Swami Krishnananda

[Guest guest]

The following questions and answers have been excerpted from Srimati

S. Bhagyalakshmi's book " Swami Krishnananda in Conversation "

 

This morning it is rather warm. Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj sits

inside the Kutir. A few devotees are around him but there is a stream

of Ashram staff who come and go with their papers and problems. Along

with attending to correspondence and occasional jokes Swamiji answers

serious questions and problems posed by the devotees.

 

Question: Swamiji, how does one realise God?

 

Sw. K: If you can be independent of the world, you will see God in

everything. The differences of opposites prevent you from seeing God

in everything, because opposites do not exist in God.

 

When God's will passes through your personality it is your

'free-will'. When the cosmic urge manifests itself through you, your

personality makes 'effort' that is causes the free-will to act, the

effort one makes to act. Effort, from the lay-man's point of view

appears as an isolated activity. When you are writing, the nib moves.

Is it the nib that is writing? The eyes are unable to see what is

behind the visible form. When the little finger moves the child thinks

that it is the little finger only that is moving. But mature minds

with knowledge of the working of human body know that the whole

physiology of the body is taking part in the movement of the

little finger.

 

Q: Is a Guru necessary for success in meditation?

 

Sw. K: Meditation is the summing up of all our spiritual activities;

the purpose of all activities is to be one with everything. But even

in meditation Space and Time come in, and this is what spiritual

activities try to overcome. Until bodily consciousness ends you cannot

merge with the cosmos. Intellectual solutions do not end it. Heart

will rebel against them. So the intellect and the heart are to be

brought into harmony. In this only studying under a Guru can help.

This harmonising is a super-mundane effort. Biological, physiological

and intellectual perception must be gone through before the universal

percept can come in. In attaining this goal the Guru will help. So

complete dedication to the Guru helps in the process of first

harmonising the conflicting biological, physiological and intellectual

perceptions and then going beyond them--that is going beyond the mind.

You may suffer a great deal. That is your purgatory. Unfortunately

these days it is hard to find such a Guru who can help you so

fundamentally. Nor is to be found such a devoted, courageous disciple

who wants the solution. You must learn to climb on your own shoulders.

Such is the difficulty in real meditation. But if you have sincerity,

the true urge to meditate--and not merely as an experiment--and the

confidence in eventual success you will find visitas opening up

miraculously and you will merge with the cosmos.

 

Q: How to solve the problems arising out of meditation?

 

Sw. K: In meditation you have to determine what you concentrate upon,

whether you meditate with or without Pranayama. And for how long you

should meditate. And search and find out if there are any deep desires

which have been suppressed. These will raise their hood like a

stricken cobra. These are the points or questions which must be

considered if any problem arises in meditation.