Dhyana Vahini - Post 3

 

Chapter I

 

The Power of Meditation

 

Taming the mind and the intelligence

  

Swami writes,

 

“See! Everyone in the world has the nature of behaving and acting in two different ways: one outside and another inside. This is known to all, though generally people do not show this publicly. Just as people lose even the little joy that they have worrying over the factions they may have in their family, so they lose their internal peace when faced with physical obstacles and troubles.

 

For example, consider a cart. It cannot move by itself, can it? It can move only when two bullocks are yoked to it. And the cart can move safely only when the bullocks are trained to pull carts and when they are used to the road on which they have to walk. Instead, if they are ignorant of the process of pulling carts, if they have not walked on the road, if they have never stepped out of their shed, or if they have always moved only round and round the post to which they have been tied, in their own mire, the journey cannot proceed! And the cart will itself face danger!

 

So also, the inner consciousness (anthah-karana) cannot move of itself; it must be attached to the externally related bullocks, the intelligence (buddhi) and mind (manas). Then only can it move forward, following the bullocks’ tracks.

 

So, before the journey, the bullocks — intelligence and mind — should be conversant with the road to the village that the inner senses are eager to reach. They must be trained to proceed in that direction. If this is done, the journey will be easy and safe.

 

Instead, if the draught animals have no knowledge of the pathways of truth, righteousness, peace, and love (sathya, dharma, santhi, and prema), and if they have never once trodden that path, the cart, the inner senses themselves, might come to grief! Even if they are prodded to proceed, they will only drag the cart to the familiar post and the accustomed mire of confusion, injustice, cruelty, indiscipline, and falsehood! What then of the journey? When is the arrival to be?

 

Therefore, intelligence and mind have to be taught the art of pulling the cart and moving steadily along the road. This has to be done by repetition of the Lord’s name (japa) and meditation (dhyana)."

How beautifully Swami teaches us the following

 

Cart / Antahkarana	Compared to consciousness for driving home a lesson
Required to drive the cart / Antahkarana	2 bullocks/ Mind and intellect
Destination	Village (for human beings, SELF realization at ultimate level and Dharmic life at human level)
Pre-requisite for journey	1)                       Destination must be clear 2)                      Journey must be undertaken with Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema
If pre-requisite is not fulfilled	Journey of human life would be an aimless journey and full of confusion, injustice, Cruelty, Indiscipline, falsehood
Means for fulfilling the pre- requisite and for a safe journey in Spiritual path	Japa (Repetition of Lord’s name) and Dhyana (Meditation)

 

 

Did our Lord not sing- “Japa Dhyan bina Samyog Nahin”?!

 

Swami has spoken about Japa and Dhyana as early as in 1958.

 

“The secret is: you should “be”, but not be as in sleep, when you are aware deep down within you, that you are.

 

Sleep is enveloped in delusion (maya). Awake from that delusion, but immerse yourself in this sleep that is the real super-conscious state of bliss (samadhi).

 

Repetition of the Name and meditation are means by which you can compel even the concretization of the divine Grace, in the Form and with the Name you yearn for. The Lord has to assume the Form you choose, the Name you fancy; in fact, you shape Him so. Therefore, do not change these two, but stick to the ones that please you most, whatever the delay or the difficulty.

 

Flying hither and thither, higher and higher, the bird has at last to perch on a tree for rest. So too, even the richest and the most powerful man seeks rest, peace (santhi).

 

Peace can be got only in one shop, in inner reality. The senses will drag you along into a mire, which submerges you deeper and deeper in alternate joy and grief, that is to say, prolonged discontent. Only contemplation of unity can remove fear, rivalry, envy, greed, desire — all feelings that prompt discontent. Every other avenue can give only pseudo-contentment, and a day will come when you will throw away all these playthings and toys and cry, “Lord! Grant Me unruffled peace.”

 

(Chithravathi River Bed, Puttaparthi, 1958-02-23)

 

Love.

Dhyana Vahini - Post 2

Chapter I

 

The Power of Meditation

 

Binding actions and liberating actions

Swami writes, 

 

“People have to be doing some action (karma) or other from the moment of waking to the moment of sleeping —that is to say, from birth to death. They cannot sit quietly without doing action. No one can avoid this predicament! But each one has to understand clearly which kind of action to be engaged in.

 

There are only two types:

 

(1)          sensory or binding actions (vishaya karmas)

 

and

 

(2)         actions that liberate (sreyo karmas).

 

The acts that bind have increased beyond control; as a result, sorrow and confusion have increased. Through these, no happiness and peace of mind can be gained.

 

On the other hand, the actions that liberate yield progressive joy and auspiciousness with each single act. They give bliss to the Self (Atma-ananda) and are not concerned with mere external joy! Though the acts may be external, the attraction is all toward the internal. This is the right path, the true path.

 

Actions that bind include all activity in relation to exterior objects. Such actions are usually resorted to with a desire for the result. This craving for the results leads one to the morass of “I” and “Mine” and the demon of lust and greed. If one follows this path, there will be sudden flares, as when clarified butter (ghee) is poured in the sacrificial fire! Assigning priority to sense objects (vishaya) is the same as assigning importance to poison (visha)!

 

But while engaged in those activities and in those sense objects, if one has no interest in the result or consequence, then not only can one be victorious over the feelings of “I” and “mine”, greed and lust, one can also be far away from all such traits. One will never be troubled by such traits.

 

Liberating action is pure, faultless, unselfish, and unswerving. Its characteristic is the importance given to the idea of action without any desire of the fruits thereof (nishkama karma), which was elaborated in the Gita. The practice of this discipline involves the development of truth, righteousness, peace, and love (sathya, dharma, santhi, and prema). While on this path, if one also takes up the discipline of remembering the name of the Lord, where else can one acquire more joy and bliss? It will give the fullest satisfaction.

