Raja Yoga, Message 17
(The section ‘Benefits of Meditation’ now resumes.)
If you can meditate for half an hour daily you will be able to engage yourself with peace and spiritual strength in the battle of life for one week through the force of this meditation. Such is the beneficial result of meditation. As you have to move with different minds of peculiar natures in your daily life, get the strength and peace from meditation and you will have no trouble and worry.
A yogi who meditates regularly has a magnetic and charming personality. Those who come in contact with him are much influenced by his sweet voice, powerful speech, lustrous eyes, brilliant complexion, strong healthy body, good behaviour, virtuous quality and divine nature. Just as a grain of salt dropped in a basin of water dissolves and becomes distributed throughout the whole water, just as sweet fragrance of jasmine pervades the air, so also the yogi's spiritual aura infiltrates into the minds of others. People draw joy, peace and strength from him. They are inspired by his speech and get elevation of mind by mere contact with him.
Meditation is the only way for attaining immortality and eternal bliss. Those who do not concentrate and meditate are slayers of Atman. They are in fact living corpses and miserable wretches. They are very poor people. They are hopeless misers indeed.
The wise cut asunder the knot of egoism by the sharp sword of constant meditation. Then dawns supreme knowledge of the Self or full inner illumination or Self-realisation. The liberated sage has neither doubts nor delusion. All the bonds of karma are rent asunder. Therefore, be ever engaged in meditation. This is the master-key for opening the realms of eternal bliss. It may be tiring and disgusting in the beginning, because the mind will be running away from the point every now and then. After some practice it will be focussed in the centre. You will be immersed in divine bliss.
The man who cannot fix his mind in meditation cannot have knowledge of the Self. The unsteady man cannot practise any meditation. He cannot have any intense devotion to knowledge of the Self or any burning longing for liberation or moksha. He who does not practise any meditation cannot possess peace of mind. How can there be happiness for the unpeaceful?
Meditate, meditate. Do not lose even a single minute. Meditation will remove all the miseries of life. That is the only way. Meditation is the enemy of the mind. It brings about the death of the mind.
Like attracts like. This is a great law. Entertain good thoughts. Do meditation. You will attract sadhus, yogis and siddhas. You will be benefited by their vibrations. Your new spiritual vibration will attract them!
Even Indra, who is rolling in abundant wealth, cannot enjoy that bliss which comes to a sage who has a self-centred mind free from desires, who is resting in his own essential nature and who has equal vision for all.
Ignorant people bring a false charge that the sadhus who meditate in caves are selfish. The mahatma who meditates in a solitary cave in the Himalayas helps the world more through his spiritual vibrations than the sadhu who preaches on the platform. When the meditator becomes mindless he pervades and permeates the whole world. Just as sound vibrations travel in the ethereal space, so also the spiritual vibrations of a meditator travel a long distance and bring peace and strength to thousands.
Learn the science of self-control. Possess a steady mind by constant practice of meditation. Fix your mind upon God. You will have divine life. There will be an inflooding of all divine qualities. All negative tendencies will vanish and all conflicting forces will be reconciled. You will enjoy perfect harmony, undisturbed happiness and abiding peace.
Great rishis and sages of yore like Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka, etc., acquired the knowledge of the Self — which is a means to secure the highest communion — through intense meditation.
The attainment of cosmic consciousness is permanent in realised souls. It is like a glimpse in the beginning. Through steady meditation it becomes permanent or natural.
Without the help of meditation you cannot attain knowledge of the Self. Without its aid you cannot grow into the divine state. Without it you cannot liberate yourself from the trammels of the mind, and attain immortality. If you do not practise meditation the supreme splendour and fadeless glories of the Atman will remain hidden from you. Tear the veils that cover the soul by practising regular meditation. By constant meditation rend asunder the five sheaths that screen the Atman, and then attain the final beatitude of life.
Meditation and Rest
Fatigue of the senses demands rest. Hence sleep supervenes at night, rhythmically. Motion and rest are rhythmical processes in life. The mind moves about in the avenues of the senses through the force of desires. There is subtle working of the mind in dream also, hence you do not get good rest in sleep. Real rest is secured in meditation, and meditation only. This rest is far superior to the rest that is obtained from sleep. Sound sleep even for half or one hour will suffice for the man who regularly meditates.
The mind is fully concentrated during meditation. It is far away from objects and very near the Atman. There are no currents during meditation owing to absence of objects. Consequently there is the manifestation of solid, lasting, real spiritual bliss with complete and genuine rest. You must practise meditation, you must feel it yourself. Then you will agree with me.
You may not enjoy the rest fully in the beginning of the practice, because at the outset there is a good deal of wrestling between the will and innate nature, the old mental tendencies and the new tendencies, old habits and new habits, effort and old conduct. The mind revolts. When the mind is thinned out, when it has reached the thread-like state, you will enjoy good rest in meditation. You can then gradually cut short your sleep to three or four hours.
Generally, when you have dreamless or deep sound sleep, either you do not remember what you dreamt of, or you fall into absolute unconsciousness which is almost death — a taste of death. But in meditation there is sleep in which you enter into an absolute silence, immortality and peace in all parts of your being, and your consciousness merges into Sat-chid-ananda (existence, knowledge, bliss). You can hardly call it sleep, for there is perfect awareness. In that condition you can remain for a few minutes. It will give you more rest and refreshment than hours of ordinary sleep. You cannot have it by chance. It requires long training.
