Types of meditation

There are hundreds of them.The most popular in current market as you scroll the internet are:

- Heartful Meditation

- Mindful Meditation

- Vipasana

- Zen Meditation

- Transcendental Meditation

- Kriya Yoga Meditation

- Kundalini Meditation techniques

- Mantra based Meditations like Om, Gayatri, Hare Krishna and so on

Primarily these meditations draw either from the Buddhist School or the Patanjali School of Rajyoga. Some forms are inspired by Bhakti or devotion movements.

There is peculirity of each school, though an underneath unity of purpose and overlapping in modes of practice can also be seen if one is not blinded by the sway of one school.

Heartful meditation tries to move from reason to feeling and invoke the source of compassion at heart. Mindful Meditation tries to bring awareness in the present moment stripping mind out of the past and future thoughts. Vipasana focuses on breath awareness first and then moving to subtle sensations arising in the bodily parts. Trascendental Meditation aimes at moving beyond the identities cluttered in the body and mind to a transdental stage. Kriya Yoga tries to work on the subtle energy currents to awaken the inherent divinity in each being. Devotion based movements try to sublimate love and compassions towards a personal God adored in different forms.

Now which among the above is an utterly irrelevant question. The one suiting one’s temperament is the best. Then secret lies in constant practice without getting dishearted. All the rivers evetnually merge in the Ocean but the question is has our skiff kept moving thus far or halted on the way considering the futility of effort.