Upadesa Saram - Post 17

Verse 14

प्राणबन्धनाल्लीनमानसम् |

एकचिन्तनान्नाशमेत्यदः ||

prāṇabandhanāllīnamānasam |

ekacintanānnāśametyadaḥ ||

From the binding of the prana, the mind is dissolved.

From one thought, that reaches destruction.

The state of Mano-Laya is not to be criticized. It is a good thing to have attained a quiet mind; it is no joke to achieve this. Most people find that impossible. 

They are perpetually subjected to the captivity of the mind, except for the brief relief they get during sleep. So to be freed from the mind’s captivity may in itself be a victory of some sort for most people. However, having done that, the important thing is the next step. 

We cannot waste the opportunity of having a quiet mind in our hands. We rarely get this chance. Sri Ramana Maharshi tells us that such a mind is put to its best use by making it contemplate on the Self. A quiet mind is meant for knowledge, so we must give it that. 

The Laya mind does not possess the impulse to seek knowledge. It is an inert state. The impulse comes from one’s desire to know and to realize God. 

“Eka Chintanam”– The Contemplation on the One: 

Pranayama is the basis for and laya is samadhi. However, once you come out of this samadhi, you are not enlightened. 

Just as the example of “Our Self being clouded by our ignorance”given by the author in a series of the messages to few last week, here, it has to be observed in the context of this Laya and the experience after coming out of this temporary samadhi that “TRUTH OR SELF IS COVERED BY VRITTIS OR THOUGHT PATTERNS”.

Remove these thought patterns and SELF is revealed. Thus, sage Patanjali advocated that “the atma is covered by thoughts and you uncover Atman by chitta vritti nirodha, i.e., restraint or stoppage of thoughts.

Thoughts are like continuous flow of a river and due to the same, you are not able to see the ground under / beneath the flowing river, which is SELF.

So, how to use this laya state / practice to progress further in Spiritual Sadhana?

Let the Laya mind be used to reflect upon the Self. It is quiet. It has no disturbance. That is the best time to do Self-contemplation. The instrument of the mind is as we would want it to be – sharp and focused, with no distractions. What better use can we put it to? 

The snake and the rope example is very famous in Vedanta.

Even while one mistakes a rope to be a snake, the fact remains that rope and snake are two different entities and are not the same.

Problem is there only when we seriously mistake a rope to be a snake and in such a situation, rope verily becomes a snake due to our misapprehension.

Let us suppose this snake to be our thoughts and our pure SELF, the ATMAN to be Rope and see the following

Snake is there (notion)	Rope is there.
Snake is not there (notion is removed)	Rope is there.

Similarly,

Thoughts come	SELF is there.
Thoughts go	SELF is there.

Thus, we conclude atleast intellectually that “I AM THE SELF and Not the thoughts that come and go”

Thus, we keep the mind thus engaged and reflecting on the Self within. By prolonged practice the individuality is bound to crack, dissolve and get destroyed. 

This is what the verse holds out to us. Destruction of the mind should not alarm us; it is not something to be feared. The aim is to destroy the restlessness of the mind, which has ever been the bane of all human drama. 

The Maharshi is quite firm on the matter that there is no other way to destroy the mind but the contemplation of the Self. This happens in all of the Yogas in their advanced stage. 

Anything else we do with the mind in Laya would return us to the same old ‘fool’s paradise that we are already in. That is not worth it. 

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 16

Verse 13

लयविनाशने उभयरोधने |

लयगतं पुनर्भवति नो मृतम् || १३ ||

layavināśane ubhayarodhane |

layagataṁ punarbhavati no mṛtam || 13 ||

Dissolution and utter destruction are both control.

The dissolved again becomes, not the dead. (13)

In this verse the two states of mind as discussed in the previous verse are compared. 

Absorption 

The first state, called Mano-Laya, is simply the mind that has been forcefully brought into a quiet state by using the technique of Pranayama. 

There is an example of one Yogi who used to demonstrate the feat of going into ‘Samadhi’ using the Pranayama technique. 

In that state he was ‘stone dead’ to the world. People could lift him and hurl him as they would a rubber ball, and he would be unaffected. 

When he came out of that state, what was his first thought? It was his fees for performing the feat. 

In Laya, the restless mind has been forcefully restrained into quietude. There is no change in the nature of the mind. It simply returns to where it was before it went into Laya.

In effect it is as good as, if not worse than, sleep. In sleep there is little or no room for ego to function. In Laya, the ego can have full play to promote itself. So it can be more harmful than sleep if not used properly. The mind, upon return from Laya, can give us a backlash. 

Destruction

The second state, called Mano-Naasha, is when the inherent nature of the mind is overcome (destroyed) by practicing spiritual Sadhana. The former state is nothing in comparison with the latter. 

In Naasha, the restlessness of the mind is removed by educating it not to seek pleasure in worldly objects. The mind is trained wisely to forego its urge to seek pleasure. Its inherent nature is altered. 

This ‘destruction’ of the nature of the mind places the seeker in a position of advantage to establish himself naturally in the quietened state, without having to take recourse to Pranayama. The mind, after destruction or partial destruction of its habitual nature of restlessness, comes back so much the better for it. It has taken a few more steps towards God. When the mind has been totally destroyed, then it brings the Yogi to the brink of Self-realization itself. 

The Essential Qualitative Difference: 

Externally, both the above types appear to be the same. The man sitting in Laya Samadhi and the man sitting in true Samadhi resulting from Mano-Naasha, both appear to be the same. But they are poles apart in quality. 

The man in mere Laya state goes into Samadhi as a worm and comes out of it still a worm. The man in the Naasha state goes in as a worm and comes out as a fluttering butterly, liberated forever from the prison of his limited body and mind equipment.

