Meditation has been prescribed by all the great Teachers and Sages as a necessary mental exercise which would lead the mind in the direction of the Soul, the self-conscious Thinker, the reincarnating Ego in every human being. This at once indicates that the mind is an important instrument of the Soul. It is a link or a bridge between the Soul of man and his lower, personal nature made up of: (1) the physical body with its organs of sense and of action; (2) the astral or design body, the foundation of the physical, made up of subtler ethereal matter, in which circulate (3) the currents of energy or Prana; and (4) desires and passions, feelings and emotions. In most human beings the mind has become a slave and a victim to the fourfold lower nature. At times, however, it aspires towards the Soul; hence the dual nature of the mind—the "heaven-aspiring" and "Kama-tending mind. In Zoroastrian philosophy the two minds are called Vohu-Mano, the superior mind, and Akem-Mano, the evil mind. It is this evil or Kama-tending mind that drags the Soul down from its own pure plane and victimizes it. The steady mind becomes a channel for the flowing in of divine ideas.

Soul and mind have to be firmly united on one plane, under the afflatus of the overbrooding Divine Parent, Atma-Buddhi (Cf. "Thyself and mind, like twins upon a line, the star which is thy goal burns overhead"—The Voice of the Silence, p. 21). The first step indicated in the same book is: "Seek, O Beginner, to blend thy Mind and Soul" (p. 28). The mind is the reflecting mirror and it can reflect both ways. At present, through its constant connection with the lower, personal self, it has gathered the dust and the dirt of that lower plane; hence the necessity to clear the mirror of the mind of all dirt through meditation and reflection upon one or another aspect of the Soul-Wisdom.

Thus, self-purification should always precede meditation. It is necessary to note that only in the Sixth Discourse of the Bhagavad-Gita Sri Krishna instructs Arjuna to become a man of meditation. Prior to that He teaches about the immortality of the Soul, the purification of the senses, the right performance of duty and the renunciation of the fruit of action. People become hasty for the practice of meditation before they know who they are, what the constitution of man is, how he came into existence, and what is the final goal. They begin to follow wrong methods of one type or another, which sometimes produce mental unbalance and derangement. (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 12 on "Mind-Control" gives some instances of such a nature.)

Besides the wandering nature of the mind which makes it fly from object to object and subject to subject, there are other undesirable traits which need to be changed. At times it is obsessed with one idea, pleasant or unpleasant, and dwells constantly upon it, to the exclusion of all else. The mind should be positive, alert, and active, for passivity is the cause of many other troubles which make of the mind a victim to foreign impressions and influences. The various tendencies of the mind are described thus:

Man, made of thought, occupant only of many bodies from time to time, is eternally thinking. His chains are through thought, his release due to nothing else. His mind is immediately tinted or altered by whatever object it is directed to. By this means the soul is enmeshed in the same thought or series of thoughts as is the mind. If the object be anything that is distinct from the Supreme Self then the mind is at once turned into that, becomes that, is tinted like that. This is one of the natural capacities of the mind. It is naturally clear and uncoloured, as we would see if we were able to find one that had not gone through too many experiences. It is movable and quick, having a disposition to bound from one point to another. Several words would describe it. Chameleon-like it changes colour, sponge-like it absorbs that to which it is applied, sieve-like it at once loses its former colour and shape the moment a different object is taken up. Thus, full of joy from an appropriate cause, it may suddenly become gloomy or morose upon the approach of that which is sorrowful or gloomy. We can therefore say it becomes that to which it is devoted. (Notes on the Bhagavad-Gita, pp. 141-42)

This clearly shows how man is bound down by his thoughts and how he and he alone can free himself from that bondage.

Just as the mind is an instrument of the Soul, so the brain is an instrument of the mind in physical life. It receives information via the senses and so it is like a receiving station. It gives orders, and impresses, influences and affects others, and becomes like a transmitting station.

There is a sort of conscious telegraphic communication going on incessantly day and night, between the physical brain and the inner man. The brain is such a complex thing, both physically and metaphysically, that it is like a tree whose bark you can remove layer by layer, each layer being different from all the others, and each having its own special work, function and properties. (Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge, p. 64)

This constant communication between the inner man and the physical brain takes place via the mind; therefore it becomes necessary to understand the nature and characteristics of the mind and the brain, which at present are blogged with false concepts about life and life's problems, and with false values. The Divine Parent, Atma-Buddhi, is eternal and immortal, beginningless and endless. It is for the human Soul, Manas, the thinker, ever to try to be under the protection and guidance of its Divine Parent, and to radiate the Light thus acquired through a receptive mind and a clean and clear brain. There are minds that are not necessarily evil but are dull, confused, barren of good results, depending on the tendencies brought over from past incarnations. Hence the great necessity to curb and control and train the mind through the right practice of concentration and meditation.

The method of restraining the restless, turbulent, wandering mind was pointed out by Sri Krishna to Arjuna 5,000 years ago, and it is: practice and detachment—the constant practice of bringing the mind back from its wanderings and putting it on the Supreme Spirit, and detachment from cravings of a lower order, which means attachment to the aspirations of the Higher Self. This is the best and the safest exercise. It may not result in quick progress, but ultimately it is sure to bear fruit.

Along the same line Mr. Judge advises us to think as often as possible of the mantramic phrase: "Thou art That." So it is essential to understand who is "thou" and who is "That" and what is the relationship between the two. Such meditation brings its own power and strength for use in daily life. He also advises that if meditation on the Supreme Self is found difficult, then the bridge, the Masters, have to be sought. For many it is not easy to think and reflect on the abstract; for such the great and glorious figures of the Prophets and Sages, the embodiments of virtue and wisdom and compassion, would be helpful subjects for meditation. Such meditation would enable one to leave behind this mayavic world of illusions and to get something of the Light, Peace and Joy of the world of the Immortals. This daily meditation at a set hour on any spiritual subject should bring its energization in the various activities of daily life. People usually divorce meditation and living, but they are interdependent. The strength and the power gained during meditation manifest themselves as fortitude and patience in the daily struggle for existence. The man of meditation shows foresight in each event.

In The Ocean of Theosophy Mr. Judge speaks of the stream or thread of a life's meditation. Different people are engaged in different activities and are more or less concentrated upon what they have to do. The spiritual exercise of meditation enables each to become a pure channel of the Supreme Spirit and gives him a universal scope, working for the benefit of all. So there are three aspects to meditation: Meditation at a set hour; meditation in the performance of every duty with the mind, heart, and full understanding, as an offering to the Supreme; and the line of life's meditation, which should be continuous, so as to bring back the thread of a life's meditation in the next rebirth.

The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali provide ample hints on this great subject for people at all stages of life. There are obstacles in the way of attainment, but they can be overcome with a right attitude. The night, during which the body sleeps, is the day-time of the soul, for it is then engaged in meditation on its own plane, with no objective disturbance of any kind. What takes place on that plane depends upon how the day was spent, what the ideation during the hours of work was, how the mind and the brain behaved. A clear brain and a controlled and receptive mind are valuable assets of the Soul, for the benefit not only of the individual but also of the nation and the race.

Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that, by looking into them, he is immediately in perfect tranquillity; and I affirm that tranquillity is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly, then, give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself: and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest. For with what art thou discontented? With the badness of men? Recall to thy mind this conclusion, that rational animals exist for one another, and that to endure is a part of justice, and that men do wrong involuntarily; and consider how many already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred and fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at last....

But among the things readiest to thy hand to which thou shalt turn, let there be these, which are two. One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion.

—Marcus Aurelius Antoninus