Dhyana Vahini - Post 5

Chapter II

 

The three paths of meditation

 

Swami writes on the three paths / Gunas in one’s meditation process,

 

“There are three ways by which aspirants try to enter the path of meditation: the path of truth (sathwika- marga), the path of passion and emotion (rajasika-marga) and the path of ignorance (thamasika-marga).

 

“Pure, serene (sathwic) path. On this path, one considers repetition of the name and meditation as a duty and suffers any amount of trouble for its sake; one is fully convinced that all this is just an illusion, so one does only good under all conditions and at all times. One desires only the good of all and is always loving toward all; one spends time uninterruptedly in the remembrance and meditation of the Lord. One does not crave even the fruit of repeating the name and meditation; one leaves it all to the Lord.

  

The passionate, restless (rajasic) path. Here, one craves the fruit of one’s act at every step. If the fruit is not available, then, gradually, laxity and disgust overpower the spiritual aspirant and repetition of the name and meditation slowly dry up.

  

The ignorant (thamasic) path. This path is even worse. The Lord will come into the memory only in times of danger or acute suffering or when one is the victim of loss or pain. At such times, such a person prays and vows to arrange this worship (puja), offer this particular food, or build this kind of temple to the Lord. One will be calculating the quantity of food placed before the Lord, the tribute offered at His feet, the number of prostrations performed, and the number of times the shrine was circled — and ask for proportionate awards! For those who adopt this attitude in meditation, the mind and intellect can never be pure.

 

Most people now follow only the passionate, restless (rajasic) and dull, ignorant (thamasic) paths in repeat- ing the divine name and meditation. However, the very intention of repeating the divine name and meditation is to purify the mind and the intellect. In order to achieve this, the first path is best: pure, serene (sathwic) meditation. When the mind and the intellect become pure, they will shine with the splendour of the understanding of the Atma. He in whom this understanding shines fully is called a sage (rishi).”

 

Comments:

 

We want to become aware of the meaning of each of the gunas, not merely by knowing its definition but by being able to observe them in our daily life. 

 

Therefore, let us choose for a day or a week to be aware of one of the gunas as we go through activities, situations, and conversations. 

 

Observe how this guna is related to actions, thoughts and speech.  

 

For example, when we feel lazy, dull, inert, or grounded it is tamas; when you feel energetic, rushed, all-over-the-place, or full of attachment it is rajas; when you feel serene, calm, and balanced it is sattva.  

 

We will discover that everything in the apparent manifestation is related to the gunas. Thus it is useful to find your own examples of the gunas which allows you to have direct knowledge of this concept of the gunas. This expanded awareness about the gunas then also brings the opportunity to play with the gunas and to regulate them.

 

Sattva preferably the predominant guna

 

Of all the three gunas, sattva is the one that we would like to cultivate. It is the quality that makes buddhi sharp enough to penetrate all the levels of our being, until it becomes aware of itself and even sattvic buddhi need to be let go of. But until then one needs to purify all the levels of one’s being so that sattva predominates. But do not think that the other two gunas are bad, both rajas and tamas can be of service for sattva. Tamas brings stability and rajas can be used wisely when you need the energy to do something.

 

Swami concludes on 3 Gunas and meditation beautifully, thus:-

 

“The knower of Atma becomes the Atma itself (Brahmavid Brahmaiva bhavathi). The goal of life, that which makes life worthwhile, is the understanding of the Atma or, in other words, the basis of the individual soul (jiva).”

 

Comments:

 

 Yoga sutra reveals what Swami has written above.

 

Purusha artha sunyanam gunanam pratiprasavah kaivalyam svarupa pratistha va chiti shaktih iti (4.34)

 

          

purusha	pure consciousness, Self
artha	purpose, meaning
sunyanam	devoid
gunanam	elements, prime qualities, constituents, attributes; (three gunas of sattvas, rajas, tamas)
pratiprasavah	involution, resolve, recede
kaivalyam	absolute freedom, liberation, enlightenment (2.25)
svarupa	own form
pratistha	Established
va	Or
chiti	Consciousness
shaktih	Power
iti	the end, finis (to denote the end of the teachings)

 

When those primary elements involve, or resolve themselves back into that out of which they emerged, there comes liberation, wherein the power of pure consciousness becomes established in its true nature.

 

When the gunas involve, liberation is realized: When those primary elements or gunas involve, or resolve themselves back into that out of which they emerged, there comes liberation, wherein the power of pure consciousness (purusha) becomes established in its true nature. 

 

(The involution which mentioned is the essence of Sankhya yoga where, at the penultimate stages, upon the three Gunas settled eternally in perfect equilibrium, prakriti retraces to purusha).

 

This getting established in its true nature is given in another sutra, thus:

 

Tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam (1.3)

 

Then the Seer abides in Itself, resting in its own True Nature, which is called Self-realization.

 

The enlightened Yogi: Such an enlightened Yogi is purely spontaneous, with no actions whatsoever being motivated by the inner drives of samskaras and karma. One hundred percent of actions are from the here-and-now response to the needs of the moment, in relation to the service of other beings. This is easy for such a yogi, as there is no I and no other; it is all a constant flow of pure, undivided consciousness (purusha), that only seems to play, here, there, and everywhere.

 

Love.