Meditation and its Utility in Daily Life With Practical Hints

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Meditation and its Utility in

Daily Life With Practical Hints

 

 

By

 

 

Sri Swami Premananda

 

 

A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION

 

 

First Edition: 1994

Second Edition: 1996

Third Edition: 1999

(2,000 copies)

 

 

World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 2000

 

 

WWW site: http://www.dlshq.org/

 

 

This WWW reprint is for free distribution

 

 

© The Divine Life Trust Society

 

 

Swami Premananda's `Meditation Classes' have become

very popular and there is a great demand. This booklet

will help aspirants and seekers.

 

 

Published By

THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY

P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192

Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,

Himalayas, India.

 

 

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Contents

Meditation And Its Utility In Daily Life

Meditation Practice

I. " Silence Is The Great Revelation " —Lao-Tse

II. Body Sensations

III. Deepening Exercise—Body Sensations

IV. Thought Control

V. Breathing Sensations

VI. God In My Breath

VII. Breath—Communication With God

VIII. Stillness

IX. Body Prayer

X. The Touch of God

XI. Concentration

XII. Finding God In All Things

Individual's Uplift And World Welfare

 

 

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OM

 

 

Meditation And Its Utility In Daily Life

Meditation is not for a few but is necessary for all human beings.

The

inner self of a person touches the Higher Self (the Param-Tattwa)

during deep sleep daily. This unknown touch recharges the battery of

man. So, when he gets up from his sleep, he feels that he is

refreshed, full of strength and relaxed. This is a natural process

for

all persons alike. If one could not sleep properly, he feels

disturbed

and is in a sort of weariness. It is the experience of every man,

whether he is rich or a beggar, a literate or an illiterate, an

executive or a labourer, a farmer or a business man, a housewife or a

huckster. So, every man needs peace, strength, ability to discharge

his duties and for tranquillity of mind. So, a wonderful discovery of

man is to keep his inner self in touch with the SOURCE in a wakeful

state for longer periods continuously through specific type of

systematic practices. This is called the art of meditation. And such

a

person is said to be a YOGI without any discretion/distinction of

caste, creed, colour and country.

 

 

Dhyanam nirvishayam manah—That state of the mind, wherein there are

no

Vishayas or sensory thoughts, is meditation.

 

 

Whether oriental or occidental, Hinduism or Mohammedanism, Buddhism

or

Jainism, Christianity or Judaism, Shinto-ism or any other `ism', the

spiritual purpose and meaning is to lead an individual soul to the

ecstatic communion with the Universal Divinity or ONE TRUTH, the

SOURCE. A continuous flow of perception of thought is Dhyana—Tatra

pratyayaikatanata dhyanam. It is the flow of continuous thought of

one

object or God or Atman or Supreme Source—Tailadharavat. According to

Raja Yoga, meditation is the seventh rung or step in the ladder of

Yoga. One cannot attain this state unless he knows the art of

" Concentration " . What is concentration?—Desa bandhas-chittasya

dharana. Concentration is fixing the mind on an external object or an

internal point continuously, without interruption or break for twelve

seconds. So, an aspirant has to develop himself in concentration,

which itself is changed into meditation, if his state of keeping the

mind focused at one object/point/subject continuously and

spontaneously for 12x12=144 seconds. It is termed as `Dhyana' in

Sanskrit scriptures, which comes from the root `Dhi'. In English we

generally call it `intellect' which is the basic root with different

derivations in different practices. However, `Buddhi' (reasoning

faculty) is said to be directly based on this root term; yet this

term

is used liberally by all systems of Yoga, which is central theme of

all mystic techniques leading one to higher levels of spiritual

consciousness with profound depths of spiritual expansion and takes

one to God-realisation or Self-realisation.

 

 

Meditation may be objective, or on qualities or purely subjective or

one's own breath. In objective meditation the Sadhaka meditates upon

an idol or picture of his Ishta devata—may be Lord Shiva, Vishnu,

Rama, Krishna, Christ, Buddha or any other god or goddess. For him,

the idol is something alive, vibrating with supreme reality,

omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. He may meditate upon the

beautitude, the qualities, the activities of his Ishta-devata. Or he

may meditate upon the all-pervading pulsating Supreme Energy which is

within him and without, permeating everywhere. This is subjective

meditation. Similarly on his breath while inhaling and exhaling with

MINIMAL SILENCE. All meditations are good; what counts is the

intensity and unbroken continuity of meditation.

 

 

An aspirant has to rest his soul on the bosom of the Lord, to bathe

in

the bliss of Divine ecstasy, to drown his ego in the ocean of

eternity, to draw sustenance and strength from the SOURCE to attain

whatever he is capable of achieving. A Sadhaka should meditate

regularly, chew and digest what he has learnt, to transform what he

has learnt into wisdom, to apply that wisdom to solve the problems

that cross his path daily. Says F.W. Robertson: " It is not the number

of books you read, nor the variety of sermons you hear, nor the

amount

of religious conversation in which you mix, but it is the frequency

and earnestness with which you meditate on these things till the

truth

in them becomes your own and part of your being, that ensures your

growth. "

 

 

A sincere spiritual seeker meditates to realise the Ultimate Reality

to unravel the mystery of life and death, to understand in the bottom

of his heart, what is Truth. Once he knows Truth, he knows the

Ultimate Reality, he becomes That, and there is nothing more to know.

A person who has realised Brahman, becomes Brahman, and lives in

Brahman. Knowing is being. That is the highest state.

