ON SECLUSION
As the will power in many persons has become very weak, as they had no religious discipline or training in schools and colleges when they were young, and as they are under the sway of materialistic influences, it is necessary for them to go in for seclusion for some weeks, months or years, to practise rigorous japa (repetition of God's name) and undisturbed meditation.
Calm the bubbling emotions, sentiments, instincts and impulses through silent meditation. You can give a new orientation to your feelings by systematic practice. You can entirely transmute your worldly nature into divine nature. You can exercise supreme control over the nerve centres, the nerves, the muscles, the five kosas (sheaths), emotions, impulses and instincts through meditation.
Those who have fixed up their sons in life, who have retired from service and those who have no ties in the world can remain in seclusion for four or five years and practise intense meditation and tapas (austerity) for purification and self-realisation. When they have attained self-knowledge, they should come out and share their knowledge and bliss with others. They should disseminate knowledge of the self through lectures, conversations, discourses or heart-to-heart talks.
YOGA OF MEDITATION
O beloved Ram! You are within a strong fortress now. A spiritual fortress where no temptation can influence you. You are absolutely safe. Now you can do vigorous sadhana (spiritual practice) without fear. Kill the foe the mind. Wear the spiritual laurels of peace, equalvision and contentment.
You are 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.
Be silent. Know thyself. Know that. Melt the mind in that. Truth is quite clear and simple. Solitude and intense meditation are two important requisites for selfrealisation. If sadhana is interrupted, make up the deficiency later.
Practise self-restraint at all times because, all of a sudden, the senses may suddenly become turbulent. This is why Krishna says: "O son of Kunti, the excited senses of even a wise man, though he be striving, impetuously carry away his mind."
The wandering habit of the mind must be controlled by making it stick to one place, by one method of sadhana, by one guru and by one form of yoga. A rolling stone gathers no moss. When you take up a book for study, you must finish it before you take up another one. When you take up any work, you must devote your whole-hearted attention towards it and finish it before you take up any other work.
Do not cause pain or suffering to any living being, whether through greed, selfishness, irritability or annoyance. Give up anger and illwill. Give up the spirit of fighting and heated debates. Do not argue. If you quarrel with somebody you cannot meditate for three or four days, because your balance of mind is upset. Thus much energy is wasted in useless channels. Also the blood becomes hot; the nerves are shattered. Keep a serene mind always. Meditation proceeds from a serene mind.
An aspirant must be sensitive and yet possess a body and nerves completely under control. The greater the sensitivity becomes, the more difficult the task. Noises which pass unnoticed by an ordinary person are torture to one who is very sensitive. Develop the inner power of the self. Centralisation of ideas will stop the outgoing habit of the mind.
A householder (grhasta) with yogic tendencies and spiritual inclinations can practise meditation in a solitary and quiet room in his own house - or in any solitary place on the banks of any holy river, during holidays or throughout the year if he is a wholetime aspirant or if he is retired from service.
The aspirant should be free from hope, desire and greed. Then only will he have a steady mind. Hope, desire and greed make the mind ever restless and turbulent; they are the enemies of peace and selfknowledge. He should not have many possessions. He can keep only those articles which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of his body. If there are many possessions the mind will be ever thinking of the articles and attempting to protect them. Those who want quick progress in meditation during seclusion should not keep any connection with the world by way of correspondence, reading newspapers or thinking of the family members and possessions.
SAMADHI
Still the waves of the mind and hold it steady in nirvikalpa samadhi (unconditioned state of superconsciousness). This needs constant, protracted practice of meditation. There may be breaks in the meditation in the beginning, but practice makes you perfect. Later you will be able to remain absorbed in meditation for long periods. You can merge yourself in samadhi, with a mind like a flame protected from wind.
Before getting sanguine success in meditation get victory over the pose first. Sit upon your seat with the steadiness of a rock for two or three hours. If the body is steady then the mind will also be steady.
Do not mistake a little concentration or onepointedness of mind for samadhi. Simply because you have risen a little above body consciousness, on account of a little concentration, do not think that you have attained samadhi.
Separate the mind from the body and unite it with the supreme self. This is known as samadhi or the superconscious state. This will give liberation or freedom from births and deaths. Samadhi is obtained by practice for a long time and with zeal and enthusiasm.
Samadhi is the highest goal which one can attain through meditation. It is not a little thing that can be attained through a little practice. To attain samadhi one should observe strict brahmacarya (celibacy), dietetic restrictions and one must have purity of heart.
If these are not attained there is no possibility of attaining samadhi. These are preliminary qualifications and should be well grasped. Then only one should try to enter the portals of samadhi. None can enter there unless he is a great devotee of the Lord.
Moksa (liberation) is loss of one's personality in the divine. It is deliverance from the delusion of personality. Just as the river becomes the ocean itself, the individual soul becomes the mighty supreme soul, with higher consciousness, transcendental bliss and knowledge.
SAMADHI – TRUE AND FAKE
Do not mistake deep sleep for samadhi. The glory of the state of turiya is ineffable. Its splendour is indescribable. If the body is light, if the mind is clear, if there is cheerfulness, know that you are meditating. If the body is heavy, the mind dull, know that you are sleeping while meditating.
