When we speak of meditation, we are mostly speaking about nothing, because meditation means transcendence of the material world, the world that we see with our senses, that we perceive through sight, through hearing, through smell and so forth. We have to go beyond that in order to reach a meditative state. Literally, a state where there is no thing. Nothing. It is said that meditating or meditation is concentrating more and more on less and less. Now, most of us are locked up in such as sensual world, we cannot tolerate the meditative state. We cannot tolerate a state where there is no thing, where there is nothing. Most of us are occupied with becoming somebody, we cannot tolerate the idea of being nobody. We succeed in meditation when we have nothing, no thing, and we are nobody. Meditation is an exalted state. One has to work to achieve that state. So much work must be done before meditation can occur, and this is what is implied by the word Dhyana. Normally, the classical yogi is thought of having 8 parts of which meditation is the 7th. Meditation in Sanskrit is called Dhyana. The idea is that Dhyana is an exalted state of consciousness. It is something that cannot be practiced but rather one prepares one's body, emotions, mind to the point where Dhyan occurs spontaneously. It is the spontaneous ascent of consciousness to a particular level where the personality melts into the universality and only a oneness exists. Classical yoga has given us the path. One must begin with a morality and ethics. One must live properly, restraining the animal nature and cultivating the human qualities. One must control the body, teaching the body, disciplining the body, particularly to attain stillness, asana. Asana means to sit quietly, in stillness. When the body comes under the control of the mind, when the animal instinct towards movement is restrained, then one is ready for pranayama, controlling the flow of energy, the energy occurence which flows into the body, out of the body, the energy occurrence which sustains the mind, the motions and the entire being. This energy occurrence called the pranic flow, are directed, controlled and intensified through pranayama.When all of this has been achieved to some extent, then the attention must be turned to the senses, the sensory operations. Restraining the senses, controlling the senses and understanding the position of the senses in one's life. Transcending the sensory stimulus, this is what we meant when we said meditation, Dhyana. It is to speak of no thing. When we control the sensory impressions, we enter a state where we literally do not perceive the material world. After we have achieved that state, where the body is still, the prana is controlled, where we are living a life that is disciplined, moral and ethical, and the senses come under the control, we are satisfied and happy to live with minimum sensory stimulus, we are ready to enter the yoga dhyana or concentration. Then we begin to work directly with the mind, making the mind one-pointed, teaching the mind to become concentrated, to stay on one point. If we can maintain, that one-pointedness of mind, on an object, whether external or internal, it can be an external object, it can be an internal object, an interanl sound. The ancient texts, especially the Upanishads, taught us the best objective contemplation is the sound of the pranava, Aum. Now, when that one pointedness becomes total, then the will is transcended, even the human will is transcended. The flow of consciousness exists where there is neither object nor the subject but simply a flow. The three pronged nature of our existence, the subject, the object, and the interaction between the two, seen or the thing seen, and the act of seeing, all become one unitary process. This is the state of Dhyana. Now this can occur only when the other states have been mastered to some extent. Dhyan, therefore is not concentration. We can plant this, we can water this, but we cannot make the flower bloom. The state of Dhyan, is the highest state of Samadhi, comes out of Dhyana, is not within our power. Therefore, the classical yoga teachings were, prepare yourself, and the techniques are there, the teachings are there, the proper attitudes are there to prepare the human body for the very exalted state of existence called Dhyan.