Meditation - Sathya Sai Baba's words on various meditative pathways to God

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Meditation

 

Sathya Sai Baba's words (sometimes paraphrased) on various

meditative pathways to God

 

This compilation is based on Sathya Sai Baba's discourses as found

in books; Sai Spiritual Education manuals, which include both Indian

and American publications; and Sathya Sai Newsletter, USA. Where

appropriate, the pertinent references are given with the text in

quotes. Other subject matter has been paraphrased here

 

Prayer versus meditation

 

"There are two roads to fulfillment: prayer and meditation. Prayer

makes you a supplicant at the feet of God. Meditation (dhyana)

induces God to come down to you and inspires you to raise yourselves

to Him; it tends to make you come together, not place one in a lower

level and the other on a higher."

Sathya Sai Speaks V, 'Lamps Lit from the Same Flame'

 

Teaching meditation

 

"Can anyone train another in meditation? Or claim to train? It may

be possible to teach a person the posture, the pose, the position of

the legs, feet, or hands, neck, head or back, the style of

breathing, or its speed. But meditation is a function of the inner

man; it involves deep subjective quiet, the emptying of the mind and

filling oneself with the Light that emerges from the divine Spark

within. This is a discipline that no text book can teach and no

class can communicate"

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, 'Questions Answered'

 

"You need not rely on another for success in mediation and soft

repetition of the name (dhyana and japa) and await contact with some

sage in order to get from him a mantra for recitation. Pray to the

God within, and you will receive guidance."

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, "The Commentary on the Message"

 

Schedule for meditation

 

Recommended time is before dawn (between 3 and 6 AM, 'auspicious

time is 4:30-5:15 AM'

Sathya Sai Speaks VI, 'Eyelids & The Pupil')

 

But regularity is most important. Swami also recommends a few

minutes of meditation in the evening after dusk. Swami told the

students that you have to look at any object --flame, idol, or

picture for 12 seconds with total concentration amd without blinking

eyelids. This is concentration (dharana). Twelve dharana

concentrations make one meditation (dhyana). This means that

meditation should last for 12x12 = 144 seconds. Thus, proper

meditation need not last more than 2 minutes 24 secs. Twelve

meditations equal one samadhi, which amounts to 12x144 seconds = 28

minutes 48 seconds.

 

However, it is not something that one does by sitting for a couple

of minutes or hours. Contemplation of the Lord should be always at

all places. Sri Ramana Maharshi was once asked, "How long should one

practice meditation? 15 or 30 or 45 minutes or an hour?' His reply

was, 'You should continue doing it till you forget that you are

meditating. As long as you are conscious (physically aware) that you

are meditating, it is no meditation at all." The consciousness of

body and mind and the thought of yourself should become totally

extinct. The experience of only the object of your meditation should

subsist, i.e. nothing else but the presence of divinity. The state

of meditation is experiencing but without the consciousness that you

are experiencing.

 

Posture for meditation

 

Sit on a special mat/piece of cloth/cushion that you use for

prayers. This acts as an insulation for not earthing the body

currents. Sit straight because, "when the body is straight and

quiet, the mind is also straight and quiet. If you cannot control

your body, how can you control your mind"

 

Relax the hands in two ways: (a) place hands in lap, with one palm

on top of the other with thumbs touching at the tips or (b) rest

your arms on your knees with the palms facing upward and the fingers

in chin-mudra posture as shown. The symbolism of the fingers in this

posture is explained in the section on soft repetition (japa).

 

To regulate the breath for Soham session, keep "the tip of the

tongue gently on the rear of the teeth."

Sathya Sai Speaks XI, "Bhakti, Stage by Stage"

 

Concentration, contemplation, and meditation

 

There are the three stages: concentration, contemplation, and

meditation. Gearing all the senses into action is concentration.

Right from dawn to dusk, whatever activities we perform, they are

done with concentration. There is a border between concentration,

which is below senses, and meditation, which is beyond senses. This

border is known as contemplation. When contemplation deepens, it

moves naturally into meditation. Meditation is entirely above the

senses; it transcends the senses.