Talking about “Naasha”, a bhajan was taught in Sadan in Samarpan era, with the first line being:-

“Bhava Naasha Puttaparthi Purisa”

And in the talk on this bhajan, the author of this blog dealt with how this “Naasha” of the “Bhava”, or the permanent removal of the fear of this cycle of birth and death takes place, with the exposition of another line which is in the same bhajan which is :-

“Mohana Kara Mana Moha Vinasha”

The exposition dealt for this bhajan is given below for your contemplation today. Though this is a deviation from the ashtanga yoga theme, going back to the Bhakti yoga, he feels it is worth it, as “Naasha” cannot be complete without contemplating on this Bhajan. 

BHAVANAASHA PUTTAPARTHI PURISA

JAYA SHIVA SHANKARA JAYA PARAMESA

(BHAVANAASHA….)

MRUTYUNJAYA HIMA SAILA GIRISA

MOHANA KARA MANA MOHA VINASHA

JYOTHI PRAKASA SATHYA SAISA

JAYA SHIVA SHANKARA HEY JAGADEESA

After years or several births of worshipping you in your form as the Siva of Srisailam or Lord of Parthi (i.e.. in form), through your grace, through your infinite compassion, you have granted us the awareness that you are the Paramesa, the formless, infinite, not confined to any physical frame and you are immortal, if realized as parameswara.

Mohana Kara Manamoha Vinasha - journey to God.

1) REALIZING THE FUTILITY OF WORLD—After years and may be several births of our indulgence in worldly objects and our attachment (mohana) to the world and its forms, finally a stage is reached, when one realizes the transient nature of the world, realizes that all joy derived from world are momentary and seeks that joy, which is permanent.

2) SEEKING THE LORD—Drawn to the splendor of your physical form, the bhakta immerses in devotion, sings your glory and in this process, with his newly attained mohana (devotion to thy form), he is drawn away from attachment to all other things in the world.

3) MERGING WITH THE LORD—When devotion attains its maturity and gets to the highest level, bhakti is transformed to Prema and with a heart filled with love, devotee sees and realizes you as LOVE, he sees and realizes the world as nothing but LOVE and at this stage, the attachment to your form also goes off (mohana kara mana moha vinasha) and the worshipper, the worshipped, the process of worship- all gets merged into the one ocean, the ocean of Satchitananda

Through the three stages in the path of devotion, you relieve us from the afflictions caused due to our attachment to the samsara (mohana kara) and then, You elevate us to the knowledge of indestructible atman of infinite splendor, the knowledge of SELF which is immortal (mrutyunjaya), & ever effulgent (jyoti prakasa). When your bhakta reaches this stage of awareness, you liberate from the vicious cycle of birth and death, O Sathya Saisa.)

(Like Swami once told a devotee, “atleast do the dusting of all the SSS volume of books that are lying there in your cupboard, author has to also request all the Sai Sadan center members, “atleast do the dusting…. and…. If it is being used for rendering bhajan and hence dusting is not required…. Then…. atleast read the interpretation and contemplate and come to the centre with that contemplated Bhava and render the bhajan, atleast on that day, you can experience merger with Sai for a moment!!!!)

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 15

Verse 12

चित्तवायवश्चित्क्रियायुताः |

शाखयोर्द्वयी शक्तिमूलका || १२ ||

cittavāyavaścitkriyāyutāḥ |

śākhayordvayī śaktimūlakā || 12 ||

Mind and prana are Consciousness combined with activity, and are two branches rooted in sakti.

In this verse the connection between the breath and the mind is explained. The mind is concerned with thinking, and the breath is physically the intake of air. How are the two related? This close connection is taken up here. 

Breathing brings vitality into every part of the human system, whether physical or mental. If we do not breathe properly, the mind becomes dull very soon. Mental stamina is reduced if our breathing is shallow. 

If we do a few rounds of deep breathing we feel energized mentally as well as physically. The mind seems to wake up. This is due to the link between the two. 

Sri Ramana Maharshi describes the link with a simile. If one is trying to reach for fruits on a branch further away, it is usual to pull towards one of the branch that is closer.

Then the far branch also gets pulled closer to one’s reach. This is because the branches are connected at some point before the trunk. 

In the same way mind and Prana are two ‘branches’ of a tree. If we cannot reach the subtle mind, we can pull the grosser Prana-branch. 

This will have an influence on the mind-branch as well. It is hard to tell the mind, “Stop, O Desire!” It is easier to tell the Prana, “Stop, O Breath!” 

It can be observed by us that when our mind becomes quiet, our breathing also becomes quiet and when the mind is disturbed, our breathing is not quite. 

The reverse is also true. When our breathing is disturbed sometimes, we can observe that our mind is also disturbed and when our breathing is regulated, our mind also becomes quiet.

In spiritual Sadhana, the aspirant is always advised never to neglect the purification of his mind. For this reason Yama and Niyama have been prescribed as the first two steps of Ashtanga Yoga. Purity is always emphasized at every step. 

The Laya State: 

Getting into these states through Pranayama is therefore not a sign of spiritual progress. What we do with the mind in that state is more important. That determines our progress. 

The quiet state that we get through doing Pranayama is called Laya. It is an inert state. 

Laya state here is the same state as the state of Maya which existed prior to creation. 

Like the creation emerged from / after the state of Maya, Mind and Breathing has come from the state of Laya as explained above and hence, by quietening the mind and breath, we can go back to the state of Laya.

It is as good as sleep, the only difference being one still retains his consciousness, and so Sadhana can be done in such a state if one chooses to. 

Love.