 

If one treads this holy path, the Lord Himself will bestow all that is needed, all that is deserved, and all that will give peace of mind. Offer everything to the Lord without any desire for the result; that indeed yields full joy; that is indeed the easiest.

 

While it is very difficult to speak untruth and act against dharma, it is very easy to utter the truth and walk in the path of dharma. It is a very pleasant task to speak out the thing just as it is; one need not spend a moment of thought upon it. To speak of what is not, one has to create the non-existent! That plunges one into fear and fantasy, in an atmosphere of restlessness and worry.

 

So, instead of following sensory actions (vishaya karma), which offer all these troubles and complications, follow actions that liberate (sreyo karma), the path of Atmic bliss (Atma-ananda marga), which is true, eternal, and holy.

 

The best means for following liberating actions is meditation (dhyana). Today, people with newfangled ideas argue how meditation is to be done and even why it should be done. But they know neither its taste nor its purity. That is why there is so much criticism and cynical laughter. My present intention is to instruct such people. Therefore, I am revealing this.”

 

Dear all,

The above part penned by Swami is direct and simple.

Swami distinguishes between two types of karma.

Vishayi Karma - Action taken up with some desire, which we all have understood both from Karma as well as MBCA session, as those actions which will result in further accumulation of Karma.

 

Shreyo Karma -  Actions, pursuits taken up in the path of God realization, which does not add to  bad karmas but which pave the way for accumulation of good karmas which would ultimately  lead to God realization.

 

Subtly aligned with these two types of Karma are the two kinds of human beings, described in the Katha Upanishad.

 

Pleased with Nachiketa’s perseverance, Lord Yama proceeds to describe these two kinds of beings. Let us go through what Swami writes about these two types of beings, in Swami’s commentary on Katha Upanishad, in Upanishad Vahini.

 

Swami writes on the following verse from Kathopanishad.

 

Shreyah cha preyah cha manushyam etah tau sam-pareetya vivinakti dheerah 

Shreyah hi dheerah preyasah abhi vrineete preyah mandah yoga kshemaat vrineete 

 

(Sreyas and preyas approach the human being. Having clearly considered them from all sides, the wise person chooses sreyas preferring it to preyas. The unwise one chooses preyas for the sake of acquisition and preservation. )

 

Author quotes Swami from Upanishad Vahini

 

“Pleased with Nachiketas’ faith and steadiness, Yama concluded that he was fit to receive the highest wisdom. He said, “Well, My dear boy! There are two distinct types of experiences and urges, called spiritually elevating (sreyas) and worldly pleasant (preyas). Both affect the individual. The first releases; the second leashes. One leads to salvation; the other to incarceration!

 

If you pursue the worldly pleasing path, you leave the realization of the highest goal of humanity far, far behind. The spiritually excellent path can be discerned only by the refined intellect; the worldly pleasant path is trodden by the ignorant and the perverted. Spiritual wisdom (vidya) reveals the spiritually elevating; ignorance (a-vidya) makes you slide into worldly pleasure. Naturally, those who seek the spiritually elevating road are very rare.”

 

Yama continued, “The Atma is agitation-less, unruffled; it is consciousness, infinite and full. One who has known the Atma won’t be moved by the dual ideas of “is” and “is-not”, “doer” and “not-doer”, etc. The Atma is not even an object to be known! It is neither knower, known, nor knowledge. 

 

Discovering this is the supremest vision; informing one of this is the supremest instruction. The instructor is Brahman; the instruction is Brahman, and the instructed is also Brahman. Realisation of this ever-present truth saves one from all attachment and agitation, so it liberates one from birth and death. This great mystery cannot be grasped by logic; it has to be won by faith in the scriptures (smrithis) and experienced.”

 

Unquote.

 

And, in today’s part of Swami’s writing in Dhyana Vahini, Swami says that the only way of experiencing the atmic bliss is through DHYANA or MEDITATION.

 

Let us see what Swami explains about Dhyana, as we proceed to the next part of Dhyana Vahini.

 

Love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dhyana Vahini - Post 1

                  

DHYANA VAHINI

 

To be living as a contemporary of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is itself a unique chance, for His is the authentic voice of the Lord Himself; and He is easily accessible and eager to receive pious souls and persons afflicted with physical handicaps or spiritual confusion. His advent itself is to restore dharma in human relationships and instill courage in the hearts of spiritual aspirants and purity in the ranks of pious people (sadhus). He began this mission at the tender age of fourteen, when He announced Himself as the Saint of Shirdi, Sri Sai Baba come again, according to the promise the saint had made that He would reappear to complete His work eight years after He left His body (after His Mahasamadhi).

 

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba unostentatiously proclaims His divinity by a continuous manifestation of miracles beyond the reach of the laws of science. He counsels, consoles, confers boons, and, above all, encourages the faltering aspirants to march forward toward Him; for He is the Absolute, the Goal. Every word of His, spoken or written, is a great aphorism (a mahavakya); for He has the authority to make it so.

 

This book is the translation into English of His invaluable advice to all spiritual aspirants, which was first published in the “Sanathana Sarathi” as a series of articles in Telugu by Him. Baba’s Telugu is sweet and simple and goes straight to the heart. To translate it into English is indeed to squeeze out much of its native nectarous taste. But for those unacquainted with Telugu, this is the best means of listening to His directions and so this book is presented to all such aspirants. May success come to all who read and follow the teachings of Baba and may they be led to His Holy Presence by His Grace.

 

Prof. N. Kasturi

Love.