Dhyanadarshana-II (Theory and Practice of Meditation)

The following article was compiled and translated by B. Srinivas Murthy from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Divine Discourses. Below is Part 2 of the article. Part 1 was presented in the June 2021 issue of Sai Sarathi.

 

Meditation is conquest of mind

The sadhana (spiritual practice) of dhyana starts at the lowest level of sense data. The way of knowing called sensationism is the most primitive faculty of living organisms. The organization of sensations into perceptions is known as empiricism. The generaliza­tion of perceptions into conceptions is known as rationalism. Intuitionism and mysticism are suprarational ways of know­ing. That is why indriyas (sensory and motor organs) have to be harnessed by controlling manas (mind), which is their master. If the master is controlled, his ser­vants can be easily snubbed. Mind is vicariously responsible for the erratic behavi­or of sensory and motor organs. The sense data supplied by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin impinge on mind, which selects some sensations and then organizes them into perceptions and conceptions. If the mind is mastered, all jnanendriyas and karmendriyas can be conquered.

Millions of soldiers are deployed in war. Each and every combatant need not be captured and killed in order to win the war. If the commander‑in‑chief is captured, the army will surrender unconditionally. A country can be conquered by capturing its king.

Psychosomatic relationship

Manas or mind is the master of jnanendriyas or sensory organs and karmendriyas or motor organs. Hence, it should be first conquered in order to transcend our sensations and suspend our metabolic processes. Intelligent diplomacy is needed for the conquest of the mercurial human mind. It should be conditioned and disci­plined with the aid of spiritual practices. It should be clearly recognized that mind and body are normally inseparable. They inter­penetrate each other. Mind is an embodied form of the personal self. It is a unified structure of the energy of consciousness. It may be regarded as superphysical energy or paraphysical matter. It cannot express itself without the material medium of a gross physical body.

It communicates with the external world through its five doors of perception. A disincarnate mind cannot have meaningful intercourse with the material universe. The well‑known psychosomatic phenomenon pertaining to the intimate connection between psyche and soma or mind and body is of supreme importance for spiritual aspirants. A subtle personal self manifests itself as mind in a gross human body, expresses itself in various ways and communicates with other human minds or embodied selves. In other words, a material body is essential for the self-manifestation and self-expression of a personal self and its communication with other embodied selves.

Meditation is not self‑mortification

On account of this phenomenal psychosomatic relationship, a sadhaka should always keep himself physically fit and mentally alert. An optimum psychosomatic euphoria is essential for maintaining steady and sustained spiritual advancement. The physical body should be neither pampered nor mortified. Mortification of the material body does not lead to intellectual illumination or spiritual enlightenment. Self­-mortification results in physical senility and mental deterioration. Mental equanimity cannot be achieved without physical eupho­ria. Hence, a sadhakashould avoid self-­torment and self-punishment. It is necessary to reiterate that the human body should be preserved like a temple of the living God.

Life is yoga

The paramount importance of correct posture cannot be overstressed. You should always sit straight or stand erect wherever you happen to be. The mental equilibrium and physical discipline acquired through meditation should be transferred to every­day life because all life is yoga. A sadhaka should keep his body straight and his limbs supple. He should always try and sit straight. Wrong postures and awkward gestures debilitate the body and enfeeble the mind.

Hence, a sadhaka should not bend his backbone and subject his body to all sorts of ugly contortions. A sound mind cannot be developed without a sound body. An emaciated, enervated and emasculated individual cannot do any serious sadhana. A sadhaka must be straight and supple like a reed. A correct and beautiful posture can be acquired by regular practice. A perfect posture facilitates meditation.

Significance of jyoti

A jyoti is the most suitable object to be meditated upon. It should be a steady lambent light or a gently glowing flame like a candlelight or the flame of an oil lamp. A flame has profound physical and spiritual significance. The biopsychophysical human body is in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Every person is surrounded by his own individual bioplasmic aura. A flame is not a solid, liquid, or gas. It exists in the fourth plasma state of matter. There is a significant resemblance between the dynamic equilibrium of a human organism and a glowing flame, and between a bioplasmic human aura and the plasmic state of a shin­ing flame. Meditation on a flame is tanta­mount to meditation on the bioplasmic aura of the personal self that is identified with the immanent and omnipresent Cosmic Self or God. A sadhaka should sit in front of a jyoti, relax his body, and fix his attention on its lambent light.

