Devotion Meditation

Devotion Meditation is an interesting method of meditation that requires a devotion faith.

Devotion in the context of spiritual practice tends to imply imply some from of belief and surrender to a higher immortal being, such as a god. That is, a being who inherently possesses all the attributes to which the devotee spires, and more. This view suggests that devotion is synonymous with religion. However, devotion can a also apply to nontheistic icons such as a Buddha , who has, within the same mortal limitations as you or I, attained ‘realization’ through spiritual practice. Thus, such an icon is selected to remind the devotee of his or her potential for reaching the same goal.

Devotion, therefore, usually has a ‘being’ as the object of devotion. But devotion can also be directed towards a more abstract focus, such as the ’ideal’ of compassion or universal love. This sort of devotional practice could be called a ’humanistic’ approach. However, most people find it easier to visualize an entity upon which their ideals can be projected.

Like all meditation method, devotion meditation requires and develops one-pointed concentration. Fundamentally, it uses the selected deity, icon or ideal as the focus, rather than something more neutral, such as flame the breath. How the focus is applied depends on one’s preferences and mental characteristics . some people like to use words that represent deities or ideals, hence we have devotional mantras. others like to focus on images of deities, or patterns representing perfected spiritual qualities ( mandalas), physical gestures, such as prostration, can also be used.

Devotion is not truly meditative if it is blind devotion. Blind devotion is an abdication of personal responsibility, often based on fear or some other insecurity. Rather than expand awareness, blind devotion can dull your mind into the narrow vision of the zealot. In other words, devotion is better used as a tool rather than as a prop.

Devotion requires a degree of faith. This is not quite the same as belief, because it is not based on irrefutable opinions or certainties. Here, faith refers to the optimism that will sustain us in our meditation practice. Whenever our actions have tangible result for example, when we feel calmer and happier within our practice, then our faith in that practice is reinforced. Faith is therefore open to constant re-evaluation in the light of our own experiences.

Initial faith may coexist with doubt, as we evaluate our meditation in terms of ‘success’ or ’failure’. With time, we begin to recognize that the ’ups’ and ‘downs’ of our devotion meditation efforts are the natural order of things.