All throughout the world today you will find, particularly in the west, that meditation has been exploited by pop-culture and commercial avenues which deliberately strip the practice from its religious and humble origins…
The meditation techniques that the vast majority of the world are familiar with are from Hinduism of which Buddhism was born. It is from the efforts of both 19th century scholars and the 20th century visitations of various Gurus and Buddhist monks that the west became “pilled” on this practice which gave its most faithful practicioners the peace they looked for in the storms of a changing world.
However even in those the endeavors of dharmic missionaries there came also charlatans looking to maximize their power and gains, and out of such interactions, very watered down practices of meditation were contrived, some groups leading to debauchery and scandal in the midst of America’s corporate landscape. It is in more religious settings that we find a deeper understanding of the practice and its immediate relationship to the Gods. It is not that meditation cannot be practiced outside of religious settings in one’s everyday life, it is that meditation without the grounding of religion can easily be manipulated to become self serving and devoid of respect for the truly devoted masters in ancient times that preserved this necessary art in our daily lives. Not only this, but meditation in buddhism and its goals and philosophy differ from traditional meditation from Vedic teachings. America had become more interested you could say in buddhist style meditations due to their traditionless ties, but herein lies the problem.
It is therefore incredibly important for us as a movement to emphasize that in reality meditation cannot sustain for long without the companionship of ancestral religious practice. The same dilemma that has happened in India’s history with Buddhism has happened in America. The tool of Vipassana ( meditation as taught by buddhism ) introduced to American society stripped of its Vedic origins was like giving a car to a young man who never learned how to drive, it only led to sectarianism and confusion, and destruction.
The practice of meditation as taught by Siddharta Gautama ( The Buddha ) became a popular practice in America due to its less religious application despite Buddhism being very religious since its creation in its own right. The problem that was revealed, as Buddhism spread in 8th century India, is as the problem that now exists in the west due to this approach; the forsaking of traditional religion in an effort to attain freedom and total liberation spiritually from the world. Devotees of buddhism essentially renounce the rites and Gods of classic religion in pursuit of Nirvana, but these practices were not realistic for all people and for humanity to continue to live, for to live as a Buddhist, is to essentially renounce life on earth itself.
This same error had breached American society in the 20th century, although it is quite complex how the meditation methods that changed spirituality in America clashed with christianity which was also different type of “buddhism” you could say. In buddhist methods of practice, Americans during the hippy era left traditional christianity behind in pursuit of enlightenment and liberation which had its benefits and setbacks. In some ways this method to the irony did liberate the mind from slumber and mindless slaveries of various kinds, but in other ways, meditation led many to a religionless void, for there were no Adi Shankaracharyas ( 8th century Vedic reformer ) to gather Americans back to the truth of traditional religion and the balance of meditation, and Christians to their detriment considered meditation demonic. Religionless “dharma” was the fatal error of Buddhism in 8th century India, and is the fatal error of Buddhism now in America. It beckons, in reality, renunciation from the world, and not meditation that leads to action while living in it ( Vedanta ).
It should be said that Buddhism isn’t entirely wrong, it serves its purpose, but it would be better to say that Buddhist meditation serves as an introductory to Vedic religion rather than a stopping point. Vipassana, as it is called, is originally a Vedic practice from where the Buddha emphasized its practice because of corruption in society. Understandable, because the overemphasis of rites without a focus on compassion breeds sterile and broken traditions devoid of love and the original purpose of religion to begin with. Vipassana, which can be and has been a universal practice spanning all time and tribes, was always followed by right religion which is how ancient traditions globally are born, and how Dharmic rites developed. In reality meditation leads to cosmic Order and understanding of our relationship to God who breathed in to us life and gave us the intellect to form ritual.
If one pursues meditation but has no God to pray to or rites to perform, they are only experiencing an aspect of the whole reality. And the same can be said in the west for the problem of “meditationless” Christianity; they are only experiencing an aspect of the whole. Which is why many people have been taking interest in the deeper mystical forms of Christianity such as gnosticism and the larger philosophical Orthodox Christians. But the answer is in a deeper chapter of European history and that is the Iron age and its classic religions whom of which all share the religious ancestry of the Vedas. It is there we find the meditating Cernunnos on the Gundestrup cauldron and various Gallic statues. It is in the remnants of our Vedic-like past that we begin to see the whole picture once again. Meditation for European westerners should not lead us to buddhism, but it can lead us to rediscover our ancient ancestral paths and their Vedic philosophies. We should use meditation to deepen our love for our Gods and Goddesses, and restore our religions like Adi Shankaracharya did for India. Its is through meditation that we do not renounce the world, but that we do right action for the Gods, for the ancestors, and for the world.