Lord Sai Baba on Meditation

[Guest guest]

Lord Sai Baba on Meditation

 

We always have enough time to talk, visit cinemas, gossipping with others etc.

There is certainly time for meditation. The power is from God (referring to the

feeling of strength after meditation).

 

Early morning is best. Mind is quiet and there is not the pressure of

responsibilities. There is difficulty during the day. People are around, and

there is work. If meditation is attempted, even work may suffer.

 

Real meditation is getting absorbed in God as the only thought, the only goal.

God only, only God. Think God, breathe God, love God. Concenration means, when

all senses and desires fall away and there is only God. In between concentration

and meditation, like a separation between the two, is contemplation.

Concentration to contemplation, then meditation. As long as one thinks " I am

meditating " that is the mind and not meditation. As long as one knows he is

meditating, he is not meditating. In absorption in God, one puts aside every

form and merges into God. In that process the mind naturally stops.

 

Meditation for its proper practice, should be at the same place, at the same

time. In that way, it surely will be successful. If one is away from home in

travel, in his mind he can go to the accustomed place no matter where he is.

Truth is in every place at all times. When away from Swami, by remembering Him

doing this or that, the battery is " recharged " . That also is genuine meditation.

Meditation is constant inner inquiry as to who am I, what is true, what is ego

action, what is loving and what is harsh. Meditation is thinking on spiritual

principles, searching out the application to oneself of what Baba says, and the

like.

 

For the one who has completely surrendered to God and whose heart is filled with

love for God, these 'college courses' (referring to Hatha Yoga etc) are not

needed and have no meaning and are quite unnecessary.

 

The Atma is everywhere, but for the purpose of sitting in meditation, the life

principle can be considered as being 10 inches above the navel and at the centre

of the chest. An inch in this measurement is the width of the thumb at the first

joint.

 

Without concentration nothing can be done. And we use that concentration

through-out the day. Why is that same concentration so difficult to come in

spiritual matters? Because the mind is outward turned, and by desire the mind

clings to object. But the mind can be trained to concentrate inwardly, and the

heart can be cultured to grow with love for God. How? By sadhana. The best

sadhana is that every act through the day be done as worship of God.

 

A fence is placed around a young tree to protect it. The same precautions must

be observed in meditation. People think it is all right to meditate in any

place. There are currents, there is will power. There is a strong current

passing into the earth. Because of this, the earth exerts a strong attraction.

In meditation it is advisable to insulate oneself from such currents. For this

reason, meditators sit on a plank and cover their shoulders with a woollen

shawl. Once the person has grown strong in his meditation, he may sit anywhere

and not suffer for it.

 

The light is first moved into the heart which is conceived as a lotus, the

petals of which will open. The Jyothi is then moved to other body parts. There

is no particular sequence. But important is the final body station, which is the

head. There the light becomes a crown enshrining and covering the head. The

light is then moved outside, from the particular to the universal. Move the

light into relatives, friends, enemies, trees, animals, birds until the entire

world and all its forms are seen to have the same light at their centre as has

been found to be within oneself.

 

The idea of moving the light into the universal phase, the idea of universality

is that the same divine light is present in everyone and everywhere. To impress

this universality on the mind, we do the spreading of the light outside one's

own body.

 

One should understand that what comes about in meditation as one moves deeply

into it, is not the thinking of the light, but the forgetting of the body and

thereby the direct experience that the body is not onself. This is the stage of

contemplation when the body is totally forgotten. It cannot be forced. It comes

about by itself and is the stage that naturally follows correct concentration.

 

Seeing the light and moving the light here and there is to give work to the

mind, to keep the mind occupied in the right direction so that the mind will not

be thinking of this and that and thus interfering with the process of becoming

more and more quiet. Spreading the light into its unviersal phase, sending the

light into every other body, and when one is so concentrated in it that he is no

longer conscious of his body, is the stage of contemplation. As contemplation

deepens, the stage of meditation comes about of its own volition. It cannot be

forced.

 

If the meditator remains conscious of himself and that he is engaged in

meditation, then he is not meditating but is still in the preliminary stage, at

the beginning of concentration.

 

There are three stages: concentration, contemplation and meditation. When

contemplation deepens it moves naturally into meditation. Meditation is entirely

above the senses. In the state of meditation, the meditator, the object of his

meditation and the process of meditation have fallen away, and there is only

one, and that One is God. All that may change has fallen away and Tat Twam Asi,

That Thou Art, is the state that exists.

 

As one gradually returns to this customary and habitual state of consciousness,

the Jyothi is again placed in the heart and kept lighted there thoughout the

day.

