advice on "dhyAna"

[Guest guest]

hello sri mani,

daasan.

i am only but a 21-year old. but since i think i have

successfully managed to practice at least 30-45 minutes of uninterrupted

[either by extrenal objects / internal thoughts] what i call, 'focussing

on one entity' & what comes closest to 'contemplation',for more than a

year, i am taking this opportunity to share whatever i have known and

experienced in this regard.

though from a orthodox srivaishnava family, reared to

think of Sriman Narayana as the sankha-chakra-gadha pani /in his various

archa rupams, i had found much to my disturbance, that concentrating on

these individual archa forms was very difficult given the tendency of

the mind to move around from the image of one perumal to the other.

besides, even if attempts were made to transfix the mind on one perumal,

the mind starts devouring the beauty of the features of that particular

archa rupa of the lord. for instance, the benevolent gaze of

thiruvemkatavan etc..

but this disturbance in mind was put to rest after i saw

the movie " Bhagavad Gita " - by GV IYER. in this movie, the last scene

where arjuna gets to see the cosmic vision of the lord does not see any

features of the lord as such. he sees the entire universe and the

realisation that he was such a small part of the entirety of the lord's

creations, struck him & removed all his agnyanam. apart from the fact

that watching the movie was a moving experience, this last scene got

stuck in mind & ever sicne, i have managed to concentrate on the

formless manifestation of sriman narayana - a vast universe to which

there is no end- every where you turn around you see the same thing.

this is the state when normally people tend to panic. but in the

realisation that you are actually with the lord dispels all such

thoughts. miraculaously, i have managed to concentrate on the same

formless form of the lord & i am in a very good frame of mind nowadays.

one other thing which helped me in my initial days of practice

was 'hearing the ashtaksharam' when i was 'focussing'. i used to play it

on tape & the effect was just too great to describe. after some time, i

managed to do away with this requirement, though of course i do play it

early in the morning, as soon as i wake up & before i go for my

anushtanams.

i do not know if it is of some help. i just wanted to share

this wonderful transformation in me with others.

i pray to Sriman Naraayana that you achieve what you have set

out to achieve.

 

thevarir daasan,

saranathan.