Hari
OM
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
Meditation & Life, with Sw. Chinmayananda
(Gurudev).
We are now exploring the writings of Gurudev on our focus subject of
Meditation. The book is a thorough treatment of the subject and extends to over
170 pages of closely printed text. No attempt is intended, here, to present the
text in its entirety. However, important paragraphs and quotes will
be given, within a summary of each section. You
are encouraged to use the links on sidebar to obtain a copy for yourselves from
CM publications. Please remember that each of the posts under this title is part of a
thought flow and it is important to go back and read the previous post in order
to refresh and review the context.
Ch.20; The Positive Mind.
(This chapter will be given in full,
as it is a short one and you can get a feel for the 'voice' of Gurudev.)
If a house has been deserted for a long time, it has naturally
fallen into disrepair, and every nook and corner of it gets soon covered with
dust and cobwebs. On entering it, a moldy smell assails your nostrils. If you
want to make it habitable again, you will have to open all doors and windows to
ventilate it, scrub it from roof to floor, whitewash it, paint it, repair it
where necessary. Still it won't be fit for comfortable living. You will have to
fit it intelligently with furnishings of good taste and decor to render it
inviting.
The removal of unwanted lumber, dust and cobwebs is but half the
process of making the deserted house habitable once again. The other half
consists of bringing in new objects calculated to give comfort to the
occupants. Similarly, one cannot secure in the mind a new set of positive
qualities before the negativities have been removed. Our minds, which are at
present encrusted with unhealthy poisons from untold years of neglect, must of
necessity first be cleaned to make them fit abodes for divinity. Animal
passions, blinding anger and greed must be drained away. Negative values must
be shed through consistent efforts at being good, and the mind replenished with
positive values of truthfulness, love and beauty. Then alone can divinity come
to dwell within.
Spirituality is the technique you need to accomplish this change.
Actual achievement must be preceded by firm determination. Once begun, this
process gathers momentum; thereafter, constant vigilance ensures smooth
transformation.
Merely negating the outer world or our known weaknesses cannot by
itself lead to upliftment. Negation is not growth, although it prepares the
ground for that growth. In the ground thus prepared, the desired seeds must be
sown and diligently watered. Fructification follows as a matter of course. If
seeds of positive qualities are not implanted, undesirable weeds will shoot up
to create a jungle instead of a garden. Blind, unintelligent negation
unaccompanied by assiduous assertion of positive values may lead to the seeker
into a despairing vacuum. The mind is suppressed without being simultaneously
elated with positive qualities. A suppressed mind is potentially
dangerous. In an unguarded moment, it
may burst and like dynamite, blast the entire structure of progress. The seeker
who merely negates soon reaches a state of impotence and inertia. His is a
living death; a wan smile denotes not victory whatever. Hasty, though
enthusiastic, seekers have unwittingly landed onto this suicidal path. For want
of cultivation of positive qualities of the mind, many gallant seekers after
years of impressive practice, have felt bogged down or even fallen back into
the mire from which they had sought to lift themselves. Negation is essential,
yet dangerous!
A positive mind "does", rather than just refrains from
doing. Suppression of desires is replaced by positive desirelessness. A
positive mind doees not merely eschew jealousy, but rejoices in the prosperity
of others; it does not merely refrain from hating, but it Loves; it does not
just tolerate, but it forgives; it does not merely desist from telling lies,
but it always speaks the truth; it is not only free of greed, but it is
generous… A positive mind is poised in peace, free from delusions, seeking the
good of all and flowing with unbroken Love for all. A mind thus cultivated gets
attuned to The One and consequently becomes the master of all situations, never
a slave. All religions, therefore, prescribe a list of 'dos and don’ts'.
Ch.21; Recharge The Mind
In this chapter, Gurudev reminds us that we have seen how the mind
functions, currently, as a scatter-gun; that there have been mentioned,
techniques to bring the mind to bear on single fields of enquiry and
contemplation. How, in training the mind thusly, it becomes potent, obedient
and filled with vitality. At early stages of meditation, advice was to chant,
first aloud and then mentally, finally finding that the mind is focused only on
the moment - a moment in which there is a profound silence, one which might be
termed as 'emptiness'. This emptiness must not be mistaken for nothingness
(nonexistence)! The mumukshu will experience ever longer spells within that
silence, which remains dynamic, and it is here that the Eternal is discovered.
This is the transcendence which many hear about, but very few indeed will ever
truly encounter, for the world of objects is something to which the jivaatman
is so very attached. Gurudev cites the example of our ancestors being faced
with volcanoes and the effects of severe climates; had they known of the
microscopic nature of life and how it was possible to survive the rages of
Nature, would they not have been less fearful and superstitious? The advanced
level meditation which brings about the silence mentioned here is like the
discovery of the microscopic life and helps us to survive in the macroscopic.
We are not accustomed to such inner silence. Indeed, there are many
folk who are fearful of sitting with themselves this way.
When we delve into this silence, we are in the realm of Truth - it
is the ultimate achievement for the human being; in that moment of silence we
have the opportunity to truly experience divinity. Recognising it is also a bit
of a challenge and sometimes we can become distracted by 'false' experiences,
even here! At no time must we give the mind any chance of going off at a
tangent.
This is when it useful to have a directive verse to focus upon;
Gurudev provides three pages of examples… do obtain a copy of the publication
in order to benefit!