Dhyana Vahini - Post 16

Chapter VI

 

 

Swami deals with attachment to this temporary world in this post, in great detail and depth.

 

Swami writes,

 

Why worry over short-lived attachments?

 

Everything in this world is ephemeral, transitory; it is here today but may not be here tomorrow. So, if you want to crave something with a full heart, seek the Lord, who has no decline. Instead, if you crave progeny, wealth, and all comforts, you will suffer untold misery when you are called upon to leave everything and depart. 

 

At that moment, you would lament, “oh, did I love so deep that I may weep so loud?” In this transitory life, joy and pain are also perforce transitory. 

 

So, it is indeed humiliating to get immersed in the search for the evanescent and to forget the Supreme and the Everlasting. Ignoring God (Madhava), who is free from illusion (maya), and spending time in things immersed in illusion is fruitless; sorrow alone is the final gain. Nothing here is fit to be worshipped as eternal. Whomever you love, that love has to come to an end.

 

The self-same Lord gives and takes! He gives and takes as and when He wishes. Everything is His, so how foolish it is to lament when things belonging to Him are taken back by Him! Therefore, the wise person doesn’t pine over anyone or feel undue attachment to anything. 

Let all the pining and all the attachment be for the Lord; He alone is eternal, the source of all joy. For the rest, love a thing as a thing, not more. Love a person as a person, not more. If you love them more, it is a sign that you have been deceived about their real nature. You can behave only for a short time as if the house you have rented is your own! For as soon as the period is over, it passes on to another.

 

If you think on these lines, you will know that spouse, children, possessions, and relatives are not yours for long, but only for a short time. So why waste away, worrying over these impermanent things? 

 

A millionaire can eat only one bellyful, not more. You have to come to this world like the traveller taking refuge at nightfall in a caravanserai; he departs when dawn breaks! You go toward your goal, from caravanserai to caravanserai, stage by stage. It is good to take life in this light.

 

Animals with many legs creep along the ground. People have only two legs, so they can move freely about.  The larger the number of legs, the greater the bondage, the tighter the restriction. 

 

When one marries, one has four legs, one has become a quadruped. Later, when one gets sons, daughters, in-laws, and grandchildren, one is transformed into a regular centipede, capable of moving only by crawling along the ground! One cannot stand erect; one loses freedom of movement; one has to creep slowly along the mire of material objects; one has no time or inclination to secure the Lord’s grace.

 

The attachments of the world are short-lived. People have been born many times before and have lived out their lives, loving and getting immersed in love and attaching themselves to others. But does anyone now have a trace of all that? Does anyone know where all that has gone? Does anyone worry about those they loved then? Does anyone remember them at least now and then? No. The same type of love and attachment were there then also, but with the passage of time, it has been forgotten.

 

So too, when one departs from this world, the love one had for others and the joy, pain, and happiness one had through that love will be forgotten. Like the playgrounds of children, the senses of action of man will also change, from here to there and from there to somewhere else!

 

Fixing their minds on the insecure changing love, how tragic it is that people forget the cultivation of the disciplines that will give them the permanent bliss of the Lord!

 

Everywhere, people are plunged in worry, all twenty-four hours a day. Is it right to increase their burden? Who can be so cruel as to torture instead of lessening the suffering of a dying person? Already, the sea is rough; dare we blow a typhoon over it? 

 

Therefore, learn to spread a smile on the faces of the desperate. Keep smiling yourself and make others smile. Why make a sad world sadder by your desperate counsel, your lamentation, and your suffering? Adopt repetition of the name and meditation to assuage your own grief, to overcome your own sorrow, and to plunge in the cool waves of the sea of the grace of the Lord.

 

Why should travellers wrangle through the night over useless things, instead of getting ready to leave the caravanserai at dawn and starting out on the next stage of their pilgrimage? By wrangling, they lose sleep and deprive themselves of rest; they will not have the energy to continue the journey. So do not worry too much about things of the world. Worry ends in meaningless hurry and waste of time. That time is better used in meditating on God.

 

continued......

 

Love.

 

 

Note - As the author is undergoing a hectic schedule, he thought he would elaborate on Swami's writings in the next post. But as he posts Swami's writing on Attachment in this post, he sees that there is nothing more to actually elaborate or introspect on the above gems poured by the source, the Poorna avatar. Still, if something comes to mind, author shall explain in the next post.

 

 

Love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dhyana Vahini - Post 15

Chapter VI

 

Meditation Reveals the Eternal and the Non Eternal

 

“The seen is transitory; this is seen through meditation. When people wander helter-skelter in a strange land, not knowing the road, and when someone comes to direct them along the right path, it is not right to laugh at and dishonour them — it brings about only ruin and confusion! 

 

But today, it has become the habit of people to curdle the love (prema), these embodiments of love, into poison through ignorance of the role of helpfulness that these guides have come to play.”

