Spiritual science, in developing the mind, enables one to analyze matters in an objective manner. In complex issues, it is an aid to right judgement. It helps one to view things in such a way that mental confusion is dispelled and one can think with total clarity. If heartbased spirituality was no more than thoughtless ecstasy, mind-based spirituality has emerged as a fine-tuned form of high thinking. Spiritual science has evolved in the same way as the science of the solar system. In the early centuries man had given credence to the geocentric theory. As a result, no development in this science was possible. In modern times, however, man’s thinking altered sufficiently for the heliocentric theory to be formulated, as a result of which solar science became a developed discipline. The same change in thinking took place in the case of spiritual science. In the pre-scientific period, people believed in heart-based spirituality, so that there could be no furtherance of the imparting of spiritual discipline. The scientific age being an age of mind-based spirituality, endless scope for spiritual advancement has opened up.
The development of spirituality into Sufism and Vedanta led to it becoming a heart-based discipline. It was believed that humans have an inner hidden reservoir in the heart. Unfolding it and establishing contact with it leads to spirituality. This is why, spirituality gave rise to meditation.
What is meditation?
It is to establish contact with the heart, which is believed to be the source of all spirituality. This has been continuing for thousands of years, and the result has been nothing. This is because the heart contains nothing. Just as science has put an end to many myths, it has put an end to this myth as well. One of the myths was geocentric model of the solar system. That is, the earth is in the centre and the sun revolves around it. The geocentric theory held sway for long, but science later proved that it was a myth. When the telescope was discovered in the age of science, it came to light that the heliocentric system is the right one. The sun is in the centre and other planets, including the earth, revolve around it. The geocentric theory was discarded and the heliocentric theory prevails now. The same is true of spirituality.
Heart-based spirituality has now been scientifically discarded. Now mind-based spirituality is considered right, which is based on contemplation and not on meditation. I believe in mind-based spirituality, contemplation-based spirituality, and not meditation-based spirituality. All the literature in Persian, English, Arabic and Urdu introduce heart-based spirituality. The discipline of spirituality could not develop much because it was connected to the heart, which contains nothing. The heart inside the human body is like any other organ, and its function is to maintain the circulation of blood. The heart has neither consciousness nor thought. The mind is the centre of all our thoughts, feelings and emotions. This way of thinking could not advance much even after the advent of science. That is, people could still not adopt mind-based spirituality and remained involved in heart-based spirituality. But I consider this wrong. We need to evolve spirituality as a new discipline, that is spirituality based on mind.
