The ancient Indian religious philosophies and theories are based on the principle that the life on this earth is a kind of process of repentance which a human goes through in order to finally merge into the Supreme Consciousness. The human being is subject to various miseries and sorrows in this life. These are dependent on his karma done in his previous life. Through the process of miseries the true character of the human being emerges. This is similar to the process of purifying gold when it emerges shining after a process of burning in a furnace. A good human being either develops stability through this act of life when all his experiences teach him and put him onto the path of wisdom, or he gets all the more tangled in this web of miseries. This wisdom is the only thing that can free him completely and put him out of the cycle of births and rebirths. This state of freedom is called by many names like moksha, mukti, kaivalya, apavarga and nirvana. In yoga the method of reaching this state is called Samadhi. And the process of reaching the state of Samadhi is called meditation. The ultimate goal of meditation is reaching the Samadhi.

The state of misery that is so omnipotent in this world and which traps every mortal human soul can be divided into three types:

• The distress caused by the physical condition of the human being. These consist of the state of the body as well as the mind. They represent the conditions of ailments in the body and also afflictions of the mind like negative emotions.
• The distress forced upon because of bad behaviour of other human beings, animals, insects and other forms of life on each other.
• The distress imposed because of the natural calamities like an earthquake, floods, famines, epidemics and other catastrophes.

The natural reaction of the human being in times of suffering is to take recourse in activities that give him some respite. For this a human being adopts various measures. He starts being more involved in tasks that are there at hand so that he does not think much about the sufferings. Alternately he gets respite by taking consolation in the company of some gurus who teach him the act of deliverance. He also takes recourse into religious activities because they soothe him in some way or the other. He sometimes turns towards the abstract and occult forms of practices like Tantric religious practices and other clandestine ways of worship that are not fully understood by him or the others, for that matter.

Science and technology is a powerful tool that is supposed to bring all the comfort and conveniences to the human life. But it is seen that despite the advancement in technology the life has perhaps increased in complexity and disparity and is eventually not leading on to the path of complete peace. The people often compare the modern life with the life in the yesteryears despite the fact that the life in the past was not as full of conveniences as it is today. They relive the past moments and the biggest content in these nostalgic emotions is that of emotional closeness the people felt during those days. The fast pace of life in the modern world has snatched away those beautiful moments and their lack is the root cause of disparity and various complications in the modern life.

Human being is a social animal and togetherness is one of his most primal urges. The fact that he cannot live alone is the basic reason for various complexities. The modern conveniences have given him a lot of independence and he may not need people around him but he has not gotten over his basic instinct. Perhaps the evolution trends in the modern world may drag him more and more away from his primal instincts. And one day he might not have any trace left of these instincts. Till such time that it eventually happens the human beings born during this transition phase cannot get rid of them completely. But the life is moving faster and faster with each passing day. The other people around may not be in a position to reciprocate the depths of emotions felt by one person. This leads to further disparity and discontent adding on to the misery and sufferings. We see this happening constantly around us.

Meditation is the process of diverting the thought process inwards. This is done with the aim of concentrating the thoughts on a focal point. This process produces tremendous energy that eventually results in making the inner self marvellously luminescent. This process can be compared to focussing the sun’s energy through a lens onto a focal point. When the rays are all scattered they do not have the power to burn anything. But when the same rays are concentrated they cause a fire. The same principle works in meditation. When the thoughts are scattered they do not have the power that manifests in them once they are concentrated. The process energizes the self completely. It fires up the inner self and makes the true inner luminosity visible.

Samadhi is the state of supreme concentration of thought that aligns the mind completely towards the Supreme Consciousness. This is the state of mind that is achieved after constant practice and when all the effort melts into supreme effortlessness. It is believed to be the ultimate goal of all yoga practices. It is also believed to be the last and final stage of leaving the miseries of the world. It is like being in a state of interview with the Supreme Consciousness or The Divine. It is believed that after reaching this stage the human being neither wants to nor is required to come back to the worldly miseries. All yoga practices finally lead to attainment of this state of Samadhi.

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