It is the nature of the mind to wander.
You are not the mind.
The mind springs up and sinks down.
It is impermanent, transitory, whereas
you are eternal.
There is nothing but the Self.
To inhere in the Self is the thing.
Never mind the mind.
If its source is sought, it will vanish
leaving the Self unaffected.
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Chapter II
Swami
writes on the three paths / Gunas in one’s meditation process,
“There
are three ways by which aspirants try to enter the path of meditation: the path
of truth (sathwika- marga), the path
of passion and emotion (rajasika-marga)
and the path of ignorance (thamasika-marga).
“Pure,
serene (sathwic) path.
On this path, one considers repetition of the name and meditation as a duty and
suffers any amount of trouble for its sake; one is fully convinced that all
this is just an illusion, so one does only good under all conditions and at all
times. One desires only the good of all and is always loving toward all; one
spends time uninterruptedly in the remembrance and meditation of the Lord. One
does not crave even the fruit of repeating the name and meditation; one leaves
it all to the Lord.
The
passionate, restless (rajasic)
path. Here, one craves the fruit of one’s act at every step. If the fruit is
not available, then, gradually, laxity and disgust overpower the spiritual
aspirant and repetition of the name and meditation slowly dry up.
The
ignorant (thamasic) path.
This path is even worse. The Lord will come into the memory only in times of
danger or acute suffering or when one is the victim of loss or pain. At such
times, such a person prays and vows to arrange this worship (puja), offer this
particular food, or build this kind of temple to the Lord. One will be
calculating the quantity of food placed before the Lord, the tribute offered at
His feet, the number of prostrations performed, and the number of times the
shrine was circled — and ask for proportionate awards! For those who adopt this
attitude in meditation, the mind and intellect can never be pure.
Most
people now follow only the passionate, restless (rajasic) and dull, ignorant (thamasic) paths in repeat- ing the divine name and
meditation. However, the very intention of repeating the divine name and
meditation is to purify the mind and the intellect. In order to achieve this,
the first path is best: pure, serene (sathwic)
meditation. When the mind and the intellect become pure, they will shine with
the splendour of the understanding of the Atma. He in whom this understanding
shines fully is called a sage (rishi).”
Comments:
We
want to become aware of the meaning of each of the gunas, not merely by knowing
its definition but by being able to observe them in our daily life.
Therefore,
let us choose for a day or a week to be aware of one of the gunas as we go
through activities, situations, and conversations.
Observe
how this guna is related to actions, thoughts and speech.
For
example, when we feel lazy, dull, inert, or grounded it is tamas; when you feel
energetic, rushed, all-over-the-place, or full of attachment it is rajas; when
you feel serene, calm, and balanced it is sattva.
We
will discover that everything in the apparent manifestation is related to the
gunas. Thus it is useful to find your own examples of the gunas which
allows you to have direct knowledge of this concept of the gunas. This expanded
awareness about the gunas then also brings the opportunity to play with the
gunas and to regulate them.
Sattva preferably the predominant guna
Of
all the three gunas, sattva is the one that we would like to cultivate. It is
the quality that makes buddhi sharp enough to penetrate all the levels of our
being, until it becomes aware of itself and even sattvic buddhi need to be let
go of. But until then one needs to purify all the levels of one’s being so that
sattva predominates. But do not think that the other two gunas are bad, both
rajas and tamas can be of service for sattva. Tamas brings stability and rajas
can be used wisely when you need the energy to do something.
Swami
concludes on 3 Gunas and meditation beautifully, thus:-
“The
knower of Atma becomes the Atma itself (Brahmavid
Brahmaiva bhavathi). The goal of life, that which makes life worthwhile, is
the understanding of the Atma or, in other words, the basis of the individual
soul (jiva).”
Comments:
Yoga
sutra reveals what Swami has written above.
