113. Bhāvanāgamyā
The state of Bhāvanī can be approached through Bhāvana, meaning imagination. The nature of the imagination required to be followed is described in detail in the Bhāvana Upaniṣad. This name clarifies that the approach to the state of thoughtlessness is through the thought only.
Quite often devotees set for themselves the goal of thoughtlessness quite rightly. But they do wrong in assuming that the path is also thoughtlessness. They sit down saying “I will not think of anything”. The mind will not rest however. Some desire or the other suddenly wells up a thought. The moment the devotee realises that he has a thought, he starts worrying why did this thought come to me? He tries to push it away forcibly out of the mind. He may succeed in doing so, but immediately another thought and yet another thought come on like waves of the sea unending. The devotee gets frustrated at his inability to stop thinking. This pattern repeating a few times creates a vicious slope in the mind and he comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to keep the mind at rest. He blames the Guru, blames Patañjali, and teaches, all those who come to him to suppress their thoughts. The vicious circle goes on and on.
Where one is going wrong in this process is in the assumption that meditation means thoughtlessness. Meditation, another word for contemplation, another word for tapas, another word for creating by force of will, does not imply a silent mind but an active mind. The mind is active, thinking a series of thoughts on related subjects, like an evolving story. It may settle down at a particular idea where it finds bliss. That is called dhāraṇa. Jñāna enters when there is an easy uninterrupted flow of thoughts into one particular idea. After some time, in the jñāna, a merger will take place between the object or idea meditated and the object. In this state samādhi ensures with the object disappearing and there is a total loss of distinction between the object and the subject. This is the state, the end state, which is thoughtless point. Up to this point however the thoughts or emotions or feelings do exist.
Source: Śrī Amṛtānandanātha Sarasvatī "Sudhā Syandinī Bhāṣyaṃ" Typed Manuscript
(an incomplete commentary on Lalitā Sahasranāma)
