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Dhyana
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Dhyana- Swami Satyananda SaraswatiAddress by Swami Satyananda Saraswati during the World Yoga Convention held at Satyananda Ashram, Mangrove Mountain, Australia in October 1978.
Spiritual clarification is what people throughout the world want
today. When everything has been said, the last words remain, 'What
to do?' We have to plunge ourselves into the art and act of
meditation. In yoga, meditation is known as dhyana yoga; this is
the technical word used in the yoga scriptures. The English word
meditation does not convey the whole import, so we'll first explain
the meaning of dhyana yoga.In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, meditation
is defined as 'when the mind has been able to transcend the
knowledge of smell, sound, touch, form and taste, and at the same
time, when the consciousness is functioning around one point'. This
is the technical, classical definition of dhyana. It is not the act
of concentration, when we are trying to concentrate or consolidate
the dissipated energies of our mind. That is not dhyana, but the
way to dhyana. What we have been doing in yoga classes is not
dhyana.There are three distinct stages in this practice. The first
leads to sense withdrawal, the second to concentration, and the
last to meditation, dhyana. It is not the mind that we have to
tackle first, it is the sensations, the knowledge of the five
senses. If you close your eyes, you are only blocking the sensation
of form. What about the ears? You can still listen to so many
sounds. To give a clear example, if you imagine a little point, and
try to concentrate on it, what happens? The senses continue to feed
the mind throughout. The messages keep coming to the brain which,
therefore, remains in an excited condition. In the practice of
dhyana yoga the first thing you have to do is cut the supply routes
which carry sensations to the brain constantly, during wakefulness,
sleep, and dreams. That is the first stage in dhyana yoga.In the
second stage you have to concentrate on one point. The point can be
anything- a cross, your guru, a black dog, a flower, a light, a
star. What is important is that the object of meditation which you
have selected is an absolutely spontaneous choice of your mind, so
that you don't have to force it. For instance, I find it easy to
concentrate on the form of my guru, because I lived with him for
twelve years. It is difficult for me to concentrate on a form which
I have not seen. It is not the divinity of the object which is
important when you are trying to concentrate. It is your fraternity
with the object that is important- how close you feel, how
spontaneous you are, how comprehensive and intimate your
relationship is with that object. If you do not feel these things
then you will find concentration very hard. Again and again your
mind will become dissipated. I will give you a parable.Once upon a
time a young girl was going to meet her boyfriend. She was deeply
engrossed in remembering him. In the lane through which she was
passing, a Muslim had spread his mat and was repeating his prayers.
Muslims pray five times a day, anywhere and everywhere, even in the
middle of the road. They are very strict about their prayer time.
So he had spread his mat and was saying his prayers, 'Allah, Allah,
Allah'. The girl was so much engrossed in thoughts of her lover
that she walked right over his mat, and kept going. The man who was
praying looked at her and said, 'Arrogant, shameless, uncivilised!'
Then, unable to control himself, he got up from his mat and called
after her. The girl continued walking and did not respond. He
became furious and followed her, calling 'Hey', and again she did
not respond. Then he ran ahead of her, blocked her way, and
shouted, 'Why did you walk over my mat?' The girl was taken aback
and asked, 'What mat'? What do you mean?' The man said, 'I was
praying, and you walked over my mat, you unholy wretch!' The lady
paused for a moment, and then gave a very revealing reply, 'I was
so engrossed in thoughts of my lover that I did not see you or your
mat. How could you have seen me walk over your mat if you were
praying to God?'The object which you select for concentration
should be like the beloved of the girl, not the beloved of the man.
That's where most of us have been making a great mistake. All of
the saints, from the vedic rishis to Buddha, Christ, Mohammed,
right down to the present day, have all been hitting on the same
note- bhakti yoga. Your object of concentration should be related
to you through your heart, not through your intellect. The mantra,
which is an object for spiritual concentration, and the deity which
is also the basis for consolidation of dissipated energy, should be
a matter of heart more than head. What is heart? It is a
spontaneity of feeling, selection and choice. When you want to get
out of the mental plane you have to use a greater force. A little
bit of practice with a dry mantra here and a dry deity there will
not do. One of the great saints of India was Mira Bai. She was a
princess and a queen, then she became a swami, a sannyasin. She
left her kingdom and devoted her whole life to the spiritual quest
until she reached the final destination. Every Indian knows her
songs. Mira Bai says that when there is infinite love there is no
further practice - my beloved is in me, and therefore I don't have
to go out anywhere.This spontaneity of devotion, this bhakti yoga,
is the culminating point which everyone should remember. When one
wants to evolve in spiritual life, dry raja yoga will not do. Full,
exciting kundalini yoga will not do. I have absolute respect for
all of these, because I teach them. I am not criticising them, I am
only pointing to their limitations. You have to awaken the
devotional aspect in yourself- and don't say that you don't have
it. If you did not have this stuff in you, how could you hate and
how could you love? How could you cry and how could you laugh?
