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.

Upadesa Saram - Post 8

Verse 6

उत्तमस्तवादुच्चमन्दतः|

चित्तजंजपध्यानमुत्तमम्|| 

uttamastavāduccamandataḥ|

cittajaṁjapadhyānamuttamam || 

Superior to hymns of praise is loud or soft japa;

Mind-born japa-meditation is the best. 

Than the best hymns of praise, loud or soft,

Mind-born japa or meditation is better. 

The Four Stages in Japa described in this verse are as under:-

i) Stava: This means “glorification of the Lord”. This includes the singing of Stotrams, praises to the Lord, Bhajans, chanting of the Vishnu Sahasranam, the 1000 Names of Lord Vishnu, etc. In this stage, there can be musical accompaniments also. One’s hands, ears, eyes, and mind are engaged in the practice. 

ii) Uccha Japa: In this form, everything remains as above, but the musical instruments are removed as a way of narrowing down the attention of the devotee to fewer senses. The hands are not used; only the ears, eyes and the mind are available for this form of concentration on the Lord. 

iii) Manda or Upamshu Japa: When the Japa is chanted very softly, as a whisper, the sense of hearing is effectively removed from the practice; only the eyes and the mind are available for the practice. 

iv) Chintajam Japa: When the Japa is done only with the mind, with even the eyes kept closed; another sense is withdrawn from the practice; now only the mind is available for it. Having taken the practice into the mind, this becomes the subtlest form of Japa. 

Ramana Maharishi says, the chittam japa or the silent meditation is better than the manda japa or chanting in lower voice, chanting in lower voice is better than the chanting in louder voice or uccha japa which in turn is better than just praising the Lord through ritualistic singing / chanting.

Mainly focusing on the last two modes of Japa - Slow and soft chanting and silent mental japa, there is mantra / chant, then silence, then mantra, then silence. 

Since each time we chant softly or silently a mantra, Say AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA, there can be no thought building up in the mind as each chant is complete by itself and does not lead to any other process in continuation of the chanting.

For example, let us say, we see a car, immediately we may think about the country in which it is made, say America. From there, the thought can go to America and from there, thought can go to some memory about America which you have read somewhere or when you have visited, from there, the thought can travel about some person whom you met in America, from there, attachment / hatred feeling can arise out of your memory of your experience with that person etc… So, you have started from somewhere and have gone somewhere!!

Whereas, in a soft / silent japa on “Aum Namah Shivaya”, each time, it can be only thought of Shiva and then there is silence, the process is complete. Then again chanting again thought on shiva only.

Thus, in this process, you are nearing silence. There is no “building up” of thoughts in this case, like the build-up we saw above in case of thoughts building up on the sight of a car.

It is to be noted, observed and absorbed that SILENCE IS ONE’S REAL EXISTENCE AS SELF.

During japa, one has to observe the silence between the chant / japa. The observer is also Silence and the observed is also Silence. Thus, the mental chanting taken up by observing silence is actually meditation, as it takes you to your SELF.

In this way, the chanting itself becomes a meditation as it is helping you to observe the silence between the chants.

This silence is not disturbed by chanting, provided the chanting is not mechanical chanting and mouth chanting and thoughts not aligned with the chanting and they travel somewhere.

When there is silence at three levels, silence of the body , silence of speech and most important, silence of mind, then , for those few seconds, you lose cognizance of your individual physical identity and you exist as PURE EXISTENCE or SELF.

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 7

Verse 5

जगतईशधीयुक्तसेवनम्

अष्टमूर्तिभृद्देवपूजनम्||

jagata īśadhīyuktasevanam

aṣṭamūrtibhṛddevapūjanam

Worship, united with the understanding that the universe is the Lord, is worship of God bearing eight forms.

In the previous verse we only talked about the idea of a relationship with God. Now we are ready to make a practical start to develop such a relationship. 