Preparation for meditation

Gaze steadily at the gleaming jyoti before you. Stare at it steadily. Stare as long as you can. Then close your eyelids slowly. Visualize mentally the jyoti before you. Dur­ing this process of imaginative re‑collection and re‑creation of the previously perceived jyoti you should neither shut your eyes nor keep them open. If you keep your eyes open, your attention will be distracted by extraneous sights. The span of your atten­tion will be extended, and your ekagrata or one‑pointedness will become anekagrata or many‑pointedness. Your latent rajoguna will flare up. But if you shut your eyes tightly you will fall asleep. Squatting in front of the jyoti, fix your attention on its golden flame. Then begin to gaze at the tip of your nose with half‑closed downcast eyes.

From attention to concentration

Your mind has a tremendous capacity and a gargantuan appetite for work of all kinds. It requires proper food for thought. There are various types of food. The most wholesome food for thought is provided by the divine pabulum of spirituality. Con­tract the span of your attention by making it one‑pointed. Then extend the duration of your one‑pointed attention until it becomes steady concentration.

A slothful mind tends to become sinister. You might have seen a monkey tamer in your village. He exhibits his monkey at country fairs. He fixes a long pole on the ground and commands his monkey to climb the pole. As long as the monkey clambers continually up and down the pole, it has no time for mischief. Man’s mind is a monkey. If it is idle it becomes a devil’s workshop and resorts to all kinds of monkey tricks.

`Soham’

You must make your mind do work that is stimulating, illuminating, and en­lightening. The most congenial, appro­priate, and inspiring work for your mind is provided by the repeated practice of `Soham’. The two syllables `so’ and `ham’ represent the act of controlled breathing. `Soham’ is an esoteric mantra or occult incantation for harnessing and disciplining the monkey mind of man.

The practice of ‘Soham’

`Soham’ is practiced in the following way: Inhale air through one nostril. This is `so’. Then exhale air slowly through the other nostril. This is `ham’. Practice the slow inhalation and exhalation of air steadily for a couple of minutes before the commencement of concentration. Repeti­tion of slow inhalation through one nostril followed by slow exhalation through the other nostril to the accompaniment of `Soham’ disciplines your body and tran­quillizes your mind.

Cover the right nostril with the tip of the right-hand thumb. Cover the left nostril with the tip of the right-hand middle finger. Put the tip of the index finger at the center of the forehead between the eyebrows. Uncover the right nostril. Inhale air through the right nostril keeping the left nostril closed with the tip of the right-hand middle finger. This act of slow and steady inhalation through the right nostril is accompanied by the utterance of the primary sacred syllable `so’. After inhalation retain the breath for some time before exhalation. Uncover the left nostril. Then exhale air through the left nostril, keeping the right nostril closed with the right-hand thumb. This act of slow and steady exhalation is accompanied by the utterance of the secon­dary sacred syllable `ham’.

Repeat these slow and steady acts of inhalation followed by exhalation for a couple of minutes. During these rhythms of inhalation and ex­halation, the tip of the right-hand index finger should touch the center of the fore­head between the eyebrows. This exercise of regulated breathing is known as `Pranayama’. Regular and systematic practice of Pranayama purifies your body and tran­quillizes your mind. It rejuvenates the psyche and regenerates the soma. It gives the wealth of health and the benediction of bliss. Personal guidance of a master is absolutely essential for Pranayama.

Meera’s devotion

Meera was an ardent devotee of Lord Sri Krishna. She used to meditate continuously on the physical form of Lord Sri Krishna. Her ignorant husband and shrewish mother-­in‑law misunderstood her devotion to God. They teased, tortured, and tormented her in all possible ways. She expressed her love for the Lord by composing and singing devotional songs of great fervor and piety. But her husband and mother‑in‑law were too brutal to appreciate the divine love described in her sweet songs. They had filthy and vulgar minds. They mistook her divine love for physical infatuation, carnal lust, and voluptuous passion. Her husband turned her out of his house. She did not know what to do or where to go. It was in that hour of extreme distress that she composed the classic lines: `Chalore man, chalore man Ganga Yamuna teer chalo [Oh mind, let’s go to the banks of River Yamuna.’