Emotion, passion, attachment, the knowledge and feeling of pleasure
and pain are based on, or are the offspring of this stuff called
bhava - attitude, bhakti, devotion. This is a very important thing
that we now have to ponder in our lives. We have been living the
life of a Christian, devoted to Christ, God and the church. We have
been living the life of a Hindu, devoted to Hindu dharma, the
temple, Rama and Krishna etc. In the course of time all of these
religious formalities have followed a tradition of decadence. There
is nothing wrong in them, but everything has degenerated and
decayed, and our gurus, in Hinduism as well as in Christianity,
have failed to explain how bhakti or devotion is intimately
connected with the emotions and passions of our lives. Just as a
passionate man loves a woman, so we must approach our deity with
the same force, the same urge, the same attitude and the same
spontaneity. Do you have to make any effort when you love somebody?
No. It's not difficult. Maybe sometimes you have to control
yourself!There is a technique by which bhakti will become
spontaneous. There is a method, by which this dormant devotion will
become a reality in your life. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was once
encountered by a disciple when they were travelling in a small
boat. 'Paramhamsaji', he said, 'please tell me how to feel the
spontaneity of love for God'. Ramakrishna became angry. 'What
nonsense you are speaking', he said, and threw him into the river
telling the boatman to row on. The disciple couldn't swim and he
was gasping, struggling, pining for life. The boatman rescued him.
After some time Ramakrishna said, 'How did you find the
experience?' The disciple said, 'There was only one thing in my
mind - how to survive'. It is this one pointedness that is required
when we sit for meditation. There should be nothing in our minds
but our guru, nothing but our faithful deity. But it's not there.
Why? Because we have been practicing dhyana yoga without developing
our love to the full extent. This bhakti aspect of our lives has
been misled. We have been squandering it. Where has our bhakti
gone? To the pictures and television, from one man to another, from
one girl to another, from one type of dress to another. We have
been squandering this great priceless gem of eternal reality which
every being possesses. Everybody has bhakti, and this has to be
developed. Therefore, the one who ignites the dormant bhakti in
your personality, the guru, comes first in the spiritual life. Once
bhakti is developed, dhyana yoga becomes spontaneous. You close
your eyes and things start happening.For awakening bhakti, guru is
first, kirtan second and satsang third. Satsang is association,
congregation, conference, meeting with people to discuss things
pertaining to spiritual life- not politics, sociology, finances,
romance, weather, clothes, or food, but spiritual life. Sat means
'positive, reality, spiritual'. Sang means 'coming together'.
Satsang is very important.Finally, someone must tell us the stories
of those great saints who had the vision of supreme reality.
Longfellow, the great poet, said that we have to read the lives of
the great saints to make our own lives sublime. Usually, if we read
anything about them at all, a Hindu only reads about the Hindu
saints, and a Christian about the Christian saints. But perhaps
they were neither Christian nor Hindu. Throughout history these
saints have led a unique type of life. They have experimented with
a new system of life, a new conduct, a new way of thinking. They
were the revolutionaries of their time. I have read practically all
of them; the Hindu, Christian, Sufi, Muslim, Hebrew and Greek
saints. If you go through their lives, they will inspire you. Their
inspiration will awaken the bhakti. This is how we have to plod on
with our spiritual consciousness.It is also very important that a
systematic practice be followed at home. Those of you who are
practicing should continue. Those who are new, must remember that
what we have done so far with our lives has not paid any dividend.
We have been groping in darkness, and it is time we opened
ourselves to a new type of life, which does not hinder the external
life, but which opens the beatitude of the inner life.Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa used to say to his disciples, 'Look here. Food is
necessary for the body, and so is sleep, because that is the
dharma, that is the urge of the physical body. But you have
neglected the needs of the spiritual body!' By dedicating yourself
to the spiritual purpose, and by pursuing this path with the utmost
sincerity and diligence, you will be the richest person on earth.
Of what avail are material riches if they cannot give you peace of
mind, tranquillity, mental balance and understanding of your own
self? Even if you are an ordinary person with just a few dollars in
your pocket, if you have equilibrium, understanding of yourself,
and confidence in what you exist for, then you are not only the
richest person, you are the president of all nations. You have seen
in history that an ordinary person like Christ could become king of
kings. What was Ramakrishna? An ordinary priest. What was Saint
Francis? All the saints and sages have realised that the real
riches, the real prosperity, and the real wealth, lies within one's
own self. Therefore, side by side with the outer life you have been
leading so far, you must diligently pursue and follow the inner
path of dhyana yoga.
~~~