According to the ancient texts there are just two different types of meditation. These two forms of meditation that exist can best be described as meditation with the seed and meditation without the seed. There are various forms that exist within each category. The first methodology, which is the meditation with seed, is significant of the processes of Dhyana , Samapatti ,Samprajnyata Samadhi or SabijaSamadhi. The seedless form of meditation is significant of just one process known as Nirbija Samadhi.

The word bija is derived from Sanskrit which means seed. These are various stages of meditation and they can also be called as different practices of meditation according to the ancient texts.

Various great thinkers of modern times are of the opinion that many new forms of practices of meditation have been invented recently in order to enable the practitioner to cope up with the contradictions and conflicts arising in the lives of the modern era. The root foundations of all these meditative practices preached blatantly in the name of ancient yogic practices has been the escalated trends of social achievements and combative tendencies of the modern life. The intense desires of acquiring all that one wishes to, coupled with a powerful yearning to feel arrived in life have given births to various newer versions of meditative practices. They have in some way or the other been derived from the ancient practices only. This also has an added influence of the latest social trend which can be very simply put across as the excessive display of flashily termed ‘attitude’, which is nothing else but arrogance personified and magnified in quantum. This attitude influences the person’s behaviour in all respects especially his behaviour in social situations. This influences him to excessively indulge in boastful behaviour and his attempts at so called meditative practices also have no other benefit than to become an able subject of societal attention. But this whole practice negates the entirety of the concept, rather than adding any value to it. It is akin to resisting the very act one wants to master. It is completely antagonistic. And it perhaps takes a person down the ladder of spirituality instead of taking any steps further up.

The ancient texts say that any deliberate effort put into the act of meditation is the denunciation of meditation. This can be further used to explain the two stages or processes of meditation, which are meditation with and without seed. Meditation with the seed is a method which is like cultivating a discipline in the life that is directed towards the goal of attainment of freedom from the cycle of life and birth. Meditation without the seed is not a means to an end but an end in itself. In the process of this kind of meditation there is nothing sought or attained with any deliberate effort. There is nothing to achieve or effort to be put into it. This is the most difficult form of meditation to be exercised as it cannot be explained to anyone. This is attained at a time when all the effort to achieve seizes to exist. This comes automatically and at any point in time when every other desire becomes non existent. There is no longer left a desire to evolve, improve or graduate to any other level of existence. This is a purest form of existence which has no beginning and no end. There is no set path for its attainment. It comes uninvited but perhaps not unexpected. This is the most occult of all that is known to be occult. Yet it is not dark. It is indeed deep and gives a sense of fulfilment unsurpassed by any other sensation ever experienced in life.

The meaning of the word seed is basically related with the seed of ignorance that manifests itself in many negative emotions like jealousy, hatred and anger and in turn leads to a lot of misery. For the seedless meditation to come up and present itself it is necessary for the seed of ignorance to be destroyed completely. This gives rise to another belief that the seedless meditation cannot be led to by any other form of meditation with seed. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali has references that state in essence the basic fundamental that seedless meditation cannot happen unless and until an individual breaks the bondages that bind him to all that has happened in the past. He has to crush all the seeds and then the seedless state just happens to him.

This however does not mean that one form or stage of meditation will automatically lead to another. In fact it is believed that practicing the meditation with seed is just one form of exercise to control and calm the mind and it does not lead to meditation without seed. Even the highest and most dedicated form of Sabija Samadhi cannot really lead to Nirbija Samadhi . It is a little difficult to grasp but the past experiences of even the highest form of Sabija Samadhi attained through self wisdom or Gyanaprasada have to be destroyed completely before Nirbija Samadhi can happen. It is because it is believed that even the experiences of attainment of highest forms of meditation are Vighnas or obstructions in the path of total enlightenment.

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