Chapter III
Reaching the goal through meditation
Through meditation, it is possible to bring into
memory the paradise that is one’s empire, discarding the transitory creations
of the mind as a dream and a delusion. By engaging oneself systematically and
calmly in meditation. Meditation can be made effective and tranquil.
Thus, the road toward the highest
experience is laid. A new understanding dawns, clear and unruffled. When the
heights of meditation are reached, this understanding becomes so strong that
one’s lower nature is destroyed and burned to ashes! Then, only “You” remain!
The entire creation is a delusion of your mind! One alone IS truth (sathya), the
Lord, Being-Awareness-Bliss (satchidananda), the highest Atma; the ONE is the Self (Sivoham).
The truth (sathya) is so subtle
and so soothing. Once it is reached, there is no meditation and no meditator;
all merge into One. That is the fixed, illumined experience. Exulting within
that one is pure knowledge, the wise one (jnani) will be aware
only of Atmic bliss (Atma-anubhava). That is the goal, the fruit of
immortality.
Attaining this transcendent experience,
the yogi finishes meditation and moves among people resplendent with divinity!
In the yogi, the Vedas find fulfillment. The yogi is transformed into a pure
being. Only meditation has the capacity to make one transcend the vicissitudes
of time and space and make one ever the same equanimous individual, as if one
is another Creator himself.
Once the individual (jivi) is on
the way toward the goal, the individual will derive full contentment from themself
and discover within themself the source of bliss. The cravings and ambitions,
delusions and falsehoods, and animal needs and antics that were worrying the
individual till then all vanish.
Since the Atma pervades all, equally and
steadily, the individual also loses the “I-ness” and gets immersed in its
inherent divine status. Such a person is the real great soul (mahatma), a
liberated soul (jivan-muktha). Fullness is bliss (ananda); bliss is
peace (santhi).
Those who do not give up the path of discrimination
(vichara marga) receive the grace of the Lord, and they also realize
the Atma. They will always be seeking the eternal truth that lies behind the
dream-like illusions of this world.
Control the senses (jnanendriyas),
which run helter-skelter; then, the origins of the disease will be destroyed.
Let the mind keep a watch over its gymnastics; dam up the mad flood of thoughts
and plans and schemes; then there will be no room for worries and anxieties in
the mind.
To diminish the wanderings of your
thoughts, repeat the name of the Lord; that will keep out your sorrows and
troubles. Without the effacement of the mind, spiritual wisdom (jnana) cannot
dawn. The full person is one who has succeeded in this.
Gain inward vision
The spiritual aspirant must first learn
the secret of the “inward sight”, the “vision directed inward”, and take the
attention away from the exterior. You have heard so far little about the inner
world, but divine life is nothing but this method of “inward living”. Just as
the baby, after learning to watch and understands, tries to toddle here and
there at home, so also the spiritual aspirant learns to toddle in the inner
world and understands it. A healthy baby in the cradle waves its arms and legs
in glee and lisps in joy, watching the lamp on the wall. Similarly, the
spiritual aspirant, also healthy in body, mind, and soul, lying in the cradle
of life, watches the inner world and claps the hands ceaselessly in great glee
at that inner joy. This has to be done.
Besides, every thought, every word, every
deed has to proceed from the full consciousness of knowledge. Direct your
intelligence not to wander about but to dwell constantly in the inner world!
This is the inward quest (antar vimarsha), and meditation (dhyana) is the most
important instrument needed for this.
The spiritual aspirant can enter the
inner quest through the gate of self-examination. That gate accords welcome
into the highest and holiest status possible in life to every aspirant who is
endowed with humility and devotion.”
Swami Sivananda says,
"When your meditation becomes deep, you
will lose consciousness of the body.
The state of Samadhi is beyond
description. There is no means or language to give expression to it. Even in
worldly experience, you cannot express the taste of an apple to one who has not
tasted it nor the nature of the colour to a blind man. The state is All-bliss,
Joy and Peace. This much only can be said. One has to feel this himself."
Now, for the author’s
experience in meditation, extract from the sharing covered in one of the
concluding posts under the theme “Veda and vedanta” is given below.
Thus, continuing with nidhidhyasana
daily, in the morning hours and then during many part of the day, the sadhaka
could instantly align and merge with the absolute TRUTH and exist as PURE
EXISTENCE (Sathyam) instantly and naturally.
In this state He could:-
Not differentiate between good beings and
bad beings
Not differentiate
between Man and woman, found and old.
Not relate to any
relations in the past
Not recount any specific
thing that happened in his past.
This is explained by the
truth that the memory bank or the chitta is empty, all actions are undertaken /
propelled by pure intellect and once action is performed, the impact of the
action does not get stored in the mind, in chitta.
Not recall / think / contemplate on any
form of any God, including his Sadguru and God Sai with whose grace, he could
reach to this state.
Not relate to any of the wordings/
expressions / Bhava contained in any bhajan while singing any bhajan in the
centre. This is so because, the differentiation between God and himself
was gone and there was nothing but God, the pure existence that
existed.
At this state of existence one is all
alone and one is all complete, exactly as explained in the creation theme posts
through Vedic verses when it is said that " HE/ THAT WAS ALONE, WITHOUT
ANY THING APART FROM IT".
The Dheena hitherto, had merged with the
Nadhi and ultimately with the endless ocean, the God supreme. Post-merger, the
part that had merged, could never be withdrawn from the ocean!!!! The doll that
was made of salt, had merged with the ocean that is salty, never to be
withdrawn from the ocean to exist again as the salt doll!!
Love.
