MEDITATION
If you want to get rid of the pains and afflictions of this samsara (worldly life) you must practise meditation. Meditation is the pathway to divinity. It is the royal road to the kingdom of Brahman. It is a mysterious ladder which reaches from error to truth, from darkness to light, from pain to bliss, from restlessness to abiding peace, from ignorance to wisdom, from mortality to immortality. Meditation leads to knowledge of the self, to eternal peace, supreme bliss. Meditation prepares you for direct intuitive knowledge.
Truth is Brahman. Truth is self. You cannot realise the truth without reflection and meditation. Be silent. Know thyself. Melt the mind in that. Without meditation you cannot liberate yourself from the trammels of the mind and attain immortality. Tear the veils that cover the soul. Rend asunder the five sheaths that screen the atman (self) by constant meditation. You will find final beatitude.
Meditation is a powerful tonic. The holy vibrations penetrate all the cells of the body and cure all its diseases. The powerful soothing waves that arise during meditation exercise a benign influence over the mind and the nerves. If you meditate for half an hour you will be able to engage yourself with peace and spiritual strength in the daily battle of life, for a week. You do this just through the force of this one meditation.
A yogi who meditates regularly has a magnetic, charming personality. Those who come in contact with him are much influenced by his sweet voice, his powerful speech, his lustrous eyes, his brilliant complexion, his strong healthy body, his good behaviour, his virtuous qualities and divine nature. People draw peace and joy and strength from him.
Close your lips. Shut the doors of the senses. Meditate on atman (self). You will enjoy peace and bliss. The more you grow in aspiration and meditation, the more you grow God-like. For in meditation is the light of the Lord.
Meditate and charge your battery by contact with God. Dive deep in the chambers of your heart through profound and silent meditation, and bring up the pearl of truth.
THE SECRET OF MEDITATION
Meditation is the road to the attainment of salvation (moksa). Meditation kills all pains, suffering the three kinds of tapas (fevers), and the five klesas (sorrows). Meditation gives the vision of unity. Meditation produces a sense of oneness. Meditation is the aeroplane that helps the aspirant to soar high in the realms of eternal bliss and everlasting peace.
Meditation is the mysterious ladder that connects heaven and earth and takes the aspirant to the immortal abode of Brahman. Meditation is the continuous flow of one thought of God or atman, like the continuous flow of oil from one vessel to another.
When you sit for meditation, all sorts of worldly thoughts will crop up in your mind; this will disturb the meditation. You will be astonished. Old thoughts, old memories of past enjoyments will bubble up and force the mind to wander in all directions. The trap-door of the vast magazine of thoughts and memories, within the subconscious mind, is opened up and these thoughts gush out in a continuous stream. The more you attempt to still them, the more they will bubble up.
Do not be discouraged. Never despair. Through regular and constant meditation you will purify the sub-conscious mind and thus control the thoughts and memories. The fire of meditation will burn all thoughts. Be sure of this.
Meditation on the immortal self will act like dynamite. It will blow up all thoughts and memories in the sub-conscious mind. If the thoughts trouble you much, do not suppress them by force. Be a silent witness, as in a bioscope. They will subside gradually. Then you must root them out by regular silent meditation.
The practice of meditation must be constant. Then only will one attain self-realisation, quickly and surely. He who practises meditation, by fits and starts, for a few minutes daily, will not be able to achieve any tangible success in yoga.
SELF-EFFORT AND GRACE IN MEDITATION
You need a calm, clear, pure, subtle, steady, sharp one-pointed buddhi (intellect) to understand the reality of Brahman. Only then is realisation possible. Only a trained mind which utterly controls the body, can enquire and meditate as long as life remains, never losing sight of the object of its search and never letting it be obscured by any terrestrial temptations.
Energy is wasted in useless idle talk and gossiping, planning and unnecessary worrying. Conserve energy by getting rid of these three defects and utilise it in meditation. Then you can do wonderful meditation. He who says and imagines that he practises deep meditation daily, when he has not removed the evil traits of the mind, deceives himself first and then others. He is a first class hypocrite.
