by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 15
Nov. 2001

CHAPTER SIXTEEN- ON MEDITATION - Part 4

Meditation the vital support of life.

Continued from Chapter fourteen which dealt with The Benefits of Meditation- on the mind, knowledge and the bliss sheaths.

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

In order to be one with it and thus regain its original potential the jiva or the individual soul must expand shedding all limitations of narrowness, breaking all shackles that restrict it and keeps it tied down to petty desires and steals away its divinity. Only when the consciousness expands and engulfs the entire universe, there is mukti - true freedom, mokshya - the emancipation, nirvana - the deliverance - or whatever other name you may give it. They all mean the same.

   
Meditation is a very conscious practice of this expansion of mind , which is the seat of consciousness. That is why meditation is necessarily Bramha chintan- fixation of thoughts with Bramhan, meaning literally the great, the omnipresent, the omnipotent, the omniscient.

What practical message this holds in our day to day life?

If we analyse our own lives, the universal thing that will strike us is the fact that how much self centred we have been in every thing that we do or think."Me" and "about me" are of primary consideration- rest are all secondary.

This narrowness of thinking pervades all the dimensions of our living. Whether material related (Vastu sanjita), personality related (vyakti sanjita) or time related (kala sanjita).

We live our entire life identifying us with our immediate material surroundings- my house, my land, my possessions etc. When the Lord brought us into existence, He implanted us in his own creation as an essential element of this vast expansive viswa or universe. The fact that we all have a role in the running of the entire universe, seldom crosses our mind. Even a single act of ours - how insignificant it may appear, alters and influences some activity some where in this grand design. Earlier we talked in this forum the interconnectivity and interdependency of all constituents of this vast matrix, this creation. Does that not impose on us a responsibility to take into account what effect even a small action will have on another person, another life, another system of which I am a part? This is how the sanatana philosophy imagined shedding of all narrowness of mind. I see myself in the viswa and the viswa in me, I am the viswa, I am the Bramhan.

The concept does not call for total ignoring of ones immediate surroundings, which provide sustenance for life, but calls for a reorientation of mental attitude that we are a part of much bigger design.

The positive impact of such attitude governs, influences and eliminates many selfish actions that we do every day knowingly and unknowingly. That is how the quality of living gets refined. There will be fewer actions, which we instinctively do and regret later. The result is greater peace of mind. 'I am the Vishwa' -"viswoham" does not then become a mere japa or meditational practice - but a moral guideline for practical living.

The other dimension of narrowness of mind which is closely related is personality oriented or vyakti sanjita. It is indeed strange that how, if we analyse our entire life, we find that practically everything that we have been indulging in, is to serve our individual self. Selfishness has always been the motive influence. Even when we say that we have been working for near and dear ones, our own family, the underlying motive has been me alone. There has always been an expectation of return even form our spouse, children, friends In our benevolence, and everything that we have done for them, has been with the expectation that they will serve my purpose. Even in doing charity we have been expecting a return for ourselves. Very rare indeed are people who are not afflicted with this disease of selfishness. All the wisdom of working for the Lord, service before the self etc are set aside once we leave the satsang or close the books of knowledge, and get immersed in this world.