There is always a complaint among aspirants: "I have been meditating for the last twelve years and I have not made any improvement, any realisation. What is the matter?" They have not plunged themselves in deep meditation in the innermost recesses of their hearts. They have not properly saturated the mind with thoughts of God. They have not done regular, systematic sadhana (practice). They have not disciplined the indriyas (senses) properly. They have not collected all the outgoing rays of the mind. They have not made the selfdetermination that: "I will realise God this very second".
They have not given the whole mind to God. They have not kept up an increasing flow of divine consciousness.
Even if you do not feel any pulse in the sadhaka (seeker) when he is in meditation, even if the breathing stops, do not think that he is in nirvikalpa samadhi (unconditioned state). If he is, he will return with supersensual divine knowledge then only can it be said that he has attained real samadhi. Breathing and pulse may stop from various other causes as well.
The sadhaka must have perfect awareness in meditation. There is not much gain if he remains in mere jada (inert) state, even though he is insensible to external sounds.
O aspirant, struggle hard. Make sincere efforts. Meditate regularly and systematically. Enough of heated discussions and heated debates.Retire into a solitary room. Close your eyes. Have deep silent meditation. Feel God's presence. Repeat His name - Om with fervour, joy and love. Fill your heart with prem. Destroy thoughts, whims, fancies and desires when they arise on the surface of the mind.
Withdraw the wandering mind. Fix it on the Lord. Now meditation will become deep and intense. Do not open your eyes. Do not stir from your seat. Merge in him. Dive deep in the recesses of your heart. Plunge into the shining atman. Drink the nectar of immortality. Enjoy the silence. Peace. Silence. Glory.
THE LIBERATED SAGE
If the vasanas (tendencies) and the attachment to objects of the world vanish entirely, and if you are in that immovable state, then you have become a jivanmukta (liberated sage). You will abide in your own self. You will rest in that nondual, supreme seat. The jnana-vision will arise in you, the light of wisdom will shine unobscured, like the sun in the absence of clouds. You will never be attracted to any worldly objects now. You will be absolutely freed from delusion and sorrow.
You will actually feel that the self alone pervades and permeates everywhere in the world. You will shine with Brahmic effulgence. You will possess equalvision and a balanced mind. You will be free from longing for sensual objects because the mind will always remain cool with Brahmic bliss. You will be bathed in the cool ambrosial nectar that dribbles from the contented and quiet mind.
Advanced aspirants should stop all sorts of work and study of religious books, if they want to enter into samadhi quickly. They should observe mouna and remain in a solitary place on the banks of the Ganges, the Yamuna or any other suitable river. They should live on one and a half pints of milk alone, or they should live on milk and fruits alone. They should plunge themselves into samadhi in right earnest.
They should reduce sleep to two or three hours. They should start the practice at the beginning of winter. There is real rest in meditation - it is far superior to that rest obtained in deep sleep. Sound sleep for an hour or even half an hour will suffice the man who meditates regularly.
Samadhi, moksa (liberation), turiya (transcendental state), are synonymous terms. Samadhi means superconsciousness. In samadhi the meditator is conscious of his own self. Moksa is freedom from birth and death. It is the attainment of the state of `paramananda' (supreme bliss). It is freedom from all sorts of pains. Turiya transcends the three states the waking state, the dream state and the deep sleep state and so it is called the fourth state.
NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI
The state of samadhi is beyond the reach of mind and speech. Even in worldly experience, you cannot express taste. You cannot express the taste of an apple to one who has not tasted it, nor can you explain the nature of colour to a blind man. The state of samadhi is all joy, bliss and peace; this much only can be said. One has to feel this for himself.
In samadhi or the superconscious state, the meditator loses his individuality and becomes identical with the supreme self. He becomes an embodiment of bliss, peace and knowledge. So much only can be said. This can be experienced by you through constant meditation.
Nirvikalpa samadhi is the state of superconsciousness or godhead. There is no vikalpa or imagination of any sort in this condition. This is the goal of life. All mental activities cease now.
The function of the intellect and the ten indriyas. (senses) cease entirely.
The spiritual aspirant now rests in atman (self). There is no distinction between subject and object. The world and the pairs of opposites vanish absolutely. This is a state beyond all relativity though it is not a state of inertia. It is a condition of complete, perfect awareness. It is indescribable. It must be felt and experienced by the aspirant himself. In this state the triad the knower, known and knowable disappears. Man is now Brahman - there is no jivahood.
Try to enjoy that sleepless state wherein all senses and mind remain in a state of quietude and the intellect ceases functioning. The sleepless sleep is maha nidra (the superconscious state). There is no waking from this sleep.
In samadhi the yogi gets himself merged in the Lord. All limitations and differences disappear. The yogi attains highest knowledge and bliss. This state is beyond description. You will have to realise it yourself.
Samadhi is the superconscious state in which the veil of ignorance is suddenly lifted and the devotee merges in the overwhelming glory of the one true divine effulgence. In samadhi the soul becomes loosened from its material prison and is separated from individual consciousness. An ecstatic feeling of oneness arises and the soul becomes absorbed in the infinite intelligence from which it emanated.
After attaining samadhi a man, though possessed of great spiritual powers, does not wish to change the conditions and circumstances in which he lived before attaining it. In samadhi, ordinary consciousness has flowered into superconsciousness. The stream of samsara (the stream of births and deaths) has ceased to flow.
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