Upadesa Saram - Post 11

Verse 9

भावशून्यसद्भावसुस्थितिः|

भावनाबलाद्भक्तिरुत्तमा||

bhāvaśūnyasadbhāvasusthitiḥ|

bhāvanābalādbhaktiruttamā ||

Devoid of bhava is being well-established in true Existence.

From the strength of meditation is the supreme devotion.

Bhava Shunya

Bhava here means “Sankalpa”, any notion about one’s self (Jiva), about the world (Jagat) and the Lord (Easwara).

I am the Body, I am the mind, I am a Samsari, I am the doer, I am the enjoyer - These are some of the notions about the self.

Everyone in the world is nothing but a collection of notions.

Very often, we do not deal with a person as he is, but with “our notion” about that person and all these notions about one another is the main problem.

Sad Bhava

Devoid of all notions is the simple human being, limitless in nature. 

In the Para Bhakti stage, the devotee finally gets convinced that there is a stage beyond duality. As much as he would always like to be only subservient to God, the devotee, when he experiences the all-pervading nature of the Lord, says in exasperation, “How can I be a broken piece separate from God? Indeed, I have to be one with Him.”

Su Stitih

The Jiva is now free of all thought modifications. This state is so coveted that it is here described with the auspicious prefix ‘Su’ as “Su-Sthiti” – meaning “the wonderful state, the most auspicious state”. It is that state of FIRM abidance in the Self. Reaching That, there is no fall. It is permanent. 

This final state is free from all Bhavana or feeling or accompaniment of any relationship with God. Bhavana is only possible when there is some thought or Duality still in the mind. Here even that has dissolved, and the devotee is in total oneness. 

Maa Amritanandamayi gives a beautiful comparison of how this is achieved: The essence of her writing in one of her books is as under:-

“It is like the thought “I want to go to sleep” which we repeat when we go to bed. Till the time we deliberate on this sleeping, it does not happen. Once we transcend the thought / wanting to sleep, we glide to sleep on our own.

Jiva and Easwara

Taking clue of the example given by Ma on Gliding to sleep, how so ever we deliberate on the “I AM HE” knowledge and read all scriptures and keep thinking of Non-dual principal and like the child keeps thinking “I want to go to sleep”, you may keep telling that Jiva and Easwara are one, but till the time you experience this truth, this will remain as a Knowledge.

However, as we saw in the previous post, the culmination of a sincere meditation is a thoughtless state where, the Bheda or the distinction between you and God, Jiva and Easwara goes on its own, like the child glides to sleep after it leaves its efforts / its deliberation to sleep.

Only with single pointed focus on Lord, you can reach a stage in meditation when all other notions about the world and all other jivas in the world, explained earlier in this post, are gone and all that is left is you the meditator and Easwara the meditated object.

As the meditation intensifies, there has to be a stage when the meditation finds its fruit, the distinction between you and the Lord on whom you are meditating is gone, I.E., the last and the subtlest notion you had been carrying on about your identity as something other than Easwara, is also gone.

Whether we say that we have merged with Easwara or Easwara has pervaded us, both mean the same in essence, at this stage.

The verse also illustrates the poetic genius and mastery of Sri Ramana Maharshi: The juxtaposition of “Bhava-Shunya”and “Sad-Bhava” is interesting. 

There is a play of words here. In Bhavana there is still a trace of thought, whereas purity and Truth in their absolute sense are beyond thought. 

The placement of the words poetically seem to suggest a tussle between Thought (Bhavana) and Purity (Sad), for, as thoughts thin out, purity gets established fully. 

The words are placed as if Thought is teasing Purity by chasing around it. Although ‘cornered’ from both sides, it is Purity that emerges victorious.

What a beauty, what a masterpiece that Sri Ramana gives us in this verse, to the world of Spiritual aspirants!

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 10

Verse 8

भेदभावनात्सोऽहमित्यसौ|

भावनाऽभिदापावनीमता||

bhedabhāvanātso'hamityasau |

bhāvanā'bhidā pāvanī matā ||

Better than a conception of difference is that “I am He,” thus, Meditation without difference is considered holy.

We are still with meditational practice, but we now move to the inner feature of the practice. We find that once again there is a factor which differentiates the practice into two types – in Duality and in Non-Duality, i.e. Saguna and Nirguna meditation; or Bheda and Abheda Bhavana in meditation. 

Let us see what is the factor which determines whether we are in Saguna or in Nirguna Meditation as we proceed further.

What is the “Single Thought” in Bhakti Yoga? 