 

A rose plant has leaves, thorns and flowers. Concentration helps you

to identify as to where the thorns are and the flower is. To cut the

love (rose flower) away from worldly desires (thorns) is

contemplation. Concentration is identifying the various locations of

the thorns and flowers by looking at the rose plant. To offer the

flower, so cut, to the Lord is meditation.

 

In meditation, there are three aspects: the one who is doing the

meditation (i.e. the subject), the object of meditation (i.e. God),

and the act or process (i.e. the rapport that the subject is trying

to establish with the object). Proper meditation or the culmination

of meditation occurs when the three factors --meditator, object of

meditation, and act of meditation-- coalesce and merge into one. 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

That Thou Art (Tat Twam Asi) is the state that exists. It is an

experience of unity (without the meditator being conscious of

himself). As one gradually returns to his customary and habitual

state of consciousness, the lamp (jyothi) is again placed in the

heart and kept lighted there throughout the day.

 

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 oneself. 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 concentration.

Vivekananda said that in meditation he was unable to find his body.

Conversations with Sathya Sai Baba, XLIX, by John Hislop

 

Equipoise (samadhi) is the culmination of meditation; it transcends

all states of physical consciousness: conscious, subconscious, and

unconscious. It is a state that transcends the mind; it is super

consciousness --the intelligence is steady. Sama means balanced

state, and dhee means the intellect. Samadhi means a balanced and

steadied condition of the intellect --equal-minded in all

circumstances, heat or cold, good or bad, joy or sorrow.

 

References: Some of the material in this section is paraphrased from

two discourses (1978 and June 1989) as described in Sathya Sai Baba

American Bal Vikas manual and Sathya Sai Newsletter, USA

respectively.

 

Practicing concentration, contemplation

 

Assign the job of a watchman to the mind by following one of the

practices described below in order to concentrate and contemplate

more.

 

(1) Keep eyes half opened, and focused on the tip of the nose.

Inhale through the left nostril, closing the right nostril with the

right thumb. As the breath goes in, it utters So (meaning 'He');

then exhale through the right nostril, closing the left nostril. As

the breath goes out, it utters Ham (meaning 'I'). Inhale and exhale

slowly and deliberately, conscious of the identity of He and I

(yourself), which it asserts, until the breathing and the awareness

grow into an unnoticed process. Keep the mind as a watchman to note

the incoming and outgoing breaths, to listen with the inner ear to

the Soham that the breath whispers and to witness the assertion of

your being the Divine, which is the core of the Universe.

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, "Questions Answered"

 

You could also chant Soham, inhaling So and exhaling Ham. Harmonize

the breath and thought. ... If you have some flour on your palm,

hold it near the nostrils, it should not get fluttered in the least;

the breath has to be soft as that. The mood of relaxation produced

by Soham is a precondition for a profitable meditation session.

Sathya Sai Speaks V, "Japa, Sadhana"

 

(2) First, when you sit for meditation, recite a few verses on the

glory of God, so that the agitated mind may be calmed. Then

gradually, while repeating the Lord's name, draw before the mind's

eye the form that that name represents. When your mind wanders away

from the recital of the name, lead it onto the picture of the form.

When it wanders from the form, lead it onto the name. Let it dwell

either on one sweetness or the other. Treated thus, it can be easily

tamed. The imaginary picture that you have drawn will get transmuted

into the emotional picture, dear to the heart and fixed in the

memory. Gradually, it will become the sakshathkarachitra (coming

face to face with the Lord) when the Lord assumes that form in order

to fulfill your desire. This spiritual discipline is called (Name-

and-form meditation (japasahita dhyana). I advise you all to take it

up, for it is the best form of meditation for beginners."