Mind and Meditation
Mind is a power born of the spirit, because it is through mind that God manifests Himself in the differentiated universe of names and forms. Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts and habits. Make use of them as an aid in spiritual endeavour.
There are many terms in the Bhagavad Gita which denote that you will have to give your full mind, entire cent-per-cent, to God. Then only will you have Self-realisation. Even if one ray of mind runs outside it is impossible to attain God-consciousness.
If you remove the oscillation of the mind you will get one-pointedness of mind, which is a thing unknown to many. Max Muller writes: "One-pointedness of mind is impossible for us (westerners) when our minds are diverted in various directions through newspapers, telegrams, postal communications, etc." It is an indispensable condition in all religious and philosophical speculations, and in meditation.
In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna prescribes a spiritual practice for removing tossing of the mind: "As often as the wavering and unsteady mind goes forth, so often reining it in, let him bring it under the control of the Self. Abandoning without reserve all desires born of the imagination by the mind, curbing in the aggregate of the senses on every side, little by little let him gain tranquillity by means of reason controlled by steadiness; having made the mind abide in the Self, let him not think of anything." (VI-24,25,26)
When you begin to sweep a room that was kept closed for six months, various kinds of dirt come out from the corners of the room. Similarly during meditation, under pressure of yoga and through the grace of God, various kinds of impurities float about on the surface of the mind. Bravely remove them, one by one, by suitable methods and counter-virtues, with patience and strenuous efforts. The old vicious habitual desires take revenge when you try to suppress them. Do not be afraid, they lose their strength after some time. You have to tame the mind just as you tame a wild elephant or a tiger. Do not indulge in vicious thoughts which serve as food for the mind. Make the mind self-introspective. Substitute good, virtuous, sublime thoughts.
Feed the mind with ennobling aspirations and ideas. Old vicious tendencies will be gradually thinned out and eventually obliterated.
You must try your level best to keep a serene mind always. Meditation can proceed from a serene mind only. A serene mind is a valuable spiritual asset for you.
There are many valuable trainings of the mind which are essential to mental culture: for instance, the training of the memory, the cultivation of reflection, discrimination and enquiry. The practice of meditation itself is a potent clarifier of the memory. The practice of memory-culture powerfully helps the attainment of meditation.
Do not wrestle with the mind during meditation. It is a serious mistake. Many neophytes commit this grave error. That is the reason why they soon get easily tired. They get headache and have to get up very often to pass urine during the course of meditation, owing to the irritation set up in the micturition centre in the spinal cord.
Do not try to drive away the unimportant and irrelevant thoughts. The more you try the more will they return and the more strength will they gain. You will only tax your energy and will. Become indifferent. Fill the mind with divine thoughts. The others will gradually vanish. Build through regular meditation a strong spiritual fortress and a magnetic aura around you which cannot be penetrated even by the worst evil.
Your will should be rendered strong, pure and irresistible by more reflection on the Self, eradication of subtle desires, control of the senses and more inner life.
In dream also you should begin to gradually exercise control. You should check the mind when it does an evil act. The force of your spiritual practice done in the wakeful state will come to your aid in the dream. This is a sign of your spiritual growth. Watch your dreams carefully.
What sort of thoughts arise in your mind as soon as you wake up, when you are alone in the room or when you walk in the streets? Are you able to keep up the same state of mind you have during meditation in a closed room when you walk in the street also? Introspect and closely watch your mind. If the mind is perturbed when you walk in the streets you are still weak, you have not advanced in meditation or grown spiritually. Continue the meditation vigorously. (An advanced student will have thoughts of Brahman in his dream.)
Unless you closely observe the mind you will not find that it is running away. Sometimes you will be imagining that you are meditating, but actually the mind will be either building castles in the air or going into the state of half sleep or deep sleep.
In a big city there is much bustle and sound at eight p.m. At nine p.m. there is not so much bustle and sound. At ten p.m. it is still reduced; at eleven p.m. it is much less. At one a.m. there is peace everywhere. Even so, in the beginning of yoga practices there are countless thoughts in the mind. There is much agitation and tossing in the mind. Gradually the thought waves subside. In the end all mental modifications are controlled. The yogi enjoys perfect peace.
When you pass through a market of a big city you will not be able to notice small sounds, but when you sit for common meditation with some of your friends in a quiet room in the morning, you will be able to detect even a little sneezing or coughing. Even so, you are not able to find out the evil thoughts when you are engaged in some work or other, but you are able to detect them when you sit for meditation. Do not be afraid when evil thoughts pass through your mind when you sit for meditation. Do vigorous japa and meditation. They will pass off soon.
Even if the mind runs outside during your practice, do not bother. Allow it to run. Slowly try to bring it to your centre of concentration. By repeated practice the mind will be finally focussed in your heart; in the Atman, the indweller of your heart, the final goal of life. In the beginning the mind may run out eighty times; within six months it may run seventy times; within a year it may run fifty times; within two years it may run thirty times; within five years it will be completely fixed in the divine consciousness. Then it will not run out at all even if you try your level best to bring it out, like the wandering bull which was in the habit of running to gardens of different landlords for eating grass, but which now eats fresh gram and extract of cotton seeds in its own resting place.
The Atman is the fountain source of energy. Thinking on the Atman or the source of energy is also a dynamic method for augmenting energy, strength and power.
Conserve energy by talking little, observing mauna, controlling anger, observing celibacy, practising pranayama and controlling irrelevant and nonsensical thoughts. You will have abundant energy at your disposal by having recourse to the above practices. You can move heaven and earth now.
