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Transcendental Consciousness Going Beyond Words You now move forward to the next level of concentration which is the ability to hold your mental content on one object without having to mentally chant, reason, or use any verbalization to maintain the object in your clear and focused mind. This stage is indeed wonderful. It should be mentioned here that your mind has a faculty something like the clutch in a car. Whenever you move from one level of concentration, contemplation, or samadhi to the next level above it, you will likely experience a changeover. For example, if you chanted the word "apple," and reasoned about the apple as you strove to hold your mind constantly on the apple, you likely experienced a moment when your mind went blank. In essence, you moved from "verbalizing concentration" to concentration without the need for verbalizing or reasoning; you passed through a brief period of "contentless" meditation. This temporary blankness is an activity of your higher self which switches your mind from verbal meditation to nonverbal meditation. Somehow your higher self clears the way for higher levels of meditation by freeing the mind of all content. You will find "contentlessness" somewhat like being in a plane in partly cloudy skies. As you proceed through the sky you enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the way the sun reflects off the gorgeous clouds. Then suddenly your plane is inside a cloud. For a brief time you cannot see the landscape below or any other clouds. The beautiful view is "suspended" as you pass through the cloud. When you come out of the cloud, you once again behold the beautiful landscape and can see a great distance before you.
You will probably find that brief periods of contentless concentration occur, not only now at this beginning stage but every time you are about to move into a higher stage of transcendental consciousness. But bear in mind, because it's very essential, this brief time of contentless meditation is not a time to be mentally passive. You maintain full alertness. You are about to enter into a higher state of awareness and will need to be even more aware, more subtly aware, if you are to experience and achieve the next level. One vital rule of not only concentration but all forms of meditation is never be passive, never merely relax and take potluck, because then not only will your subconscious have free play to suggest whatever it wants to your mind, but also the astral or psychic world can easily invade and confuse your transcendental practices. Even for contentless meditation you must be very alert; only enjoy that a transformation is taking place in your mental content. In time you will be able to meditate without the need of an object! Your mind will be perfectly focused and responsive without outer or inner objects. As you develop in your concentration and the content of your mind becomes one-pointed, you are ready to move to the second stage of transcendental consciousness. However, keep in mind that with practice you will be concentrating on progressively more subtle inner objects: light in the forehead, love in the heart area, for example, rather than apples.
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