 

Introspection

 

What to talk about sages, masters and holy men who devote their life for transforming / guiding their fellow being(s), Even an Avatar is not recognized, even an avatar’s guidance is not taken seriously, even by those who believe that He is God Incarnate

 

Swami continues,

 

"Note this! Love and destruction arise from the same native spot. The same sea that yielded gems, the moon, nectar, and the goddess of wealth also brought forth the world-destroying halahala poison. 

 

Under these conditions, one must, like Sri Narayana, accept the good and the auspicious; otherwise, one cannot have nectar and Lakshmi. The heroic and the adventurous, like Siva, can have the poison as their need."

 

The Lord’s grace is needed to cross the sea

 

This sea of life (samsara), turbulent with the waves of joy and misery, can be crossed only by those who have an unflinching desire for the essence of bliss; the rest will be submerged.

 

The capacity to overcome the qualities (gunas) of nature (prakriti) is not inherent in everyone; it comes to one with the grace of the Lord. And that grace is to be won by repetition of the divine name and meditation. This must first be clearly understood: it is impossible for everyone to control the tendencies of nature; the power is possessed only by those who have nature in their grip and whose commands nature obeys.

 

Nature (prakriti) is the basis of everything in the universe. It is the basis of creation and existence. All this is nature: men and women, beasts and birds, trees and plants. In fact, all that can be seen is inseparable from nature. In this endless creation, the active element is the Lord (Purusha). 

 

This truth has to be experienced, so that it will not slip away from consciousness, and the discipline needed for this is also repetition of the divine name and meditation. This nature is like an ocean; even if it is agitated a little, millions of living beings will be destroyed. When the sea becomes slightly ruffled, ships turn into hollow reeds. You can never cross this sea by your own effort, alone. The Lord’s grace is essential. So pray for that raft, and when you secure it, you can reach the shore in a trice.

 

Introspection

 

Purushartha and Divine grace has been covered elaborately in Karma session / Blog posts under Karma theme.

 

There can be a contradiction / confusion after reading Swami’s writing above on Grace.

 

An intelligent being (who has not undertaken intense purushartha as yet) may think that the whole thing is confusing. On the one hand, it is said that the ultimate emancipation is not possible without divine grace and on the other hand, it is also said that divine grace is possible only with sincere efforts. So, Grace first or efforts first? If efforts would surely be undertaken, then what can stop God from bestowing His grace?? And why any grace is required at all if efforts is complete??

 

 Most convincing answer for this is,  

 

“Undertake Purushartha to your fullest capacity”

 

If all Artha and Kama are subjected to, screened through Dharma, with Moksha as the only aim all through, then such a ripened Sadhaka would never ever think / wait / hope to get Lord’s grace as a give and take policy. His Dharma is to pursue goal of Self-Realization. Only when such a life is led, Yes, God cannot wait / hold back to bestow His grace on the sadhaka!

 

So, if one does not get Lord’s grace at his penultimate step in the path of Self-Realization, one has to introspect whether his purushartha is really complete and selfless or not.

 

When you gain a deeper insight into Grace you naturally start putting forth effort in your life; you don’t just sit around brooding over a task that confronts you. You remark with a smile, “Even if it appears momentous I will do my best—and God within me will do the rest.” With this kind of attitude you will find your life filled with success. But when you stop your effort, relying entirely on Divine Grace, you have misunderstood.

 

God’s Grace operates through your intellect, through your mind, through your personality. Whenever you are exerting your effort in life, it is Divine Grace that is guiding your actions in that direction. As you do your best, it is God within who prompts you.

 

To the extent that you recognize God within yourself by subduing your ego, to that extent Grace flows, expressing itself in these four aspects.

 

Thus, to receive Grace, sadhana is important. Self-effort must never stop. Rather it must be done with a cheerful disposition, with the philosophical understanding that God will not put you into a task unless he has given you the strength to perform it. He will never place you in a situation for which you do not have endurance. No matter how adverse the situation may appear, there is a meaning behind it.

 

If you have this understanding you strive with faith in your heart and tenacity in your effort. Faith is the secret of spiritual advancement as well as of worldly prosperity. But when faith is lacking, life is empty.

 

So, with faith and effort, one begins to experience the Divine Grace that purifies one’s ego, promotes sattwa (purity of nature), and removes the subtle impurities of the mind. There is no effort on an individual’s part that can remove the subtle roots of egoism, hatred, greed and pride. 

 

You may be highly rational and reflective, but it is only when you recognize the Divine Power within you and bow down to that power with love and devotion that Divine Grace will clear your path in a mysterious way.

 

Love.

 

 

Dhyana Vahini - Post 14

Chapter V

 

Swami continues,

 

Take it step by step

 

“The lower step can be seen from the higher step, not the higher step from the lower. So, one should strive to go step by step, higher and higher — in other words, from the culture of the Atma to the culture of the will and thence to the culture of the moral conduct. Then, the enjoyment of the bliss of the Atma becomes quite easy and natural.

When the baby is unable to walk, the mother encourages it to toddle a few steps at a time at home before it is allowed to go on the road. Instead, if it is put on the high road first, how can it learn? Besides, what of the dangers of the road? 