If you strain yourself in meditation and go beyond your capacity, then laziness and inactive nature will supervene. Meditation should come naturally on account of serenity of mind, induced by practice of sama, dama, uparati and pratyahara (control of mind and senses, non-pursuit of pleasure and introversion of attention). Atman (self) is the fountain of energy. Thinking on atman or the source of energy, also is a dynamic method of augmenting energy, strength and power.Divine energy flows freely from the feet of the Lord to the different systems of the aspirant, and new nerve currents, new grooves, new cells are formed. The mind and nervous system are remodeled and you will develop a new heart.
Conserve energy by talking little, observing mouna (silence), controlling anger, observing brahmacarya (celibacy), practising pranayama (yoga breathing) and controlling irrelevant and non-essential thoughts. Meditate and behold the imperishable atman. Rest yourself firmly in the self. Nothing can hurt you now. You can become invincible.
In contemplation, you are in spiritual contact with unchanging light; you are cleansed of all impurities. If you have an open heart, devotedly lifted up to God, the light of his purity and love will consume all your short-comings. This purifying process leads to a deeper insight into truth. This is the action of the grace of the Lord upon the soul in meditation. In this inflowing grace there arises that light of the mind into which God is sending the ray of his unclouded splendour.
STAGES IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION
In the beginning you can meditate twice daily, from 4 to 6 in the morning and 7 to 8 at night. As you advance in your practices, you can increase the duration of each sitting, little by little, using your common sense and discretion, and also have a third sitting either in the morning between 10 and 11 or in the evening between 4 and 5.
In the Yoga Vasishta you will find: "The right course to be adopted by one who is in his novitiate is this: Two parts of the mind must be filled with the objects of enjoyment, one part with philosophy and the remaining part with devotion to the teacher. Having advanced a little, he should fill one part of the mind with the objects of enjoyment, two parts with devotion to the teacher and the remaining one part with getting an insight into the meaning of philosophy. When one has attained proficiency, he should every day fill two parts with meditation and the other two with devoted service to the guru. This will eventually lead you on to meditation for twenty-four hours."
Sitting in your favourite meditative pose and keeping the head and trunk erect, close your eyes and gently concentrate on either the tip of the nose, space between the two eyebrows, the heart lotus or the crown of the head. When once you have selected one centre of concentration, stick to it till the last with leech-like tenacity.
Meditation is of two kinds, namely, saguna (with gunas or qualities) and nirguna (without gunas or qualities). Meditation on Lord Krishna, Lord Siva, Lord Rama or Lord Jesus is saguna meditation. It is meditation with form and attributes. The name of the Lord is also simultaneously repeated. This is the method of the devotees.Meditation on the reality of the self is nirguna meditation. This is the method of the vedantins. Meditation on Om, Soham, Sivoham, Aham Brahma Asmi and Tat Twam Asi is nirguna meditation.
If you want to keep the mind charged with the fire of Brahmic wisdom, you must always keep it in contact with the Brahmic fire of knowledge, through constant and intense meditation.
LISTEN TO THE MYSTIC SOUND
Sit in padma asana or siddha asana. Practise yoni mudra by closing the ears with the thumbs. Hear the internal sound through the right ear. The sound which you will hear will make you deaf to all external sounds. Having overcome all obstacles you will enter the turiya state within fifteen days. In the beginning you may hear many loud sounds. Then try to hear more and more subtle sounds.
The mind having first concentrated itself on any one sound, fixes firmly to that and is absorbed in it. The mind becomes insensible to external impressions and becomes one with the sound. Being indifferent to all objects and having controlled the passions, you should, by continual practice, concentrate your mind upon the sound which destroys the mind.
Having abandoned all thoughts and being freed from all actions, you should always concentrate your whole attention on the sound and then the citta (mind) becomes absorbed in it. Just as the bee, drinking the honey alone, does not care for the odour, so the citta, which is always absorbed in sound does not long for sensual objects - it is bound by the sweet nada (sound) and has abandoned its flitting nature.
The serpent citta, through listening to the nada, is entirely absorbed in it and, becoming unconscious of everything, concentrates itself on the sound. The sound serves the purpose of a sharp goad to control the maddened elephant citta, which roves in the pleasure garden of the sensual objects.