Purusha artha sunyanam gunanam pratiprasavah kaivalyam svarupa pratistha
va chiti shaktih iti (4.34)
|
purusha |
pure
consciousness, Self |
|
artha |
purpose,
meaning |
|
sunyanam |
devoid |
|
gunanam |
elements,
prime qualities, constituents, attributes; (three gunas of sattvas, rajas,
tamas) |
|
pratiprasavah |
involution,
resolve, recede |
|
kaivalyam |
absolute
freedom, liberation, enlightenment (2.25) |
|
svarupa |
own
form |
|
pratistha |
Established |
|
va |
Or |
|
chiti |
Consciousness |
|
shaktih |
Power |
|
iti |
the
end, finis (to denote the end of the teachings) |
When
those primary elements involve, or resolve themselves back into that out of
which they emerged, there comes liberation, wherein the power of pure
consciousness becomes established in its true nature.
When
the gunas involve, liberation is realized: When
those primary elements or gunas involve, or resolve themselves back into that
out of which they emerged, there comes liberation, wherein the power of pure
consciousness (purusha) becomes
established in its true nature.
(The
involution which mentioned is the essence of Sankhya yoga where, at the
penultimate stages, upon the three Gunas settled eternally in perfect
equilibrium, prakriti retraces to purusha).
This
getting established in its true nature is given in another sutra, thus:
Tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam (1.3)
Then
the Seer abides in Itself, resting in its own True Nature, which is called
Self-realization.
The
enlightened Yogi: Such an
enlightened Yogi is purely spontaneous, with no actions whatsoever being
motivated by the inner drives of samskaras and karma. One hundred percent of
actions are from the here-and-now response to the needs of the moment, in
relation to the service of other beings. This is easy for such a yogi, as there
is no I and no other; it is all a constant flow of pure, undivided
consciousness (purusha), that only
seems to play, here, there, and everywhere.
Love.
Chapter II
Chanting God’s Name
and Meditation
Swami continues,
“Spiritual
aspirants (sadhakas) all over the world will naturally be engaged in
repetition of the name (japa) and meditation, but first one has to
be clear about the purpose of repeating the name and meditation. Without this knowledge,
people believe them to be related to the objective world, capable of satisfying
worldly desires, and hope to demonstrate their value by means of sensory
gains! This is a grave error.
Repetition of God’s
name and meditation are for acquiring one-pointed attention on the Lord, for
casting off sensory attachments, and for attaining the joy derived from
the basis of all sensory objects. The mind should not be wandering in all
directions, indiscriminately, like the fly.
The fly dwells in
the sweetmeat shop and runs after the rubbish carts; the fly that has such
a mind has to be taught to understand the sweetness of the first place
and the impurity of the second place, so that it may not desert the
sweetmeat shop and pursue the rubbish cart. When such teaching is imparted
to the mind, it is called meditation!
Look at the other
type, the bee! It has contact only with sweetness; it approaches only flowers
that possess nectar; it is not attracted to other places; it does not
proceed there at all. Similarly, one has to give up all inclinations toward
sensory attraction, toward the rubbish cart of the untrue and the impermanent.
As far as possible, one has to direct the mind to all holy things, which
yield sweetness and the joy associated with the Lord. To attain these,
time is needed, of course. How long that time will be depends on the activities
of thought, word, and deed as well as on the motives that impel those
actions.
Comment- Swami,
while talking to an Ex student, quoted this very analogy and said, having
tasted the sweetness of Sai naamam, Sai roopam, Sai Sameepyam, (compared to the
fly dwelling on sweetmeat shop), one must never ever get into the desires of
the world (Fly moving to rubbish carts).
Gauge meditation by its
inner impact
The main things to
be considered are not at what expense one has prayed to the Lord, nor the
number of years one has been engaged in it, nor the rules and regulations
one has followed, nor even the number of times one has prayed over. The
main considerations are: with what mind one has prayed, with what degree of
patience one has been awaiting the result, and with what
single-mindedness one has craved Godly bliss, regardless of worldly happiness
and delay, with no lassitude and with constant attention to oneself, one’s
meditation, and one’s task.
