dhyAna

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Mani Varadarajan,

 

I read your post asking for suggestions regarding contemplation. I am not

sure that what I have to say meets your definition of dhyAna and of

contemplation on nArAyaNa. I venture to say it anyway.

 

I, too, have had difficulty in staying focused while praying or while

engaging in contemplation. For example, during the recitation of VishNu

sahasranAmam, my mind would wander while reciting those segments that I

know well by heart. So, I began to read the entire text from my own

manuscript. This was of little help: the mind wanders anyway. What I have

found effective of late is a form of prayer which I would not call

contemplation, but during which I find my mind truly focused. As I sit

alone in my room or in my office, or as I take a walk in the evening (on

our beautiful campus), I pray to the Lord (nArAyaNa) in a conversational

mode, speaking to Him in Kannada, and asking Him to rid me of selfishness,

pettiness, and other ills, and seeking refuge in Him (anyathA sharaNam

nAsti...). I ask for His forgiveness for the many mistakes I have

committed which have resulted in pain to others. I seek His blessings so

that I have the wisdom not to commit any MORE of them. I pray for the

welfare, in the most catholic sense, of those near and dear to me, naming

them one after the other--parents, spouse, son, siblings, relatives,

friends, colleagues. I ask for the strength and wisdom to perform my

duites properly from here forward. At the end of this "conversation",

which in fact is an entreaty, I usually recite the NArAyaNa sUkta. On a

day when my mind is more calm than usual, I am almost able to visualise

nArAyaNa as the "nIla thOyada madhyasthAdwillEkhEwa bhAswarA".

 

As I said, this experience/method does not probably constitute dhyAna.

I have written to you about this only because you invited us to relate to

you "any practical means that has worked in (your) experience".

 

My prayer takes me about twenty minutes.

 

Best regards...........///shivashankar

___________________________

 

S.A. Shivashankar Tel: (91)-(80)-309-2782 (Office)

Materials Research Centre 331-3921 (Residence)

Indian Institute of Science Fax: 334-1683

Bangalore 560 012, INDIA Email: shivu

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

Namaskarams.

Under the subject of "dyAna" some bhagavathas had suggested

"prANa"-control as a means. It's very true that the two viz.,

mind and prANa are inter-linked and they are like two branches

of a tree one growing around the other; (when you pull down one

branch, the other one comes along with it). But one has to be

careful in practice of prANa-control. If the same is practised

without guidance under a competent teacher it can have gross

ill-effects on one's overall physical health. Sri Ramanar hence

advises against practising actual prANAyAmam for people practising

japa yOga. What he recommends is "prANa vIkshaNam" (I don't know

the sanskrit meaning of this word). But the purport is that the

practitioner instead of controlling his breath simply monitors

it with every inhalation and exhalation. This will help control

the mind as well as doesn't cause physical harm if practised

without guidance. Since I came to know this I am posting this

so bhagavathas can be cautious.

 

Bhagavathas suggested that we let the mind wander as it does

so and it finally settles exhausted. This is true in the beginning

of the sAdhakA. Later he needs to get active since passive approach

will not run longer miles. I have a few thoughts in this regard.

Bhagavathas, pls. correct me if I am wrong or misleading

anywhere:

Mind is but a product of thoughts and thoughts are product

of ego (the `I' feeling). When the water dries you can no longer

call a pond, a pond. Likewise if the thoughts are made to run out,

there is no mind. Then inner peace ensues. But how can thoughts dry

out?! If we see, thoughts are like infinite chemical reaction one

leading to other and so on and finally growing into a huge tree like

structure. This growing happens since the inner self consciousness

(the `I') becomes again and again aware of the contents of the thoughts.

As new thoughts arise they get elaborate attention from the consciousness

owing to the affliction of the pure consciousness by the impure

`I'-feeling.

If we realise that the mind is but a illusory bag of thoughts and we

make the bag empty we can still the mind's play. Beautifully this

emptying takes place if we just realise that it's already empty.

This is to be just a realisation and not a thought:-) Just feel

that the mind is always empty and by nature has no existence without

the inner self-consciousness (kshEtra~ngya); and it gets dried out.