 

 

India has been fortunate to have produced many saints and seers who

had realised the Truth and for more or less time lived in a state of

Divine Ecstasy. Even during the past hundred years people have

witnessed such saints like Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Swami

Vivekananda,

Swami Ramatirtha, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Ramdas, Swami

Sivananda and several others of world fame. Ramakrishna would while

talking relapse into Samadhi and often prayed to his Divine Mother

not

to draw him frequently into Her Bosom so that he can converse with

his

disciple, particularly his darling Naren later known to the world as

Swami Vivekananda so that he could prepare a band of workers to

spread

his message, the holy message of India. Swami Ramatirtha was often

seen in a state of ecstasy during last seven years of life in India

and United States. Swami Sivananda was another who would often sing

and dance or be just be quiet in divine ecstasy. There have been more

in India and quite a few messengers of God in other parts of the

world.

 

 

Meditation and concentration are often treated as synonymous.

However,

I have drawn earlier a distinct line between concentration and

meditation. In further explanation when one brings to bear all his

thought waves on a single point or spot like a laser beam where the

scattered rays of light are concentrated, it is concentration. Every

body needs concentration to understand, assimilate and apply any

information, any knowledge. When the concentration is prolonged for

144 seconds, it is called meditation and when extended to 144

multiplied by 144 i.e. 20736 seconds = 345.6 minutes, it is said to

reach the state of Samadhi. According to Ashtanga Yoga comprising two

main parts of Hatha Yoga—Yama, Niyama, Asana and Pranayama covers the

first one, whereas Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, is the

second part. There is no equivalent word in English language for

Samadhi. Concentration is the sixth, Meditation the seventh and

Samadhi the eighth and last stage of Yoga when the Sadhaka is united

with the Supreme Being. It shows that concentration leads to

Meditation, similarly prolonged constant meditation leads to Samadhi.

In other Yogas Manana, Nididhyasana, Upasana, Chintana, Dhyana—these

terms are used in different Yogas with subtle differences in their

techniques. Manana is a sort of reflection. It is just to chew the

cud

slowly and nicely. It is done through into intense practice of

Manana.

Chintana is also a sort of reflection and meditation to assimilate

the

thoughts in consciousness for proper and significant impression with

profound understanding. Intense meditation on the Self or Brahman or

ANY SPIRITUAL ILLUMINED PERSONALITY is termed as `Nididhyasana'. As

Saint Francis of Assisi did. `Upasana' stands for devout meditation

which is being used in both i.e., Jnana Yoga Sadhana and Bhakti Yoga.

Upasana means `sitting near by'. In Jnana Yoga Sadhana the seeker has

to sit near the Self or Brahman; whereas in Bhakti Yoga a devotee has

to sit by the side of God.

 

 

A keen and true regular practitioner (Sadhaka) will attain quick and

sure results, when he proceeds properly stage by stage under the

guidance of his GURU or master. The first four parts are meant to

purify the mind and keep the body strong and fit to receive and

retain

the power of the DIVINE. Many moderns, however, equate Yoga with the

practice of few asanas and pranayamas. This is not sufficient for

spiritual uplift. Yet, it is better to practise asanas and pranayamas

for health's sake than not to do anything at all. But Yoga is really

first to withdraw one's mind from the objects of senses (pratyahara),

practice concentration, prolong the period of concentration under

proper guidance to reach the stage of meditation and finally become

one, unite (Yoga to join to unite) with the Supreme Reality, the

TRUTH.

 

 

Thus meditation is not meant merely for the recluse, the ascetic, the

renouncer. It is of utmost important in man's day-to-day life. It is

of immense help to a student, a youth, an old man. A man who can

meditate will become a better manager, a better businessman, a better

executive and, above all, a better man. Conversely, if a person

cannot

meditate, he will lack composition, courage and confidence to achieve

his goal. Nowadays, several medical doctors and psychologists advise

to their patients suffering from nervousness, unusual irritation,

disordered mind, fear and inferiority complex and lack of self-

confidence to meditate in a specific manner along with the medical

treatment. So, the meditation is very necessary these days when man

leads a life of tension and complexity.

 

 

Every morning and evening, preferably at dawn and dusk, sit down in a

comfortable posture with your backbone straight, relax each and every

limb of your body, and then your mind, and sit unmoved, in the same

pose, as long as you can. It is always better to invoke your Guru

(master) and Ishta Devata first, when you sit for meditation for

their

blessings and guidance and gratefully thank them again when you

finish

the meditation. Gradually, increase the time of your meditation. It

is

easier to relax your limbs of the body but not so easy to relax your

mind. This process of relaxation, stillness and body awareness will

automatically reduce the speed of your breathing, which, in turn,

will

help in meditation. So many thoughts will cross your mind now and

then. They may even disturb you. Do not be afraid. Try to remain calm

and watch them with equanimity. Let them come, let them go. Do not

fight to free your mind from thought waves. Try to be indifferent to

them. But do not observe these thoughts with equanimous mind.

Gradually, automatically the flitting of thoughts across the canvas

of

your mind will diminish. After sometime—sooner than later—you will be

absorbed in your Ishta-Devata if your meditation is objective, or in

your Being, if your meditation is subjective. Once, you get the taste

of it, believe me, you will like to taste it more and more and more.

 

 

May God Almighty and All-merciful and the Most Revered Gurudev, help

you, THEY WILL.

 

 

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Meditation Practice

I. " Silence Is The Great Revelation " —Lao-Tse

1. Scripture as the revelation of God.

 

 

2. Discover the revelation that silence brings.

 

 

3. Silence offers, one must attain silence. It is NOT EASY.

 

 

Comfortable Posture. Close eyes for 10 minutes. Observe total silence

of Heart and Mind. Describe `Silence' in terms of your attempts.

