कायवाङ्मनःकार्यमुत्तमम्|
पूजनंजपश्चिन्तनंक्रमात्||
kāyavāṅmanaḥkāryamuttamam |
pūjanaṁjapaścintanaṁkramāt ||
To be done with the body, speech,
and mind, worship, japa, and contemplation are superior in that succession.
We
have three means to express ourselves: the body to express
our actions, the speech to express our words, and the mind to
express our thoughts. These three can be used to worship the Lord in the
following manner, as described in this verse:
i) Pooja
/ Ritual worship: by means of the body, we perform sacred worship of the
Lord using a form.
ii)
Japa / chanting of mantras / Namasmarana: by means of the speech, we
perform the repetition of the Lord’s Name.
iii)
Dhyana: by means of the mind, we perform meditation or contemplation upon
the mental form of the Lord or His qualities.
Serially
Superior:
What
this means is that the succeeding instrument is more subtle and
therefore more effective or superior to the former. Superior to Pooja is Japa,
and superior to Japa is meditation.
|
Worship Method
|
BODY
|
SPEECH
|
MIND
|
|
Pooja
|
Involved
|
Involved
|
Involved
|
|
Japa
|
û
|
Involved
|
Involved
|
|
Dhyana
|
û
|
û
|
Involved
|
This
is a gradation from a grosser form to a subtler form of worship. However, one
has to practice the former to be prepared for the latter, in the sequence given
above.
Pooja:
Starting a Special Relationship with God
Pooja
is by no means to be considered an “inferior” practice to be rejected. In fact,
it is the best preparation for Japa and meditation.
Pooja
starts our relationship with God.
In
life we have various relationships with different people. We ourselves are
different to different people. It is the same network whether we are at work or
in social circles. We take great pride in describing or designating what our
role is to various people. But do we often hear someone say he is a devotee of
God? Have we even considered that as a possible relationship? Can we not add
God to our list of contacts?
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
Those
of you who attended the last month satsangh at sadan can recollect the “Bikshu
Pada Prasarana Nyaya” shared with you at the end of the Satsangh.
The
bikshu’s asking for a space to stretch his legs is “adding” God to the list of
your contacts, may be the last in the list, to be attended to.
Once
you add Him to your list of contacts or list of TO Dos to be attended daily,
then, as shared in the talk, like the Bikshu occupies the whole mansion for
doing Seva to his Gopala Idol, Lord will Himself find His way to the mansion of
our heart, gradually!
Pooja
or ritualistic worship can be as elaborate as possible or as simple as just
lighting a camphor / offering a flower to the Lord.
Japa
- chanting the name of Lord.
Japa
does not / should not involve any physical action. Japa could be chanting of
one chosen name of lord like “Om Namah Shivaya” or “Om Sri Sairam” etc.
You
are speaking while you are chanting and the mind is listening / taking in the
impact of the chanting.
Thus,
Speak-Hear-Speak-Hear- Speak...... forms a cycle.
The
more mind is involved in this cyclic process, the lesser your distractions are
and more would be your focus on the Lord whose name is chanted.
Dhyana
- meditating on the Lord
This
is a more subtle mode of worship where, your body and speech are not active but
your mind is actively meditating on your chosen Lord, your experience with the
lord, the Glory of your Lord etc.
This
is a very effective process of worship.
Imagine,
Swami is in Puttaparthi till He existed in form or is no more
in physical form even in Puttaparthi after He chose to end His
physical existence in 2011.
But
with the power of your mind and the focused meditation on Swami, you can bring
that enchanting form, right into your thoughts, right in your pooja room, right
in front of you and you can almost experience Swami speaking to you, right
there!
Most
of us would have experienced Swami seated on the throne in our centre during a
bhajan session or a satsangh.
It
is all due to our channelizing the enormous power of our mind towards our
God, withdrawing our mind from all other worldly thoughts.
While
pooja and Japa is possible to be undertaken by mere will, meditation has to
happen, it cannot be just willed and done.
You
can create most conducive environment in your room, with dark ambiance, with
dim blue lights, with a focused beam on Swami’s photograph or on Aum symbol
painting, select a suitable asana for you to sit and meditate, even play a
soothing meditation music / Aum chant etc. but still, it is not necessary that
your mind is withdrawn by you from various thoughts, about the office pending
work, about some bad experience that you had at home / at center etc. yesterday
etc.
But,
practice must be on. Every time your mind betrays you and goes out, you have to
take the support of Japa and bring the mind back to the shrine, to the Lord’s name
and form and draw your mind towards Lord.
That
is why regular satsangh is very important in our life. It is important to be in
good company, to keep listening about God’s glory so that all these things have
a positive, satvic impression/impact in your mind / heart and it becomes more
and more easy with such heart / mind to meditate on our Lord!!
Jap
Dhyan bina Samyog nahin
(Without
Japa and Dhyana, as explained above, union with God is impossible)
and
all our japa, our dhyana has to culminate in our conviction,
Bhagawan bina koi Apna Nahin!!!
Love.
