Swami teaches... My intention is to instruct people. Dhyana-2

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Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (5 February 2005)

 

"My Intention is to Instruct People." Dhyana-2

 

Until the goal of Dhyanam is achieved, the well established discipline of

Asanas has to be followed. The curriculum has to be adhered to till then. After

the attainment of the goal, that is after the Manas and the Buddhi have been

conquered and brought under control, one can be immersed in Dhyanam wherever

one finds oneself: on the bed, in the chair, on a rock or in a cart.

To describe anything in words is difficult; it might even cause boredom. My

writing on it and your reading it will not make it easy. Through Dhyana, people

reach the Divine experience of realising the Atma within themselves. Through

Dhyana, Sadhakas are able to cast off the sheaths of ignorance, layer after

layer. The process which aims at this holy consummation alone deserves to be

called Dhyana. Whatever is done must be dedicated for earning Atmananda. One

should train oneself to adopt a good Asana or sitting pose, to avoid tension of

the body and to ease the mind from weight and pressure of the body.

The secret of success in Dhyana lies in the purity of the inner life of the

Sadhaka. The success is proportionate to the importance the Sadhaka gives to

Right Conduct or Sanmarga. Every one has the right to achieve this high degree

of success. I declare this loud enough for all the quarters to hear. Knowing

this, Meditate and Advance! Do Dhyana and progress! Realise the Atma!

 

Every minute, from inside and outside, promptings and temptations arise and

accumulate in anyone. Person fixes attention on the most important among them

only. This is called concentration, avadhana. Purposefully directing the

attention on a subject and fixing it there is ekaagratha or one-pointedness.

This is also a condition of the mind. Concentration and one-pointedness help to

focus effort on any selected task. Concentration is the foundation of all

successful endeavour. It is needed not only for Dhyana, but even for worldly

affairs and ordinary living. Whatever be the task one is engaged in, if one

does it with concentration, one will develop both self-confidence and

self-respect; for they are the result of the attitude of one's own mind.

Success or failure in the good task depends upon one-pointedness. It will

increase power and skill. This one-pointedness, this conquest of the mind, is

acquired by the exercise of Dhyana.

 

There are two types of people: ones set accusing themselves as sinners and

another flattering themselves as great. Both types are being worried by their

own mental aberrations! What they both need is mental satisfaction and this can

be got by Dhyana; for through Dhyana, understanding will increase and wisdom

will grow.

 

From this, a person should develop interest in Dhyana and a taste for

Dhyana. Dhyana gives concentration and success in all tasks. It is through

Dhyana alone that great personages and Rishis have controlled their mental

activities and directed them towards the sathwik path.

First, the yearning;

then the selection of the goal;

then the concentration and

through the discipline, the conquest of the mind...

 

Every one needs this self-education. Dhyana is the remedy for realisation

that everything is as illusory, as the ghost in the well! that this state of

mind.

It is possible through Dhyana to bring into memory the Paradise that is

one's empire, discarding as a dream and a delusion the transitory creations of

the mind. By engaging oneself to Dhyana, systematically and calmly Dhyana can

be made effective and tranquil. Thus, the road towards the highest experience

is laid. A new understanding dawns, clear and unruffled. When the heights of

Dhyana are reached, this understanding becomes so strong that one's lower

nature is destroyed and burnt to ashes! Then, only 'You' remains. The entire

Creation is a delusion of your mind! One alone Is, Sathyam, the Lord,

Satchidananda, Paramatma, Sivoham - the One.

The Sathya, the Truth, is so subtle and so soothing. Once that is reached,

there is no meditation, no meditator; no Dhyana, no Dhyatha; all merge into

one. That is the fixed, illumined experience. Exulting within himself that is

Pure Knowledge, the Jnani will be aware only of Atmanubhava, Atmic Bliss. That

is the Goal, the fruit of Immortality. Attaining the transcendent experience,

the Yogi finishes his Dhyana. He is transformed into a pure being. Dhyana and

Dhyana alone has the capacity to make a person transcend the vicissitudes of

time and make him ever the same equanimous individual, as if he is another

Creator himself.

