Meditation. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

The importance of dhyana should also be recognised. Dhyana is an infallible aid to spiritual progress. Freedom from the consequence of karma can be attained through dhyana. This freedom enables the sadhaka to acquire shanti or inner tranquillity. The sweetness of the experience of inner tranquillity is derived from the fruits of dhyana. (SSVahini) (SSB 1979, p. 108)

The purpose of dhyana is to unite the Jiva and Ishvara. (SSB 1979, p. 112)

Whether of the Formful or the Formless, if it is one-pointed, devoid of deviations, it is entitled to be called Dhyana. (PraV, p. 85)

Man is endowed with unlimited powers. Not a single person is without them! But the road is missed when one is unaware of this truth. To gain awareness of this power, one must join the company of the holy, one must strive in spiritual practice (sadhana), and one must practise repetition of the divine name (Japam) and meditation (Dhyanam). (DhyV, p. 6)

Dhyanam is the process by which it is trained to acquire concentration. As a result of meditation on the highest Atma (Paramatma), the mind will withdraw from sense objects and the sensory world. Just at that time, the intellect (buddhi) must assert its authority and command the mind (manas) not to entertain any feeling except the thought of the Fundamental Basis. (DhyV, p. 7)

Dhyanam should be performed enthusiastically, with full faith and care, and strictly according to the disciplines laid down. If this is done, it will bestow not only all happiness and all victory but even the vision of the Lord. (DhyV, p. 8)

The feelings that arise in the mind, which are classified as serene, restless, and ignorant (Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika), also have to be watched and cleansed. The restlessness and ignorance have to be uprooted. Meditation is the weapon for this task. The path of meditation (dhyana marga) will destroy ignorance (Ajnana), and it will grant the individual union with the Godhead (Brahmaikyatha). (DhyV, p. 113)

The place for meditation should be a little elevated — an inch or two— from the ground. Place a mat of darbha grass (a matty, long grass grown in India) on it, spread a deer-skin on the mat, and lay a thin white cloth on the skin.

Sit on it in the lotus posture (padmasana). The right foot must be above the left and the left foot above the right. The fingers of the hand must be in close touch with one another and the hands should be placed in front. The eyes must be either half open or fully closed.

Then, by means of mental massage, relax the neck, shoulders, hands, chest, teeth, stomach, fingers, back, thighs, knees, calves, and feet. After this, one has to meditate on one’s own favourite name and form, with Om added. When this is being done, there should be no mental wanderings; one must be stable and quiet. No thought of past events, no trace of anger or hatred, and no memory of sorrow should be allowed to interfere. Even if they intrude, they should not be considered at all; to counteract them, entertain thoughts that will feed one’s enthusiasm for meditation. Of course, this may appear difficult, at first.

The best time for meditation is the quiet hours before dawn, between 3 and 5 a.m. One can awake, say, at 4 a.m. First of all, sleep has to be subdued. This is very necessary. In order to keep the hours unchanged, one may set the alarm clock for 4 a.m. and rise. Even then, if sleep continues to bother, its effect can be overcome by means of a bath in cold water. Not that it is essential to bathe; it is needed only when sleep gives much trouble.

If in this manner the path of meditation (dhyana) is rigorously followed, it is possible for one to win the grace of the Lord very quickly. (DhyV, pp. 8-9)

Sadhakas should be very clear of the purpose of Japam and Dhyanam. Japam and Dhyanam are for acquiring one-pointed attention on the Lord, for casting off sensory attachments and for attaining the joy derived from the basis of all sensory objects. (DhyV, p. 68)

First, when you sit for meditation, recite a few shlokas on the Glory of God so that the agitated mind may be calmed. Then gradually, while doing Japam, draw before the mind s eye the Form which that Name represents. When your mind wanders away from the recital of the Name, lead it onto the picture of the Form. When it wanders from the form, lead it onto the Name. Let it dwell either on that sweetness or this. Treated thus it can be easily tamed. The imaginary picture you have drawn will get transmuted into the bhava chitra (thought visualisation), dear to the heart and fixed in the memory. Gradually it will become the sakshatkara chitra (Vision of the actual Form) when the Lord assumes that Form in order to fulfil your desire. This sadhana is called japa sahita dhyana (meditation-cum-recitation of Name), and I advise you all to take it up, for it is best form of dhyana for beginners.