Experience may infinitely be varied. You have to still the constant

wandering of your mind. To quiet and emotional turmoil. On

approaching

frontiers of silence there may be PANIC and WITHDRAWAL. You may have

frightening experience. NO REASON TO BE DISCOURAGED. Wandering

thoughts are a great revelation. Take time to EXPERIENCE this

wandering mind and TYPE of wandering it indulges. SOMETHING

ENCOURAGING

—awareness of mental wandering, inner turmoil and inability to be

still shows that you have small degree of silence within you. AGAIN

close your eyes, become aware of wandering mind for two minutes. Now

sense the silence that makes it possible to be aware of wanderings of

your mind.

 

 

MINIMAL SILENCE—as it grows, it reveals more and more rather it

reveals yourself to you. You will have ATTAINMENTS—like WISDOM,

SERENITY, BLISS, GOD, PRECAUTION: you shall have no talk and no

discussion. Inhale and exhale deep and slow breathing throughout.

Again close your eyes for five minutes. SEEK SILENCE. Now see your

success—whether more or less. Don't seek ANYTHING SENSATIONAL. In

fact, do not seek at all.

 

 

Limit yourself to observing. Take in everything that comes to your

awareness whether big, small, trite or ordinary. CONTENT of awareness

is less important than the quality of awareness. As quality improves,

so silence deepens, you will experience. You will discover, to your

delight, that revelation is not knowledge. It is power: a mysterious

power that brings transformation.

 

 

II. Body Sensations

One must become aware of certain body sensations of which one is

explicitly not aware. To go around by yourself to become conscious of

your toes, your feet, your legs, your knees, your thighs, your

buttocks, your waist, your stomach, your chest, your shoulders, your

fingers (starting from the tips), your forearms, your elbow, your

arms, your full back, then again your shoulders, your neck, your

chin,

your lips, your nose, your cheeks, your ears, your eyes, your

forehead, your head, upper side of your head and backside of your

head. Do not dwell for more than two or three seconds on each part of

your body. REPEAT it again and again for five minutes. This act of

yours brings a sense of relaxedness. BIGGEST ENEMIES: Nervous

tension,

living too much in head i.e., to remain conscious of the thinking and

imagination and to remain conscious far too little of the activities

of the senses. It is a must to remain in the PRESENT and not in past

and future. One must master this technique of sense awareness. One

must learn to get out of the area of thinking and imagination and

move

into the area from Head to Heart i.e., feeling, sensing, loving and

intuiting where contemplation takes birth, prayer becomes

transforming

power and a source of delight and peace. A few of you may feel an

increase in Tension. Note what part of your body is tense and see

exactly what the tension feels like. Become aware of the fact you are

tensing and note exactly how you are doing this. Note means not to

reflect but to feel and sense. You pick up no sensation. Why? Your

sensibility has been dead from so much living in head. Our skin is

covered with trillions (3 Powers of a million) of bio-chemical

reactions—that we call sensations and you are finding it hard to pick

up even a few of them? You have hardened yourself not to feel may be

due to some emotional hurt or conflict that you have long since

forgotten. And your perception, your awareness, power of

concentration

and attention are still gross and underdeveloped. It is as a means

for

attaining relaxation and stillness. GET IN TOUCH WITH SENSATIONS

AGAIN

AND AGAIN without naming limbs and organs as you sense. If you notice

an urge to move or to shift your posture or position—do not give into

it. Do continue this exercise for a few minutes. You will gradually

feel a certain stillness in your body. Go on with your AWARENESS

exercise and leave taking care of stillness. If you are distracted,

get back to awareness of body sensations, moving from one to another,

until your body becomes still once again, your mind quietens, you are

able to sense again stillness that brings peace and a foretaste of

contemplation and of God. HOWEVER, DO NOT explicitly rest in the

stillness. Because resting in it can be relaxing and even delightful.

BUT in it there is DANGER of mild trance or mental blankness which is

not good for contemplation. It is like a sort of self-hypnosis that

has nothing to do either with the sharpening of awareness or with

contemplation. IMPORTANT: DO NOT DELIBERATELY seek stillness or

silence within you and not EXPLICITLY REST in it when it occurs. BUT

SEEK SHARPENING OF AWARENESS. In moments, stillness becomes so

powerful that all exercise and all your efforts become impossible.

Then it is no longer you who go in quest of stillness. But stillness

takes possession of you. THEN you may safely, and profitably, let go

of all effort and surrender to this overpowering stillness within

you.

 

 

III. Deepening Exercise—Body Sensations

The body sensations exercise is so simple, in fact, as to prove

disillusioning. To advance in it, you have to preserve in simplicity.

Resist temptation to seek novelty, but try to seek DEPTH. You have to

practise second exercise over a long period of time. You may ask for

benefits. Don't ask. Do what you are asked to and you will discover

yourself. TRUTH is found less in words and explanations than in

action

and experience. So get to work, with faith and perseverance. Close

your eyes. Repeat previous exercise of body sensations for five to

ten

minutes.

 

 

NOW CHOOSE JUST ONE SMALL AREA OF YOUR FACE, PICK UP EVERY SENSATION.

At the beginning you may not feel. Continue previous exercise, then

enter in this area. Be aware of the type of sensations that emerge;

itching, pricking, burning, pulling, vibrating, throbbing,

numbness....... If your mind wanders, bring it patiently back to

exercise.