The sound proceeding from the pranava (Om) is Brahman. It is of the nature of effulgence. It is the seat of Vishnu. The mind exists so long as there is sound but, with its cessation, there is that state termed turiya. Being freed from all states and all thoughts, you will remain like one dead. The body is like a log. It does not feel heat or cold, joy or sorrow.
When spiritual sight is fixed - without any object to be seen, when prana (life-force) becomes still - without any effort, when the citta becomes firm - without any support, you become Brahman. When manas (mind) is destroyed, when virtues and sins are burned away, you shine as the effulgent, immaculate, eternal, stainless Brahman.
EXERCISES IN MEDITATION
Keep a picture of Lord Krishna with a flute in his hands. Sit in your meditative pose and gently concentrate on this picture until you shed tears. Think of his feet, adorned with anklets. Think of his yellow silken garment. Think of the ornaments around his neck. Think of the long garland of beautiful flowers of various colours. Think of his earrings and the crown set with precious jewels he wears on his head.Think of the long dark hair, the sparkling eyes and the tilaka (mark) on the forehead. Think of the magnetic aura around his head. Think of his arms and hands, adorned with armlets and bracelets. Think of the flute, ready in his hands, waiting for him to play it. Then close your eyes and visualise this picture mentally. Repeat this process again and again.
This is one kind of meditation and is suitable for beginners. Sit in padmasana in your meditation room. Close the eyes. Meditate on the effulgence in the sun, or the splendour in the moon, or the glory of the stars.
There is a living universal power that underlies all these names and forms. Meditate on this power, which is formless. This will terminate in the realisation of the absolute, nirguna (attributeless), nirakara (formless) consciousness eventually.
Sit in your meditative pose. Close your eyes. Imagine that there is a supreme, infinite effulgence hidden behind all these names and forms, tantamount to the effulgence of millions of suns put together. This is also a form of nirguna meditation.
Concentrate and meditate on the expansive blue sky. By the previous methods of concentration the mind will cease thinking of finite forms. It will slowly begin to melt in the ocean of peace as it is deprived of its contents. Thus the mind will become subtler and subtler.
Concentrate on the picture of Om in front of you. Do this with open eyes until the tears flow profusely. Associate the ideas of eternity, infinity, immortality, etc., with Om.
The humming of bees, the sweet notes of the nightingale and all other sounds emanate from Om only. Om is the essence of all the vedas (scriptures).
IMPORTANCE OF OM
Brahman is the highest of all. Om is his name. Om is also your real name. It covers the threefold experiences of man. From Om this sense world has been projected. The world exists in Om and dissolves in Om.
Om is the greatest of all mantras (mystic formula). Om bestows direct liberation. All mantras begin with Om. Om is the life, the soul, of all mantras. Every Upanishad begins with Om. Oblations that are offered to the various gods are all preceded by Om.
All languages, all sounds, come out of Om. The essence of the four vedas is Om. A-U-M covers the whole range of sound vibrations. `A' starts from the root of the tongue, `U' proceeds from the middle and `M' comes from the end, by closing the lips.
Om is the source of all religions and scriptures. This sacred monosyllable is the means of liberation from the bonds of matter. It leads one, stage by stage, to the highest bliss. It is fit for the lowest as well as for the highest and most advanced intellect. It is fit for the Brahmachari (celibate student) as well as the sanyasin (monk). It is fit for any condition.
Om is your birthright. It is the common heritage of all. It is the word of power. It fills the devotee with spiritual strength, vigour and energy when chanted with harmony and rhythm. It brings inspiration and intuition.
It elevates the mind. It is a spiritual food and tonic. It is full of divine potency. Live in Om. Meditate on Om. Inhale Om. Exhale Om. Rest peacefully in Om. Take shelter in Om. May that Om guide you.
Om stands for all phenomenal worlds. From Om this sense universe has been projected. Om has been formed by adding the letters AUM; `A' represents the physical world; `U' represents the mental and the astral planes, the world of spirits, all heavens; and `M' represents the deep sleep state and, even in the waking state, all that is unknown, beyond reach of the intellect. Om therefore represents all.It is the basis of your life, thought and intelligence. All words that denote objects are centred in Om hence the whole world has come from Om, rests in Om and dissolves in Om.
************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment