SOME THOUGHTS ON ATMA--77

[Guest guest]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

Loving SAI RAMs. In the previous posting it was brought out that remembering the Lord devotionally is the sure process by which purification of the mind can be achieved very readily. For achieving Self-realization, the paths of yoga and karma can also be practised. By Yoga , here we mean the Hatha Yoga. The rules and regulations prescribed for Hatha Yoga , regulating our external indulgences, conditions of the body, regulation of emotions and even the freedom of the intellect, called yama and niyama, as laid down in the YOGA SUTRAs are too strict to be easily followed by all seekers. Restrictions on diet, movements and transactions---physical, mental and intellectual----are so severe and strict, that they by themselves become a trial for the seeker. On the top of all , a sadhak (seeker) has to do regularly his breath-control exercises(Pranayama), which are not too safe to be practised without the guidance of a genuine and efficient teacher. Hatha Yoga includes a plan to control the mind through series of exercises for the body, through physical postures (Asanas), diet control and regulation of breath. As compared to the mind and its dynamic force, the body is a frail vehicle. The attempt at controlling the mind through the body is as difficult and dangerous as the attempt of putting up a dam across a river with simple mud-walls. Because of these reasons, the Path of Yoga is not very popular now-a-days among the diligent seekers, who want to reach the Highest. The Path of Ritualism (karama) was more popular in the Vedic age. So long as the invocations (Upasna -s) are done for the fulfilment of a desire entertained by an individual, full integration of the personality of the worshipper can not be achieved. If ritualism is pursued, not for the fulfilment of any given desire, but in an attitude of love and dedication, with no particular desire, it can bring about the necessary integration of the inner personality of the devotees. Both " Yoga " and " Karma " can not be totally dropped from the programme of our spiritual life, since in case we do not practise any one of these , mental purification will be impossible, and an impure mind can never realise the Highest. We have earlier seen that impurity of the mind increases with the agitations in the mind, and that purity of the the mind increases when the mind becomes more and more quiet. Quieter the mind, the greater the intellectual equipoise and its power of discrimination. Spurred by devotion, if the thoughts in a human mind run towards the SELF and comes to contemplate upon Its qualities without letting the mind dissipate itself with its desires, as the Bhagavad Gita points out--- " The existing Vasanas get exhausted and no new vasanas are created. In short, the mind of such a devotee becomes purer and purer. Without a purified mind it is not possible to realize the Infinite Truth, the Atma.

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian