Meditation is a transcendence, a transcendence of all identities. We are identified with the body. The first step of meditation destroys that identity; we become aware that we are not the body. Then we become aware that we are identified wi...th the mind, with the thought process. That is the second step of meditation: it destroys that identity and makes us aware that we are not minds either. And the third and the most important and the deepest step is that we are identified with the heart, with our feelings, emotions. Meditation destroys that too.

These are the three steps, the three great negations, and out of these three negations comes the most positive phenomenon in existence: suddenly you become aware of who you are. But you become perfectly aware of who you are not.

To know the false as false is the beginning of knowing the true as true. So real religion starts in negation and ends in absolute affirmation. It starts with no, three no ss no to the body, no to the mind, no to the heart.

And then a miracle happens: out of these three no’s you suddenly attain to the biggest yes that you have ever seen in your life, ever experienced in your life — a total yes, an absolute yes. That yes is the transcendence of all misery, all bondage, all ignorance, all darkness, all death. You become part of eternity, you become part of god. You become god himself! That is the ultimate goal of sannyas.