Meditation - 3

September 23, 2005

Thanks Gopi.

I could not understand the last paragraph myself. Can somebody in the group

please explain it?

Of course, there is also the practice of meditation

on the heart-centre., It is only a practice and not

investigation. Only the one who meditates on the heart

can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and

remains still; whereas those who meditate on other

centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was

still only after it becomes active again.

Sachin

----

Gopi Krishna

09/23/05 12:55:01

RamanaMaharshi

[RamanaMaharshi] Meditation - 3

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 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.

D: I have faith in murti dhyana (worship of form).

Whill it not help me to gain jnana?

M: Surely it will. Upasana helps concentration of

mind. Then the mind is free from other thoughts and is

full of the meditated form. The mind becomes it - and

thus quite pure. Then think who is the worshipper. The

answer is 'I', i.e., the Self. So the Self is gained

ultimately.

D: It is difficult to understand self-enquiry. If

something concrete is said, it can be readily grasped.

Japan, dhyana, etc., are more concrete.

M: 'Who am I?' is the best japa.

What could be more concrete than the Self? It is

within each one's experience every moment. Why should

he try to catch anything outside, leaving out the

Self? Let each one try to find out the known Self

instead of searching for the unknown something beyond.

D: There are said to be six organs of different

colours in the chest, of which the heart is said to be

two finger-breadths to the right of the middle line.

But the Heart is also formless. Should we then imagine

it to have a shape and meditate on it?

M: No. Only the quest "Who am I?" is necessary. What

remains all through deep sleep and waking is the same.

But in the waking there is unhappiness and the effort

to remove it. Asked who wakes up from sleep you say

'I'. If it is done the eternal Being will reveal

Itself. Investigation of 'I' is the point and not

meditation on the heart-centre. There is nothing like

within or without. Both mean either the same thing or

nothing.

Of course, there is also the p ractice of meditation

on the heart-centre., It is only a practice and not

investigation. Only the one who meditates on the heart

can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and

remains still; whereas those who meditate on other

centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was

still only after it becomes active again.

________

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September 23, 2005

> I could not understand the last paragraph myself. Can somebody in

the group

> please explain it?

>

> Of course, there is also the practice of meditation

> on the heart-centre., It is only a practice and not

> investigation. Only the one who meditates on the heart

> can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and

> remains still; whereas those who meditate on other

> centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was

> still only after it becomes active again.

This is how 'I' understand stuff, so it may not be the last word.

Classical yoga asserts that if you focus on some point of the body,

"the breath" (prana) or the mind gets suspended at that point. This is

the basis of the shad-chakra meditation schemes. In fact, it can be

seen in some common physical (hatha yoga) postures, e.g. in matsyasana

(fish pose) instructors typically ask students to focus on the

throat, and one can actually feel the breath being suspended there.

This is called mano-laya, or suspension of the mind, while the stated

goal in enquiry is mano-nasa, or destruction of the mind.

The Heart that Bhagavan refers to is not the same as the heart chakra

(anAhata chakra) in classical Yoga. This is the Heart which throbs as

I,I and can be felt in moments of extreme fear,joy,passion,etc. or

even while missing a step while climbing down stairs. The exact term

which Bhagavan used is Hrid-ayam (this is the Centre), which for lack

of a better word is called the Heart in English.

Self enquiry does not attempt to directly force the mind to any spot

in the body. Instead, it makes the mind to seek its source, thereby

*indirectly* forcing it to move towards the Hridayam. The vasanas

(impressions of actions from several lifetimes) which cloak the Self

attempt to resist this by springing forth as the multitude of thoughts

then. Then the question "Who am I?" is used to get attention back to

the Self, thus destroying the vasanas which wither away for repeated

lack of attention.

Coming back to the question, one can meditate on the Hridayam on the

right side of the chest, though Bhagavan did not encourage this. This

just follows classical yoga by making the Hridayam the focus of

attention,instead of the throat,heart,or crown of the head. In this

case, because the mind gets suspended in its source is still conscious.

When one experiences temporary suspension of the mind even in the

Heart, Bhagavan reminds one to ask the question: "Who is the one who

experiences this stillness?". This brings out the more subtle vasanas

into the field of consciousness to be destroyed.

Finally, when the vasanas are weakened enough, the power of the Self

destroys the fundamental vasana, the original sin, the font of all

duality, the individual-I.

In Him.

September 23, 2005

Dear Arun,

Whenever I practice self-enquiry, my focus automatically goes to the back of

the top of head... like the entire awareness gets drawn from the body to

this region. Hence, I wonder if the center of awareness has to be the right

side of the chest (Hridayam as per Ramana) or it can be different in

different individuals? Would it be related to where most of our vasanas are

accumulated?

Sachin

----

arunchandar

09/23/05 23:08:38

RamanaMaharshi

[RamanaMaharshi] Re: Meditation - 3