CONCENTRATION: THE KEY TO SUCCESS
by Paul Hourihan

Concentration is the key to success in all endeavors, spiritual or worldly. The scientist, Isaac Newton, for example, said he came by his discoveries as a result of occupying his mind exclusively with the subject over a long period—hence concentration. So with the artist, the musician, the millionaire… all succeed by concentration. Likewise, lost in his contemplation, is the yogi, or the mystic.

Love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.* In other words totally, or through concentration.

Success in meditation depends absolutely on the degree of concentration we attain. Which, however, is not to be forced but to be brought into realization by steady application combined with non-egoistic living in relation to others. Like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!**

For example: if I do a completely selfless action, helping others, serving them, thinking only of them, oblivious of the consequences as far as rewards to me are concerned, afterwards I feel … peaceful, satisfied. Then if I meditate, I find I can concentrate much more easily than normally. The reason for this is that the ego for the time being has been overcome, neutralized, leaving the mind open to the inflow of spiritual power, which ordinarily is been blocked due to the presence in the forefront of my consciousness of the ever-present ego!

So if we want God-Realization we must think about it often. As we’ve seen, the more we dwell on anything, the more proficient we become in it, the more we come to master it … or realize it. So here.

Can’t we merely meditate once or twice a day, confining our thoughts of the Divine to those periods, and the rest of the time go about our business like other people do? No.

If we do it that way, sooner or later, we loosen our hold on meditative practices. During the rest of the day the mind grows accustomed to the one kind of food and activity, and as a result it becomes harder and harder for it to settle down in the world of meditation and enjoy its food and activity. We must maintain the practice of constant reflection, even in the midst of duties.

Commitment is necessary even if you don’t gain realization! Without this constant quiet effort within, we inevitably drift back into the clutches of Nature, and lose the purpose of embodiment on this plane.

Thus we have selfless concentration as the key, with ethical, non-selfish attitudes and actions in the outer world, combined with steady application of concentrative techniques in the inner world of meditation, as the ideal combination for spiritual advance.
_________________________

See also Words of Wisdom: Spiritual Life, Karma Yoga (Work or Service)

Other Archived Feature Articles