by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 14
 Sept - Oct. 2001

CHAPTER FIFTEEN- ON MEDITATION - Part 3

The Benefits of Meditation - on the mind, knowledge and the bliss sheaths

Continued from Chapter thirteen which dealt with The Benefits of Meditation

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

As was said earlier, we have these great demons Meghanada, Ravana, Kansa and great many others possessing great physical and mental power acquired through tapasya and meditation. But they remained happily chained to the achievements of body and vitality. They remained sub-human asuras.
   
On the other hand we have also Hanuman - a vanara. ( Vanara means va- nara i.e. other than human) Hanuman also possessed great physical power and will force equal to any other demon. However Hanuman chose to surrender himself to the Divine Rama and constantly meditate on Him, establishing Rama in his chitta - the heart of hearts. As a result, he lifted himself beyond his subhuman plane and attended divinity. All symbols convey messages to us. I re-describe this symbolic interpretation to emphasize the point as to what possibilities exist and what fruits of meditation could be acquired by each of us.

Broadly speaking, concentrated effort towards meditation calms down and evens out the vital breath and by that, works on the entire body as well as mind, in a beneficial way. Prana, regulates, controls,and evens out activities of the entire body, including the mind- repeat - including the mind.

Step by step we are led from Kosha to Kosha,- sheath to sheath.

We may take the help again of the symbolic representation from our puranas which abound in illustrations to drive home a good point.

Who is leading us? It is that divine being. As the seer Svetasvatara observed in his Upanishad,

Mahaan Prabhurvai purusha satvasya esa pravartakah

The mighty Divinity indeed is the guide - pravartaka - of our essential nature. Since our essential nature is development and evolution, the Divine guides us in this quest constantly.

From this point it is not difficult to understand that the mind is next affected. Harmonious breathing - the harmony in the vital breath, has a direct relationship with the tranquility of mind. Fluctuations of breath as we all experience every day, is directly related to oscillations of mind.

From this point it is not difficult to understand that the mind is next affected. Harmonious breathing - the harmony in the vital breath, has a direct relationship with the tranquility of mind. Fluctuations of breath as we all experience every day, is directly related to oscillations of mind.

It is quite revealing - and it was discovered by our seers thousands of years ago - that breath control is essential for mind control. If my breath is uneven, if I am breathing heavily then it will be impossible to concentrate and do meditation. It is an essential prerequisite.

In Patanjali's astanga yoga prakriya or eightfold yoga practice you will notice six steps are non physical, but he prescribes two actions which are purely physical. One is aasana or correct posture of sitting down and the other is praanaayama or breath control. The importance of aasana is easy to understand. Unless you have a comfortable and suitable posture you can not meditate. But why pranayama or breath control as a part and parcel of meditation? Precisely because breath greatly influences and controls the mind.

 

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