Sathya Sai Speaks X, 'Meditation'

 

(3) Alternatively, one should construe three types of pictures:

imaginary, mental, and one based on feeling and actualization. When

this Soham meditation has stabilized itself, you may start

stabilizing in your mind the form of the Lord of your choice.

Picture the form from head to foot, taking at least 15 to 20 minutes

for it, dwelling on each part of the body and imprinting it clearly

on the heart,and then proceed from foot to head in similar way. This

will help to fix the form in the altar of the heart. Then, you will

see in everyone that Form only; in all beings, you will find Him

only. You will realize the One manifold as Many. I am He, Only He is

(Sivoham, Soham)

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, "Questions Answered"

 

Hence, the meditation is that which would transform mind into the

form and not vice-versa.

 

(4) Choose some base 'lamp' as the point of concentration. Seeing

the light and moving the light here and there, in the meditator's

body, 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 universal phase, sending the

light into every other body, and when one is so concentrated in that

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.

 

Light (jyothi) meditation

 

Universality of light (jyothi)

 

The flame never does diminish in luster, however many lamps may be

lit therefrom. So, the flame is the most appropriate symbol of the

eternal Absolute. Light symbolizes divinity in man. The importance

of the light in contrast to other things is that other things are

decreased by sharing, but the light remains shining in all its

splendor even after a thousand or more have lit their candles or

lamps by it. This explains the universal soul, from which all beings

come as individual souls.

 

The idea of moving the light within the body and then into the

universal stage, 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.

 

Conversations with Sathya Sai Baba, XLIX , by John Hislop.

 

Jyothi meditation details

 

"As regards the technique of meditation, different teachers and

trainers give different forms of advice. But I shall give you now

the most universal and the most effective form. This is the very

first step in spiritual discipline. At first, set a few minutes

every day for meditation, and extend the time as you feel the bliss

that you get.

 

"Let it be in the hours before dawn.This is preferable because the

body is refreshed after sleep, and the dealings of daytime will not

yet have impinged on you. Have a lamp or a candle before you with an

open, steady, and straight flame. Sit in front of the candle in the

lotus posture or any other comfortable sitting position. Look on the

flame steadily for some time, and closing your eyes try to feel the

flame inside you between your eyebrows.

 

Let it slide down into the lotus of your heart, illuminating the

path. When it enters the heart, imagine that the petals of the lotus

open out by one, bathing every thought, feeling, and emotion in the

light and so removing darkness from them. There is no space for

darkness to hide. The light of the flame becomes wider and brighter.

 

Let it pervade your limbs. Now those limbs can never indulge in

dark, suspicious, and wicked activities; they have become

instruments of light and love.

 

As the light reaches up to the tongue, falsehood vanishes from it.

 

Let it rise up to the eyes and the ears and destroy all the dark

desires that infest them and which lead you to perverse sights and

childish conversation.

 

Let your head be surcharged with light and all wicked thoughts will

flee therefrom. Imagine that the light is in you more and more

intensely. Let it shine all around you and let it spread from you in

ever widening circles, taking in your loved ones, your kith and kin,

your friends and companions, your enemies and rivals, strangers, all

living beings, the entire world.

 

"Since the light illumines all the senses every day so deeply and so

systematically, a time will soon come when you can no more relish

dark and evil sights, yearn for dark and sinister tales, crave for

base, harmful, deadening toxic food and drink, handle dirty

demeaning things, approach places of ill-fame and injury, or frame

evil designs against anyone at any time. Stay on in that thrill of

witnessing the light everywhere.

 

If you are adoring God in any form now, try to visualize that form

in the all-pervasive light. For Light is God; God is Light.

 

"Practice this meditation as I have advised regularly every day. At

other times repeat the name of God (any Name fragrant with any of

His many Majesties), always taking care to be conscious of His

might, mercy, and munificence."

 

Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol X (Old edition, pages 348-350)

 

Namasmarana (remembrance of the Lord's name)

 

The tongue's purpose

 

Words have tremendous power. They can arouse emotions, and they can

also calm them. They direct or infuriate, they reveal or confuse.