Comment- Single
pointed devotion is referred by Swami here. This is 4th stage,
after Attraction, Faith, Adoration and worship.
This is the turning
point in a Bhakta/Meditator’s spiritual journey. Often, we get stagnated at
Adoration and worship for the entire life and even for few births. Unless this
single pointed devotion is achieved, the mind which is attracted to adoration
and worship at a certain duration of the day/ week, gets / may get equally
attracted to worldly desires, as it has not yet achieved single pointed
devotion where, there is only SAI/ God in mind, from dawn to dusk.
If one examines
deeply the success in getting rid of all idea of self, one can oneself gauge
the progress made. Instead, if one is engaged in counting the rules
and adding up the time spent and the expense incurred, such meditation can
belong only to the objective world; it can never come into the subjective and
spiritual fields.
Repetition of God’s
name and meditation (japa and dhyana) should never be
judged on mere external standards; they are to be judged by their inner
effects. Their essence is their relationship to the Atma.
The immortal Atmic experience
should never be mixed up with low activities of the temporal world. Such
activities deserve to be avoided. If room is given for them, and if one
sways between impatience and sloth, and if one always worries oneself,
feeling, “Why has it not come yet? Why is it still far away?” Then it all
becomes simply repeating the name and meditation done with intent to gain,
with an eye on the fruit thereof.
The single fruit of
repetition of divine names and meditation is this: the conversion of the
out-faced into the in-faced; the turning inward of one’s eye, the inward
eye seeing the reality of Atmic bliss. For this
transformation, one has to be always active and hopeful, regardless of the
time taken and the difficulties encountered. One should not count the
cost, the time, or the trouble. One should await the descent of the Lord’s
grace. This patient waiting is itself part of the austerity (tapas) of
meditation. Sticking unfalteringly to the vow is the austerity.
Comment- Now, Swami
takes a huge leap, by passes the stages of Devotion transforming to love, Love
expanding to the entire creation of the lord and He talks about Atmic
bliss/ immortal Atmic experience, which is the state of “ Atma nivedanam” , total
self-surrender, the last and final stage in the path of devotion where, the
devotee ceases to exist, devotion process is also transcended and even the
God ( in form) is not there any more, all these have merged into the ocean of
Sat chit ananda/ Ocean of Bliss.
And the most crucial
point mentioned by Swami here is “Patient waiting”. When a Bhakta has made his
100% efforts and has left no stone un-turned in his sadhana, the penultimate
stage is “WAITING FOR HIS GRACE”.
No one in any path-
Bhakti or Jnana, can claim to have attained Self-realization due to his/ her
own efforts. It is not possible. Whatever may be the path, it is the Lord who
ultimately has to shower grace, being satisfied with the sadhana of His bhakta,
and just lift the sadhaka and take him / her to His abode of peace, PRASHANTI.
“God’s power”, flows in two directions.
The first direction is outward, from God toward the world.
Consider this: we are living solely by His grace at this very moment. We
unconsciously exist, act and breathe by virtue of His grace all the time, and
His grace “accomplishes everything that we achieve in life.” The more we
elevate our consciousness, however, the more we can become aware of
that grace, learning how to become channels of it.
The great masters and saints are our role models as
they were powerful channels of God’s grace flowing outward into the
world.
The second flow is inward, from the world back to God. It
is a liberating power, which Swami Kriyananda describes as follows:
“It is divine grace alone, finally, that lifts the
devotee out of delusion and into Divine Perfection.”
In the Bhagawad Gita (18:73) Arjuna
exclaims: “My delusion has been demolished! I have, by Your grace, O Krishna,
regained the memory of my soul [smriti].”
To understand these two directions, think of the sun:
on the one hand, its nourishing sun rays stream outward toward all
creatures, who receive the gift gratefully.
On the other hand, its mighty gravitational pull
attracts everything inward, back into itself.”
Love.
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.
