[Advaita-l] Contemplation/Vedantic Meditation/Slow Manana & Nididhyasana

[Anand N]

Namaste,

we have many teachers from different Ashrams teaching Vedantic Meditation
or Contemplation or even sometimes termed as slow Manana. This is a guided
journey to bring a person who has had enough Shravana and Manana
towards Nididhyasana.
What I wonder is if this guided process is something that is a trend in the
last 40-50 years or so from different Maths, Ashrams etc.
It would be interesting to know if such guided contemplations are provided
by the more traditional  Maths.

What also interests me here, is, is this guided Nididhyasana a valid
process? Is there any support for this from our scriptures?

Isn't the journey from Manana to Nididhyasana a very individual and
personal process?For e.g. even in Ishta Devata Upasana, when one is
initiated in a mantra, after that one is left to one's own means to finally
meditate on the mantra or come to samadhi, etc.

My questions here are probably open ended. I do naturally see the immediate
benefit of having guided contemplations, in order to gain an understanding
of how to go about it.

Om Namo Narayanaya,
Anand