Hari
Om
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation.
We have been exploring the writings of Gurudev, through his book
'Meditation & Life'. All the instructive chapters have been rendered and
now there follows twelve 'chapters' which are designed for contemplation both
before and after each meditation session. Please note that the actual writings
of Gurudev are quite lengthy, so only the gist and key points are going to be
given here. You are
again encouraged to seek out a copy of the book to keep to hand as it is an
inspiration and with each reading something more will drop into place.
Ch. 31; The Other Shore of Samsaara
It
is a great benefit, when embarking on a journey, to have a pretty good idea the
place of destination and what it might be like - how to prepare oneself for
that 'landing'. Vedantic scriptures provide such 'travel info'! They not only
say the 'destination' is The Truth of Self, but also provide all the relevant
info for the journey which will prepare us for the arrival. What joy!
That
said, even armed with maps and compasses and road-worthy vehicles, the best of
expeditions can fail. Only one thing has to be missed, and there can be delay,
or even total disaster. In the case of the Vedantic journey, the whole of the
equipment is within ourselves - and specifically, our antaH karana.
Scientists,
artisans, poets - all sit in their respective disciplines and focus on their
particular subjects, gathering joy and satisfaction from this and finding that
their minds become quiet of all extraneous mischief, settling steadily into a
stream of thoughts centred only on their subject. This is the aim of the
spiritual 'worker' also, in the act of meditation. However, regardless how
noble and focused or how steady the mind becomes, the fact is that mind still
exists. As we have learned, existence of mind veils The Truth from us. It is
tantalizing! This mind is the cause of our non-apprehension of the Self within
us. Thus, it is imperative for the serious seeker to sublimate mind. Mind
merging into the Ultimate Reality is all that will serve. Gurudev here quotes
the saint-queen Choodalaa who advises her husband thusly;
"The
mind is the source of all vaasanaas and so is
all. It lies spread in all objects of perception and therefore it is
all-pervading. The mind projects all the perceived and experienced world, so it
is the source of all things. When the mind renounces all - when it is gathered
from all the variety of things that constitute the world - you have renounced
all."
The
mind must be stripped naked. It must become no-mind. For this reason the Rsis
constantly call for us to break through our conditionings, to loosen our ties
to a finite Self and move into the immortality that is Truly ours.
The
ego assumes individual and separate personality; it arrogates existence as
being its own and that all other things which 'exist' as being separate to its
small self. This ego then finds it requires security to solidify this delusion
and goes in search of that security. It begins to feel alone and in that
loneliness, fear and anxiety builds at the possible loss of the security built
thus far; material, impermanent and undependable. Even in its intelligence and
know the impermanence of such things, the ego seeks more and more. Ego is one
quarter of the antaH karana, but it can surely over-ride the mind, the
intellect and the inherited wisdom (chitta) with its arrogance.
End
mind, end misery. That is the call. The mind can never be the One Great
Consciousness for the time it remains aware of its small self. It must merge
with That Self in order to overcome the pain of samsaara (ocean of life).
Think!!! Quieten the mind!!! Experience "Aham Brahmaasmi"… 'That Self
I Am'!!! This is the other shore.
Rise
above low identifications and baser nature. The body is but our vehicle;
identifying with it we seek physical satisfactions. The mind is but our
communications equipment; identifying with it we assert our psychology and get
disturbed by it. The intellect is our 'moderator'; identifying with the
thoughts in it we can build many 'air castles', convincing ourselves and others
with useless arguments and fantastical theories (in samsaara's sciences they
may hold some value - but not in spiritual life). Overcoming all these
identifications we can unify our personality and transcend this existence. We
can do this by the 'yagjna' (fire service) of meditation. Light the fire of
meditation and let it burn out all falsehood, bringing about a Realisation of Self.
Start to live a life conducive to this desire. Withdraw from the external and
become internal. Gather yourself together and determine to Live the Life Divine, the highest peak of which is the temple
of meditation. As you climb, hasten slowly.