Abandon ruthlessly all sensual objects. They are the wombs of pain. Gradually develop balance of mind. Subdue the senses. Annihilate lust, anger and greed. Meditate and behold the imperishable Atman. Rest yourself firmly in the Self. Nothing can hurt you now, you have become invincible.
Dive deep into the heart by withdrawing the mind from sensual objects. Kill this illusory little T and know 'I am He' (soham). Just as the drop of water loses its name and form and joins the sea, so also the jiva himself merges in the Supreme Soul and loses his own name and form.
The sight of a beautiful form gives pleasure to the mind. After all, mind wants pleasure. If, by the practice of meditation, the mind is trained to enjoy or taste the bliss of formless Brahman or the Self who is seated in the hearts of all, it will not run to beautiful forms outside.
The mind-wandering will gradually cease through regular meditation. Meditation will remove irritability also and considerably augment peace of mind.
You should know the ways and habits of the mind through daily introspection, self-analysis or self-examination. You should have knowledge of the laws of the mind. Then it will be easy for you to check mind-wandering. When you sit for meditation, when you deliberately attempt to forget the worldly objects, all sorts of worldly thoughts, irrelevant and nonsensical thoughts will crop up in your mind and disturb your meditation. You will be quite astonished. Old thoughts which you entertained several years ago, old memories of past enjoyments, will bubble up and force the mind to wander in all directions. You will find that the trap-door of the vast magazine of thoughts and memories within the subconscious mind is opened, the lid of the store-house of thoughts within is lifted up and the thoughts gush out in a continuous stream. The more you attempt to still them the more they will bubble up with redoubled force and strength.
Be not discouraged. Never despair. Through regular and constant meditation you can purify the subconscious mind and control all thoughts and memories. The fire of meditation will burn all thoughts. Meditation is a potent antidote to annihilate poisonous worldly thoughts. Be assured of this.
During introspection you can clearly observe the shiftings of the mind from one line of thought to another. Herein lies a chance for you to mould the mind properly and direct the thoughts and the mental energy into divine channels. You can re-arrange the thoughts and make new associations on a new pure basis. You can throw out useless worldly thoughts just as you remove the weeds and throw them out. Just as you grow jasmine, roses, lilies and temple flowers in your garden, you should cultivate the flowers of peaceful thoughts of love, mercy, kindness, purity, etc. in the vast garden of your mind. Through introspection you will have to water this garden of the mind with meditation and sublime thinking and remove the weeds of vain, useless discordant thoughts.
A goldsmith converts thirteen carat gold into pure fifteen carat gold by adding acids and burning it several times in the crucible. Even so will you have to purify your sensuous mind through concentration, reflection on the words of the spiritual preceptor and the sentences of the Upanishads, japa or silent repetition of the name of the Lord, and meditation.
This is very patient work. This is a stupendous task indeed, but for a yogi of self-determination who has the grace of the Lord and iron will, it is nothing. The practice must be constant. Then only can one attain Self-realisation surely and quickly. He who practises meditation by fits and starts for a few minutes daily will not be able to achieve any tangible results in yoga.
Meditation on the immortal Self will act like dynamite and blow up all thoughts and memories in the subconscious mind. If the thoughts trouble you much, do not suppress them by force. Be a silent witness. They will subside gradually. Then try to root them out through regular silent meditation.
Positive overpowers negative. A positive thought drives off a negative one. Courage drives off fear, love destroys hatred, unity annihilates separateness, magnanimity destroys petty-mindedness (jealousy) and generosity drives away miserliness and greed. Keep yourself always positive and you will have wonderful meditation. When you see the flowers in a mango tree you know pretty well that you will get the mangoes soon. Even so, if you have peace in your mind, be sure that you will get good meditation and the fruit of illumination soon.
All objects seen are nothing but mind only, in form and substance. Mind creates and it destroys. A highly developed mind influences lower minds. Telepathy, mind reading, hypnotism, mesmerism, distant healing and so many allied powers bear testimony to this fact. Mind is undoubtedly the greatest power on earth, and control of that mind bestows all powers.
For meditation you want a properly trained instrument (mind). It should be calm, clear, pure, subtle, sharp, steady and one-pointed. Brahman is pure and subtle and you need a pure and subtle mind to approach Brahman.
The pose or asana is really mental. If the mind is wandering you cannot have a steady body or a steady physical pose. When the mind is steady or fixed in Brahman, steadiness of the body automatically follows.
All actions, whether internal or external, can be done only when the mind is united with the organs. Thought is the real action. If you have control over the mind by steady practice, if you can regulate your emotions and moods, you will not do foolish and wrong actions. Meditation will help a lot in checking various emotions and impulses.
As the first thought is the thought 'I', and as this thought 'I' is at the base of all other thoughts, egoism is the seed for the mind. Mind exists on account of 'I'. 'I' exists on account of mind. 'I' is only an idea in the mind. 'Mind' and 'I' are identical. If 'I' vanishes mind will also vanish, and if mind vanishes 'I' will vanish. Destroy mind through knowledge of Brahman. Destroy the 'I' through the feeling of 'I am Brahman', through constant and intense meditation. When mind vanishes or thoughts cease, name and form will cease to exist and the goal is reached.