In the early stages of contemplation in Bhakti Yoga, the thought that the devotee holds on to is: “O Lord, Thou art my mother and father. Please protect me!” The devotee at this stage still feels separate from the Lord, and so he addresses Him in this manner. There is a sense of the wave meditating on the ocean. The distinction is there. This distinction is what classifies this stage to be “in Duality”. 

The Culmination of Bhakti Yoga: 

This stage of contemplation without Duality is well-known among all saints, and all the scriptures, as being “sacred, pure, holy, superior, greater.” 

In a series of discourse delivered on Bhagwad Gita by Swami is late 80s in Prashanti Nilayam, Swami describes about a Guru / Preceptor who kept on teaching “DASOHAM” to his young students.

One day, the teacher starts chanting “SOHAM” and the students are confused and they ask the master, “Master, How come you have suddenly changed from “Dasoham” to “Soham”.

The teacher explains in the manner which can be understood by the young students and says, ‘You know that Krishna always steals butter and also he steals our mind and we worship Him as chitachora. 

He came yesterday night and he stole the “Dasa” in my prayers and left me with Soham”!!! 

(All these expressions can come only from Swami!)

Thus, The “single thought” changes as the devotee progresses from Duality to Non-duality. It becomes the thought “SOHAM” – “I am He”, which is identical to the Mahavakyas of the Upanishads. 

At this point, there is the merging of Bhakti Yoga Sadhana and Jnana Yoga Sadhana. 

In the upcoming January month talk in Sai center in Muscat, the author shall deal with this single pointed devotion which changes the dimension of devotion and this is the turning point of devotion from Duality to Non Duality, which we will see in the next 2 month’s satsangh.

In ordinary human love, the culmination is complete identity with the beloved. It is the same in divine love also – the devotee loses himself and becomes one with the Supreme Reality. 

As long as the distinction between Lord and the devotee is there, meditation has not reached its culmination; it has not reached maturity.

The general impulse of the devotee is to NOT want to be one with the Lord. There is a strong tendency among Bhaktas to want to remain distinct from God as they can then continue to enjoy the sweetness of loving God. 

But the Lord takes it as His duty to take His devotee to the highest even if he does not wish to. He will create the right circumstances for that to happen. Here is a classic example of how the Lord does this.

Sri Ramakrishna was completely absorbed in devotion to the Divine Mother Kali. The moment he closed his eyes, he would behold only the Divine Mother. To him one day, “God sent” the great Vedanta Guru, Sri Totapuri, who offered to take Sri Ramakrishna to the highest non-dual experience. 

Typical of Sri Ramakrishna, he went to the Mother Kali to get Her permission before following Totapuri. The Mother said, “Yes, take it. I Myself have sent him to you.” 

Ramakrishna began his tutelage under Sri Totapuri. Totapuri asked him to close his eyes. What did he see? Ramakrishna could only behold the Divine Mother. In Vedantic terms, it meant he was still stuck in form. Sri Totapuri was getting impatient and frustrated. 

He picked up a sharp glass piece and pressed it on Sri Ramakrishna’s Trikuti (between the eyebrows). “What do you see?” Sri Ramakrishna, recounting his experience, said, “I cut my Mother with the sword of discrimination, and went into the Nirguna state at once!” 

This was how God Himself ensures that His devotee is taken ultimately to the highest non-dual experience. 

In Devotion, the desire is to reach the God and attain God. God is the object of desire in this case and Devotee is the one who desires.

Till the time there is a Bheda or difference between the two, there is sense of incompleteness. Once the devotee transcends the difference and attains Lord, then there is Joy, there is cessation of difference between the desirer and the desired. 

However, in the world full of objective pleasure, this cessation of duality is for a short span of time and once the devotee wakes up from that experience of non-dual Joy, there is some another desire, waiting to catch him and to make him run after it.

What is the solution then?

Resolve all the objects of desire into only one object of desire, the LORD.

This is explained in an earlier verse where he wrote, “There are suppose 1000 objects which the eyes see, the senses desire. Channelize your mind, your thoughts in your meditation on God with such intensity that all other objects of desire dissolve in one object, The Lord.”

What happens after this? The meditation, the focus on Lord is single pointed and gradually, in the intensity of your meditation, the distance between God and you, the meditated and the meditator keeps reducing (which can be compared with the chitachora entering your home, entering your heart and stealing your mind (your mind which may jump to any other object, is being stolen by the chitachora) and with your mind taken by Him, all the duality between yourself and God is gone as the mind which is capable of perceiving the duality is no more there.

