God is a presence, not a person

God is a presence, not a person.

Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God.

Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence – like beauty, like joy.

Meditation has two parts: the beginning and the end. The beginning is called dhyana and the end is called samadhi.

Dhyana is the seed, samadhi is the flowering. Dhyana means becoming aware of all workings of your mind, all the layers of your mind – your memories, your desires, your thoughts, dreams – becoming aware of all that goes on inside you.

Dhyana is awareness, and samadhi is when the awareness has become so deep, so profound, so total that it is like a fire and it consumes the whole mind and all its functionings. It consumes thoughts, desires, ambitions, hopes, dreams. It consumes the whole stuff the mind is full of.

Samadhi is the state when awareness is there, but there is nothing to be aware inside you; the witness is there, but there is nothing to be witnessed.

Begin with dhyana, with meditation, and end in samadhi, in ecstasy, and you will know what God is. It is not a hypothesis, it is an experience. You have to LIVE it – that is the only way to know it.

*** Anand Zen