 

 

IV. Thought Control

By doing previous awareness exercises, your mind may be distracted.

To

deal with such situation, you shall keep your eyes half closed—

resting

on an object or one spot three feet ahead of you. You are not to

focus

on the object/spot. By doing this, you may have trouble with your

wandering mind. No cause for alarm. You practise control over your

wandering mind with patience and perseverance. Gradually you will

succeed.

 

 

To deal with distraction of mind you may follow any of the two ways:

 

 

a) You have to follow your thoughts as a puppy in the streets follows

any pair of legs it finds in motion. It does not care for the

direction where they are moving. After some seconds, you shall make

yourself aware that you are thinking. You may say to yourself

interiorly that I am thinking ......... thinking ...... thinking. By

this you will be aware that thinking process is going on.

 

 

b) The other way to overcome distraction is to observe your thoughts

as a man stationed at his window watching passers by on the street.

After doing this for a while, you shall keep yourself aware that you

are thinking .... thinking .... thinking .... You may do any of the

above two exercises for not more than five minutes. Thinking tends to

stop by making yourself aware of it. A distraction charged with

strong

emotion: love, fear, resentment, sorrow—will not easily yield to this

exercise. Other exercises discussed hereinafter shall help you in

that.

 

 

V. Breathing Sensations

(Become aware of sensations in various parts of your body)

 

 

Become aware of the air as it comes in and goes out through your

nostrils. Do not concentrate on the air as it enters in lungs, but

limit awareness to nostrils breath. Do not control your breathing.

Don't attempt to deepen it. It is not breathing exercise, but

breathing awareness. Whenever you are distracted, return with vigour

to your task to enable you to make you aware of each breath. Continue

this exercise for ten to fifteen minutes. This exercise may be

difficult for some of you in comparison to previous exercises; but it

is most rewarding in sharpening awareness, bringing calmness and

relaxation. HOWEVER, in attempting breathing awareness DO NOT tense

your muscles. Determination must not be confounded with nervous

tension. You may be distracted at the beginning but you must keep

returning again and again to the awareness of your breathing the mere

effort involved in doing this—will bring beneficial effects that you

will gradually notice.

 

 

After developing some proficiency in this exercise move on to

somewhat

difficult and more effective variant:

 

 

a) Become aware of the sensation of the air passing through your

nostrils. Feel its touch—in which part of the nostrils you feel the

touch of the air while inhaling .... and in what part of the nostrils

you feel the touch of the air while exhaling .......

 

 

b) Become aware of the warmth or coldness of the air .... its

coldness

when it comes in, and its warmth when it goes out.

 

 

c) Also be aware of quantity of air that passes through one nostril

is

greater than the amount that passes through other .....

 

 

d) Be sensitive and alert to the slightest, lightest touch while

inhaling and exhaling .... STAY with this awareness for ten to

fifteen

minutes. In case you put in more time, you will get better results.

But DO NOT stay on breathing awareness alone for many hours over a

period of more than two or three days. Although this exercise brings

you great peace and a sense of depth and fullness that delights you

but prolonged concentration on breathing is likely to produce

hallucinations or to draw out material from the unconscious that you

may not be able to control.

 

 

AWARENESS AND CONTEMPLATION AND PRAYER

 

 

Prayer means a communication with God that is carried on mainly

through the use of words and images and thoughts. Contemplation means

a communication with God that makes a minimal use of words, images

and

concepts altogether. The exercise of awareness of body sensations or

breathing can be termed as communication with God. Many mystics tell

us that, in addition to the mind and heart with which we ordinarily

communicate with God, we are endowed with a mystical mind and

mystical

heart, a faculty which makes it possible for us to know God directly,

to grasp and INTUIT Him in His very being—apart from all thoughts,

concepts and images.

 

 

Ordinarily all our contact with God is indirect—through images and

concepts. To be able to grasp Him beyond these thoughts and images is

the privilege of this faculty—a mystical heart. In most of us this

Heart lies dormant and undeveloped. If it is awakened, it would be

straining towards God and, given a chance, would impel the whole of

our being towards Him. Hence, it needs to be developed, it needs to

have the dross that surrounds it removed so that it can be attracted

towards the ETERNAL MAGNET. To be near or discover Eternal Magnet,

one

is to find means of silencing the mind. And to silence the mind is an

extremely difficult task. How hard it is to keep the mind away from

thinking, which is producing thoughts in a never-ending stream. But

it

is also said that one thorn is removed by another. So you can be wise

to use one thought to rid yourself of all the other thoughts that

crowd into your mind. One thought, one image, one phrase or sentence

or word that your mind can be made to fasten on. For to consciously

attempt to keep the mind in a thoughtless state, in a void, is to

attempt the impossible. The mind must have something to occupy it.

The

seemingly disconcerting conclusion is that concentration on your

breathing or body sensations is very good contemplation. The

awareness

exercises lead to a deepening of the prayer experiences. Now is the

time to expose yourself to the Divine Sun in SILENCE.

 

 

VI. God In My Breath

With closed eyes practise the awareness of body sensations for a

while. Then come to the awareness of your breathing as done before

and

stay with this awareness for a few minutes .... Reflect now that this

air that you are breathing is charged with the Power and the PRESENCE

of God. Think of the air as of an Immense OCEAN that surrounds

you .... an ocean heavily coloured with God's presence and God's

being .... While you draw the air into your lungs you are drawing God

in .... Be aware that you are drawing in the Power and Presence of

God

each time you breathe in... Stay in this awareness as long as you

can... Notice what you feel when you become conscious that you are

drawing God in with each breath you take ......

