ahamgrahopsana.... meditating on the self....

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members. w have already disccussed at lengthn in previous posts

regarding 'idol' worship. now, we move to the next topic,

Ahamgrahopsana.

 

what is meant by ahamgrahopsana? here the spiritual aspirant

meditates on the 'atman' as the his own pure self. ' (aham) instead

of some external object lke a deity etc...

t

aham-graha - literally means -'self grasping.' OR TO IDENTIFY THE

SELF AS ONE'S OWN ATMAN ...

 

 

T"he simplest form of ahamgrahopasana is to visualize the Atman as a

point of light and meditate on it thinking "I am this light."

However, as the individual self is part of the infinite Supreme Self,

ahamgrahopasana usually means meditation on the union of the

individual self with the supreme Self. Again, as the Supreme Self is

all-pervading, this meditation necessarily involves an awareness of

divine immanence in creation. Thus ahamgrahopasana actually takes the

form of double meditation: meditation on the self as a part of God

and meditation on God as present in all beings."

 

One of the most famous of AHAMGRAHOPASANA is the antaryami vidya.

Uddalaka, the son of Aruna asks the sage Yajnavalkya about the Inner

Controller. In reply the latter describes the immanence of Brahman in

the earth, in the sky, in the sun etc.

 

He who dwells in the earth, but is within it, whom the earth does not

know, whose body is the earth, and who controls the earth from

within, is the Inner Ruler, your own immortal self.

 

He who dwells in water …

 

He who dwells in fire …

 

He who dwells in the sky …

 

He who dwells in the sun …. etc.

 

BUT TYHIS TYPE OF MEDITATION IS NOT BY ANY MEANS EASY - THAT IS WHY

it is recommended that those who are still in the beginning stages of

spiritual sadhana should start with simple deity worship using

external symbols like idols etc and then once bhakti matures to

proceed to the nxt level of sadhana called meditating on the self...

 

 

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