So also, first the internal factors have to be strengthened, and then external factors, like moral conduct, become easy. Morals without the basis of internal uplift will not be deep-seated. So the cultivation of the attitude of the Atma is primary.

The aim of spiritual practice is to remove the motive, the wish, the attachment, the yearning for the fruit. Understanding this clearly, the spiritual aspirant must not give way to any dispiritedness, despondency, or feeling of failure or doubt. The aspirant must be patient and bear things with fortitude. 

Therefore, the aspirant must develop within themself enthusiasm, faith, activity, and joy. Keeping the great big result of effort constantly in view, the aspirant must boldly discard all difficulties and temptations. Since the latter are but short-lived and weak, with a little patience, they can be overcome with ease. If the aspirant is not vigilant and patient, all already-achieved success will melt away in an unguarded moment.

Spiritual aspirants, yogis, and renunciants (sanyasins) have to climb a ladder, the steps of which are: argumentation, no argumentation, analysis, non-analysis, agreement, etc. (sa-vitharka, nir-vitharka, sa-vichara, nir- vichara, samatha, etc.)

 

Introspection

 

A realized yogi writes on the above ladder, thus:

SAVITARKA SAMADHI

Concentration in which the options of word, meaning and understanding are confused is called Savitarka Samadhi or the Samadhi with argumentation.

If you concentrate and meditate on the gross objects, on their nature and in relation to time and space, it is Savitarka Samadhi (Samadhi with argumentation). It is Sthula Dhyana. You will get control over the object. You will acquire full knowledge of the object.

The 'cow ' as a word, the 'cow' as an object and the 'cow' as an idea, though different from one another, are cognised as indistinct. You begin to analyse. The characteristics of the word are different; the characteristics of the idea are different; and the characteristics of the object are also different. Everything has a name which has some meaning. 

When the mind apprehends a word and meditates on its meaning and form as well as on the understanding of both, and thus lose itself in the thing completely, it is called Savitarka Samadhi. 

NIRVITHARKA SAMADHI

Nir means “without”: nirvitarka samadhi refers to the state in which the mental alternations of shabda, artha, and jñana are suspended. The less-real components, shabda and jñana, fall away completely, while the mind is absorbed in only artha, or form, and loses its awareness of being the knower. 

SAVICHARA AND NIRVICHARA SAMADHI

The state of samadhi concerned with subtle objects extends up to Prakriti, the source of all manifestation.” In the nirvitarka example (meditation on the guru), the yogini’s mind penetrated to the subtle or tanmatric level of her object of meditation. But when the mind becomes immersed in this subtle level of the object thus revealed, and then begins to more fully explore that subtle object (as in the nada yoga example), this is savichara samadhi.

In nirvichara samadhi sattva guna alone is active. Tamas guna is suppressed, resulting in the inactivation of memory and any cognition of subtle form; and rajas guna is also suppressed, which stops the fluctuations in the mind’s cognitive process. For the first time true one-pointed concentration, the sattvic state of ekagara chitta, becomes possible. Even subtle thoughts do not occur.

SAMATHA

Samatha is a form of meditation practice that builds tranquility and calmness of mind. 

With samatha, one develops the ability to calm the mind and rest in a state of increased ease. This gives one the ability to practice mindfulness and see the experience without reacting so strongly. When thoughts and other experiences arise, he can observe them with a patient awareness and develop some insight. Samatha is a necessary practice to develop a calm mind that can cultivate insight and wisdom.

 

Swami writes,

 

Clean and feed the mind

 

Just as soap is necessary to make this external body clean, repetition of the divine name, meditation, and remembrance (smarana) are needed to clean the interior mind. Just as food and drink are needed to keep the body strong, contemplation of the Lord and meditation on the Atma are needed to strengthen the mind. Without this food and drink, the mind will just totter this way and that. As long as the waves are agitating the top, the bottom cannot be seen. When the waves of desire agitate the waters of the mind, how can one see the base, the Atma? The tottering causes the waves and is caused by want of food and drink.

So, clean the mind with contemplation of the Lord. Feed it with meditation on the Atma. Only meditation and spiritual practice (sadhana) can clean the depths of the mind and give it strength. Without purity and strength, the Atma recedes into the distance and peace flees.

 

Introspection

 

Here, Swami instructs for a combination of Dhyana and Bhakti.

Swami’s words is extremely relevant in this context where He writes, “clean the mind with contemplation of the Lord. Feed it with meditation on the Atma”.

For the single pointed meditation, for converging the mind on the object of meditation, Swami prescribes the dosage of Upasana and asks us to clean the mind with the contemplation of the Lord.

Rare indeed is a sadhaka who can directly take off in his dhyana / meditation on the “abstract” Atman or SELF in the very beginning itself. For “ cleaning the mind”, i.e., for stopping the mind from wandering to “ unclean” ideas and thoughts, contemplation on Lord through various modes of Japa, Sankirtana etc. is prescribed so that the mind is intensely focused on the Lord with form and at this stage, slowly, gradually, evolving to Dhyana or meditation on “ SELF” is possible.

 

Love.