The aspirant is very enthusiastic in his sadhana in the beginning. He is full of zeal. He takes a great deal of interest. He expects to get some results or siddhis. When he does not get these results he gets discouraged, loses interest in his practice and slackens his efforts or gives up his sadhana completely. He loses his faith in the efficacy of the sadhana. Sometimes the mind gets disgusted with one particular kind of sadhana and it wants some new kind of sadhana. Just as mind wants some variety in food and other things, so also it wants variety in the mode of sadhana also. It rebels against monotonous practice. The aspirant should know how to coax the mind on such occasions and to extract work from it by a little relaxation of mind. The cessation of sadhana is a grave mistake. Spiritual practices should never be given up under any circumstances. Evil thoughts will be ever waiting to enter the gates of the mental factory. If the aspirant stops his sadhana his mind will be like the devil's workshop. Do not expect anything. Be sincere and regular in your daily routine, tapas and meditation. The sadhana will take care of itself.
The mind is directly or indirectly attached to some pleasing or favourite ideas. If you are enjoying the picturesque scenery in Kashmir your mind will be suddenly upset by shock if you receive a telegram which brings the unhappy tidings of the untimely demise of your only son. The scenery will no longer interest you, it will have lost its charm for you. There is rejection of attention, there is depression. It is concentration and attention that gives you pleasure in sight-seeing.
When you climb the ladder of yoga and when you walk in the spiritual path, do not look back, do not remember your past experiences; kill all memory of your past experiences. Build up your mental feeling of 'I am Brahman' strongly. Strengthen it. Generate again and again the thought that Brahman alone exists. Keep it steady by regular and constant meditation. A single thought of your past experience will give a new lease of life to that thought-image or memory picture, rejuvenate and strengthen it and pull you down. It will be difficult for you to climb up again.
Be concerned with the present only. Do not look back upon the past, or to the future. Then alone will you be happy, free from cares, worries and anxieties. You will have a long life. Your past days of childhood and schooling are all a dream when you are forty. The whole of life is a long dream. The past is a dream to you now. The future also will be the same hereafter. You will have to deal with the present only. You will have to cut down the two wings of the mind-bird, the two wings representing the past and the future. But it will flutter about, as there is the present. Keep away all external impressions. Silence the mind. Restrain the modifications of the mind. Concentrate. Overcome the multiplicity of ideas that result from impressions.
Destroy the sankalpas through strenuous efforts. Exercise enquiry and discrimination. Meditate ceaselessly upon that satchidananda Brahman and attain that supreme immaculate seat.
Give now good food for the mind — some sublime thoughts of the Bhagavad Gita, Avadhuta Gita, or the meaning of OM* — to reflect upon. After some time the luring present also will vanish. The mind will become perfectly serene and tranquil. The highest knowledge of the Self will dawn in your pure mind. You will rest in Brahman, the source, support, basis and background of everything. You will be established in the knowledge of the Self (sat-chit-ananda). May you prosper gloriously! May you live drowned in Brahman, the ocean of bliss, in an illumined state!
* See chapter on OM
O beloved Ram, you are within a strong spiritual fortress now. No temptation can influence you. You are absolutely safe. You can do vigorous sadhana now without fear. You have a strong spiritual prop to lean upon. Become a brave soldier. Kill your foe, the mind, ruthlessly. Wear the spiritual laurels of peace, equal vision, contentment. Your face is already shining with Brahmic bliss. The all-merciful Lord has given you all sorts of comforts, good health and a guru to guide you. What more do you want? Grow, evolve, realise the Truth and proclaim it everywhere.
Qualifications for Practising Meditation Before saturating the mind with thoughts of Brahman you will have to assimilate the divine ideas first. Assimilation first and then saturation. Then comes realisation at once, without a moment's delay. Remember this triplet always — assimilation, saturation, realisation.
Your will should be rendered strong, pure and irresistible by more remembrance of God, eradication of desires, control of the senses and more intense inner life. You must utilise every second on Sundays and holidays to your best spiritual advantage.
If you have tasted rasagulla (a Bengal sweetmeat) for a month, mental adhesion to rasagulla comes in the mind. If you are in the company of sannyasins (monks), if you read books on yoga, vedanta, etc., a similar mental adhesion takes place in the mind for attaining God-consciousness. Mere mental adhesion, though, will not help you much. Burning dispassion (vairagya), a burning desire for liberation (mumukshutva), capacity for spiritual practice, intense and constant application and deep meditation are needed. Then only Self-knowledge is possible.
Energy is wasted in useless thinking. Conserve mental energy by driving out useless, obnoxious thoughts. Then you will improve in your meditation.
Just as water when it leaks into rat-holes instead of running into the proper channels in agricultural fields, becomes wasted and does not help the growth of plants, fruit-bearing trees, grains, etc., so also the efforts of an aspirant in meditation become a wastage if he has not the virtue of dispassion. He gets no progress in meditation.
Semen or vital force tones the nerves and brain and energises the system. He who has preserved his vital force by the vow of celibacy and sublimated it into ojas shakti (spiritual energy) can practise steady meditation for a long period. Only he can ascend the ladder of yoga. Without brahmacharya no iota of spiritual progress is possible. Brahmacharya is the very foundation on which the superstructure of meditation and samadhi can be built up. Many people waste this vital energy — a great spiritual treasure indeed — when they become blind and lose their power of reason under excitement. Pitiable indeed is their lot! They cannot make any substantial progress in yoga.
You will be able to enter into deep meditation only if you lead a moral life. When you have led a moral life you may try further to build up discrimination and the other steps in your mind. You can cultivate mind in concentration and can finally devote yourself to meditation. The more you lead the moral life, the more you meditate, the greater likelihood will there be for you to enter into nirvikalpa samadhi, which alone can liberate you from the round of births and deaths and confer on you eternal bliss and immortality.