 

 

ANOTHER REFLECTION

 

 

1. While you breathe in, be conscious of God's Spirit coming into you

Fill your lungs with the divine energy he brings with Him ....

 

 

2. While you breathe out, imagine you are breathing out all your

impurities .... your fears .... your negative feelings .... Your

shortcomings and weaknesses.

 

 

3. Imagine you see your whole body becoming radiant and alive through

this process of breathing in God's life-giving Spirit and breathing

out all your impurities ......

 

 

Stay with this awareness as long as you can without distractions.

 

 

VII. Breath—Communication With God

Devotional Prayer may here be called as `PRAYER';

whereas `Intuitional

Prayer' may coincide roughly with CONTEMPLATION. Both type of prayers

lead to union with God. Such of them is more suited to some Sadhakas

than to others. According to time and need suitability of these

Prayers may change.

 

 

Any Prayer that limits itself to the thinking mind alone is not

prayer

really but! at best, a preparation for prayer. Even among Sadhakas

there is no genuine personal communication that isn't at least in

some

small degree heart communication, that does not contain some small

degree of emotion in it. If a communication, a sharing of thoughts,

is

entirely and totally devoid of all emotion you can be sure the

intimate, personal dimension is lacking.

 

 

Here are some variations of the previous exercise more devotional

than

intuitional. As the thought content in prayer is minimal—it will

easily move from the devotional to the intuitional, from the heart to

the heart.

 

 

Become aware of your breathing for a while. Now REFLECT presence of

God in the atmosphere all around you.... Reflect His presence in the

air you are breathing—BE CONSCIOUS OF HIS PRESENCE.... Notice what

you

feel, when you become conscious of His presence in the air you are

breathing in and out....

 

 

Now express yourself to God non-verbally. Frequently, express a

sentiment through a look on a gesture .... Then again by breathing.

Express first of all, a great yearning for Him without using words,

even mentally, say to Him, " MY LORD, I long for You .... " Just by the

way breathe. You may express this by breathing in deeply, by

deepening

your inhalation.

 

 

Now express another attitude or sentiment: ONE OF TRUST AND SURRENDER—

 

NO words—just through breath, " My LORD, I surrender myself entirely

to

you .... " You may do this by emphasising your exhalation, by

breathing

out each time as if you were sighing deeply. Each time you breathe

out

feel yourself letting the whole of yourself go in God's hand.

 

 

Then, after sometime, take up other attitudes before your LORD and

express these through your breathing such as: LOVE.... CLOSENESS....

and INTIMACY ADORATION.......... GRATITUDE.......... PRAISE.... if

you

are tired of doing this, return to the beginning of this exercise and

just rest peacefully in the awareness of God all around you and in

the

air you are breathing in and out.... Then, if you tend to get

distracted, fall back on second part of the exercise and express

yourself to God non-verbally once more.

 

 

VIII. Stillness

Modern man is unfortunately plagued by a nervous tension that makes

it

almost impossible for him to be quiet. If he actually wants to learn

to pray he must first learn to be still, to quieten himself. In fact,

this very quietness and stillness frequently becomes prayer when God

manifests Himself in the form of STILLNESS.

 

 

Repeat the exercise of becoming aware of sensations in your body—

whole

body. This time start with the top of your head and end it with the

tips of your toes, omitting no part of the body. Beware of every

sensation in each part.... You may find some parts of your body

completely devoid of sensation.... Dwell on these for a few seconds—

if

no sensation emerges, move on......

 

 

As you become more proficient in this exercise you will, hopefully,

sharpen your awareness to the extent that there will be no part of

your body in which you do not feel several sensations.... For the

time

being you must be content to dwell briefly on the blanks and move on

to the parts where you feel more sensations—Move slowly from head to

foot.... then once again, from head to foot..... and so on for some

fifteen minutes. As your awareness sharpens you will pick up

sensations that you hadn't noticed before.... you may also pick up

sensations that are extremely subtle, too subtle to be perceived by

any but a man of deep as a whole. Feel the whole of your body as one

mass of concentration and deep peace. Now become aware of yours body

as a whole. Feel the whole of your body as one mass of various types

of sensations.... Stay with this for a while, then return to the

awareness by parts, moving from head to foot.... then, once again,

rest in the awareness of your body as a whole......

 

 

Notice now the deep stillness that has come over you. Notice the

complete stillness of your body.... Do Not, however, rest in the

stillness to the extent of losing awareness of your body.... If you

are getting distracted, give yourself the occupation of moving once

again from head to foot, becoming aware of sensations in each part of

your body. Then, once again, notice the stillness in your body. If

you

are practising this in a group, then at occasions, notice the

stillness in the whole room.

 

 

It is very important that you do NOT move any part of your body while

doing this Sadhana. This will be difficult at first, but each time

feel the urge to move, or scratch, or fidget, become aware of this as

sharply as you can.... Don't give in to it.... It will gradually go

away and you will become still once more........

 

 

It is extremely painful for most people to stay still. Even

physically

painful and you become physically tense, spend all the time you need

becoming aware of the tension.... where you feel it, what it feels

like.... and stay with it till the tension disappears.

 

 

You may feel physical pain, rather severe pain. No matter how

comfortable the position or posture you have adopted, your body is

likely to protest against the stillness by developing aches and pains

in various parts. When this happens, a serious Sadhaka MUST RESIST

the

temptation to move limbs or read just posture so as to ease the pain.

Just become keenly aware of the pain.

