shows the dangers of meditation when not done with a
sattvic mind. Of the three demon brothers, the demon king Ravana
practised meditation with a rajasic mind and wrath became his
undoing. His brother Kumbhakarna meditated with a tamasic mind
and fell into a deep slumber from which he only rarely woke up.
Only the third brother, Vibhishana, meditated with a sattvic mind,
and it was only his intellect that gravitated towards the Divine.
The Ramayana, although written down after the Mahabharata, contains
one of the most ancient orally-handed-down epics of humanity. It
delivers many subtle teachings on meditation, which, although mastered
by sages of a bygone era, are not understood any more by
modern practitioners. Hence more and more are heading down the
road taken already by Ravana and Kumbhakarna. It is not a general
lack of meditation that gnaws at the foundation of this world, for
this whole world meditates with profound expertise on Mammon,
the mighty dollar. It is what you meditate on that will determine
your destiny, for what you meditate on you will attract and become.
Before embarking on the voyage of meditation, the intellect has to be
made sattvic through pranayama.