She exhorts her mind or inner self to concentrate its attention at the center of the forehead between the eyebrows. It is the place where the third invisible eye of wisdom is situated. Prayag or Allahabad is situated on the banks of Triveni, the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and the subterranean stream of Saraswati. Allaha­bad is really `Ahladbad’, which literally means the city of bliss.

Another line from Meera’s song has great significance: `Ganga Yamuna nirmala pani [the water of Rivers Ganga and Yamuna are very tranquil]!’ The clear waters of Ganga and Yamuna stand for the regulated process of control­led inhalation and exhalation. It is a symbo­lic representation of the concept of `Soham’.

There are some more magnificent lines in Meera’s song: “Moramakuta pitambara­dhari Kundala rajatashareeri chalo.” In these lovely lines, there is an implicit allusion to ` kundalini shakti’, the primal energy latent in man. ‘Rajatashareeri‘ is an individual glowing with argentine effulgence, the luster of silver. He is a holy man who finds his ultimate spiritual fulfillment in the gradual awakening of Kundalini Shakti.

Pranayama

During Pranayama or regulated respi­ration, inhalation and exhalation are ac­companied by the subconscious and sub-­vocal incantation of ‘Soham, Soham…’. A sadhaka’s mind should endeavor to listen to the repeated utterance of ‘Soham’. All his thought waves have to converge on `Soham’. His mind should become obsessed with `Soham’. He should limit his span of attention to `Soham’. Concentration is attained by reducing the span of attention. The sadhaka’s mind should act as a vigilant sentry of `Soham’. It should become a master of the situation. It should intensify its concentration on the gleaming jyoti for at least a couple of minutes. Extension of the duration of concentration leads to the altered state of consciousness known as contemplation.

The sadhaka should conti­nue in this state of profound contemplation for some more time. In deep contemplation the sadhaka destroys the dichotomy between the jyoti and all other objects in the world. The sadhaka and the jyotialone exist. The next step is absorption in the jyoti. The sadhaka enters a state of empathy. He identifies himself with the jyoti. He interio­rizes the external jyoti in his own inner self, which is transfigured and transformed by the radiance of the jyoti. In a state of deep absorption, the dichotomy between the sadhaka and the jyoti does not exist. The jyoti is visualized as an integral part of the sadhaka’s body. After the successive states of self‑induced motivation, one‑pointed attention, intense concentration, prolonged contemplation, and deep absorption are gone through, real meditation begins. The altered state of consciousness leading to non-dualistic meditation is picturesquely described as `the blossoming of the lotus of the heart’.

Interiorization of the Jyoti

The interiorized Jyoti is consecrated in the tabernacle of the sadhaka’s heart by a sustained effort of imaginative empathy. The vision of the Jyoti is retained in the lotus of the heart that has blossomed spiritually. As soon as the holy jyoti is installed in the lotus of the heart, the bliss­ful state of `tamasoma jyotirgamaya‘ is attained. The darkness of spiritual igno­rance is dispelled by the eternal jyoti representing the lambent light of wisdom. The golden glory of the jyoti reaches the sadhaka’s throat. From the throat it reaches his hands. From the hands it reaches his stomach. From the stomach it goes down to his legs and feet. From the feet it rises up to his cranium. From the cranium it reaches his Sahasrara chakra, the crown plexus known as the thousand-petalled lotus. Finally, it emerges at the center of his forehead between the eyebrows. The jyoti emerges as an aureole or halo around the sadhaka’s head. It radiates from the sadhaka’s body as a divine aura. The interiorized argentine effulgence and golden glory of the divine jyoti will illuminate every limb of the sadhaka who has reached the acme of spiritual ecstasy.

The jyoti spiritualizes body and mind

When the spiritual effulgence of the divine jyoti is reflected in the sadhaka’s eyes, they are purified and sanctified. His looks beam with benevolence and become a potent antidote to the malevolence of the notori­ous evil eye of vicious people. His eyes sparkle with love and compassion. When the interiorized jyoti penetrates the sadhaka’stongue, his speech is sweetened and made as mellifluous as the manna of Gods. He is no longer influenced by evil talk and malicious gossip. When the interiorized jyoti enters his ears, he will begin to shun slanderous speech. When the divine radiance of the jyoti illuminates his hands, he will refrain from evil actions. When it reaches his feet, he will seek the company of virtuous people. He will no longer haunt places of vice. When the celestial `jyoti’illuminates the sadhaka’s brain, all vicious thoughts and evil desires vanish. The sadhaka’s stomach filled with the spiritual glory of the jyoti will discard evil food. Thus, the interiorized divine jyoti transforms the physical body of the sadhaka into a temple consecrated to the Cosmic Self.