If you can meditate for half an hour daily you will be able to engage yourself with peace and spiritual strength in the battle of life for one week through the force of this meditation. Such is the beneficial result of meditation. As you have to move with different minds of peculiar natures in your daily life, get the strength and peace from meditation and you will have no trouble and worry.
A yogi who meditates regularly has a magnetic and charming personality. Those who come in contact with him are much influenced by his sweet voice, powerful speech, lustrous eyes, brilliant complexion, strong healthy body, good behaviour, virtuous quality and divine nature. Just as a grain of salt dropped in a basin of water dissolves and becomes distributed throughout the whole water, just as sweet fragrance of jasmine pervades the air, so also the yogi's spiritual aura infiltrates into the minds of others. People draw joy, peace and strength from him. They are inspired by his speech and get elevation of mind by mere contact with him.
Meditation is the only way for attaining immortality and eternal bliss. Those who do not concentrate and meditate are slayers of Atman. They are in fact living corpses and miserable wretches. They are very poor people. They are hopeless misers indeed.
The wise cut asunder the knot of egoism by the sharp sword of constant meditation. Then dawns supreme knowledge of the Self or full inner illumination or Self-realisation. The liberated sage has neither doubts nor delusion. All the bonds of karma are rent asunder. Therefore, be ever engaged in meditation. This is the master-key for opening the realms of eternal bliss. It may be tiring and disgusting in the beginning, because the mind will be running away from the point every now and then. After some practice it will be focussed in the centre. You will be immersed in divine bliss.
The man who cannot fix his mind in meditation cannot have knowledge of the Self. The unsteady man cannot practise any meditation. He cannot have any intense devotion to knowledge of the Self or any burning longing for liberation or moksha. He who does not practise any meditation cannot possess peace of mind. How can there be happiness for the unpeaceful?
Meditate, meditate. Do not lose even a single minute. Meditation will remove all the miseries of life. That is the only way. Meditation is the enemy of the mind. It brings about the death of the mind.
Like attracts like. This is a great law. Entertain good thoughts. Do meditation. You will attract sadhus, yogis and siddhas. You will be benefited by their vibrations. Your new spiritual vibration will attract them!
Even Indra, who is rolling in abundant wealth, cannot enjoy that bliss which comes to a sage who has a self-centred mind free from desires, who is resting in his own essential nature and who has equal vision for all.
Ignorant people bring a false charge that the sadhus who meditate in caves are selfish. The mahatma who meditates in a solitary cave in the Himalayas helps the world more through his spiritual vibrations than the sadhu who preaches on the platform. When the meditator becomes mindless he pervades and permeates the whole world. Just as sound vibrations travel in the ethereal space, so also the spiritual vibrations of a meditator travel a long distance and bring peace and strength to thousands.
Learn the science of self-control. Possess a steady mind by constant practice of meditation. Fix your mind upon God. You will have divine life. There will be an inflooding of all divine qualities. All negative tendencies will vanish and all conflicting forces will be reconciled. You will enjoy perfect harmony, undisturbed happiness and abiding peace.
Great rishis and sages of yore like Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka, etc., acquired the knowledge of the Self — which is a means to secure the highest communion — through intense meditation.
The attainment of cosmic consciousness is permanent in realised souls. It is like a glimpse in the beginning. Through steady meditation it becomes permanent or natural.
Without the help of meditation you cannot attain knowledge of the Self. Without its aid you cannot grow into the divine state. Without it you cannot liberate yourself from the trammels of the mind, and attain immortality. If you do not practise meditation the supreme splendour and fadeless glories of the Atman will remain hidden from you. Tear the veils that cover the soul by practising regular meditation. By constant meditation rend asunder the five sheaths that screen the Atman, and then attain the final beatitude of life.
Meditation and Rest
Fatigue of the senses demands rest. Hence sleep supervenes at night, rhythmically. Motion and rest are rhythmical processes in life. The mind moves about in the avenues of the senses through the force of desires. There is subtle working of the mind in dream also, hence you do not get good rest in sleep. Real rest is secured in meditation, and meditation only. This rest is far superior to the rest that is obtained from sleep. Sound sleep even for half or one hour will suffice for the man who regularly meditates.
The mind is fully concentrated during meditation. It is far away from objects and very near the Atman. There are no currents during meditation owing to absence of objects. Consequently there is the manifestation of solid, lasting, real spiritual bliss with complete and genuine rest. You must practise meditation, you must feel it yourself. Then you will agree with me.
You may not enjoy the rest fully in the beginning of the practice, because at the outset there is a good deal of wrestling between the will and innate nature, the old mental tendencies and the new tendencies, old habits and new habits, effort and old conduct. The mind revolts. When the mind is thinned out, when it has reached the thread-like state, you will enjoy good rest in meditation. You can then gradually cut short your sleep to three or four hours.
Generally, when you have dreamless or deep sound sleep, either you do not remember what you dreamt of, or you fall into absolute unconsciousness which is almost death — a taste of death. But in meditation there is sleep in which you enter into an absolute silence, immortality and peace in all parts of your being, and your consciousness merges into Sat-chid-ananda (existence, knowledge, bliss). You can hardly call it sleep, for there is perfect awareness. In that condition you can remain for a few minutes. It will give you more rest and refreshment than hours of ordinary sleep. You cannot have it by chance. It requires long training.
Mind and Meditation
Mind is a power born of the spirit, because it is through mind that God manifests Himself in the differentiated universe of names and forms. Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts and habits. Make use of them as an aid in spiritual endeavour.
