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The meditation process is divided into five parts, one part leading sequentially to another. We will take these various stages and study each of them separately, for in their mastery we can trace the steady ascent of the conscious spiritual man out of the realm of feeling into that of knowledge and then of intuitive illumination. These stages might be briefly enumerated as follows:

1. Concentration. This is the act of concentrating the mind, learning to focus it and so use it. 2. Meditation. The prolonged focusing of the attention in any direction and the steady holding of the mind on any desired idea. 3. Contemplation. An activity of the soul, detached from the mind, which is held in a state of quiescence. 4. Illumination. This is the result of the three preceding processes, and involves the carrying down into the brain consciousness of the knowledge achieved. 5. Inspiration. The result of illumination, as it demonstrates in the life of service.

These five stages, when followed, lead to union with the soul and direct knowledge of divinity. For the majority of those who take up the study of meditation, the stage which should engross their attention for a long time – practically to the exclusion of the others – is that of concentration, the gaining control of the mental processes. Aspiration is presumably present to some degree or there would be no desire to meditate. It should be pointed out, however, that aspiration avails nothing unless it is endorsed by a strong will, a capacity to endure, and patient persistence.

~ From Intellect to Intuition

Meditation is an ordered process whereby a man finds God. It is a system, well-tried out and much used, which unfailingly reveals the divine. The important words here are “ordered process.” There are certain rules to be followed, certain definite steps to be taken, and certain stages of unfoldment to be experienced before a man can garner the fruits of meditation. It is a part of the evolutionary process, as we have seen, and like all else in nature it is slow but sure, and unfailing in its results. There is no disappointment to the man who is willing to obey the rules and work with the system. Meditation calls for self-control in all things, and unless the work of meditating is itself accompanied by the other requirements under the “ordered process” (such as self-control and active service) it will fail in its objective. Fanaticism is not required. This is made clear in the Bhagavad Gita:

“There is no meditation for the man who eats too little or for the man who eats too much, or for him whose habit it is to sleep too much or too little. But for him who is regulated in food, in work; regulated also in sleep and in waking, meditation becomes the destroyer of all suffering.” – Bhagavad Gita, VI, 16-17.

~ From Intellect to Intuition

Meditation is the process whereby the objective tendencies and outgoing impulses of the mind are thwarted, and it begins to be subjective, to focus and to intuit. This can be taught through the medium of deep thinking on any subject – mathematics, biology, and so forth. ~ Education in the New Age