 

 

Your awareness may wholly be absorbed by the acute pain. You may

start

sweating, may be profusely. Your mind may think that you are going to

faint with pain; at such moment firmly decide Not to fight it, Not to

run away from it, Not to desire to alleviate it, but to become aware

of it, to identify with it. Then you may see that the pain sensation

is broken into its component parts and you may be surprised to

discover that it is composed of many sensations viz., intense burning

sensation a pulling and tugging, a sharp, shooting sensation which

may

merge every now and then.... and a point which may keep moving from

one place to another.... This point you may identify as pain.... As

you will keep up this exercise, you shall find that you are bearing

the pain quite well—i.e., pain without suffering.

 

 

Every Sadhaka has to experience some types of pains, as indicated

above, until his body becomes accustomed to remaining perfectly

still.

Deal with the pain through awareness. When your body finally does

become still, you will have a rich reward in the QUIET BLISS that

this

stillness will bring you. The temptation to scratch is another

frequent temptation with beginners. This is because, as their

awareness of their body sensations sharpens, they become aware of

itching and pricking sensations that were there all along but were

hidden to awareness because of the psycho-physical hardening that

most

of us submit our bodies to and because of the grossness of their

awareness. A Sadhaka must resist such temptations during awareness

Sadhana.

 

 

IX. Body Prayer

(A devotional variant of the body sensation)

 

 

First quieten yourself through the awareness of sensations in various

parts of your body.... Sharpen your awareness by picking up even the

subtlest sensations, Not just the gross and evident ones.... Keep

your

hands on knees. Now very gently move your hands and fingers so that

your hands come to rest on your lap, palms facing upwards, fingers

joined together.... The movement must be very, very slow.... like the

opening of the petals of a flower.... And while the movement is going

on BE AWARE OF each part of it.

 

 

Once your hands are resting on your lap, palms facing upwards, become

aware of the sensations in palms.... Then become aware of the gesture

itself, this is a gesture of prayer to God.... What meaning does this

gesture have for you? What are you saying to God through it? Say

without words, merely identifying with the gesture... It may give you

some taste of the kind of prayer you can make with your body....

 

 

When you pray with your body you give power and body to your prayer.

People fail to attend to their body in prayer; they fail to take

their

bodies along with them into the holy temple of God. When they

themselves visit temples or places of worship, they stand or sit in

the presence of God, but they are carelessly slouched in their seat

or

standing in a very slovenly fashion.... They are still not gripped by

the living presence of the Lord. Therefore, a devotee of the Lord

should try to understand the meaning and purpose of `Body Prayer'.

The

`gestures' suggested are merely samples. A `devotee' may invent his

own gestures to express his `Love', `Praise', `Adoration',

`Surrender', `Gratitude'....

 

 

Close your eyes. Quieten yourself through one of your awareness

exercises. FEEL you are in the presence of God in a very devout way,

hands devoutly joined in front of you, slowly raise your face upwards

towards God.... Let your eyes continue to be closed.... What are you

saying to God through your upturned face? Stay with that sentiment or

communication for a few moments.... Then become as fully aware as

possible of the position of your face.... of the sensations on your

face.... After a few moments ask yourself once again what you are

expressing to God through your upturned face and stay with that for a

while....

 

 

X. The Touch of God

This is a devotional variant to the exercises on body sensations that

you will find helpful if you have reservations about calling the body

sensation exercises true prayer or contemplation. Repeat one of the

body sensation exercises. Take some time to experience as many and as

subtle sensations as you can in various parts of your body......

 

 

Now make the REFLECTION: Every sensation I feel, no matter how light

and subtle is the result of a bio-chemical reaction that could not

exist except for God's Almighty Power.... FEEL God's power at work in

the production of every single sensation.... Feel HIM touching you in

each of those sensations that HE is producing.... Feel the touch of

God in different parts of your body: rough, smooth, pleasurable,

painful....

 

 

The experience of God need not be something sensational or out of the

ordinary, unless your devotion and Divine Love is developed. There

is,

no doubt, an experience of God that is different from the ordinary

run

of experiences that we are accustomed to: there is the deep silence

that I spoke of earlier, the glowing darkness, the emptiness that

brings fulfilment.

 

 

There are sudden, unaccountable flashes of Eternity or of the

infinite

that comes to us when we least expect them, in the midst of our work.

One needs to do so little, really, to experience God. All one needs

to

do is quieten oneself, become still—and become aware of the feel of

your hand. Beware of the sensations in your hand.... There you have

God, living and working in you, touching you, intensely near you....

Feel HIM.... Experience HIM. Most of the devotees look upon an

experience like this as far too pedestrian. Surely there is more to

the experience of God than just the simple feel of the sensations of

one's right hand. This needs a long explanation to know the reality—

Yet, you are assured that these simple and humble exercises shall

help

you a lot to march towards that reality.

 

 

We forget all too easily that one of the big lessons of incarnations

is that God is found in the ordinary also. Do you wish to see God?

Look at the fact next to you. You want to hear him? Listen to the cry

of a baby, the loud laughter of a simple party, the wind rustling in

the trees. Or just quieten yourself, become aware of the sensations

in

your body, sense HIS ALMIGHTY POWER at work in you and feel how near

He is to you.

 

 

XI. Concentration

(This is an exercise in pure awareness)

 

 

Choose one sense object for a basic object of attention. It is

suggested that you choose either the sensations in one part of your

body of your breathing or the sounds around you.

 

 

Focus your attention on this object, but do so in such a way that if

your attention shifts to something else you are immediately aware of

the shift.

