VEDIC MEDITATION

Technically speaking, meditation in Vedanta is the state of dhyana, which means prolonged concentration achieved through repeated practice.  It is the seventh of the eight limbs of raja yoga, defined by Patanjali as “an unbroken flow of thought toward an object of concentration.”   

The process is often compared to pouring oil from one vessel to another in a steady stream.  As generally used by Vedanta devotees, the word denotes efforts to achieve pratyahara and dharana.

Pratyahara is the withdrawal of the mind from sense-objects, and is the fifth of the eight limbs of raja yoga.  Dharana is the sixth of the eight limbs of raja yoga, defined by Patanjali as “holding the mind within the center of spiritual consciousness in the body or fixing it on the divine form, either within the body or outside it.” 

This differs from the Christian concept of meditation which is a more or less discursive, analytical operation of the mind around a central spiritual idea or scene.  What Christianity calls contemplative prayer or centering prayer is closer to what Vedanta means by meditation.