Simple meditation technique - Orchcha 9 Oct 2003 Continued.. So, there is a simple technique which one can practice, get up in the morning I mean, morning means whenever you get up is morning, I don’t want to say early morning some people can’t get up early in the morning, that’s ok. Get up as early as you can, first thing in the morning, as soon as you wake up. Don’t go into the bathroom to have a bath because half an hour when you come out, you’ll be full of thoughts when you’re rubbing, you’ll be thinking go and wash, brush your teeth, wash your face if you want to go to the toilet or something have a cup of tea if that disturbs you otherwise you may sit for meditation that tea, I’m missing that tea, so finish it. And then come and sit in a comfortable place no matter where preferably with nice ventilation, here, this is a nice place to sit in the morning just walk up sit it’s beautiful and then if there is a river or just open your windows and if you’re in a very busy city like Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi I think either you go to a good park in the morning or if you’re sitting in a room, put on the AC, because the air is so polluted can’t breathe the air, better now but anyway. So sit in a nice quiet place where there is enough ventilation preferably face the east where the sun rises. And then use a aasan or something, now this is a practical suggestion, have an aasan for meditation only. Don’t sit on your bed and meditate because in five minutes you’ll fall asleep. It usually happens we want to mediate, we sit on the bed then we mediate it is very nice we say now it’s nice I don’t even want the effort of sitting let me lie down and meditate, before two minutes ( sir snores) over. This is everybody’s experience, so if you’re sitting on a bed put a rug or something because the bed has vibrations of sleep it doesn’t have mediation or put so preferably sit in a place where you are not sleeping get down from the bed or sit somewhere and have an aasan which is rolled up and kept and use it only for mediation when you’ve finished it, roll it up and put it away. All this is for beginners when you’re an expert in mediation you can sit in the middle of Jhansi town and meditate, no problem. At the start one has to, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say there some protective things to be made before you start. Cause when the sapling is young the cows can come and eat it off so you need some thorn defenses for it. After it becomes a big tree no problem, so in the beginning. And then sit in the aasan. Sit as steadily as possible but without too much effort. You must be comfortable. Somebody can’t sit in padmasan or siddhaasan don’t force yourself to pull your legs tight and sit because all your thought will be on the legs there will be pain sit in your comfortable position if you can’t sit with folded legs, do sit on a chair put a rug under to keep your feet. But sit comfortably but don’t lean too much because it can again produce sleep. Sit comfortably, in fact I think the major cause of back problems in this country, all over the world is because we have learnt to sit leaning all the time. The back doesn’t give us any support. So learn to support, your backbone is given for support. Of course if you have a back ache, do lean. Now it’s too late to remedy it, but if possible start from the beginning itself sitting straight. Now Sthira Sukham Aasanam that is your posture, so it should be, you should be able to sit in it for a length of time without discomfort. Sit in that position, then so again I repeat, if you have a back pain or something please do use a support. Don’t sit and meditate and think of the back pain. Then after that first, make a simple prayer, prayer can be very very simple, it can be in any language, God is not just speaking in one language then rest of the world will be finished. So you can pray, “I bow down” actually put your head down before you start now down physically bow down let you head touch the ground. Now, one is that it makes you active little bit second it increases the circulation of blood in your brain which is essential, we’re not going to lull ourselves into a semi-idiotic state, we’re going to go into a deep state of consciousness from which all energy comes. So we need circulation in the head. So bend down and remain like that for sometime. Mentally say that, “I bow down to all the great teachers and spiritual beings who have been there from the beginning of time to now, both visible and invisible” we labor under the illusion that there are only visible beings, there are invisible teachers beings everything is there it is foolish to think that we are the only living beings around. And then, so this prayer has to be made, put your head down and then straighten up, close your eyes and now, the mind does not like to remain unoccupied. What we are aiming to do is to make it quiet but the mind does not like to be quiet it likes to move. It has to have something to occupy itself. So now if you have to free it from occupation of the outside world you have to give it something to do internally. So what you do is very simple thing is, start taking in deep breath, inhalation and while you inhale you hear a sound of inhalation within as you inhale you yourself hear a sound like (sir demonstrates) you can hear it and let the inhalation be from here rather than only from here. When we breathe normally we do (sir demonstrates a deeper more forced breathing) not this breathing but, let the nose be open but let the breathing be (sir demonstrates the Ujjai breathing). So take a deep breath, with a full throat with the nose open. Take a full breath within slowly, as slow as possible (sir demonstrates) ok now, hold for half a minute, not too much. Don’t strain your lungs, and then when you breathe out, try to keep your mouth slightly open (Sir demonstrates). Now when you breathe out, when you breathe in, sankalpa or the visualization should be that you are breathing in all the energies of the universe inside. When you hold the breath, the sankalpa should be that the energies are spreading in your system and when you breathe out you should feel that like the exhaust of a car specially with bad oil and so on, all the negativities