Meditation - 7

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Dear Learned Devotees in the Group,

 

I have been reproducing questions and answers from the

booklet titled "Meditation: Bhagavan Ramana Answers"

by A.R. Natarajan, which I got from the local (New

Delhi) Ramana Kendra. I am a beginner and some of the

questions and answers are beyond my understanding. I,

therefore,thought it prudent on my part to share these

questions and answers with you all the learned

devotees in the group to elicit your opinion, reaction

and comment/commentary, so as to get cleared. I

request you all to explain the inner-meaning of the

questions and answers in SIMPLE ENGLISH for the

benefit of one and all. Love and respects.

 

26. D: What should one think of when meditating?

 

M: What is meditation? It is expulsion of thoughts.

You are perturbed by thoughts which rush one after

another. Hold on to one thought so that others are

expelled. Continuous practice gives the necessary

strength of mind to engage in meditation.

 

Meditation differs according to the degree of

advancement of the seeker. If one is fit for it one

might directly hold the thinker; and the thinker will

automtically sink into his source, namely Pure

Consciousness.

 

If one cannot directly hold the thinker one must

meditate on God; and in due course the same individual

will have become sufficiently pure to hold the thinker

and sink into absolute Being.

 

27. D: "We are advised to concentrate on the spot in

the forehead between the eyebrows. Is it right?"

 

M: Everyone is aware, 'I am'. Leaving aside that

awareness one goes about in search of God. What is the

use of fixing one's attention between the eyebrows? It

is mere folly to say that God is between the eyebrows.

The aim of such advice is to h elp the mind to

concentrate. It is one of the forcible methods to

check the mind and prevent its dissipation. It is

forcibly directed into one channel. It is a help to

concentration.

 

But the best means of realisation is the enquiry "Who

am I?" The present trouble is to the mind and it must

be removed by the mind only.

 

28. D: Can I use forms of images of God and mantras?

 

M. Yes, of course. All these things can help, or why

should they be recommended in the books? Various

things are prescribed to suit various natures. Each

person must choose what seems easiest and appeals to

him most.

 

29. D: Has closing the eyes during meditation only

efficacy?

 

M: The eyes can be closed or open as one finds

convenient. It is not the eyes that see. There is one

who sees through the eyes. If he is turned inwards and

is not looking through the eyes they can be open and

yet nothing will seen. If we keep our eyes closed it

is the same to us whether the windows of this room are

open or shut.

 

D: Suppose there is some disturbance during

meditation, such as mosquito bites, should one persist

in meditation and try to b eat the bites and ignore

the interruption or drive the mosquitoes away and then

continue the meditation?

 

M: You must do as you find most convenient. You will

not attain mukti simply because you refrain from

driving away the mosquitoes, nor be denied mukti

simply because you drive them away. The thing is to

attain one-pointedness and then to attain mano-nasa.

Whether you do this by putting up with the mosquito

bites or driving the mosquitoes away is left to you.

If you are completely absorbed in your meditation you

will not know that the mosquitoes are biting you. Till

you attain that stage why should you not drive them

away?

 

30. D: Will gayatri help?

 

M: What is gayatri? It really means: "Let me

concentrate on that which illumines all". Dhyana

really means only concentrating or fixing the mind on

the object of dhyana. But meditation is our real

nature. If we give up other thoughts what remains is

'I' and its nature is dhyana or meditation or jnana,

whichever we choose to call it. What is at one time

the means later becomes the end; unless meditation or

dhyana were the nature of the Self it could not take

you to the Self. If the means were not of the nature

of the goal; it could not bring you to the goal.

 

31. D: Bhagavan, each time I meditate, I feel a great

heat in the head, and if I persist my whole body

burns. What is the remedy?

 

M: If concentration is made with the brain, hot

sensations and even headache ensue. Concentration has

to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing.

Relax and your meditation will be easy. Keep your mind

steady by gently warding off all intruding thoughts,

but without strain -- soon you will succeed.

 

32. D: I get into a trance when I see a sky like

blank.

 

M: He who sees the blank is the Self.

 

D: Meditation is possible only when control of mind,

which can be achieved only through meditation. Is this

not a vicious circle?

 

M: They are interdependent: in fact meditation

includes mind control, the subtle watchfulness against

intruding thoughts. In the beginning efforts for

control are greater than for actual meditation, but in

due course meditation wins and becomes effortless.

 

D: Your Grace is needed for it.

 

M: Practice is necessary, there is Grace.

 

D: In meditation are there words to be repeated

mentally?

 

M: What is meditation but mental repetitions of a

concept? It is a mental japam which begins with words

and ends in the Silence of the Self.

 

Om - Love - Respects

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

 

 

 

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