 

 

Let us suppose you have chosen for your basic object of attention

your

breathing. Well, then, concentrate on your breathing.... It is quite

likely that after a while your attention will move to something else—

a

thought, a sound, a feeling.... Now provided you are aware of this

shift of attention to something else, this shift is not to be counted

as a distraction. It is important, however, that you be aware of the

shift while the shift is taking place or immediately after it has

taken place. Count it a distraction only if you become aware of the

shift long after it has taken place.

 

 

Suppose you choose breathing as your basic object of attention. Then

your exercise will possibly go something like this:—

 

 

" I am breathing.... I am breathing.... Now I am thinking....

thinking.... thinking.... Now I am listening to a sound....

listening.... listening.... Now I am irritated.... irritated. Now I

feel bored.... bored.... bored.... "

 

 

In this exercise, the wandering of the mind is not considered a

distraction provided you are aware that your attention is shifting to

some other object.... Once you have become aware of this shift, stay

with the new object (thinking, listening, feeling....) for a while,

then return to the basic object of your attention (breathing)....

your

skill in self-awareness may become so great that you will not only

become aware of the shift of your attention on to some object, but

even of the desire to shift, the impulse in you to shift on to

something else. As when you want to move your hand you will first

become conscious of the desire arising within you to move the hand,

your consent to this desire, your carrying out of this desire, the

very first stirring of your hand.... All of which activities are

performed in an infinitesimal fraction of a second and so we find it

impossible to distinguish one from the other until the silence and

stillness within us has become almost total and our awareness has

acquired razor edge sharpness. Self-awareness is a powerful means for

increasing in love of God and of neighbour. The self-awareness

heightens the love. The love, when it is genuine, fosters deeper self-

 

awareness.

 

 

Do not go in search of abstruse means for developing your self-

awareness. Begin with humble things like the awareness of the feel of

your body or awareness of the things around you and then more on to

exercises like the ones which are suggested here and it won't be long

before you notice the fruits of peacefulness and love that heightened

self-awareness brings with it.

 

 

XII. Finding God In All Things

(This is a recapitulation of most of the previous exercises)

 

 

Do any of the awareness exercises that have preceded. Take your body

sensation, for instance, as the focus of your attention.... Observe

not only the sensations that yield themselves readily to your

awareness, the grosser sensations but also the subtler ones.... If

possible, do not give the sensations any names (burning, numbness,

pricking, itching, cold.... ). Just feel the sensations without

putting a label on to them....

 

 

Do the same with sounds.... Capture as many of them as possible....

Do

not try to identify the source of the sounds. Listen to the sounds

without putting a label on to them.

 

 

As you proceed with this exercise you will notice a great

peacefulness

coming upon you, a deep silence.... Now become aware, briefly, of

this

peacefulness and silence......

 

 

Feel how good it is to be here now. To have nothing to do. To just

be.

Be.

 

 

For those who are more devotionally inclined. Do the previous

exercise

until you sense the peacefulness that comes with it....

 

 

Become aware, for a brief while, of that peacefulness and silence....

 

 

Now express yourself to God non-verbally. Imagine that you are dumb

and you can only communicate with your eyes and your breathing. Say

to

the Lord, non-verbally, " Lord, it is good to be here with you. " Or,

do

not communicate with the Lord at all. Just rest in His presence.

 

 

Also, for the devotionally inclined, a rudimentary exercise in

finding

God in all things.

 

 

Return to the world of the senses.... Become as keenly aware as

possible of the air you breathe.... of the sounds around you.... of

the sensations you feel in your body.... Sense God in the air, the

sounds, the sensations. Rest in this whole world of the senses. Rest

in God.... Surrender to this whole world of the senses (sounds,

tactile sensations, colours....) ......

 

 

....... Surrender to God ......

 

 

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Individual's Uplift And World Welfare

The Divine Life ideal offers a panacea for all the social and

political ills of the modern world. The three fundamentals of Divine

Life—Serve, Love, Give—are the pillars upon which an individual can

stand and uplift himself and the brotherhood of man can be built.

Thus

the life in this world can become more fearless and happy as well as

purposeful.

 

 

If one tries to observe people, one may see there three types of

persons—extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. Extroverts are persons

whose mind always goes outwards. They become slaves of their senses.

They are after money, pleasure and passion, position and power,

honour

and acclaim. They are bound with the conditions and circumstances and

the circumference of life. Naturally, their pursuit is of the outer

and they forget the purpose and destination of human life.

 

 

Introverts are those persons who are reflective and contemplative and

long to study their inner realm, the inner universe hidden within.

Goethe called it as " Man's inner universe " . They renounce pleasure

and

position, keeping themselves aloof—away from acclaim and honour. The

charm of the world is such that one may find only a few who are

introverts. Ambivert is a person who does not cut himself from the

outer, but lives in the `inner' and makes the outer a vehicle of the

inner. He dedicates his life in selfless service of humanity and

places his life as an offering at the altar of the Great Creator of

the universe the Lord. Such a person realises the sanctity of

service,

seeking nothing for himself, keeping ablaze the Divinity within. They

are the embodiments of humility and compassion and love pure and

simple at heart. But without becoming introvert it is not possible

for

anyone to become ambivert. And such a person is called sadhaka in its

real perspective. In fact, man is an inborn sadhaka, but fails to

recognise the same due to misconceptions, misunderstandings,

arrogance

and vanity.

 

 

Holistic View

 

 

" There is a common tendency to isolate spiritual principles from

politics, especially in these days of great intellectual power.

