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.22: Secret of Success
How is education nurtured? Through books, associations, practice of
things learned… those books, associations and practices being subject-specific.
Similarly, culture is nourished through appropriate books and association with
others who have experience in the field. Meditation can best be maintained by
the intelligent study of scriptures (vichaara), companionship with like minds
(satsanga), and by conscientious application of the principles, deliberately
living the a life of meditation.
There are those who expect, even demand, shortcuts to perfection.
Fast-track meditation and moksha. There are none! Some 'black marketeers' of
religion and spiritualism might try to tell you otherwise. Such false
advertising is readily found in various publications, lavishly printed, loudly
spruiked.
No Guru can promise or provide shortcuts - other than to advise the
cutting of the ego!
Almost all hurdles arise because the psychological state we are in;
a state which we have the power to alter by using the techniques of Vedanta
and, more specifically, meditation. However great medication may be, the
disease will not be cured just by having the medicine on the bedside. It must
be ingested. That too, regularly according to prescription. Similarly,
techniques, methods, theories cannot of themselves bring us to the heights of
meditation. Only application of them can do that, as we slowly and deliberately
renounce the false in search of the True.
Novices must develop sincerity and intent in their daily practice of
meditation. 'Life' must take place; be sure to attend to it… but never forget
to make that daily practice. Never forget the greater mission of life for a
human being is to rise the highest, cleanest personality they can be… and
beyond. Become more and more attached to the Higher and find that the lower
will naturally fall away. "The extent of
your success in attaching the mind to the nobler values of life wil be directly
proportional to the amount of detachment you gain from the low and the
vicious." Progress is not possible without renunciation of the
'here' for the 'there'. Unless we are ready to take a step forward, we cannot
leave the place where we stand. All obstructions in the spiritual path are
obstructions put up by ourselves. Even if they appear to be from the external -
this is important to note. Remembering the nature of karma and prarabdha,
nothing comes to us that is not meant for us.
"Many unintelligent students of
spirituality, in their attempt to understand the scriptural significance
through mere book study, come to the hasty conclusion that the Vedantic
technique of meditation cannot help an individual in life. A few even strive to
prove the meditation practicing regularly is, in fact, heading for failure, by
suggesting it is some kind of 'life avoidance'. Vedanta is not in any sense of
the term a pessimistic negation of life. It is a healthy philosophy which
promotes the growth and happiness of the human being both in the individual and
the communal life."
The more focused the practitioner can be in everyday life, the
greater will be the success in meditation also. Conversely, meditation properly
practiced will bring increased focus in daily life. Ethical and moral standards
rise, devotion increases, mind and intellect expand. The integrity of character
which can be developed brings its own kind of liberation, even if the full
spiritual goal of moksha is not attained in the current life - and ensures a
rise of circumstance in subsequent lives.
"True meditation can fashion out
of any ordinary person an incomparable genius...people of great wisdom…
meditate and grow!"