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.
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.