Dreamers and visionaries are often brushed aside as people with their

heads in the clouds " , out of touch with stark realities. In so many

ways man has become wedded to the doctrine of self-salvation, self-

achievement and self-dependence that in the resultant excitement of

great material achievements he is in danger of forgetting the eternal

truths upon which this entire universe exists and its future heritage

depends.

 

 

The bad habit of complaining against others, the conditions and

slackness in sincere attempts, and a lack of love for himself and

humanity—and man becomes a prey of vanity which subsists on false

values. Man generally thinks falsely that he is unblemished and

superior to others and that others are blemished and inferior. The

inevitable consequence is that he gets a perverted vision and loses

the capacity for seeing and accepting Truth. If a man develops an

attitude of selfishness, he is liable to poison every good sight and

tie. But, if his attitude becomes one of helpfulness and

understanding, he shall beautify every tie—foes will turn into

friends, problems will have their solutions and man will have his

salvation. Unfortunately, man thinks his gain in the loss of others,

his progress in another's downfall and his happiness in another's

unhappiness. It is a tremendous mistake and a dangerous trend born

out

of indiscrimination and selfishness.

 

 

The inspired visions of saints, mystics and leaders in the religious

education, social, economic and artistic scene of every country have

truly reflected the true aspirations of the people. From these

visions

was born the practical reality of everything which is recognised to

be

good in their way of life. And of course, everything that is

discordant or bad is the outward result of individual and collective

negative or evil thinking or beliefs.

 

 

One of the greatest saints of the present day Sri Swami Sivanandaji

Maharaj has placed before the world the `Divine Life' gospel for the

uplift of the individual and attainment of divinity in the end which

can be summed up in six succinct words, " Serve, Love. Give, Purify,

Meditate, Realise. "

 

 

The physical frame of a man owes much to the world because it is made

of the same five elements of which this world is composed. One has,

therefore, to serve one and all without any distinction whatsoever

and

without any expectation of return or reward so that he may clear out

his debt towards the world. One must properly understand that the

acquired wealth and power are not his own but are the `trust' of the

poor and weak. In the right use of things lies the key which consists

in the service of others. Service and sacrifice, hence, are the acme

of duty and dutifulness. When a duty is performed as a duty for

duty's

sake, it becomes the source of salvation and not the bondage of

attachment. But he should not have the idea of doership. Hence the

service and performance of duty with a feeling of responsibility and

pure heart without expectations, which is prompted by an inner sense

of fellowship and unity, reduces attachment and destroys the sense of

doership and thus liberates the man.

 

 

Love is light, life, eternity. There is nothing else to achieve in

this world but love. In love consists the perfection of human life.

All impurities are rooted in the craving for the pleasure of the

senses, but love is not there. Love is the nature of the beloved and

the life of the lover. One must know that faith and Love go together,

because in the sense of unity resides Love and in the ending of

desire

is the dawn of Love. Man has sincerely to understand that the outer

form of action warranted by a given situation generally makes little

difference to the Love and sympathy in one's inner attitude. The man

has to learn a great lesson that he has to love even a sinner, while

hating the sin. A man, who is an inborn sadhaka, must learn the

lesson

of forgiveness even without asking for the same from the person who

has done something wrong. Thus only the impurities of man's mind can

be washed off. Of course, it requires great moral strength to seek

forgiveness for one's own past wrong actions. Only one who is truly

repentant and who has realised that any satisfaction of the senses

derived from evil propensities is bound to reap a harvest of evil and

sorrow.

 

 

Man should not be confounded with a seeming contradiction between

forgiveness and justice. Man's sense of justice is distorted, on

account of the limitations of his ego, his reactions are perverted.

Strictly speaking, in one sense, man can do justice only to himself

because he can understand his own mind and not of others. As a man

and

as a sadhaka one should, therefore, refrain from judging others; and

also one should be forgiving others in so far one feels wronged by

others. When the mind is devoid of hate, a long step is taken by man

towards recovery. Love is the tremendous curative force for an

individual and for the society. So the great Master emphasised

greatly

this love factor and preached in practice—Love all, hate none. God is

in all, do not hurt Him.

 

 

The urge to give happiness to others helps man to destroy his own

craving for pleasure. The desire for pleasure is the cause of

frustration; giving and sharing what you have and serving others with

compassion consumes the craving for pleasure. He warned an aspirant

that generosity motivated by attachment, and renunciation caused by

anger are fruitless. The truth is that the supreme giver is ours, but

all the things He gives are His. Therefore, man should learn the

lesson of giving and giving with happiness all the good that he

possesses and not think that by giving he will lose. In fact he will

gain something which is Divine and Eternal.

 

 

If the three mottos above—Serve, Love and Give—are properly

understood

and practised by man in his day-to-day life, he will find that his

heart has become purified and he is living in a higher stage and

better society. In fact, in the renunciation of one's rights and

protection of rights of the others lies the secret of attainment. His

mind becomes purified and then alone he is in a position to meditate

and realise.

 

 

This is the gospel of Divine life which is the need of the hour, and

if we follow this, we shall be serving this world in a better way on

its upward march. Then alone can there be `Ramarajya'.

 

 

Let us march on this path with confidence and faith, with sincerity

and strength, with devotion and dedication. May God and Gurudev bless

you!

 

 

----

-----­-----

 

 

Radiate to all thoughts of love and goodness. Never look into the

faults and defects of others. Always appreciate the good in others.

Overlook their weakness. Pray for the one who wishes to harm you.

Bear

insult and injury. Be good and do good.

 

 

—Swami Sivananda