Pooja is that which establishes us in a relationship with God. Pooja concretizes a natural human tendency of using symbolism to express things or to represent ideas. 

The devotee who starts in a small way in his little Pooja room, grows and matures into the great devotee for whom the whole world becomes his “Pooja Room”! 

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a great patriot and servant of India, and worked day and night for its freedom. His grandson one day complained to him, “I don’t see you doing any Pooja, so I also will not do it.”

The saintly grandfather told the boy, “Till you are able to do Pooja of all the millions of people in this country, you have to continue to do your daily Pooja in the prayer room.” 

The Eight-Fold Forms of the Lord: 

Ashta Moorti: the “eight-fold form”of the Lord. It represents the entire manifested world, called Jagat. Here are two derivations for the word ‘Jagat’. 

The eight forms of the Lord are: 

The five elements, namely, Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth; 

The two heavenly luminaries, namely, the moon and the sun; and

The eighth is the Jiva or the individual souls.

These eight factors constitute the entire creation and the creation is the Lord.

Since the creation is not separate from the Lord, the problem of searching for a form to worship the Lord is not there anymore.

This idea is expressed in Isavasya Upanishad ,

“All this, whatever moves on the earth, and the universe which itself is moving, is covered by the Lord”.

How to See God in All 

There is the following story from the Buddhist tradition. One cold night, a traveler knocked at the doors of a monastery. After some time a junior monk opened it, and allowed the visitor to spend one night. Feeling very cold, the visitor made a fire to keep himself warm. 

The next day, the junior monk noticed that the wooden statue of the Buddha was missing from the shrine. 

Thinking it to be a theft, he reported the matter to the High Priest. The High Priest scolded the junior monk: “For you the dead Buddha seems to be more important than the live Buddha!”

Love for God by seeing Him in all beings is true worship of Him – and there are no exceptions! 

Swami Vivekananda taught, “When I close my eyes, I worship the Lord in a form, when I open my eyes, all the forms I see is the Lord Himself”.

There is a Hospital run by Rama Krishna mission in which, to live the above teachings of Vivekananda, on important occasions in a year, the monks of the ashram visit the hospital and do the Paada seva to all the patients there and the monks literally worship the patients with flowers. 

Thus, in this way, Karma itself becomes worship. 

Note:

Though one can and one must believe in the truth that the entire creation is Lord and start serving all, as the author has been sharing with few devotees of late, the true experience of seeing Lord in all can actually happen only after experiencing the Lord within himself (AS LOVE).

There is another way in which a wise man lives this verse (in the path of wisdom)

When the entire creation is nothing but Lord, I, existing in this creation, is also God, as I cannot be left out from the creation, which is Lord.

‘I am indeed the whole creation” is the highest form of worship. 

When I say, “I am everything”, then this I is not my body, my mind, my intellect, my ego.

“I”is the consciousness which is me and the consciousness which is everything in this creation.

When I say, the entire creation is the Lord, then it is surrender in the path of Bhakti.

When I say I am the entire creation, then it is surrender to the SELF that I am and this is surrender in the path of Jnana.

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 6

कायवाङ्मनःकार्यमुत्तमम्|

पूजनंजपश्चिन्तनंक्रमात्||

kāyavāṅmanaḥkāryamuttamam |

pūjanaṁjapaścintanaṁkramāt ||

To be done with the body, speech, and mind, worship, japa, and contemplation are superior in that succession.

We have three means to express ourselves: the body to express our actions, the speech to express our words, and the mind to express our thoughts. These three can be used to worship the Lord in the following manner, as described in this verse: 

i) Pooja / Ritual worship: by means of the body, we perform sacred worship of the Lord using a form. 

ii) Japa / chanting of mantras / Namasmarana: by means of the speech, we perform the repetition of the Lord’s Name. 

iii) Dhyana: by means of the mind, we perform meditation or contemplation upon the mental form of the Lord or His qualities. 

