Yoga of Meditation at Mrs. Mohinis Residence, Bangalore - 11.2.1995 Continued.. So, once you have sat in a comfortable position, then you have to follow the science of what is called Pranayam. The Gita also refers to it in the 6th chapter by saying that one has to equalize one’s in – going breath and out – going breath. Now this is the science of Pranayam. Again, don’t think that I am talking of any dangerous exercise of holding your breath for two hours – no! no! This is very dangerous – don’t do any holding of breath and so on without proper guidance. It’s not necessary. But, is there a Pranayam which all can do without any danger and which would contribute to meditation? Yes! – there is ! – which is the science of Pranayam that was discovered by the Rishis when they found out the relationship between the rate of breathing and the state of mind. You can see it yourself – when you are agitated, your breathing will always be agitated. When you are calm, your breathing will be calm. So, they said, ‘if the state of mind is influencing the rate of breathing, can we turn it the other way round, which means – can we, by quietening the breath, quieten the mind? It can work the other way!’ So they experimented and the whole science of Pranayam was born out of it. The Pranayam, which I am talking about, is based on this and it has been discovered that the best way to calm the breath and therefore calm the mind automatically, is – not by controlling it, but by watching it, mentally. So, this is a simple exercise – no secrets! Now, sit-down in a quiet place, preferably well-ventilated, and in a comfortable position and then take a few deep breaths – natural breaths – just breathe in , breathe-out, and then close your eyes and forget about deep breathing for just a few deep breaths and then that’s it. So, close your eyes and watch your breathing mentally. That means, watch as it goes in and as it goes out. You are just watching it – you are not trying to control it in any way. Now, as you watch it, the breathing becomes slower and slower and slower and you will find that the mind becomes calm. This is something which you can try out – there’s nothing theoretical about it. Watch your breath and it becomes calm and your mind also becomes calm. So this is what is called ‘Yogic meditation’ – meditation connected with Raj Yoga. There are further steps, but we are on the topic of meditation in general. Now, there is, what is called, ‘Vedantic Meditation.’ Even in Vedantic meditation – it helps to have a preliminary calming of the mind by Pranayam, by watching the breath or by chanting of a mantra, japa. After you have calmed your mind, then the intellect becomes very sharp. Even the great authority of Advaita Vedanta, Adi Shankara Acharya has prescribed Pranayam for what he calls, ‘ Nadi – Shuddhi’. He feels that when the Nadies or the channels, are cleared, then the intellect also becomes sharp and the mind becomes subtle enough to understand the Truths of Vedanta. So, that meditation, which is called ‘Vedantic Meditation’, is mostly to do with your thoughts and your mind. Now, how does it come about? Have you opened your window and by accident, suddenly noticed a full moon – a beautiful night – and for a few seconds – you forget everything except the moon? You did not exist for the time being – those few seconds – only the beauty of the moon was there. Now this is actually a form of Vedantic Meditation. Now, in Vedanta, what the Vedantist does is to examine the world around him and find out that it is impermanent. He says, ” This world is impermanent because today it’s here and tomorrow it is gone. All the joys that I have are bound to disappear when I die. Nothing is permanent because anything that is born is bound to die. So, this is not the Truth, because the Truth has to be something that remains always, has no tinge of sorrow in It. It is absolutely blissful and is not affected by any of the changes that are taking place around the world. This has to be the Truth which I am searching for”. So, he says, “This is not the Truth.” This process is what is called, ” Neti, Neti.” ” This is not the Truth; this is not the Truth; this is not the Truth.” Thus he negates. So now, you see, this is a form of meditation and it is, I would say, one of the most important and most effective forms of meditation, because by completely fixing his mind on the thought of trying to discover the Truth, his whole attention, all his faculties, every thing, is on one point. The mind is very calm and very subtle. It is taking out things, one by one and saying, ” This is not the Truth; this is not the Truth; this is not the Truth.’ It is going from gross to subtle …. something like an onion – you peel off each layer, till you come to the centre. Now you see how much attention is to be given to this – total attention. So, it is also helpful to do a little bit of japa before one begins this exercise. Then he comes to the conclusion that he himself is not the body or even the mind with which he has wrongly identified himself. So he goes deeper into his Being, saying, ” If I am not the body, if I am not the mind, then, what am I?” So, this process of Self discovery in Vedanta is what is called, ” Vedantic Meditation.” Now, to help in this, there is one other form of meditation which is meditating on one’s own thoughts, which means, carefully observing your thoughts. Sit down, close your eyes or even open them, it does’nt matter. Invariably, so many thoughts come into your mind automatically. Now, feel that you are there as a witness who is watching these thoughts. Just imagine that there is a witness. There’s nothing to imagine – there is a witness, watching these thoughts! Thoughts come and they disappear. Sometimes you start