There are many terms in the Bhagavad Gita which denote that you will have to give your full mind, entire cent-per-cent, to God. Then only will you have Self-realisation. Even if one ray of mind runs outside it is impossible to attain God-consciousness.
If you remove the oscillation of the mind you will get one-pointedness of mind, which is a thing unknown to many. Max Muller writes: "One-pointedness of mind is impossible for us (westerners) when our minds are diverted in various directions through newspapers, telegrams, postal communications, etc." It is an indispensable condition in all religious and philosophical speculations, and in meditation.
In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna prescribes a spiritual practice for removing tossing of the mind: "As often as the wavering and unsteady mind goes forth, so often reining it in, let him bring it under the control of the Self. Abandoning without reserve all desires born of the imagination by the mind, curbing in the aggregate of the senses on every side, little by little let him gain tranquillity by means of reason controlled by steadiness; having made the mind abide in the Self, let him not think of anything." (VI-24,25,26)
When you begin to sweep a room that was kept closed for six months, various kinds of dirt come out from the corners of the room. Similarly during meditation, under pressure of yoga and through the grace of God, various kinds of impurities float about on the surface of the mind. Bravely remove them, one by one, by suitable methods and counter-virtues, with patience and strenuous efforts. The old vicious habitual desires take revenge when you try to suppress them. Do not be afraid, they lose their strength after some time. You have to tame the mind just as you tame a wild elephant or a tiger. Do not indulge in vicious thoughts which serve as food for the mind. Make the mind self-introspective. Substitute good, virtuous, sublime thoughts.
Feed the mind with ennobling aspirations and ideas. Old vicious tendencies will be gradually thinned out and eventually obliterated.
You must try your level best to keep a serene mind always. Meditation can proceed from a serene mind only. A serene mind is a valuable spiritual asset for you.
There are many valuable trainings of the mind which are essential to mental culture: for instance, the training of the memory, the cultivation of reflection, discrimination and enquiry. The practice of meditation itself is a potent clarifier of the memory. The practice of memory-culture powerfully helps the attainment of meditation.
Do not wrestle with the mind during meditation. It is a serious mistake. Many neophytes commit this grave error. That is the reason why they soon get easily tired. They get headache and have to get up very often to pass urine during the course of meditation, owing to the irritation set up in the micturition centre in the spinal cord.
Do not try to drive away the unimportant and irrelevant thoughts. The more you try the more will they return and the more strength will they gain. You will only tax your energy and will. Become indifferent. Fill the mind with divine thoughts. The others will gradually vanish. Build through regular meditation a strong spiritual fortress and a magnetic aura around you which cannot be penetrated even by the worst evil.
Your will should be rendered strong, pure and irresistible by more reflection on the Self, eradication of subtle desires, control of the senses and more inner life.
In dream also you should begin to gradually exercise control. You should check the mind when it does an evil act. The force of your spiritual practice done in the wakeful state will come to your aid in the dream. This is a sign of your spiritual growth. Watch your dreams carefully.
What sort of thoughts arise in your mind as soon as you wake up, when you are alone in the room or when you walk in the streets? Are you able to keep up the same state of mind you have during meditation in a closed room when you walk in the street also? Introspect and closely watch your mind. If the mind is perturbed when you walk in the streets you are still weak, you have not advanced in meditation or grown spiritually. Continue the meditation vigorously. (An advanced student will have thoughts of Brahman in his dream.)
Unless you closely observe the mind you will not find that it is running away. Sometimes you will be imagining that you are meditating, but actually the mind will be either building castles in the air or going into the state of half sleep or deep sleep.
In a big city there is much bustle and sound at eight p.m. At nine p.m. there is not so much bustle and sound. At ten p.m. it is still reduced; at eleven p.m. it is much less. At one a.m. there is peace everywhere. Even so, in the beginning of yoga practices there are countless thoughts in the mind. There is much agitation and tossing in the mind. Gradually the thought waves subside. In the end all mental modifications are controlled. The yogi enjoys perfect peace.
When you pass through a market of a big city you will not be able to notice small sounds, but when you sit for common meditation with some of your friends in a quiet room in the morning, you will be able to detect even a little sneezing or coughing. Even so, you are not able to find out the evil thoughts when you are engaged in some work or other, but you are able to detect them when you sit for meditation. Do not be afraid when evil thoughts pass through your mind when you sit for meditation. Do vigorous japa and meditation. They will pass off soon.
Even if the mind runs outside during your practice, do not bother. Allow it to run. Slowly try to bring it to your centre of concentration. By repeated practice the mind will be finally focussed in your heart; in the Atman, the indweller of your heart, the final goal of life. In the beginning the mind may run out eighty times; within six months it may run seventy times; within a year it may run fifty times; within two years it may run thirty times; within five years it will be completely fixed in the divine consciousness. Then it will not run out at all even if you try your level best to bring it out, like the wandering bull which was in the habit of running to gardens of different landlords for eating grass, but which now eats fresh gram and extract of cotton seeds in its own resting place.
The Atman is the fountain source of energy. Thinking on the Atman or the source of energy is also a dynamic method for augmenting energy, strength and power.
Conserve energy by talking little, observing mauna, controlling anger, observing celibacy, practising pranayama and controlling irrelevant and nonsensical thoughts. You will have abundant energy at your disposal by having recourse to the above practices. You can move heaven and earth now.