Exteriorization of the jyoti

Then, this spiritual splendor should be transmitted to friends, relations, foes, and wild animals. The sadhakadiscovers his kinship with the entire creation. His pas­sion for all becomes universal compassion. He experiences the divinity of humanity and the humanity of divinity. The interiorized jyoti is ultimately absorbed as the celestial light of cosmic consciousness. Its astral projection within and without the sadhaka’s body may be continued for nearly half an hour. During this interval, the doors of his perception will be cleansed by a spontane­ous sublimation of his animal instincts.

Imagine a huge tree among whose spraw­ling branches thousands of birds have built their nests. As long as the birds perch on its branches, the ground under it will be made dirty by their droppings. You may sweep the ground every morning, but it be­comes dirty again as soon as the birds arrive in the evening. When you are sweeping the ground, the droppings will fall on your body also. That is why you will have to drive away the birds permanently to keep the ground clean. The place becomes clean as soon as the birds fly away.

Bio‑psycho‑physical catharsis

Thus, if the sadhaka’s mind galvanized by self-motivation follows the arduous path of undivided one‑pointed attention, intense concentration, continuous contemplation, and deep absorption culminating in the interiorization of the effulgent jyoti whose lambent light illuminates every indriya of his body, then the next step will be spiritual realization through profound meditation. Purification of mind and body, purgation of malevolent emotions, and the cleansing of the gates of perception are desiderata for all types of meditation. It is only after this biopsychophysical catharsis that it will be possible for a sadhaka to consecrate himself to the life divine.

Sense subservience to sense transcendence

The infra-sensory or subconscious mind `below the senses’ is essentially instinctive and habitual. The suprasensory or super­conscious mind ‘beyond the senses’ is mainly transcendental and supramental. Subservience to senses is an essential characteristic of motivation, attention, concentration, contemplation, and even absorption. Transcendence over the senses leads to the altered state of consciousness known as supramental meditation. A sadhaka’s mind should liberate itself from its bondage to senses, rise above them, and attain the ineffable state of dhyana. This sadhana will not be possible unless it is backed by powerful self-motivation for achieving spiritual experience.

Sense‑independence

While progressing from a state of sense-subservience to a state of sense‑transcendence, a sadhaka’s consciousness passes through a state of quiescence, comparable to a common overlapping zone of neutra­lity. This is a sort of buffer state between the two states of sense‑subservience and sense‑transcendence. At the frontiers of this no man’s land, the passport of sense-­independence should be shown. This inter­vening state of consciousness is the over­lapping zone of contemplation and absorption.

Salokya, sameepya and sayujya

The primary state of sense subservience encompassing the mental activities of moti­vation, attention, and concentration is known as salokya, which corresponds to the universe of pluralism or the world of names and forms. The secondary state of sense­-independence encompassing the mental activities of contemplation and absorption is known as sameepya or proximity that corresponds to the universe of dualism. The tertiary state of sense‑transcendence is meditation. It is sayujya that corresponds to the ineffable experience of oneness with the Cosmic Self. It is a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the personal self is immersed in cosmic consciousness.

Love is a rose

Consider the example of a rose plant. It has branches, twigs, leaves, and flowers. You may be lured by a beautiful rose. It has a thorn like every other rose. You are motivated by a desire to have a rose. You have to fix your attention on the branches, twigs, leaves, and thorns also because you must distinguish the rose from other parts of the plant. Then you have to concentrate on the rose and pluck it cautiously from the plant without getting pricked by the thorn under the rose. If you are a devotee, you will most probably offer the flower to God.

