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representing the five venerable ones A, Si, Ā, U, Să (for Arihant, Siddha, Acārya, Upādhyāya, and Sādhu respectively). Conceive a fivepetal lotus at your heart. On the middle petal is placed the letter A; on the eastern one is Si; on southern is Ã; on the western is U, and on the northern is Sā. These letters are in the form of a flame and are rotating. Meditation should be done on this configuration. This also is nāma dhyeya. Like Arham, meditation can be done on other potent syllables.
To meditate on a natural or man made image of Jinendra Bhagavāna is called sthāpanā dhyeya. Every entity has states of creation, destruction, and permanence. To meditate over this fundamental principle is dravya dhyeya. There are six entities out of which only soul is worth meditating on. To meditate on the attributes and modes of the entities is called bhāva dhyeya. One should meditate on the five venerables, their form and their virtues. This is because you tend to become what you meditate on. When one meditates on the supreme-soul he tends to become supreme-soul. In the process of meditation on bhāva dhyeya the meditater forgets his independent existence and merges into the object. This is called the state of unison.
MEDITATION
Dhyana is of two types niścaya dhyana (noumenal) and vyavahāra dhyana (phenomenal). Noumenal meditation is selfdependent. This means it is directed at soul and is undivided. Therefore, it is called meditation united with soul. Phenomenal meditation is dependent on other things. This is a meditation where effort is made to reach the true form of soul with some outside help. As it is done using some outside medium, it is called disunited meditation, The goal of meditation is to attain purity of soul. Those who reach perfection in phenomenal meditation are able to practice noumenal meditation. In the disunited meditation it is vital that the object of meditation be supreme soul. However, even the supreme soul is also 'the other'. While meditating about supreme soul when the aspirant turns his attention to the self and synchronizes with its sublime form it is called the perfection of meditation. This meditation is also called yoga, samādhi, and pratisankhyāna. When the aspirant improves his practice of conventional meditation and reaches a stage where he no more needs any outside help to progress in the direction of the self, he automatically transcends the phenomenal meditation. At that level the
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