 

Also sometimes lack of seriousness and, action by way of routine

cause spoil to the sAdhakA's progress. For eg. take a case of a man

travelling to his house in the route he is used to going for the

past 20 years back home from office. He does this without any thought

as to which turn to take next or which exit to take etc., But when

the same person is on his way while going to a totally new place his

mind gets extremely focussed on the route and sign boards etc. It's

difficult for a lady to focus her attention while preparing some

dish which she has been preparing since she learnt cooking from her

mother. But when she prepares a new dish, all her concentration is

on the items and quantity of them she uses. Pls. ignore these crude

examples as some ponderings.

This by-rote-feeling and hence action result since we think that

the japa we are practising is for ourselves. But if we realise that

it is for the paramESwara only and for His prIthi, then I feel we

will get serious about this daily vandhanam. Is it for this that

during sandhyAvandhanam, we say in sankhalpam as,

".....SrI paramESwara prIthyartham" ?

 

Pls. forgive me if I am wrong in extrapolating this to this context;

I never really knew the meaning of the sankhalpam. But I could only

make out the purport. I request learned members to shed light on the

meaning of the `sankhalpa' chant.

 

adiyEn,

chandrasekaran.

[Guest guest]

Sri Chandrasekaran wrote:

: This by-rote-feeling and hence action result since we think that

:the japa we are practising is for ourselves. But if we realise that

:it is for the paramESwara only and for His prIthi, then I feel we

:will get serious about this daily vandhanam. Is it for this that

:during sandhyAvandhanam, we say in sankhalpam as,

: ".....SrI paramESwara prIthyartham" ?

:

:Pls. forgive me if I am wrong in extrapolating this to this context;

:I never really knew the meaning of the sankhalpam. But I could only

:make out the purport. I request learned members to shed light on the

:meaning of the `sankhalpa' chant.

 

Thank you for a very informative message. Sankalpa means

"resolve" and is a sentence uttered before the performance

of any Vedic religious rite. The sankalpa, to a large extent,

expresses the attitude we take as we perform this religious

rite. The sankalpa uttered by SrI vaishNavas is as follows:

 

SrI bhagavad AjnayA, SrIman nArAyaNa prItyartham

 

OR

 

SrI bhagavad AjnayA, SrI bhagavat kainkarya rUpam

 

or some combination of the two. They all essentially mean

the same thing: the religious rite is performed because it is the

Lord's command, and solely for the service of the Lord, for

His delight.

 

This means that the act is in no way performed for our own

sake. Right after doing the sankalpa, the attitude of service

is reinforced by performing what is known as "sAttvika tyAga". [*]

SAttvika tyAga is performed by simply stating that this act

is being performed by Bhagavan Himself, through His "sesha-

bhUta" (servant), for His own purposes, for His delight.

We, the nominal actor, are merely an instrument in His hands.

 

[*] It is a matter of some concern for me that many SrI vaishNavas

are unaware of sAttvika tyAga and of its importance, and

consequently do not say or think it during their sandhyAvandanam

or other rites. SAttvika tyAga is enjoined by Sri Ramanuja

himself; it is extremely important and yet is very easy and

quick to say.

 

The sAttvika tyAga and the statement "SrI bhagavad AjnayA"

is what distinguishes the SrI vaishNava sankalpa from that

performed by smArtas (ayyars). The smArta sankalpa begins

with a request to have one's sins removed by this act,

and concludes that this act is also performed for the delight

of SrI parameSvara, the Highest Lord. There is then, this

small but significant difference, that in the smArta sankalpa

the individual seeks to remove sins by his act. To me, this

makes it not entirely God-centered in the same way as the

former sankalpa.

 

However, I think you have hit upon the central point.

No matter how it is said in the end, our acts, religious

or otherwise, should be performed as delightful service

of the Lord.

 

But, though we may think this during the sankalpa, once again,

how many of us really perform the whole act with this attitude?

I am sure this will result after much practice, but I have

confess yet again my inability to maintain this pure attitude

of service through the whole religious rite.

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

A correspondent wrote to me:

 

Dear Sri Mani,

 

This is with respect to your post on how to concentrate. As you have

rightly pointed out, the mind just would not stay still, would it?

I went through so many responses and was quite amazed to find

references to:

 

1. Sri Ramakrishna

2. Sri Sankaracharya

3. Sri Ramana

 

and their teachings/notes on dhyAna. Moreover the commonality among

them is that all are advaitins propagating the ashtanga yoga process

for self-realization. (References to pranayama techniques, etc.)

 

Why is that Sri Vaishnavas have to refer to all these saints for

successfully situating themselves in dhyAna? Are there no references

in Swami Desikan's literature on this subject matter?

 

A very valid question, and one to which I have no response.