are coming out and dissipating in the atmosphere. So, as slow as possible, then (sir demonstrates again) as slow as possible when you breathe in again shut the mouth, now put your complete attention on it. So that you hear the inhalation and exhalation. Now when you inhale, you can chant, there are different things, either you can chant So and hum or you can chant Om and Om, it doesn’t matter. So hum means, you are that, the meaning, but that is not important, the sound is important, so when you breathe in, mentally say that the sound that comes is that of ‘so’ and when you breathe out ‘hum’ mentally chant ‘hum’. Or one Om inhalation and one Om exhalation. Now, slow as possible, put your complete attention on it and do it 20-25-30 times. When you’ve done that, about 30 times roughly, now please don’t worry about whether it has become 31 or 29, that is not important. Numbers are not so important. When you’ve done it for a while, when you’re fully relaxed, you’ll feel fully relaxed, you’ll feel that your thoughts have reduced things have become quiet at the same time you can hear the river. Because thoughts are not crowding in. So you can hear the river clearly. You can hear the birds chirping, don’t avoid all these things but don’t get caught in them. You cannot get caught because your mind is on the breath. Now, when you’ve done 25-30-35 times, depending on how much you’d like to relax, then after that release your breath which means don’t try to manipulate your breath. Let your breathing be normal, absolutely normal. Now, at this point, if you worship god as say Bhavani or as Shiva or as Ram, visualize the deity in your heart and how do you do that? Put your right hand on the heart, I’m talking about the central heart, the Anahat, visualize that there is a small cavity there, cavity is there. You’ve already cleaned up the cavity through your breathing. Now, that breathing has cleaned up the place. There is the deity sitting and smiling. Now, in meditation you have to note that the deity should be placed in the same direction as you are sitting not like this but like this. Ya, because the deity is your antaryami your inner most self so he is not looking at you, you’re looking through his eyes actually or her eyes. So let the deity sit there in its full decoration if that is the way you like to worship. Full decoration with peetambar and whatever or if it is the mother, you can have her in whatever you like, either as Rajarajeshwari in the beautiful shape or you can have her as the destroyer kali with tongue out, whatever you like, visualize. And then chant the appropriate mantra meant for that deity, suppose Ramji is your ishta devatha so many mantras, you can either chant ram ram or shri ram jai ram jai jai ram. If the deity is Kalika, there are many mantras Kleem kalikaya namaha whatever or if you have Shiva you have Om namah shivaya, Maha Vishnu om namoh narayanayah then om namoh bhagavathe vasudevaaya. Well if you believe, if you want to worship God as the abstract deity who’s light, all pervading, then in the same place visualize a light or an Om in gold or shining silver, let the light spread in your system. Just keep chanting Om Om Om Om like this, it’s beautiful, if you chant that, you’ll feel the vibrations within. And remain in that position as long as you can, you begin to feel very comfortable and enjoyable. In the beginning distractions prevent you from enjoying it but as you practice, like everything else you need to practice, abhyasa is very important. All our life we practice many things, this we don’t practice, so when we practice, of course we have to put in some effort, afterwards it becomes effortless. The bhratanatyam or the Kathak dancer does so well, you say this is so natural, effortless movement but we don’t think how many years of effort went into that effortless movement. So that is required in meditation also. So this is a very very simple way, now, once you’re absorbed in it, you feel the bliss of it or you see the deity or whatever, always remember that it is within you, Antaryaminey namaha. So remain with that deity as long as you can enjoy it and then, at that you may feel something crawling or all kinds of things don’t worry about it, remain with that. And at the end of it when you’ve said now enough I have to go because I’m also of the world, then don’t run off, bow down again, same way and say, “I thank all the great”, in whatever language you want, “I thank all the great beings and teachers who have been from time immemorial to now, both visible and invisible, I thank everybody”. Saying this, bow down your head, then sit for a while with open eyes don’t rush, just sit quietly and then get up and go. This will require 15-20 minutes everyday to do. And it is a minimum one can do and it is the best. So, all you have to do is repeat it everyday unless you are sick, when you’re not well of course. This is not an initiation, no ropes or strings attached, so don’t worry. Initiation is a different matter altogether, one has to do it individually. This is a general thing which anyone can do, it doesn’t cost us money. It doesn’t cost us more than 30 minutes or 20 minutes of our time and if you practice it for six months, continuously without stop, you’ll see how good it is, how advantageous it is for oneself and gradually to take us to the path, ultimately where we have to reach, so this very simple. Now, in this regard are there any questions to be asked. Of course, after that we can actually meditate for have an hour, we’ve about 10-15 minutes. Clarify before we start. Anybody… Q: Sir if the deity is sitting in the same direction as we are sitting, the how do we visualize? A: You can, the mind works in all dimensions, it’s not just a one dimensional thing. You can visualize the deity, we have done it every many have done it, it’s very easy. First think of the deity in front of you, then turn him around or turn her around or whatever. Or it turns itself around. The idea is to ultimately identify your inner self with the deity. That is the… Q: Deity also can only decide and guide you, that this is your deity. A: Uhhh if you have been worshiping God in a particular form for many years, you can continue with it, you don’t need any guidance. And there is no