The effects of meditation on meaning of life: A component of psychological wellbeing

Pages:347-349
K. Purandaran (Nodal Centre of Excellence for Human Rights Education, School of Law, Rights & Constitutional Governance,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)

Meditation has an effective tool that alleviates suffering associated with physical, psychosomatic disorders. Various popular versions of the programs were studied and reported many beneficial effects. The lesser known but original techniques of meditation were not subject to scientific study. The Meaning of Life is an essential ingredient in subjective wellbeing, hence this study. 92 spiritual practitioners who practice – Prasada Para Vidya – a meditation technique were studied along with 54 non meditating controls. Out of 92 the 39 subjects were meditators and 53 were practicing a vow of virtue. The total sample is 146 in this study. The Meaning of Life Scale (Steger, 2009) were used in this study along with additional wellbeing parameters like Satisfaction with life, Self transcendence, Spirituality as other parameters of wellbeing. The results sows that the meditation group and non meditation group are significantly (p < .05) different on meaning of life score. The effect size seems to be higher comparing the meditation group with vow of virtue group for meaning of life (p < .05). The meaning of life is correlated with spirituality score. The Self transcendence scale is correlated with satisfaction with life and spirituality scales but not correlated with meaning of life directly. Self transcendence seems to be working as a moderator by triggering other well being measures and have a bearing on meaning of life.