Within a few days you will fall in line and you will taste the joy of concentration. After about ten or fifteen minutes of this dhyana in the initial stages, and longer after some time, have some manana (contemplation) on the shanti (peace) and the soukhya (happiness) you had during the dhyana (meditation). (SSS Vol.1, p. 35)

The meditation of any one of His countless names will act as the goad that can tame the elephant in rut and make him bend his knees and lift the log on his tusk. (SSS Vol.7, p. 279)

Japam and Dhyanam should never be judged on mere external standards; they are to be judged by their inner effects. Their essence is their relationship to the Atma. One should not count the cost, the time or the trouble. One should await the descent of the Lord’s Grace. This patient waiting is itself part of the tapas of Dhyana. (DhyV, p. 10)

There are three ways by which aspirants try to enter the path of Dhyana: the Sattvika marga, the Rajasika marga and the Tamasika marga. (DhyV, p. 10)

Sattvika marga means that one considers Japam-Dhyanam as a duty and suffers any amount of trouble for its sake; one is fully convinced that all this is just an illusion; and so does only good under all conditions and times. He will spend time uninterruptedly in the remembrance and meditation of the Lord. He will not crave even for the fruits of the Japam and Dhyanam. He will leave it all to the Lord. (DhyV, p. 10)

In Rajasika Path one will be craving at every step for the fruit of one’s act. If that fruit is not available, then gradually, laxity and disgust overpower the Sadhaka and the Japam and Dhyanam slowly dry up.

Tamasika Path means that the Lord will come into the memory only in times of danger or acute suffering or when one is the victim of loss of power. At such times, the victim will arrange for this Puja, offer food or build temple to the Lord. They will be calculating the quantity of food they place before the Lord, tributes offered at His feet, and number of prostrations before the shrine and ask for proportionate awards! For those who adopt this attitude in Dhyanam, the mind and intellect can never be pure. The very intention in doing Japam and Dhyanam is to purify the Manas and the Buddhi. (DhyV, p. 11)

Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati; the knower of Atma become the Atma itself. The goal of life, that which makes life worthwhile, is the understanding of the Atma or, in other words, the basis of Jiva. Until the goal of Dhyanam is achieved, the well-established discipline of Asanas has to be followed. The curriculum has to be adhered to till then. After the attainment of the goal, that is after the Manas and the Buddhi have been conquered and brought under control, one can be immersed in Dhyanam wherever one finds oneself; on the bed, in the chair, on a rock or in a cart. The Rajasika and the Tamasika forms can never be considered as Dhyanam. If the Sadhana become fully Sattvika, it is the best. (DhyV, p. 12)

Dhyana and Dhyana alone has the capacity to make a person transcend the vicissitudes of time and space and make him ever the same equanimous individual, as if he were another Creator himself. (DhyV, p. 17)

Do not worry about the unsatisfactory environment you may have. It may not be an ideal place. But it is no use trying to run away from all that. You can overcome the drawbacks by training your mind. Stay there itself and pray to the Lord! Pride is an insidious vice; so at the slightest inkling of the disease, try your best to eradicate it by retiring into a lonely spot and engaging yourself in Dhyanam. Delay is dangerous. ‘Even Amrita, if the dose is delayed, becomes a poison’, says the proverb. Remember this, and act swiftly. Dhyanam stills the agitated mind and makes it clear and full of joy. (DhyV, p. 73)

Dhyana is superior to Citta. Dhyana is fixing of the Buddhi on the Divine.

In Dhyana, all agitations cease, all modifications are unnoticed. (UV, p. 58)

Sitting in Padmasana and trying to awaken the Kundalini Shakti (life energy) in the Muladhara and leading it up to Sahasrara in the head is not the real Dhyana. True Dhyana consists in recognising the presence of God everywhere and manifesting that awareness (spiritual awareness) in every bit of work we do. (TTFFW, p. 13)

Today, man aspires for positions of authority though he does not deserve them. But, Rama relinquished the position even though He deserved it. Rama was courageous in the face of adversities. He never gave any scope for weakness. He led the life of a Dheera (courageous one), not a Deena (weak-minded). (SSS Vol.32 Part I, p. 109)

When you clean the floor, think that you are cleaning your heart; while cutting vegetables, feel that you cutting away your bad qualities; as you go on crushing / flattening the wheat dough for your chapatis, imagine that you are crushing your ego, and expanding your heart! While taking bath, feel that you are doing Abhishekam (holy bath) to the Lord Shiva residing in your body as Consciousness. While eating food, think only God, thanking Him at every bite, and munch for having given you the food, the appetite and ability to enjoy the taste, as well the capacity to digest and assimilate the food. Thus your eating will become a bliss- giving Dhyana or Meditation. (NNSG Vol.4, p. 28)