Into the Inner Realm, the Sadhaka can enter through the gate of

Self-examination. That gate accords welcome for every Sadhaka endowed with

humility and devotion into the highest and holiest status possible in Life.

To reach to this state, the Sadhaka must first learn the secret of the

'inward sight', the 'vision directed inwards' and take his attention away from

the exterior. Divine Life is nothing but this method of 'inward living'.

Besides, every thought, every word, every deed has to proceed from the full

consciousness of knowledge. Direct your intelligence not to wander about but to

dwell constantly in the inner world! This is the inward vision; Dhyana is the

most important instrument needed for this.

The Dhyani considers the promotion of the welfare of the world equally with

Atmic bliss is also an important aim. One must bring under control certain

physical, verbal and mental tendencies. These are usually known as the ten-fold

sins: the three physical, the four verbal, and the three mental. The physical

tendencies are: injury to life, adulterous desire and theft. The verbal sins

are: false alarms, cruel speech, envious talk and lies. The mental attitudes

are: greed, envy and the denial of God. The person intent on following Dhyana

must take every care that these ten enemies do not approach him.

Progress depends on the worth and quality of the individual, as the harvest

depends on the fertility of the field. Even if a person through perversity or

blind conceit, has so far not cultivated good qualities, he can at least make a

try or carry on efforts to secure them!

 

There are some who try to be quality-less; but they achieve only living

death. Their pale faces reveal only lack of zest and interest. This is the

result of unreasoned haste in spiritual discipline. Though becoming

quality-less is ultimately needed, there should be no hurry to reach the goal;

even though a person may have the ardour, it very often leads to dilemmas,

which many solve by means of suicide! Since they evince no interest in earning

this qualification, many stalwart Sadhakas have lost their way and not regained

it in spite of years of effort! Others have slipped into the morass through

which they were wading!

 

Therefore, the path of achieving the absence of qualities is strewn with

dangers. One cannot exist without activity; so, one must of necessity act

through 'good' qualities. One must put down all desires and become free. The

mind filled with good qualities will help in this process. It will give up

doing injury; it will seek opportunities to help, to heal and to foster. It

will not only suffer, it will also pardon. It will not incline towards the

false, it will be on the alert to speak the truth; it will remain unruffled by

lust, greed, anger and conceit; it will be free from delusion; it will seek

always the welfare of the world.

Dhyana is the only island of refuge in the ocean of life for all beings

tossed on the waves of desire, doubt, dread and despair.

 

With this as the ideal, carry on Dhyana and mental Japa, henceforward. The

step immediately after Dhyana is Samadhi. Dhyana is the Seventh of the

Eight-fold Yoga. Dhyana is the very basis of all Sadhana. Every one is

competent to have that experience; in fact, it is everyone's right to have it.

The contemplation of the Lord must proceed in union with the Dharmic life.

This type of life has no need for status, scholarship or vanity. It is only

through this life that the mind and the intellect can be controlled, the Atma

Vidya cultivated, the Will sublimated. The destruction of the modifications

and agitations of the Mind is the condition precedent to getting audience with

that Ruler. His Durbar Hall has eight doors through which one has to pass for

the audience: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Prathyahara, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

When the mind has been brought under control by these eight disciplines, the

Will can easily be developed thereafter. The will is the Nature of the Lord; it

is also referred to as the Lord's Ordinance. The Power of the Will is the

deciding fator. In human being the Will is not so overpoweringly strong.

However, when one achieves that Power,one gets something equal to the Power of

the Lord. Such Merger is made possible through Dhyana.

 

The knowledge of the world is not real knowledge. It is relative knowledge.

The knowledge of the eternal Absolute is the Real knowledge. That is acquired

by Dhyana. The fire of Dhyana and Yoga will reduce to ashes the sapless

activities of the Manas. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Baba. "Dhyana

Vahini," pp. 8 - 18).

 

Namaste - Reet