditation is not something to be done to achieve some goal-peace, bliss- but something to be enjoyed as an end in itself.

The festive or joyous dimension is the most important thing to be understood-and I believe we have lost it totally somehow. By festive, I mean the capacity to enjoy, moment to moment, all that comes to you as what may. We have become so conditioned and machine type that even when there is no narrowing needed, you and your mind is narrowed. When there is no business involve still your minds are businesslike. Even when you are playing the game, but you are not playing it to fullest, not enjoying it. Like you are playing the game of chess or ludo, you are not enjoying it. You are playing it for victory and then the play becomes work and only the result is important.

In business only the result is important but in festivity the act is important. The act becomes significant in itself and then you can celebrate it. Whenever you are in celebration, the limits of narrowing are broken. They are not needed, such limits are thrown. Now you are not choosing; everything that comes you allow it. And the moment you allow the total existence to come in you become one with it. There is a union.

This union- this celebration, this choice less awareness, this non business like attitude- I call as “Meditation“. The festivity in the moment, in the act, not in the bothering about results, not in achieving something.

Take it this way: I am talking to you; if I am concerned about the result, then the talks become business, it becomes a work. But if I talk to you without any expectations, without any desire about the result, then the talk becomes a play, the very act in itself, is the end. And if you are listening to me without thinking about getting something out of it then you can be relaxed. Then you can allow me to be in union with you and your consciousness will not be narrowed, it will be open, playing and enjoying.

Any moment can be business moment and any moment can be a meditative moment, the difference is in attitude. There are social needs and there are existential needs that are to be fulfilled. Survival needs conditioning but survival is not the end so you must be able to put your conditioning on and take it off too like clothes. You can put them on, go out and do your business and then come home and take them off. Then you are real human beings not conditioned robots.

This is my definition of Meditation – The Art of Celebration and happiness.

Akshay Kothari…Silence Spoken