Meditation in Indian Philosophy
Meditation as a distinct practice in Indian philosophy appears in a variety of texts from the third century before the common era as well as in sculptural depictions that date from 3500 BCE. The quintessential manual on meditation, the Yoga Sūtra, was composed by approximately 200 CE and includes philosophical positions and meditation techniques from the Sāṃkhya, Jaina, and Buddhist traditions.
Early depictions of meditating figures were found in the excavations of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, Indus Valley cities that date from 3500 BCE Sculptures and steatite seals show people with half-closed eyes sitting in the lotus posture. In some seals, animals surround a meditating figure, indicating a shamanic, totemic origin of this tradition.
The earliest text of Indian literature, the Ṛg Veda, which dates from at least 1500 BCE, mentions longhaired ascetics and, amidst hundreds of hymns extolling various gods and goddesses, lays out the philosophical foundations for later traditions of meditation. Ṛg Veda (1:164.20) describes two birds in the same tree, one eating sweet berries while the other merely witnesses. This theme repeats itself in the Muṇḍaka Upanishad (3:l:l) and the S̄vetas̄vatara Upanishad (4:6) and is expressed in the Bhagavad Gītā themes of the lower nature subject to constant change and activity (pṛakrti) and the higher nature or inner true self (puruṣa or ātman).