harm in worshiping the wrong deity, nothing will happen, the heavens won’t fall on our heads, nothing will happen so don’t worry about it. And if you do need to change then a spiritual teacher will point it out to you not because it is harmful to you. Q: It’s not harmful but you, it leads you halfway A: Haaan it’s better for you to do that… Q: It’s just like having a step mother and a real mother. A: It’s more than a mother it’s father mother friend everything. Q: No the step mother looks after you but the real mother really takes care of you. That’s the difference I think. A: Ya… so you have to decide depending upon you background and all that, what is your deity. What have you worshipped all these years. Hmm. And stick to it and not keep changing it all the time. Q: Common person, how can he decide? I think, one needs a teacher. A: Main Kya kehe raha hoon… no no no… main yeh kehe raha hoon, suppose from childhood you have been worshiping god in a particular form since childhood, stick to it, there’s no need to change. Q: Now the deity can be the guru also? A: Ahh.. also but now that is a very tricky affair. You have to be a little careful about making the guru your deity. Because suppose the guru happens to be very selfish kind of fellow, we don’t know, in Kaliyug and he exploits you then what happens? So we have to watch out on that. But if it’s a guru, a great teacher who has passed away or a teacher whom you worship who has merged with the supreme being at least what do you , then it’s not harm doing that. Otherwise, nowadays in kaliyug it is very dangerous in many ways to Guru yoga as they call it unless and until you are initiated into it and you’ve been given proper instruction, in guru yoga, when you worship the guru, you are not really worshipping the guru, it’s the physical form of the guru, although you worship him in that form, you’re worshipping the supreme being in the form of the guru, because that is the only supreme being you know. That’s all. When Rama Krishna Paramahamsa (Vivekananda?) started the Ramakrishna Mission, he said I have heard of many gods, I’ve read of many gods I have listened to the scriptures, but the only one godliest person I have seen is my guru Ramkrishna Paramahamsa. So let’s install him, instead of installing someone about whom I’ve only read in books. So they installed Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. So when, it is not that they are worshipping Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as a human being, because after all he died, he was born and he was passed away as a physical being. You’re worshiping the essence of the supreme being in that form, because that is the nearest you know of the supreme being, because he is the guide to the supreme being. That’s it. There is no harm if you do that, absolutely not. Q: Sir, any aids to controlling the wandering of the mind? A: This is the technique, which I told you. Everyday if you practice fixing your attention on the breath, you’ll be able to gradually handle this, and bring it within, once it comes within you’ve won half the battle. But it has to be regular, you have to practice regularly, there’s no other way. Unless and until one practices, one can not do it. Because for anything we have to put our attention and work hard. In the same way we should not expect to have a shortcut. Of course if there is the blessing of a really realized spiritual master it makes the thing a little easier. Because there is a thing called transmission. It’s a fact. Believe it or not it’s a fact. But then for transmission, the the receiver has also to some extent purify and clear himself to receive. Otherwise however much you transmit it is always blocked. And to press the transmission very hard is a dangerous thing, you might shatter the person. That is called Shakthi Patt. Q: Sir, after you breathe in and out, say 10 times, how do we know that the mind might say it is enough. A: No you should not, you should at least do it until, you sort of feel your complete attention in the breath and your mind is not wandering anywhere outside. It is doing nothing except watching the breath. Not even aiming at anything. Don’t even aim at anything. Don’t even think of the deity which is going to come later. Just your attention on that. When you’re smoothly doing it, you’ll hear the river, you’ll hear the birds, you’ll hear people cough. But you will not be caught by it. The chain reaction won’t start. You can find it out yourself actually. But give it at least 5-10 minutes minimum, minimum of 10 minutes. After that you can meditate on your deity and do your mantra japa, whatever you are doing. Q: Sir is there any difference between kula devi and ishta devi? A: Kula devi is the devatha which is worshipped in the kula, in your family your ishta devatha may not be that. Not necessarily, there are many cases where kula devatha and Ishta devatha are same. But it’s possible that you may have a other. There are people who are born in a complete Shaktha family whose kula devatha is devi. And somewhere along the line their mind turns towards Krishna now now then that Krishna becomes your Ishta devata then in that case it’s good at that time to meet a spiritual teacher of that line and discuss with him and find out, this is what I like I think I must shift, my ishta devatah has to be this. So there is a difference but very often it is the same also. The kula devatha can also be your Ishta devatha. That’s what I was telling him… in case your mind is different you can change but generally, it happens that for centuries or for generations you worship a kula devatha it’s sticks in the conscience, in the psyche so it also becomes ishta. Q: Can you worship several deities? A: Definitely but when you worship several deities and if you have an ishta, if you have an ishta devatha, before you start the worship of the other deities the sankalpa should be that you are none other than a different form of you. Finished. That’s all. I worship you as a different form of the same, different manifestation of the same being, there is no harm in that. So now, for half an hour we can do this mediation.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 01:35:00 +0000
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