Hari
OM
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
Continuing
our deeper look at OM as focus of meditation.
It
is worth noting that OM is both a 'stand alone' mantra form, but is always used
as an opening to much longer mantras. The vibration of OM sets the level of
vibration for the chants which follow them.
By beginning with OM, sadhaks are focusing in such a way that the best
can be drawn from the prayer which is to be chanted. OM is also used to close texts, saadhana
sessions and so on, to ensure a correct interface between the internal and the
external.
Back
on 15th December post, you were told of A=waking, U=dreaming, M=deep sleep and
the silence between is Turiya=consciousness.
When undertaking meditation and chanting of OM, it is important to
recall all these parts… to feel all these parts.
If
you wish, you can make 'researches' on each akshara separately. Remember the point of meditation is to
finally release all thought process. However, it is an inevitability that we
require thought to get there! This being the case, the thinking must be
directed appropriately and use of AUM is one method of doing this. There are
many who will be reading this who have undertaken meditation from different
sources, the most commonly known, likely, being 'guided meditations'. In this
manner there will be a group and one of the group will have picked, perhaps,
some background sounds/music to create an atmosphere in the space and will lead
the group with words into their 'personal space'. These can be wonderful
sessions for stress and anger reduction and are absolutely necessary. Others
will have encountered, perhaps, the transcendentalism offered through yoga
classes or institutions such as Art of Life. Or perhaps there are those who
have experienced the silence of the Society of Friends ("Quakers"),
or meaningful/mindfulness prayer methods….Whatever way you may have come to be
a meditator, you are still doing it because you gained benefit, is it not? Here in Vedanta, it is being offered that you
can take your meditation beyond all your expectations. Via the path of
knowledge.
A
common complaint of shishya to guru is that 'meditation is already advanced,
why deconstruct what has already been achieved?!' The guru will smile only and
keep insisting that the 'experienced meditator' pare back existing practice and
look at it afresh. It can be incredibly
uplifting to experience meditation 'highs', but unless you truly know what is
happening, those exultations are as fleeting as the rest of the world. Using the steps provided by the Great Rsis,
time-tested, untainted by modification, there is to be found a permanent
'high', a true freedom beyond all others.
Moksha.
At
this point it will be mentioned that there are considered to be seven levels of
spiritual attainment through meditation (to be discussed at another time); the
trick is to not mistake the first for the last!
Time
for an analogy. You are offered a trip
on a friend's yacht. You have never
sailed before, but have always been intrigued. Along you go and are kitted out
with all the appropriate gear and instruction (safety vest and how to use it,
tether clip and when to use that, perhaps a cap with the yacht's name), then
are asked to climb aboard. Off you go
into the blue yonder, enjoying getting to know the rest of the 'crew' and doing
your best to follow instructions.
Everyone else seems to know what they are doing. After an hour, you are back on land and
everyone is happy and smiling and a good time has been had by all. You accept
invitations to go along each week for this particular event. You become more confident and you start to
think of yourself as a sailor. All is
well because you are in a group and there is a defined period of the week to
which you assign this activity. One week you arrive to find no one else has
turned up. How competent do you feel -
would you launch the yacht and sail solo?
No.
You would now be faced by how very little you actually know about sailing. Yes
you can swim, yes you can work the winches and navigate reasonably well; but
what about the jib, the anchor gear, the engine status if required??? To become
a solo sailor, you need full knowledge of your boat, every inch of it, how it
handles, how to respond, knowing its limitations. You also need to know more than your local waterway.
The
analogy could be drawn with driving, or building or any other master skill;
there are many levels. Lots of folk can
undertake any of these things but with perhaps less than satisfactory outcomes, a lesser number of folk can make a perfectly decent job and still
fewer can truly become masters. The
difference between the many and the few is the level of experience combined
with levels of knowledge, bound together in application. All masters of all
crafts will tell you; knowledge without doing remains theory, doing without
knowledge is foolhardy, but most risky is the bit between.
SAADHANA.
In
your daily practice, focus on AUM. When
concentrating on A, recognise the waking state, the physical processing level,
the gross realm we call as world - understand that all of these are part of the
whole. When concentrating on U,
recognise the dreaming state, that part of us which processes without mental
control, which informs the subtle and that these are part of the whole. When concentrating on M, recognise the deep
sleep state, the part of us which is dormant, unperceiving, a state of
possibilities unrealised, know it as the Causal part of our being wherein can
be discovered all our vaasana-s, where karma is stored and know these all to be
part of the whole. When concentrating on the space between the end of M and the
renewal of A, recognise the True Silence, the Sacred Breath, The Consciousness
which is Knowing this and know it to be The Whole.