They are potent forces that bring up great reserves of strength and

wisdom. The tongue should be used for pronouncing the Name of the

Lord. It should not be used to hiss like a serpent, or growl or roar

with intention to strike terror. That is not the purpose for which

the tongue is granted to man. Dwell on the Name, and its sweetness

will saturate your tongue and improve your taste. Speech is so

powerful that it indicates one's character, reveals one's

personality, educates others, and communicates experience and

information. So be vigilant about words. Slip while walking and the

injury can be repaired, but slip while talking and the injury is

irreparable. The tongue must be sanctified by repetition of the

Name. It has also to be used for sweet expressions, which will

spread contentment and joy.

 

Advantages of this iron age (kali yuga)

 

The present age is described in the scriptures as very conducive to

liberation, for, while in past ages, rigorous penance was prescribed

as the means, the present iron age (kali yuga) requires only

repetition of the name of God (namasmarana) to win liberation. When

the name of the Lord is remembered with all the glory that is

associated with It, a great flood of happiness wells up in the mind.

The Lord is full of bliss, and in fact He is Bliss Itself. All this

Bliss is to be tasted through the Name. Vyasa himself knew this, for

when some sages once went to him to find out which period (yuga) is

most conducive to success in man's efforts for liberation, Vyasa

anticipated their question and repeated to himself aloud, "How

fortunate are those destined to be born in the kali yuga! It is so

easy to win the grace of the Lord in the kali yuga by repetition of

the name."

 

Universality of Name

 

Select some Name and Form for this all-pervasive immanent God and

keep It on your tongue and before your mental eye. That is what is

called recitation of the Name-cum-meditation (japa-sahita-dhyanam).

When you select one Name and one Form for repetition, do not talk

ill of other Names and Forms. Behave like the woman of a joint

family. She respects and serves the elders of the family, such as

the father-in-law and his brothers and her own brothers-in-law, but

her heart is dedicated to her husband, whom she loves and reveres in

a special manner. If you carp at the faith of others, your devotion

is fake. If you are sincere, you will appreciate the sincerity of

others too. The Lord has thousands of Names. There is no Name that

is not His. Krishna, hrinivasa, Sai Baba --all Names are of the same

Entity.

 

Benefits of repetition of the Name (namasmarana)

 

The Name of God, if recited with love and faith, has the power to

bring upon the eager aspirant the grace of God. The Name has the

overmastering power of even leaping over the ocean. It can award

unimagined strength and courage. When questioned whether it was

repeating the name of Rama that strengthened Hanuman to cross the

ocean, Rama replied that since His body was called Rama, the Name

that combines the bijaakshras of both Siva and Vishnu, He Himself

was able to conquer Ravana and his hordes. The name has such

efficacy. By repeating the Name, the Lord and His attributes can

easily be identified. Remember the God in whom you move, the God who

makes you move, the God who is all this vast universe --every little

atom and every huge star-- remember Him! The following are a few

aphorisms on the benefits of repetition of the name (namasmarana),

based on our Swami's discourses:

 

- The best antidote for all ills.

- A boat that will take you across the sea of birth and death.

- Will give you consolation, courage, and the true perspective.

- The main discipline for this age.

- Enough to give you all the results of every type of spiritual

practice (sadhana).

- The fountain of primal energy.

- Will guard and guide you throughout life.

-The one hope for man; remembrance (smarana), being an inner

activity, helps that inner transformation.

- Will keep the antics of mind under control.

- The life-giving nectar.

- It's like moonlight for the waves of the inner ocean in mind.

- A nearness to God is attainable.

- The operation of boring in order to tap the underground water.

- Previous birth effects (prarabdha) will melt away like fog before

the Sun.

- Reliable for a trouble-free journey.

- The spring of all consciousness (Chaitanya).

- The thunderbolt that pulverizes a mountain of sin.

- The unfailing cure for the deadly sin of delusion.

- Vitamin G, which is required for the nutrition of the mind.

