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| Lessons on the Upanishads |
by Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Society - Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
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| Practical
Hints on Sadhana |
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- First of all, there should be a clear conception of the Aim of
one's life.
- The Aim should be such that it should
not be subject to subsequent change of opinion
or transcendence by some other thought, feeling
or experience. It means the Aim should be ultimate,
and there should be nothing beyond that.
- It
will be clear that, since the ultimate Aim is single,
and set clearly before one's mind, everything else
in the world becomes an instrument, an auxiliary
or an accessory to the fulfilment of this Aim.
- It
is possible to make the mistake that only certain
things in the world are aids in the realisation
of one's Aim of life, and that others are obstacles.
But this is not true, because everything in the
world is interconnected and it is not possible
to divide the necessary from the unnecessary, the
good from the bad, etc., except in a purely relative
sense. The so-called unnecessary items or the useless
ones are those whose subtle connection with our
central purpose in life is not clear to our minds.
This happens when our minds are carried away by
sudden emotions or spurts of enthusiasm.
- All this would mean that it is not advisable or practicable to
ignore any aspect of life totally, as if it is
completely irrelevant to the purpose of one's life.
But here begins the difficulty in the practice
of sadhana,
because it is not humanly possible to consider
every aspect of a situation when one tries to understand
it.
- The solution is the training which one has to
receive under a competent Teacher, who alone can
suggest methods of entertaining such a comprehensive
vision of things, which is the precondition of
a true spiritual life, or a life of higher meditation.
- There
are economic and material needs as well as vital
longings of the human nature which have to be paid
their due, at the proper time and in the proper
proportions, not with the intention of acquiring
comfort and satisfaction to one's self, but with
a view to the sublimation of all personal desires
or urges, whether physical, vital or psychological.
An utter ignorance of this fact may prove to be
a sort of hindrance to one's further practice on
the path of sadhana.
- It is,
of course, necessary that one should live a life
of reasonable seclusion under the guidance of a
master until such time when one can stand on one's
own legs and think independently, without help
from anyone.
- But, one should, now and then, test
one's ability to counteract one's reactions to
the atmosphere even when one is in the midst of
intractable and irreconcilable surroundings. Seclusion
should not mean a kind of self-hypnotism or hibernation
and an incapacity to face the atmosphere around.
- It
should also not mean that one should be incapable
of living in seclusion alone to oneself, when the
occasion for it comes. In short, the ideal should
be achievement of an equanimous attitude to circumstances,
whether one is alone to oneself or in the midst
of an irreconcilable social atmosphere.
- While in
seclusion, the mind should not be allowed to go
back to the circumstances of one's family life,
official career or to problems which are likely
to disturb the concentration of the mind on God,
because the pressure of these earlier experiences
may sometimes prove itself to be greater in intensity
than one's love of God.
- It is impossible to concentrate
on God unless one has a firm conviction and faith
that whatever one expects in this world can also
be had from God nay, much more than all these things
which the world has as its treasures and values.
- It
is difficult to have the vision of one's Aim of
Life when the mind goes out of meditation to whatever
it longs for in the world. Hence, a deep study
of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the Srimad-Bhagavata
and such other scriptures is necessary to drive
into the mind the conviction about the Supremacy
of God.
- Study or svadhyaya, japa of mantras and
meditation are the three main aspects of spiritual
practice.
- Svadhyaya does not mean study
of any book that one may find anywhere at any time.
It means a continued and regular study, daily,
of selected holy texts, or even a single text,
from among those that have been suggested above.
A study in this manner, done at a fixed time, every
day, for a fixed duration, will bring the expected
result.
- The japa of
the mantra should,
in the beginning, be done with a little sound in
the mouth so that the mind may not go here and
there towards different things. The loud chant
of the mantra will
bring the mind back to the point of concentration.
Later on, the japa can be only with
movement of lips, but without making any sound.
In the end, the japa can be only mental,
provided that the mind does not wander during the
mental japa.
- A convenient duration, say, half
an hour or one hour, should be set up at different
times, so that the daily sadhana should be at least
for three hours a day. It can be increased according
to one's capacity, as days pass.
- During japa,
the mind should think of the meaning of the mantra,
the surrender of oneself to the Deity of the mantra,
and finally, the communion of oneself with that
Great Deity. Effort should be put forth to entertain
this deep feeling during japa, every day.
- Meditation
can be either combined with japa,
or it can be independent of japa.
Meditation with japa means the mental
repetition of the mantra and, also,
at the same time, meditating deeply on the meaning
of the mantra, as mentioned above.
- Meditation
without japa is
a higher stage where the mind gets so much absorbed
in the thought of God, surrender to God and union
with God that in this meditation japa automatically
stops. This is the highest state of meditation.
- Throughout
one's sadhana, it
is necessary to feel the oneness of oneself and
the universe with God.
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