Meditation & Its Practices: A Definitive Guide to Techniques and Traditions of Meditation in Yoga and Vedanta
Adiswarananda · ★★★★☆ · 504 pages · 2003
This book took me a while to get through. It covers the meditation techniques for Vedanta with the foundation being the Yoga Sutras. It covered the different traditions as well as the detailed expectations of each type of meditation. For example I didn’t expect there to be such a long chapter on meditating on Om.
Overall really gets to the different ways to meditate and the different methods to use. But the end assumption I got, and it seems is part of the Vedanta tradition, is that you pick a method and that is what you end up practicing for the rest of your body’s lifetime. In that regard it is a good book to understand what the different meditation methods are. It is a great guidebook.
One critique I have of the book is that it does seem to be made to not be read fully, with the expectation you read about the meditation technique your guru assigns you, and in that regard a lot of the quotes do get repeated.
Overall a good book for an intermediate practitioner who understands the philosophy and terminology of Vedanta. I wouldn’t say this book is for a beginner.