- Withdraws the mind from the sensory tangle.

 

There are two ways of doing repetition of the name (namasmarana):

 

With a rosary (japamala), turning the beads automatically around,

just as mechanically and as punctually and as carefully as any other

routine act of daily life.

As it ought to be done, repeating the name, regardless of the target

number, dwelling deeply on the Form it represents and on the divine

attributes connoted by it, tasting it, reveling in it, enjoying the

contexts and associations of the Name, relishing its sweetness, lost

in its music.

Sathya Sai Speaks II, "Believe in Yourself"

 

References

Sathya Sai Speaks. Since the page numbers vary from edition to

edition, the discourse title is given.

Namasmarana, by B. Mavinkurve

Bhagavan Baba on Namasmarana, by J. Colamussi, P.K. Prabhakar, P. K.

Swaminathan

 

Silent Recitation (japa)

 

The little finger, the ring finger, and the middle finger represent

the three characteristics (gunas), viz. dull (thamasic),

passionate/dynamic (rajasic) and balanced/pure (sathwic). The middle

finger thus signifies purity (sathwa).

 

The forefinger, that is, the pointer finger, is called the life

finger; it symbolizes the individual (jiva) aspect of man. The thumb

signifies Brahman. The joining of the forefinger with the thumb, and

the three other fingers stretched together apart, indicates the

desire for the emergence of the individual with god (deva). This is

called 'chin mudra'. While performing silent repetition of the name

(japa), the rosary (mala) should be put on the middle finger, which

represents the pure quality (sathwic guna), thereby isolating and

separating the individual (jiva) from the qualities (gunas).

 

With the tip of the forefinger touching the thumb, go on rotating

bead by bead. This signifies the aspiration of the individual (jiva)

to merge with Brahman. In this process, even if the forefinger were

to touch slightly the middle finger, it would acquire only the pure

(sathwic) quality and not all the qualities (gunas).

 

References

Paraphrased from Sathya Sai Speaks VII, 'Japa, Sadhana' .

 

108 Namavali (Lord's Names) Chanting

 

In some centers and devotional gatherings, we recite the 108 Names

(ashtothara satha namavali) or chant just one name 'Om Sri Sathya

Sai Baabaaya Namah'. We find that all 108 names start with 'Om (the

pranava, the sound of the universe)' and end with 'salutation

(namah)'. The sound of pranava is the basis of all other types of

sound. A mantra or Name (namavali) without pranava is like a gun

without a bullet. 'Sri' means glory in all its aspects. The Name in

the middle is a description of an aspect, a characteristic, the

depiction of an event, etc. For an inspiring commentary on the

string of the 108 names, please see the first reference for this

section.

 

Namah

 

'Na' means no, nil, or not. 'Ma' signifies the delusion that makes

one identify with the inert body (ego) and thereby subjects one to

ignorance, misery ,and death. 'Namah' signifies the surrender of

one's ego to the Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent God in

recognition of the truth that we are also part of that Supreme

Reality. Namah must be done with the mental resolution 'not mine'

but 'Thine' (Na Mama).

 

A corollary of this explanation would suggest that one should

worship the Lord without desire (nishkama), for God knows what is

good for the devotee. The I must be cut right across, and the

individual must be crucified in that 'Namah'. All action and all the

means of knowledge and awareness should be offered at the feet of

the Master, before whom one bows, with folded palms. The right palm

is 'Tat' (the Unseen Basic Universal Absolute, the Paramatman), the

left palm is 'Twam' (the seen, the particular, the limited, the

wave, the image, the soul in the individual (jiva). When the two

palms are brought together and kept in contact, the oneness of that

and this, of Tat and Twam, is emphasized and demonstrated. It is the

gesture/symbol (mudra) of 'I am Brahman, the individual soul is the

universal soul (Aham Brahmasmi).

 

Why 108?