 

The three stages, concentration which is below the senses, meditation which is

entirely above the senses and contemplation which lies between and is partially

within the senses and partially above the senses, which is on the border of

each, this is the experience in genuine meditation whether the object taken be

form or light.

 

There is no essential difference. If the devotee has a form of God to which he

is particularly devoted, he may merge that form into the Jyothi, and that form

is most attractive to him and is the object of his concentration and is seen to

be within the light wherever it is seen. Or, the concentration may be just on

the form of God, for God is universal in every form.

 

Again, the object chosen is just a device to allow one to sink deely into

quietness and to allow the body, which is non-self, to fall away out of

consciousness. Anything concrete, such as light, form or sound may be chosen as

the object of concentration. It is possible to just move directly into the stage

of meditation.

 

Meditation as described by Swami is the royal road, the easy path. For

meditation to be effective there must be steady practice with no hurry and no

worry. With steady practice, the person will become quiet and the state of

meditation will naturally come about. To think otherwise is weakness. Success is

assured. Call upon God, He will help you. He will respond and He himself will be

your guru. He will guide you. He will always be at your side. Think God, see

God, hear God, eat God, drink God, love God. That is the easy path, the royal

road to your goal of breaking ignorance and the realization of your true nature.

Which is one with God.

 

Light a lamp or a candle. Gaze straight ahead at the flame. Then take the candle

flame, the Jyothi, into the heart and see it in the midst of the petals of the

heart. Watch the petals of the heart unfold and see the light illumine the

heart. Bad feelings cannot remain. Then move the flame to the hands and they can

no longer do dark deeds. In turn move the flame in like fashion to the eyes and

ears so they may henceforth take in only bright and pure sensations. Then move

the light outward and into your friends, relatives and enemies, and then into

animals, birds and other objects so that all are illumined by the same light.

Christ said, " All are one, be alike to everyone. "

 

To sit straight is important. Between the 9th and 12th vertebrae is the

life-force. If the spine is injured at this point, paralysis occurs. If the body

is in straight position, as if it were wound around a straight pole, the life

force may rise up through the straight body and give the quality of intense

concentration of the mind.

 

Moreover, just as a ligthning rod attached to the roof of a building attracts

ligthning, in like fashion a perfectly straight body provides a conductor, so to

speak, for divine power to enter the temple of your body and give you the

strength to accomplish your task and reach your goal. As another example, the

divine power is always here, just as radio signals are here. But to hear the

radio music there must be an antenna. Further, if the tuning device is not

properly adjusted, there will be some sound but no music. In like fashion, the

divine power, which is always present, may flow into you if the meditation is

correct and the body straight.

 

First you are in the light. Then the light is in you. Finally, you are the light

and the light is everywhere. Enjoy for a while, then bring the light back to the

heart and hold it there for all the day. The form of God may also be included.

Krishna, Rama, Jesus, Sai, as you wish. The form of God selected may be seen in

the centre of the flame wherever it is carried, and then you are with God

everywhere.

 

The stomach is four parts: 1/4 part air, 1/4 part food, and 1/2 part water. Too

much food results in dullness of the mind. Food in moderation does not result in

sickness. Too much milk is bad. It is rajasic.

 

The type of food you eat, that kind of thought will come to your mind. If you

have satwic food, there will be satwic effect. Fruit and milk everything that is

cool and not hot like strong onions. Meat gives the blood its effect, like

passion and similar qualities. Dirty thoughts come with fish. Although fish is

always in water, it has a bad smell.

 

If you are keen on spiritual life, eating meat is not worth while; but if you

are keen on worldly life, it is all right. There is another spiritual reason.

When you kill an animal you give it suffering, pain, harm. God is in every

creature, so how can you give such pain? Sometimes when someone beats a dog he

cries, he feels so much pain. How much more pain then in killing. Animals did

not come tor the purpose of supplying food to human beings. They came to work

out their own life in the world. When a human being is dead, the foxes and other

animals may eat, but we have not come to provide food for those that eat the

human body; we have not come for that purpose. Similarly, man eats the animal,

but the animal has not come to provide man with food. But, we have taken to

eating meat as a habit.

 

In Dwapara Yuga, before Kali Yuga, 5680 years back, milk came into favor. Eleven

thousand years is the full length of the Kali Yuga. (ie 3712 BC to 7288 AD). The

world is also turning round like a fan. Even if the Kali Yuga stops, it still

has a few more revolutions to go before the final ending. (speech dated 1968)

There are four Yugas. The sequence is circular, and when the last is finished,

the whole cycle starts all over again. Kali Yuga still has 5,320 years before

ending. (AD 7288. Year now is 2008, another 5,280 years to go!!)