Over the years I've redefined meditation a million times to come up with a line that includes all of the eastern meditations that I am aware of. So here is the definition "Continuous uninterrupted use/application of consciousness/awareness". When I started meditating I was sort of competing with my ability to stay still and silent.(not just physically but mentally). Nowdays I rarely use the word meditation. I feel the word is over polluted. I call it practicing concentration n dilution of awareness. I dont think of meditation as an activity but as a state of observance regardless of what activity you do. The simpler meditations are based on inactivity. Sitting with eyes closed. But it can get as complex as you want.
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Definition sounds reasonable to me, it's broad enough to cover a lot more practices than just sitting still and breathing which is good.
Although I will admit for that me, I don't feel like I am meditating unless I am in a vipassana state, just sitting and focusing on the breath.
Have you ever heard of the book "Mastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha"? Some of your mindset reminds me of the author of that book.
In one my of the 10 day vipassana retreats, I told my guru that I think I am not meditating. He asked me why? n I said I am thinking too much. He told me that the problem i was facing was that I was judging the process. The mind had the tendency to label experiences n call it right or wrong. But if we can learn to keep this part of us aside and dive into the activity without doubt then I think it would give us the opportunity to explore the depths of our awareness and spread this state of mind into every aspect of our lives. I should say I really started meditating when I stopped bothering about what it exactly is and why I was doing it. I havent read that book yet. I put it my wish list. Thanks :)
Hey gokulramdas, I am understanding that your definition would be to take the nondual state consciously into dreams and deep sleep? If that is correct then I would be an amateur meditator. I know there have been some studies done on meditators in their deep sleep and have read that tests done did show they were consciously aware....If that's true then to my way of thinking there should be whole universities set up to study such phenomenon on a full-time basis.....
I'm pretty sure someone else can come up with a better definition. To some degree I relate bring conscious to being awake. Ive never been consciously aware when Im asleep(except for the few lucid dreaming episodes), so I cant say anything about that. But it is very easy to meditate when washing dishes or going out for a walk or just listening to music. The simpler the activity the easier to meditate. There are a ton of people back home(India) who take this seriously. We call them yogis. These are the people who are devoted to life and the mechanics of existence. There are university like places where this is explored too. We call them ashrams - A community of yogis and aspiring yogis . These places have existed for 1000's of years. And they've come up with so much literature describing their findings over all these years.