Serially Superior: 

What this means is that the succeeding instrument is more subtle and therefore more effective or superior to the former. Superior to Pooja is Japa, and superior to Japa is meditation. 

Worship Method	BODY	SPEECH	MIND
Pooja	Involved	Involved	Involved
Japa	û	Involved	Involved
Dhyana	û	û	Involved

This is a gradation from a grosser form to a subtler form of worship. However, one has to practice the former to be prepared for the latter, in the sequence given above.

Pooja: Starting a Special Relationship with God 

Pooja is by no means to be considered an “inferior” practice to be rejected. In fact, it is the best preparation for Japa and meditation. 

Pooja starts our relationship with God. 

In life we have various relationships with different people. We ourselves are different to different people. It is the same network whether we are at work or in social circles. We take great pride in describing or designating what our role is to various people. But do we often hear someone say he is a devotee of God? Have we even considered that as a possible relationship? Can we not add God to our list of contacts?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Those of you who attended the last month satsangh at sadan can recollect the “Bikshu Pada Prasarana Nyaya” shared with you at the end of the Satsangh.

The bikshu’s asking for a space to stretch his legs is “adding” God to the list of your contacts, may be the last in the list, to be attended to. 

Once you add Him to your list of contacts or list of TO Dos to be attended daily, then, as shared in the talk, like the Bikshu occupies the whole mansion for doing Seva to his Gopala Idol, Lord will Himself find His way to the mansion of our heart, gradually! 

Pooja or ritualistic worship can be as elaborate as possible or as simple as just lighting a camphor / offering a flower to the Lord.

Japa - chanting the name of Lord.

Japa does not / should not involve any physical action. Japa could be chanting of one chosen name of lord like “Om Namah Shivaya” or “Om Sri Sairam” etc. 

You are speaking while you are chanting and the mind is listening / taking in the impact of the chanting.

Thus, Speak-Hear-Speak-Hear- Speak...... forms a cycle. 

The more mind is involved in this cyclic process, the lesser your distractions are and more would be your focus on the Lord whose name is chanted.

Dhyana - meditating on the Lord

This is a more subtle mode of worship where, your body and speech are not active but your mind is actively meditating on your chosen Lord, your experience with the lord, the Glory of your Lord etc.

This is a very effective process of worship.

Imagine, Swami is in Puttaparthi till He existed in form or is no more in physical form even in Puttaparthi after He chose to end His physical existence in 2011.

But with the power of your mind and the focused meditation on Swami, you can bring that enchanting form, right into your thoughts, right in your pooja room, right in front of you and you can almost experience Swami speaking to you, right there!

Most of us would have experienced Swami seated on the throne in our centre during a bhajan session or a satsangh. 

It is all due to our channelizing the enormous power of our mind towards our God, withdrawing our mind from all other worldly thoughts.

While pooja and Japa is possible to be undertaken by mere will, meditation has to happen, it cannot be just willed and done.

You can create most conducive environment in your room, with dark ambiance, with dim blue lights, with a focused beam on Swami’s photograph or on Aum symbol painting, select a suitable asana for you to sit and meditate, even play a soothing meditation music / Aum chant etc. but still, it is not necessary that your mind is withdrawn by you from various thoughts, about the office pending work, about some bad experience that you had at home / at center etc. yesterday etc. 

But, practice must be on. Every time your mind betrays you and goes out, you have to take the support of Japa and bring the mind back to the shrine, to the Lord’s name and form and draw your mind towards Lord.

That is why regular satsangh is very important in our life. It is important to be in good company, to keep listening about God’s glory so that all these things have a positive, satvic impression/impact in your mind / heart and it becomes more and more easy with such heart / mind to meditate on our Lord!!

Jap Dhyan bina Samyog nahin

(Without Japa and Dhyana, as explained above, union with God is impossible)

and all our japa, our dhyana has to culminate in our conviction,

Bhagawan bina koi Apna Nahin!!!

Love.