 

The number 108 is sacred because man breaths 21600 (=200x108) times

a day, and it becomes 9 by adding up each number (=1+0+8). 9 is

Brahman's number. 108 or 1008 Names is recommended in the scriptures

because there is just a chance that we will utter at least one Name

out of the Namavali with the sincere yearning to which the Lord will

respond and bless.

 

References

Garland of 108 Precious Gems, by N. Kasturi.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Speaks to Foreigners, 17 August 1983

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Bal Vikas Central Training Camp, 1978.

 

Swami on Soham

 

"Before you start meditation (dhyana), your meditation session,

chant Soham, inhaling So and exhaling Ham. Soham means 'He is I'; it

identifies you with the infinite and expands your consciousness.

Harmonize breath and thought. Breathe gently, naturally; do not make

it artificial and laboured. Slow breath quietens and calms the

emotions. The mood of relaxation produced by this Soham recital is a

precondition for a profitable session of meditation"

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, 'Japa, Sadhana'

 

"Aim high, resolve on the supremest adventure --everything will be

set right to lead you on to the goal. In fact, you are urged on

toward this adventure by your very breath, which repeats 'He-I

(Soham)' 21,600 times a day, thus emphasizing the identity of the

Indweller with the Principle that is Imminent in the Universe. You

may declare "There is no God" with your tongue, but the breath

repeats So as it goes in and Ham as it goes out, making it clear

that the He who is imminent is the I that is resident!"

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, 'Assert with Every Breath'

 

"Each individual is born with the question 'koham (who am I)', on

its lips. 'Who am I' is the question that presses on every breast.

And the answer is given by every breath: 'Soham (He is I)' --the

inhalation whispering So and the exhalation whispering Ham!" Sathya

Sai Speaks VII, 'My Three'

 

"Let your mind have no waves; let it be silent, level, calm, so that

the hamsa can sport thereon! Hamsa is the bird of purity, with

perfectly white plumes. The bird that can distinguish between right

and wrong, accepting right and rejecting wrong. The bird that is the

symbol of Soham. Sa (He) Aham (I), Soham: the principle of the One,

embracing He and I, I and the Others, I and He becoming We, or even

I."

Sathya Sai Speaks VII, 'This & That'

 

"... the pure bird that is endowed with the rare power of

discriminating between water and milk, even when they are mixed, and

receiving only the milk (that is to say, separating the valid from

invalid, the lasting from the fragile, the true from untrue).

Moreover, hamsa is a symbol of Soham, the seed mantra that is

uttered by human breathing from birth to death, meaning that the

individual (jiva) is Brahman, no more and no less."

Sathya Sai Speaks IX, 'Vaster than the Vastest'

 

"The bird in this physical cage wherein man is imprisoned is always,

from the moment of birth to the moment of death, chirping 'Soham',

declaring that the individual (jiva) and God (Deva) are ONE. It is

this affirmation that is the justification for the gift of life.

When the chirp does not emanate from the breath, the body is a

corpse (savam)! When it manifests, it illumines and fills the cage

with the divine fragrance, it is a tabernacle, Sivam! Identify

yourselves with the mantra the bird chirps, the breath repeats. You

might forget any other spiritual discipline (sadhana) or any other

duty to yourself, but, the breath never, even for a moment forgets

this spiritual discipline-- reminding you of your innate Reality,

namely, Sa (He), I am He, He is I. ...that is the refrain of every

breath."

Sathya Sai Speaks IX, 'The Labyrinth'

 

"The mind has been holding conversation with itself, when it is

supposed to be silent! Give it perpetual tasks. Ask it to climb a

pillar and slide down it whenever it has no other work. The pillar

is 'Soham (I am That)', a mantra that the breath repeats from birth

to death, 'So' when you inhale and 'ham' when you exhale. Let it

repeat Soham all the time."

Sathya Sai Speaks IX, 'The Mind Stuff'

 

"With each breath you are positively affirming 'Soham (I am He)'.