While talking about Swami, author said, “Who else but Swami can be the one who sacrifices maximum, who gives maximum”. 

He is prepared to sacrifice the stage of His devotee ever remaining at His feet, ever worshipping Him as a divine phenomenon which can never be attained but can only be prayed and worshipped and is prepared to take His sincere devotee from worshipping His form, to reaching the formless, Non-Dual infinite existence!” (Will we ever afford to let someone who adores us, our form to get away from us ever?)

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 9

Verse 7

आज्यधारया स्रोतसा समम् |

सरलचिन्तनंविरलतःपरम्||

ājyadhārayā srotasā samam |

saralacintanaṁviralataḥparam ||

Like a stream of ghee or the even current of a river, Continuous contemplation is superior to that which is intermittent. 

Meditation or Dhyana is a function that takes place entirely in the mind. The proper definition of meditation is that it is a single thought-flow or stream directed to the Divine within. To grasp clearly what meditation is, the Maharshi gives us two similes. When we understand the similes, we will surely come to know more about what meditation is. 

The 2 Similes: Flow of Ghee and Flow of Water: 

Each simile has something to contribute towards the understanding of meditation, and each one also has some disadvantages in doing so fully. Together, they combine well to fully represent the true practice of meditation. 

i) Aajya Dhaarayaa: “Flow of Ghee”. [Oil could also have been used here in place of the ghee without affecting the meaning, but ghee has the advantage of having holy connotations, as it is used in all rituals and havans.] 

When melted ghee flows from one container to another, the special characteristic we note is that the stream is continuous, unbroken. The stream may become very thin, but it will not break up. 

That describes beautifully the steadiness with which the single thought has to be sustained during meditation. 

The single thought must be maintained unbroken by any interruptions to it. Success in meditation is measured by the duration one can maintain such a single-pointed state of mind. 

ii) Srotasaa Samam: “Flow of River”. 
In this simile, the medium chosen is water. Water has a very low viscosity. Its flow therefore has a spontaneity about it, which is missed in the flow of ghee. 

Meditation is very much a spontaneous process. There is a sense of enjoyment, lightness, freshness and coolness about it that is captured well in the flow of water in a river. 

How ever, 

The disadvantage of the “ghee simile” when applied to meditation is that the viscosity of ghee being quite high, there is a difficulty in the flow of the ghee. This viscosity indicates  attachment that a meditator may develop  to the process of  meditation itself. This attachment makes the process slower.

The disadvantage of water is that its flow is not steady as ghee. It flows noisily; splashing and spluttering along the way; and breaks up in continuity when it arrives at a waterfall, becoming a spray of fine water drops like rain. That is, the meditator may lose focus and concentration, swaying away, like the discontinuity in the river flow.

Meditation must combine the advantages in both simile.

So, the emphasis here by Sri Ramana is, 

·       Let the meditation be uninterrupted like the flow of Ghee, but without the viscosity of Ghee, that is, the meditator should not get attached to the process of meditation.

·       Let the meditation be like the river but without the unsteadiness, interruption and the noise of the river flow.

From the above, it is clear that Ramana says, effortless meditation, uninterrupted like a ghee and spontaneous like water. 

When a person begins the practice of meditation, he is unlikely to be successful at it at first go. There will be many breaks in his concentration, in his power to hold the single thought of the nature of God for longer than a few seconds. 

There was an anecdote that used to be recounted by the saint, Sadasiva Brahmendra. He used to say, “In case one desires to get Samadhi at one shot, it is like the one who sent his son to study the 4 Vedas. On the 5th day, when his son had not yet returned, he reasoned thus, ‘He has gone to study the 4 Vedas. It is already the fifth day, why has he not returned?’ 

There can be no such rush in Sadhana. It has to be continuous, steady and without losing hopes.

Thus the broken or interrupted Dhyana is natural for the beginner, and not to be looked down upon. Sadhana takes time and great effort.

The aspirant must realize that the nature of mind is to jump from one thought to another and therefore, in the beginning, when he puts the mind to meditation, it is unnatural for the mind to focus on a single object, God and therefore, being put to some unnatural process, the mind is bound to retaliate and try not to focus on the object of meditation.

It is only with much effort and practice that he can succeed to increase the duration of holding the thought for longer periods. 

As the author has been conveying in recent messages, getting convinced about the Goal in Spiritual Sadhana and accordingly, developing the Conviction to pursue sadhana in spite of interruption, in spite of obstacles, is very much required for a sincere spiritual aspirant.

Love.