Why is there such a paucity of information concerning such

simple matters as sitting down and concentrating on God in

our sampradAya granthas? Or perhaps are there such texts

for beginners, and they have not come to the light of day

yet?

 

Members in the know are requested to respond.

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

Repected Swamin,

As far as my limited knowledge goes, I think there are many references to

this aspect of how to do dhyana, what are the required aspects etc. All

this information is available in the Sri Bhashyam itself.

 

In the beginning itself, Bhagavan Ramanuja defines and reiterates the

definition of Dhyana by saying that

"Dhyanam nama taila-dhaaravat avicchinna smrti-santatih...."

Dhyana is that process wherein a person constantly concentrates on the

divine form of the Lord without any interruption, just like when an oil

is poured form one vessel to another at a particular speed, there will

not be any spurts or diturbances, unlike when water is poured down, ther

will be spurts in the fall. thus, one has to meditate without thinking

of anything else. Even if the mind wanders away from the form of the

Lord, one has to try and bring it back to the same form. In Bhagavad Gita

Krishna has given specific instructions regarding this and the same has

been explained in detail by Ramanujacharya. Krishna says :

Yato Yato niscarati manah cancalam asthiram

Tatah tatah niyamya etat atmanyava vasam nayet.

 

So I feel that beleiving that only advaitins have enumerated these

aspects is not appropriate. Apart from this the question of Dhyana

arises only in the case of Visistadwaita and is not at all relevant to

Advaita. Advvaitins say that the Brahman is nirguna - deviod of all

attributes, nirakara - formless etc. How can Dhyana happen when there is

no form at all. What will the person meditate on ? So I feel that the

Dhyana question arises and is answered in the Visistadwaita only. Apart

from this, I personally dont think that terming Ramakrishna Parahamsa as

an advaitin is correct, since in many places, in his authnticated works,

he has said that Advaita concept is totally wrong in the stage we are in

and gives many examples to prove this.

 

If anyone wants me to write more on this topic, I will do so. I will

aslo try to get the original words of our Purva Acharyas to reiterate

these facts.

 

I request all Bhagavatas to kindly let me know of thier opinion in this

regard.

Adiyen,

Alwar.

 

On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Mani Varadarajan wrote:

> A correspondent wrote to me:

>

> Dear Sri Mani,

>

> This is with respect to your post on how to concentrate. As you have

> rightly pointed out, the mind just would not stay still, would it?

> I went through so many responses and was quite amazed to find

> references to:

>

> 1. Sri Ramakrishna

> 2. Sri Sankaracharya

> 3. Sri Ramana

>

> and their teachings/notes on dhyAna. Moreover the commonality among

> them is that all are advaitins propagating the ashtanga yoga process

> for self-realization. (References to pranayama techniques, etc.)

>

> Why is that Sri Vaishnavas have to refer to all these saints for

> successfully situating themselves in dhyAna? Are there no references

> in Swami Desikan's literature on this subject matter?

>

> A very valid question, and one to which I have no response.

> Why is there such a paucity of information concerning such

> simple matters as sitting down and concentrating on God in

> our sampradAya granthas? Or perhaps are there such texts

> for beginners, and they have not come to the light of day

> yet?

>

> Members in the know are requested to respond.

>

> Mani

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

Namaskarams.

It is an interesting question why no quotes and thoughts

were brought forward from any Vaishnava works under the subject

of "dhyAna". I am sure learned vaishnavas of this list will

have suitable response for this. I have read recently an article

about a book on "yOga as propounded by nAdhamuni". I think the

famous yOgi of today viz., Sri T.K.V.Desikachar is the author of

that book. I am sure Vaishnavas must be knowing better regarding

nAdhamuni being a great yOgi; I read in that article that he had

a vision of nammAzhwAr through his yOgic powers and devotion.

Has nAdhamuni delivered any ideas on this subject in his works?

 

I would like to bring forward certain points with regard to

the belief that the three great advaita munis mentioned in the

original post viz., Sri Adhi Sankarar, Sri Ramakrishnar and

Sri Ramanar preached ashtanga yoga for self-realisation. Though

I am very little qualified to comment on this subject I will

bring out some facts which I have come across during my scarce

readings. Sorry if bhagavathas feel I am bringing in too many

things `anniyam' to vaishNavam.