Abandon ruthlessly all sensual objects. They are the wombs of pain. Gradually develop balance of mind. Subdue the senses. Annihilate lust, anger and greed. Meditate and behold the imperishable Atman. Rest yourself firmly in the Self. Nothing can hurt you now, you have become invincible.
Dive deep into the heart by withdrawing the mind from sensual objects. Kill this illusory little T and know 'I am He' (soham). Just as the drop of water loses its name and form and joins the sea, so also the jiva himself merges in the Supreme Soul and loses his own name and form.
The sight of a beautiful form gives pleasure to the mind. After all, mind wants pleasure. If, by the practice of meditation, the mind is trained to enjoy or taste the bliss of formless Brahman or the Self who is seated in the hearts of all, it will not run to beautiful forms outside.
The mind-wandering will gradually cease through regular meditation. Meditation will remove irritability also and considerably augment peace of mind.
You should know the ways and habits of the mind through daily introspection, self-analysis or self-examination. You should have knowledge of the laws of the mind. Then it will be easy for you to check mind-wandering. When you sit for meditation, when you deliberately attempt to forget the worldly objects, all sorts of worldly thoughts, irrelevant and nonsensical thoughts will crop up in your mind and disturb your meditation. You will be quite astonished. Old thoughts which you entertained several years ago, old memories of past enjoyments, will bubble up and force the mind to wander in all directions. You will find that the trap-door of the vast magazine of thoughts and memories within the subconscious mind is opened, the lid of the store-house of thoughts within is lifted up and the thoughts gush out in a continuous stream. The more you attempt to still them the more they will bubble up with redoubled force and strength.
Be not discouraged. Never despair. Through regular and constant meditation you can purify the subconscious mind and control all thoughts and memories. The fire of meditation will burn all thoughts. Meditation is a potent antidote to annihilate poisonous worldly thoughts. Be assured of this.
During introspection you can clearly observe the shiftings of the mind from one line of thought to another. Herein lies a chance for you to mould the mind properly and direct the thoughts and the mental energy into divine channels. You can re-arrange the thoughts and make new associations on a new pure basis. You can throw out useless worldly thoughts just as you remove the weeds and throw them out. Just as you grow jasmine, roses, lilies and temple flowers in your garden, you should cultivate the flowers of peaceful thoughts of love, mercy, kindness, purity, etc. in the vast garden of your mind. Through introspection you will have to water this garden of the mind with meditation and sublime thinking and remove the weeds of vain, useless discordant thoughts.
A goldsmith converts thirteen carat gold into pure fifteen carat gold by adding acids and burning it several times in the crucible. Even so will you have to purify your sensuous mind through concentration, reflection on the words of the spiritual preceptor and the sentences of the Upanishads, japa or silent repetition of the name of the Lord, and meditation.
This is very patient work. This is a stupendous task indeed, but for a yogi of self-determination who has the grace of the Lord and iron will, it is nothing. The practice must be constant. Then only can one attain Self-realisation surely and quickly. He who practises meditation by fits and starts for a few minutes daily will not be able to achieve any tangible results in yoga.
Meditation on the immortal Self will act like dynamite and blow up all thoughts and memories in the subconscious mind. If the thoughts trouble you much, do not suppress them by force. Be a silent witness. They will subside gradually. Then try to root them out through regular silent meditation.
Positive overpowers negative. A positive thought drives off a negative one. Courage drives off fear, love destroys hatred, unity annihilates separateness, magnanimity destroys petty-mindedness (jealousy) and generosity drives away miserliness and greed. Keep yourself always positive and you will have wonderful meditation. When you see the flowers in a mango tree you know pretty well that you will get the mangoes soon. Even so, if you have peace in your mind, be sure that you will get good meditation and the fruit of illumination soon.
All objects seen are nothing but mind only, in form and substance. Mind creates and it destroys. A highly developed mind influences lower minds. Telepathy, mind reading, hypnotism, mesmerism, distant healing and so many allied powers bear testimony to this fact. Mind is undoubtedly the greatest power on earth, and control of that mind bestows all powers.
For meditation you want a properly trained instrument (mind). It should be calm, clear, pure, subtle, sharp, steady and one-pointed. Brahman is pure and subtle and you need a pure and subtle mind to approach Brahman.
The pose or asana is really mental. If the mind is wandering you cannot have a steady body or a steady physical pose. When the mind is steady or fixed in Brahman, steadiness of the body automatically follows.
All actions, whether internal or external, can be done only when the mind is united with the organs. Thought is the real action. If you have control over the mind by steady practice, if you can regulate your emotions and moods, you will not do foolish and wrong actions. Meditation will help a lot in checking various emotions and impulses.
As the first thought is the thought 'I', and as this thought 'I' is at the base of all other thoughts, egoism is the seed for the mind. Mind exists on account of 'I'. 'I' exists on account of mind. 'I' is only an idea in the mind. 'Mind' and 'I' are identical. If 'I' vanishes mind will also vanish, and if mind vanishes 'I' will vanish. Destroy mind through knowledge of Brahman. Destroy the 'I' through the feeling of 'I am Brahman', through constant and intense meditation. When mind vanishes or thoughts cease, name and form will cease to exist and the goal is reached.