with one thought and it stretches on and goes and connects on to something which is totally different to where you started. Now, watch this whole process and try to discover where it originates from; how does it start? Just watch the thoughts and try to find out out where they start from, how do they take their being, how do they disappear, because, they are not always there. They are so volatile that they come and they move and they disappear. Just watch it and see how this whole process is taking place. This is also Vedantic Meditation. Now, to temporarily understand a state of mind where thought has completely ceased, there is one other form of Vedantic Meditation, which is to sit down in a place quietly and imagine that your mind is like a sharp sword… you don’t have to go into the details.. just a sword, And then, as each thought comes into your mind, conceive, imagine that you are cutting it off immediately. This is very much applied by the Mahayana Buddhist. It is part of their yogic discipline. In their meditation, every thought, as soon as it comes – they cut it. It’s a mental process, which is, one thought comes , you cut it off. Naturally, another comes – immediately cut that and this whole process of cutting off goes on and on and on until at some point there is a split second when there is an interval between one thought which has vanished and the other which has not come in. This is what they are looking for! And once they grasp that, they have grasped what they are looking for, because That is the Essence of one’s own Self, one’s own Consciousness which remains without being affected by any of the thoughts that are spun around It. Now this centre of Consciousness is within oneself and all who have experienced it, have declared with one voice that it is a blissful experience – not an ordinarily blissful experience, but a totally blissful experience. The Mahanirvana Tantra says, “Anantam Anandam Brahma,” which means “that Anandam which has no Antah, ‘no end’, is Brahman.” And that comes about only when the thoughts have ceased, which means, the whole process of thinking has ceased, which is not unconsciousness. When Swami Vivekananda went to England, he had this great desire to see George Ingersoll, the famous atheist, because, when he was young, in his college, he had read a lot of Ingersoll, and he was himself an atheist. So he went to see him and he talked about samadhi being a state where there is no thought, where there is Absolute Bliss, and Ingersoll said, ” Well, it’s very simple. I think one can get into this state by being struck with a crowbar on the head – because then – no thoughts – you are unconscious!” Swamiji said, “it is not exactly that – you don’t work all your life to get into an unconscious state! It is the Basis, the very Root of all consciousness that one is going into.” One cannot achieve or attain it by becoming unconscious. It’s simply that one goes deeper and deeper into one’s consciousness and all the illusions we have about our being this, and our being that, our being this fellow sitting here and talking or you thinking that you are so and so.. all these illusions are being removed, little by little, until one comes to one’s real Source of Being, which is called Atma. So, as I said, there are the different forms. There are many, many more – but roughly, these are the different forms of meditation which we know of, which is called, “the Yoga of Meditation”. So, when we say, “Yoga of Meditation”, it covers this whole canvas – not merely one form of meditation. There should’nt be the feeling that I’m talking only about a Yogi sitting down in one place and doing tapasya – no! It is the whole process – starting with simple japa to the discovery of one’s own Self by looking into thoughts, by analysing the world and its impermanence. This process is called , in Vedanta, “Viveka” and “Vichara” .”Viveka ” means “intelligence” – reasoning and trying to understand, what is permanent, and what is not permanent. And “Vichara” is “thinking about it” – if this is not permanent, then what is permanent? Or – to put it in an extreme form – ” is there anything permanent at all?” It’s a good question to ask – “Is there anything permanent at all?” Somebody might say “there’s nothing!” Well, there’s a problem here. If you say “No, there’s nothing,” then there is no more enquiry. You see, Vedanta says, “Begin your enquiry without prejudice.” Now, if I begin my enquiry by saying that, ‘yes, It exists!’ – then it cannot be an enquiry. And if I say, ‘It does not exist,’ then I don’t enquire at all.” So, enquiry begins when one is doubtful but one feels that perhaps there is something permanent, so let me look into it; let me not just cut or cancel it off saying, off-hand, “No, nothing is there, I’m not going to look into it.” Then there’s no hope, I mean, nothing can be done about it. If somebody says,” I don’t want it” – fine. But if somebody says, “For hundreds of years, many people have gone through it, great Rishies have talked about it; perhaps, even now, there are people who have experienced it. May I also look into it.” Now that itself is a form of meditation. Now, when I’m sitting here and we are talking about meditation and most of your minds are calm, collected and subtle and listening to this properly and understanding it – this itself is a kind of meditation. Now, this kind of meditation is called a ‘Sat Sangh’, when a group of people put their minds together. You know the famous Rig Vedic statement, “Samvo Manamsi Janatam.”