Self-Withdrawal and Self-Discovery
Divine Life
Society Publication: The Yoga of
Meditation by Swami Krishnananda
The world we live in, according
to Buddhist psychology, is Kama-Loka or the
world of desire, in which the Kama-chitta or
the desireful mind operates, like a hungry tiger prowling in a dense forest. Kama-Loka is the private picture
which each individual mind projects upon the screen of the scientific world or
the world of true forms, known as Rupa-Loka. There
is a meaning that is read by an individual into everything that is of the world
of forms. This meaning is Kama or desire.
An object is beautiful or ugly, good or bad, 'mine' or 'not-mine'. Such
evaluations and understandings of the mind in regard to the object-forms are
its own desires or Kama. This would
prove that we live in the world of desire rather than the world of true forms,
for we cannot imagine an object to be entirely free from these personal
evaluations mentioned.
The scientific world, on the
other hand, is neither 'mine' nor 'not mine', neither beautiful nor ugly,
neither good nor bad, for in this realm of true forms or Rupa-Loka objects exist by
themselves, independent of evaluations by others. The mind which perceives
these true forms behind the projected pictures of desire is Rupa-Chitta. The first step in
meditation would be to withdraw consciousness as Kama-Chitta
from the Kama-Loka and raise it to Rupa-Chitta of Rupa-Loka. This is tantamount to
viewing things in their own nature, objectively, without foisting upon them
one's own subjective wishes. This is one of the most difficult things to
perform in meditation. In short, to function in the Rupa-Loka
would be to think as an object would think of itself, irrespective of any idea
of it by a subject. This is something like raising oneself to the Kantian world
of quantity, quality, relation and modality, independent of personal passions
and prejudices.
The transcendental mind
operates almost abolishing the distinction between mind and its objects, where
one borders upon the cosmic mind which has no objects outside itself. Patanjali details them as Savitarka,
Nirvitarka, Savichara and Nirvichara –The stages of Samadhi.
The methods prescribed to rise
from Kama-Loka to Rupa-Loka are: (a) inhibition of
bodily and mental functions by Asana, Pranayama
and Pratyahara; (b) concentration on
one selected object without thinking of another, by Dharana;
(c) replacement of the object by a mental image of it; (d) divesting the image
of all concrete sensations and conceiving the image in an abstract mental
cognition with all the individualised characters of the image. It is here that Rupa-Jnana or the lowest form of
super-normal perception dawns.
There are five stages of Rupa-Dhyana or meditation on the
true forms of things, viz., (a) removal of stupor by reasoning or Vitarka; (b) removal of doubt by
discrimination or Vichara; (c)
removal of aversion by compassion or Karuna; (d)
removal of distraction or worry by contentment or Mudita;
(e) removal of sensuous desire by one-pointedness or Ekagrata. The emphasis in the
method of Patanjali is on concentrating gradually on more and more subtle
objects, while in the Buddhistic method stress is laid on greater and greater
elimination of objective consciousness.
There are four stages of Arupa-Dhyana or meditation on the
subtle essences of things (we may say Tanmatras): (a)
In the first stage the mind transcends the consciousness of matter and form, of
distinctions and limitations, and gets concentrated on the idea of infinite
space. This infinite perception brings joy to the mind, for here
space-perception is freed from the usual concrete empirical perception of it and
raised to a non-empirical abstract concept. (b) In the second stage, the mind
transcends the concept of infinite space and is concentrated on the concept of
infinite awareness; it is merely aware of a concept of consciousness as
infinite. (c) In the third stage the conditions of the 2nd stage are overcome
and the mind gets concentrated on the infinite void and is aware of the void
alone. (d) In the fourth stage, the lower stages are transcended and the mind
rises to a state where there is no knowing, or non-knowing, but an inexplicable
awareness, which is pure and simple.
Beyond this is the realm of Lokottara-Chitta, which no one can
describe, for here the mind assumes the state of Cosmic Being and is one with
the forms of all cosmic processes.
According to Patanjali, the
lowest stage of mental concentration is known as Savitarka,
wherein the mind in concentration becomes one with the gross object (Sthula Artha) associated with its
name (Sabda) and concept (Jnana). The second stage is of Nirvitarka, in which the mind gets
united with the gross object as free from name and concept. It is not the
object that becomes known by the consciousness here, but the consciousness
freed from the sense of 'I' and 'mine' gets identified with the object. There
is no 'I-ness' or 'this-ness' in regard to the subject or object, but the two
become one and there is only the consciousness of the object in a state of
union. The third stage is of Savichara, wherein
the mind in concentration becomes one with the subtle object, like atoms and
forces or Tanmatras etc., coupled with the ideas of space, time and causality
and connected with the several attributes and relations. The fourth stage is of
Nirvichara, wherein the mind in
concentration becomes one with the subtle object, like the forces behind
things, Tanmatras in their essences, free from the notions of space, time and
causality and free from all attributes and conditioning relations. The fifth
stage is of Sananda, where the mind in deep determinate concentration becomes
one with the joy of Sattva, by the
subjugation of Rajas and Tamas, though the latter are not
completely destroyed here. The sixth stage is of Sasmita,
wherein the mind in deep determinate concentration becomes one with the pure
universal intellect or Mahat which is
almost indistinguishable from the Universal Self. Here Rajas and Tamas are completely overcome and Sattva shines in its full splendour
and glory. With a distinction of determinate and indeterminate meditation in
the Sananda and Sasmita stages, the total steps to
be covered become eight in number.
All these are the stages of
what Patanjali calls Samprajnata or
the objectively conscious condition in various stages of subtlety of being,
tending to universality. Beyond all these is Asamprajnata or
the non-objective absolute state of being which is attained by supreme
dispassion, resulting in the stoppage of all mental functions, leaving,
however, the impressions of their cessation.
Transcendent to everything,
there is the Nirbija-Satta or the seedless
Absolute Existence, without even these impressions mentioned above. Here, the
Goal of life is reached.
Continue to read:
The Yoga of
Meditation by Swami Krishnananda
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