Not only you, every being thus affirms it. ... When you watch your

breath and meditate on that grand truth, slowly the 'I' and the 'He'

will merge; Soham will become transformed into Om, the primal sound,

which the Vedas (ancient scriptures) proclaim as the symbol of the

formless, all-knowing God."

Sathya Sai Speaks X, 'Meditation'

 

"You are born with the cry 'koham' on your lips; when you depart,

you must have the declaration 'Soham' on your smiling face."

Sathya Sai Speaks III, ' Beacons of Light', p. 169.

 

"Repeat Soham with every breath: So when you take in and ham when

you exhale. 'So' means He and 'ham' means I. When you complete the

inhalation and exhalation, feel that 'So' (namely the Lord)

and 'ham' (namely 'I' i.e. (you)) are One. Later, after long

practice, the idea of He and I as separate entities will disappear

and there will be no more So and ham. These sounds will be reduced

to O and m, that is to say it will be Om or the Pranava. ...This

Soham recitation is a good means of restraining the mind from

running away with you."

Sathya Sai Speaks IV, 'The Wheels - Outer & Inner'

 

"Every time we breathe, we say Soham; 'So' when we inhale and 'ham'

when he (who is all this external world) is I (who is all this

internal world), the conviction of Unity. During sleep, when the

senses, the brain, and the mind are dormant and de-functionalized,

the 'he' and 'I' are not cognized as separate; the sa (he) and the

ham (I) both fade, and the sound Soham is transformed into OM,

indicating the merger of the external with the internal into one

Truth."

Sathya Sai Speaks V, 'Have no hatred (desh); Seek no message

(upadesh)'.

 

"Koham (who am I)? --the question with which he emerged into this

world has been answered; he knows: Soham (I and He). He is born

ignorant; he dies a spiritually wise one (jnani)."

Sathya Sai Speaks VI, 'The Wet Wick'

 

"Bliss is the nature of Atma, your own innermost Reality. That

Reality is reminding you of its existence, with every breath that

you take: Soham, Soham, 'He-I' 'He-I'; the self is repeating that it

is not the limited, the prisoner (held-by-the body). It is a wave of

the vast Ocean named 'He'... Inhale the vast; exhale the limited.

This has to be observed during the waking stage. When you are in

deep sleep, the awareness of the body disappears; there is no

awareness of the outside world, of which, while awake, you felt you

were a partner. There is no So or ham (no 'He' or 'I'). it is all

one; one integral whole. The breath then says not Soham, but Om."

Sathya Sai Speaks VI, 'Voyaging on the Sea of Bliss'

 

"The life-breath repeats Soham every time you breathe. It means, I

am He, I am God. What a profound authentic declaration the breath is

making every moment of your life, while waking, dreaming, or in deep

sleep, this simple lesson, this truth of our truth, which is being

dinned all the 24 hours of the day does not alert you or inform you

of your real task. How can you understand your Reality by the mere

study of books?"

Sathya Sai Speaks VIII, 'The Toughest Armour'

 

Source: http://www.sathyasai.org/devotion/meditation.html

[Guest guest]

Dear readers, Om Sai Ram,

 

Just to inform you.

 

Some years ago I bought in the ashram in Puttaparthi the c.d.Sri Sathya Sai

Bhajanavali-Sri Sathya Sai jyotimeditation and Gayatri mantra , volume 48 by

Bhagavan Baba . Sathya Sai Baba speaks on this c.d. in a discourse about

the jyoti meditation and explains in a beautiful manner...with humour...

In Holland we translated this on paper and tape for study in our groups .

 

In Sai Service,

 

Titia de Groot-Boelens, Holland

 

-

rdthuillier

 

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1:52 PM

Meditation - Sathya Sai Baba's words on various meditative pathways to God

MeditationSathya Sai Baba's words (sometimes paraphrased) on various meditative

pathways to GodThis compilation is based on Sathya Sai Baba's discourses as

found in books; Sai Spiritual Education manuals, which include both Indian and

American publications; and Sathya Sai Newsletter, USA.

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