? – “Together, with our minds , may we understand.” That is also a form of meditation. It’s a very important form of meditation, because when I’m alone, I may not be able to meditate because thoughts are not just …. thoughts are things! Thoughts are not merely theoretical – they are things, actuals! So, when I sit alone , I am disturbed by various thoughts because most other people are thinking about something else. They are thinking about the world; they are thinking about different things – so I find it difficult to meditate. But, when ten people are meditating together or thinking about the same subject, then I find it easier to meditate, because all thoughts are joining together. This is the meaning of a “Sat Sangh”. So, now – I will stop. You can ask questions which are relevant to today’s subject. Any questions ? I’ll try my best to answer, of course. It can be practical or theoretical. I would love to have a practical question put. Q: “In the different forms of meditation …. is’nt one of the forms, music?” M: Music? Yes – see, this is an important question. I totally missed it! This is why we have a question and answer session at the end. It’s very important – music! I’m so sorry. Now, music is a very , very important form of meditation or an adjunct to meditation – let’s put it that way. It’s an important adjunct, help to meditation – music. But again, you know it. I don’t have to tell you that there are different kinds of music. There are many kinds of music which have no effect on meditation or are absolutely no help to meditation, or rather, may be quite detrimental to meditation. But there are forms of music which are conducive like bhajans, kirtans and also some very pure forms of classical music, melodies, sometimes even ordinary simple folk songs. Once, I heard a very beautiful song. I was in Rishikesh, sitting on the banks of the Ganges. There was a boat-man taking somebody across. Generally boats don’t ply after dark. It was full moon and he was crossing the Ganga, rowing his boat and singing in Garhwali. I could’nt understand the language. It was some simple song. The only thing I could hear was, “Kanhaiya, Kanhaiya” but it was so beautiful. I don’t think he even knew anything about music – it was his natural expression…. Music is itself a discipline and there is a whole shastra on music. As long as it contributes to your inner development, it is good. Sometimes, it so happens that it may not contribute to inner development because our aims may be different. But music certainly is a good form of sadhana. Q: “What about lights – different colours coming on – and smell of flowers – and sounds?” M: When you meditate? Yes – when a person begins to meditate, what happens is, his mind becomes subtler and subtler. So, when the mind becomes subtle, it is able to sometimes sense, see, hear or smell things which would normally not be possible for the grosser mind to be aware of. So he may be able to see some lights and so on. Now, when these lights are seen or sounds are heard – that sort of makes the person feel that – ” Well, something is happening now. I’m advancing…” Therefore, he sticks, he goes on. Otherwise, if nothing happens, he might say, ” what is this? I’ve been meditating for so long and nothing is happening to me.” So, these are signs on the road. But since they are signs on the road, they should not be given too much importance, because… there are other signs on the road as well! So, if you are going to Shirdi, it’s better not to tarry too long at Dharmavaram – have a cup of tea and push! But these are signs that do take place. Of special importance is the hearing of sounds , because, once you begin to hear sounds, then it is very easy to meditate. The sounds are generally musical. They are called “Shabd”. There is a school of yogies who call it, :”Surat Shabd”. So, once you begin to hear the sound, then it’s very easy for the mind to fix itself on that sound and then, you have to just listen to it to be carried into deeper states. Kabirdas gave great importance to Surat Shabda. Radha Saomies talk of Surat Shabda. Q: “We might get addicted to some kind of meditation. When we are into meditation we are trying to reach a certain goal – and when we hear all this, at least, we may get addicted to it – and that is also attachment – is that progress, then?” M: Yes. I was trying to press home the point that one should think that these are signs on the way, and then proceed further – because if we tarry for long on that, then we might get caught in it, you know. Q: “But how do we know we are progressing?” M: These are the signs which come and they show. The best sign of your progressing in your meditation is something which is very self-evident. Nobody has to tell you what’s happening. First is the experience of great bliss; the second is the actual experience of your Being…Being.. not just a little thing but through-out- expansion of Being in all ways – not merely a physical expansion. It’s an expansion in all forms, in all ways. This is the basic… this is the important thing that is experienced. In the real experience of the Conscious Self – it’s something which needs no external evidence. Once one has it, there is no question of any doubts creeping in there – because it’s a total certainty – it’s as certain as you are sitting here now! It’s not the same thing but somebody put it – came very close to it. Rene Descartes, the Founder of Analytical Geometry, came very close to it when he said, “I can doubt many things but the existence of my doubting brain can never be in doubt!” Something like that… very close to it, not the same thing. These are signs on the way – because, when you see that, you say, “OK, something is happening to me!” But it’s good to have a guide who has gone through it so that he can explain these things and make you understand. Otherwise, it’s quite possible that you might stay on. Shall we stop? Concluded
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 03:00:01 +0000