 

All these three sages approved that bhakti is the superior

margam to self-realisation. Sri Adhi Sankhara's Bhaja Govindam

and numerous slokams on various deities are examples of his

approving one-pointed, unqualified devotion as the margam for

liberation. Sri Ramanar says "bhakti gn~yana mAthA"; nothing

more need be said. Sri Ramanar started his spiritual pursuit

at his young age as a staunch Siva bhakta upon dawn of knowledge

while reading sEkkizhAr's "periya purANam", the nUl that talks

of the life of 63 nAyanmArgaL. Sri Ramanar explains ideal bhakti

in his Upadesa Saram. And as everyone knows Sri Ramakrishna

was a great devotee of parAsakthi mAthA; he even went to the extent

of beheading himself for not getting the dharsan of the Adhi sakthi.

 

But as Sri Ramanar would say, it's only for the unrealised souls

that there is differentiation between various margams. For jIvan

mukthas it doesn't really matter because there is nothing to

differentiate. They don't think about which margam they are in

since they are already at the destination.

 

But nothing like melting down in pure devotion for the Lord.

The anubhavam that Thondaradi Podi Azhwar would have had when he

sung that pasuram on Lord Ranganatha (posted by Sri Vijay Triplicane).

"AiyO! en seigEn ulagatthIrE!" is simply something that will

make one thaw down losing all senses. There are many such anubhavams

nAyanmArs went through in devotion to Lord Siva.

 

It's the parama Anandam and piravi payan. Swamy Thyagaraja would

sing,

"tapamu yOga phalamu nIvE, rAmA..." - meaning the phalam of

my tapas in my earlier janmam is worshipping and enjoying you,

Hey Rama!. Blessed are they who have unshakeable devotion to

the Lord.

 

adiyEn,

chandrasekaran.

[Guest guest]

Sri Chandarasekar wrote...

>nAdhamuni being a great yOgi; I read in that article that he had

>a vision of nammAzhwAr through his yOgic powers and devotion.

>Has nAdhamuni delivered any ideas on this subject in his works?

>

Dear sirs,

 

In fact Sri Nadamuni has written bashya for the patahajali's yoga

sutram.

however, in his subsequent years once he came in touch with bakhthi,Sri

Nammalwar,

i have heard, he felt that he had wasted his time in yoga etc..

and what is more important is bakthi and prapatti.

 

as per the words of

Sri Kulasekaran

 

"adi paadi arangavo! "...

 

this should be the spirit of any devotion or bakthi or dhayna.

what is important is bagavat bakthi, which will lead to pragyana, then

to parama bakhthi.

 

in fact Srivaishnava acharyas have not given any impotance to things

like dhayana,yoga etc.

 

same is case with followers of Srila Prabhupada of Iskon.

 

infact i was surprised to see many postings on dhayna,yogic systems.

 

to my small mind, all this only lead to a state of

"i am performing this" attitude inspite of one'e best effort to think of

Sriman Narayana on such a mission.

this thought itself goes against a srivaishnava's swarupam who should

always do anything either for his preethi or he beleives that whatever

happens is

his divine work(alagila vilaiyattudai-refer kamber on his opening verse

on Sri Ramayana.)

 

Adiyen

 

K.M.Narayanan

 

____

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

[Guest guest]

A member had written, regarding dhyAna:

> Are there no references

> in Swami Desikan's literature on this subject matter?

 

and I had written in reply:

> A very valid question, and one to which I have no response.

> Why is there such a paucity of information ... [by acharyas

> of our sampradAya]?

 

I went home that night thinking about this, and shortly

discovered that I had spoken too soon. In perusing Sri Ramanuja's

bhagavad-gItA-bhAshya on the same verse from which Ramakrishnan

Balasubramaniam had quoted Sri Sankara's bhAshya, I noticed a footnote

quoting Desika's tAtparya-candrikA, his subcommentary on

the Gita. Apparently, Desika goes into great detail on

the steps of meditation, from ashTAnga-yoga to the para-bhakti,

para-jnAna, and parama-bhakti described by Ramanuja, in this

work.

 

In fact, on the very same verse mentioned by Ramakrishnan,

Desika quotes Sankara's comments with approval -- the eyes

are not to be focussed on the "tip of the nose" per se,

but only "as it were". They should be locked in focus in

general. Presumably the eyes should not be completely

closed because it induces sleep. If they eyes are completely

open it is distracting.

 

I have already tried some of the suggestions given by various

members and they have proven very interesting. Letting the

mind wander a bit relieves some stress, and in some cases

has made it _easier_ to concentrate, strangely enough.