The aspirant is very enthusiastic in his sadhana in the beginning. He is full of zeal. He takes a great deal of interest. He expects to get some results or siddhis. When he does not get these results he gets discouraged, loses interest in his practice and slackens his efforts or gives up his sadhana completely. He loses his faith in the efficacy of the sadhana. Sometimes the mind gets disgusted with one particular kind of sadhana and it wants some new kind of sadhana. Just as mind wants some variety in food and other things, so also it wants variety in the mode of sadhana also. It rebels against monotonous practice. The aspirant should know how to coax the mind on such occasions and to extract work from it by a little relaxation of mind. The cessation of sadhana is a grave mistake. Spiritual practices should never be given up under any circumstances. Evil thoughts will be ever waiting to enter the gates of the mental factory. If the aspirant stops his sadhana his mind will be like the devil's workshop. Do not expect anything. Be sincere and regular in your daily routine, tapas and meditation. The sadhana will take care of itself.
The mind is directly or indirectly attached to some pleasing or favourite ideas. If you are enjoying the picturesque scenery in Kashmir your mind will be suddenly upset by shock if you receive a telegram which brings the unhappy tidings of the untimely demise of your only son. The scenery will no longer interest you, it will have lost its charm for you. There is rejection of attention, there is depression. It is concentration and attention that gives you pleasure in sight-seeing.
When you climb the ladder of yoga and when you walk in the spiritual path, do not look back, do not remember your past experiences; kill all memory of your past experiences. Build up your mental feeling of 'I am Brahman' strongly. Strengthen it. Generate again and again the thought that Brahman alone exists. Keep it steady by regular and constant meditation. A single thought of your past experience will give a new lease of life to that thought-image or memory picture, rejuvenate and strengthen it and pull you down. It will be difficult for you to climb up again.
Be concerned with the present only. Do not look back upon the past, or to the future. Then alone will you be happy, free from cares, worries and anxieties. You will have a long life. Your past days of childhood and schooling are all a dream when you are forty. The whole of life is a long dream. The past is a dream to you now. The future also will be the same hereafter. You will have to deal with the present only. You will have to cut down the two wings of the mind-bird, the two wings representing the past and the future. But it will flutter about, as there is the present. Keep away all external impressions. Silence the mind. Restrain the modifications of the mind. Concentrate. Overcome the multiplicity of ideas that result from impressions.
Destroy the sankalpas through strenuous efforts. Exercise enquiry and discrimination. Meditate ceaselessly upon that satchidananda Brahman and attain that supreme immaculate seat.
Give now good food for the mind — some sublime thoughts of the Bhagavad Gita, Avadhuta Gita, or the meaning of OM* — to reflect upon. After some time the luring present also will vanish. The mind will become perfectly serene and tranquil. The highest knowledge of the Self will dawn in your pure mind. You will rest in Brahman, the source, support, basis and background of everything. You will be established in the knowledge of the Self (sat-chit-ananda). May you prosper gloriously! May you live drowned in Brahman, the ocean of bliss, in an illumined state!
* See chapter on OM
O beloved Ram, you are within a strong spiritual fortress now. No temptation can influence you. You are absolutely safe. You can do vigorous sadhana now without fear. You have a strong spiritual prop to lean upon. Become a brave soldier. Kill your foe, the mind, ruthlessly. Wear the spiritual laurels of peace, equal vision, contentment. Your face is already shining with Brahmic bliss. The all-merciful Lord has given you all sorts of comforts, good health and a guru to guide you. What more do you want? Grow, evolve, realise the Truth and proclaim it everywhere.
Qualifications for Practising Meditation Before saturating the mind with thoughts of Brahman you will have to assimilate the divine ideas first. Assimilation first and then saturation. Then comes realisation at once, without a moment's delay. Remember this triplet always — assimilation, saturation, realisation.
Your will should be rendered strong, pure and irresistible by more remembrance of God, eradication of desires, control of the senses and more intense inner life. You must utilise every second on Sundays and holidays to your best spiritual advantage.
If you have tasted rasagulla (a Bengal sweetmeat) for a month, mental adhesion to rasagulla comes in the mind. If you are in the company of sannyasins (monks), if you read books on yoga, vedanta, etc., a similar mental adhesion takes place in the mind for attaining God-consciousness. Mere mental adhesion, though, will not help you much. Burning dispassion (vairagya), a burning desire for liberation (mumukshutva), capacity for spiritual practice, intense and constant application and deep meditation are needed. Then only Self-knowledge is possible.
Energy is wasted in useless thinking. Conserve mental energy by driving out useless, obnoxious thoughts. Then you will improve in your meditation.
Just as water when it leaks into rat-holes instead of running into the proper channels in agricultural fields, becomes wasted and does not help the growth of plants, fruit-bearing trees, grains, etc., so also the efforts of an aspirant in meditation become a wastage if he has not the virtue of dispassion. He gets no progress in meditation.
Semen or vital force tones the nerves and brain and energises the system. He who has preserved his vital force by the vow of celibacy and sublimated it into ojas shakti (spiritual energy) can practise steady meditation for a long period. Only he can ascend the ladder of yoga. Without brahmacharya no iota of spiritual progress is possible. Brahmacharya is the very foundation on which the superstructure of meditation and samadhi can be built up. Many people waste this vital energy — a great spiritual treasure indeed — when they become blind and lose their power of reason under excitement. Pitiable indeed is their lot! They cannot make any substantial progress in yoga.
You will be able to enter into deep meditation only if you lead a moral life. When you have led a moral life you may try further to build up discrimination and the other steps in your mind. You can cultivate mind in concentration and can finally devote yourself to meditation. The more you lead the moral life, the more you meditate, the greater likelihood will there be for you to enter into nirvikalpa samadhi, which alone can liberate you from the round of births and deaths and confer on you eternal bliss and immortality.
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