Human love and Divine love

Man’s life is like a rose plant. His rela­tions and friends are branches and twigs. His thoughts are leaves. His animal lust is the thorn under the rose. His selfless divine love is the rose flower. It is said that every rose has a thorn. There is no rose without a thorn. Likewise, there is no `human’ love without animal lust. What should man do in order to extract `divine’ love from human love? He must pluck the `rose of immaculate love’ without getting pricked by the thorn of voluptuous lust.

Love is your offering to God

Man’s heart is a flower of love blossom­ing in the bog of sensual desires and mundane aspirations. This immaculate flower of divine love should be separated from the plant of profane life. The flower is a naivedya or an offering to Paramatman, or the Cosmic Self. The pure, holy, un­tarnished, and unselfish love in the human heart is an immaculate blossom. It should be offered at the altar of God conceived in any form you like.

Meditation on a personal God

If you feel that a jyoti is too impersonal to rivet your attention, you may visualize any other divine form in the jyotibut not apart from it. You can mentally exterio­rize on the center of the jyoti any deity or personified abstraction of divinity that you might choose. Some people are naturally anthropomorphic. They cannot think about nirguna-brahman or God without name and form and attributes. An abstract or non­anthropomorphic God cannot be visualized by many people. They cannot help visualiz­ing God in human form. They regard God as an embodiment of all human excellences. They are free to do so because anthropo­morphism is always preferable to atheism and agnosticism.

Humanized religion is more popular than abstract religion. There is no harm in meditating on a personal God if you cannot visualize nirguna-brahman. You may be a devotee of Sri Rama. Then you may visualize Rama’s form in the jyoti before you. If you love Sai you may imagine His presence in the jyoti. If Vighneswara [Lord Ganesha] is your favorite deity, you may imagine the likeness of Vighneswara in the jyoti. You may choose any deity you like from the vast pantheon of the world’s religions and meditate on that deity’s form in the lambent light of the jyoti.

Paranjyoti

But one thing you must not forget. It is the fact that the entire creation is bathed in the divine‑light of Paranjyoti, the arche­typal jyoti. You can visualize all ephemeral forms of the kaleidoscopic panorama of the universe in the eternal effulgence of the comprehensive and cosmic Paranjyoti.

Meditation on Sai

If you can afford to devote more time to meditation, here are some more hints for you. You may imagine the physical form of Swami. Shut your eyes for a minute. Imagine the thick kinky mop of hair fram­ing Swami’s head like a divine halo. Imagine His long saffron robe. This will not take you more than a moment. Keep this form before your mind’s eye as an impressionistic outline to be filled in with more minute details. This bare outline may make only a momentary impression on your mind. Your mind may be able to retain this form for a split second. But you should not stop with this. You have to fill in all the details from head to foot by exercising your imagination.

Begin with the head. Imagine the visage and profile of Swami filling in as many details as you can recall. Visualize the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the ears, the lips, and every feature of Swami. Thus, imagine the form step by step from the face downwards. Visualize every aspect of the form of Swami. Then, mentally retrace your path of visualization slowly from the feet up­ward to Swami’s head of thick curly hair. This will take you another ten minutes. You will have already spent twenty minutes in meditating on Swami’s physical form.

Sakshatkara

In this practice of meditation based on imaginative visualization there are three stages. First, you start with an imaginatively visualized representation of Swami’s form. Second, this abstract form becomes a concretized thought form. Third, this thought form is revealed as a vision. This is known as the spiritual experience of sakshatkara, the final consummation of meditation.

Many people think that meditation is an occult faculty. It is not. It is a natural faculty of the human mind when in a state of perfect inner tranquility. The tranquilliza­tion of the mind has to be practiced slowly, steadily, and spontaneously. The advanced sadhaka will experience the self in its dis­incarnate state, the noumenal subsistence of the soul apart from the phenomenal exis­tence of the physical body. It is an over­whelming experience in which the personal self transcends the barriers of the spatio­temporal continuum.

No man becomes a saint in his sleep. A sadhaka cannot overnight attain the highest altered state of consciousness. The sadhana of dhyana is a slow, steady, and spontaneous spiritual exercise. Nevertheless, a sadhaka should start early, drive slowly, and reach safely.

But dhyana without daya or meditation without compassion is a negation of reli­gion. Spirituality without love is an exercise in futility. Your thoughts, words, and deeds should be inspired by pure self­less love—‘Start the day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love.’ 

—Sri Sathya Sai College, Brindavan
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1980