Keeping the eyes locked in focus puts one in a strange,

trance-like state where it is easier to keep the thoughts

under control. Or so it seems after a couple of days of

trying.

 

It would be nice to examine the tAtparya-candrikA of Desika

in detail for more suggestions. I have also read a few

excerpts from the nampiLLai eedu vyaakhyaanam on the

tiruvaaymozhi. There seem to be many pieces of anecdotal

advice on how to concentrate there as well.

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

Sri Chandarasekar wrote...

> >nAdhamuni being a great yOgi; I read in that article that he had

> >a vision of nammAzhwAr through his yOgic powers and devotion.

> >Has nAdhamuni delivered any ideas on this subject in his works?

 

SrI nAthamuni wrote a work called yoga-rahasya, which

contained the essence of his method of bhakti-yoga.

Unfortunately, this work got lost over the years and

is no longer available.

 

The particular method of bhakti-yoga that was cultivated

by nAthamuni was passed on to a select few disciples. In

those days, some of the more esoteric disciplines were

only imparted to a few who were considered capable of

executing them properly. In the time of SrI yAmunAcArya

(ALavandAr), two generations after nAthamuni, the nAthamuni's

yoga was being practiced only by one of his aged disciplies,

tirukkurukai kAvalappan. tirukkurukai kAvalappan would

regularly engage in sustained dhyAna on bhagavAn, and would

be unaware of the world outside, much as a lover is unaware

of anything else when embraced by his or her beloved

(as the Upanishad says).

 

A time was appointed for ALavandAr to learn the secret

of yoga from tirukkurukai kAvalappan. However, ALavandAr

became heavily involved in the kainkarya for the Lord at

a divya-desam in Kerala, and forgot about the appointment

and missed it. Shortly thereafter, tirukkurukai kAvalappan

passed away and attained the Lord, and the particulars of

yoga as practiced by nAthamuni were therefore lost.

 

This story is mentioned in the 6000 guru paramparA prabhAvam.

 

Sri Kazhiyur Narayanan wrote:

> in fact Srivaishnava acharyas have not given any impotance to things

> like dhayana,yoga etc.

 

I think that there is some terminological confusion here.

In the Sri Vaishnava sampradAya, true yoga is the same as

bhakti-yoga, which is the discipline described by Ramanuja

in the Sribhashya and Gitabhashya. Bhakti is not divorced

from yoga; however, what has been generally abandoned after

nAthamuni is adopting bhakti-yoga by itself as a _means_

for attaining the Lord. SaraNAgati is seen as being more

appropriate and fulfilling for people these days. There is

also a viewpoint held by some acharyas that paripUrNa

SaraNAgati is more in line with the inherent nature of

the individual.

 

However, this does not mean that dhyAna / yoga is to be

completely abandoned. It is merely used now to experience

God in this life itself, as part of His service. Ideally,

we should see His kalyANa-guNas everyday in every aspect

of life. We should begin and end the day meditating on

Him. This is what I mean by "dhyAna". In fact, Ramanuja

uses the word dhyAna countless times in his "nitya-grantha",

as contemplation is a very important part of tiru-ArAdhanam,

the daily worship of the Lord.

 

My question was aimed at how to focus my mind even for

a few minutes, during mantra-japam. This is only the first

step to true "dhyAna" as described by Ramanuja (and recently

mentioned by Sri M.A. Alwar of Melkote on this list).

> to my small mind, all this only lead to a state of

> "i am performing this" attitude inspite of one'e best effort to think of

> Sriman Narayana on such a mission.

> this thought itself goes against a srivaishnava's swarupam who should

> always do anything either for his preethi or he beleives that whatever

> happens is

> his divine work(alagila vilaiyattudai-refer kamber on his opening verse

> on Sri Ramayana.)

 

I agree 100% that the ego should be sublated and this

is one of the problems we face in day-to-day life, even

during contemplation. But is bhagavad-guNa-anubhavam,

which was practiced by all our Alvars and acharyas,

necessarily indicative of ego? Or, to restate the question,

what does bhagavad-guNa-anubhavam mean if it does not

mean "dhyAna"?

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

By the way, if some words I had written or

quoted earlier left people with the impression

that the advice of Sankaracharya, Ramana Maharishi,

or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa concerning concentration

were unwelcome or unwanted, that is not at all

the case! All of these saints can offer practical

advice to me in this matter, and I am glad to hear

it.

 

Mani