The Recession of Effects to Causes
A method of meditation prescribed in the Yoga-Vasishtha is in terms of
the resolving of effects into their causes. The mind restrained, the senses
subdued, settled in one's emotions, and away from the distractions of life,
having had enough of the satisfaction obtainable through the senses, mind and
intellect, one should seat oneself in a comfortable posture and chant the
Mantra of universal vibration, OM, or Pranava. The recitation of OM in proper
intonation should continue so long as the mind attains to inner peace. A few
rounds of deep inhalation and exhalation of the breath for some time will
assist in the settling of the mind in itself.
An attempt should be made to withdraw the senses from their respective
objects and place them in communion with their divinities – the ears as the
hearing organ in the vast reverberation of Space, the sense of touch in the
all-pervading Air, the eyes as the senses of vision in the divinity of the Sun,
the sense of taste in the deity Varuna, the sense of smell in the principle of
the Earth, the organ of speech in Agni, the grasping power of the hands in
Indra, the locomotion of the feet in Vishnu; the mind in the Moon, the
subconscious and memory in Vishnu, the ego in Rudra, and the intellect in
Brahma.
One should deeply feel that the physical body constituted of earth,
water, fire, air and ether, is dissolved in the original elements. Thus, the
total individuality of the person should be set in tune with the Virat, the
animating Intelligence of the Cosmos. The Virat-consciousness should then be
dissolved in the universal subtle body, namely, Hiranyagarbha, or Sutratman.
Hiranyagarbha, then, should be dissolved in Ishvara, the Universal Causal
Principle, in which the entire creation remains in an unmanifested state, which
again, should be dissolved in Brahman, the Pure Absolute.
It should be borne in mind that the attachment of the seer for the
seen is the real bondage. The distinction drawn between 'I' and 'you' in common
parlance is a false proposition. Wisdom consists in the abolition of the very
consciousness of the externality of things. The mind gets fattened with its
egoism by the acquisition of desirable objects, by affection and attachment.
When the mind is freed from contact in any form of externality, it merges into
the General Consciousness (Satta-Samanya). All this world of objects, inanimate
as well as animate, is a manifestation of the One Universal Self.
The mind is controlled either by the restraint of its functions, or by
the perception of the One Reality everywhere. The first method is called Yoga
and the second is known as Jnana. The regulation of the breath, the restraint
of the functions of the mind, and the constant dwelling on the consciousness of
the Universal Brahman, are the ways to the attainment of spiritual perfection.
Constantly brooding over Brahman, speaking always about Brahman, awakening one
another mutually on the nature of Brahman, and entirely depending on Brahman
alone for one's very existence, is the highest method of meditation known as
Brahman-Abhyasa.
The Katha Upanishad suggests a similar method. The consciousness of
objects operating through the sense-organs should be united with the Cosmic
Reason, the Omniscient to settle in the mind which is the source and impulsion
behind the operation of the senses. The mind should be withdrawn into the
intellect or reason. The reason should be united with the Cosmic Reason, the
Omniscient Mahat. The Universal Reason should be merged in the Unmanifest
Potential of creation, called Avyakta. This last condition should be identified
with the Absolute Brahman.
The Manusmriti also suggests the method of the merging of effects in
their causes – Earth in Water, Water in Fire, Fire in Air, Air in Space, and
Space in the Universal Being. The Samkhya, the Yoga and the Vedanta do all have
a system of tracing back all the effects in creation to their causes, in the
manner indicated above, until the great Cause of all causes, the Causeless
Cause, is reached and consciousness is fixed on it in a state of identity.
The Mandukya Upanishad is a standard statement on the method of realizing
the unity of the waking consciousness with the Virat-consciousness, the
dream-consciousness with the Hiranyagarbha-consciousness, the causal state of
sleep with the universal creative potential, Ishvara, and the fundamental
Atman-consciousness with Brahman, the Absolute.
The meditations of consciousness gradually get inwardised, from the
physical to the vital, from the vital to the mental, from the mental to the
intellectual, from the intellectual to the causal, and from the causal to the
universal, as described in the Taittiriya-Upanishad, in the manner carried on
by the Sage Bhrigu under the instruction of his father Varuna. So also is the
way of the cosmology of the Aitareya Upanishad.
The gradual ascent of consciousness through various stages until the
attainment of Bhuma, the Plenum of Being, as taught by Sage Sanatkumara to
Narada, recorded in the Chhandogya Upanishad is also a way of the dissolution
of the lower in the higher, the effect in the cause.
The Anu-Gita of the Mahabharata goes into details as to the
dissolution of the effects in their cosmological causes. The Second Book of the
Srimad Bhagavata delineates the systematic ascent of the aspiring consciousness
from the lowest physical level up to the highest state of the ultimate cause,
Vishnu, or Virat. These suggestions in meditation are some of the most
easy-to-understand techniques, since the method followed is from the known to
the unknown in an evolutionary procedure of identity with the Ultimate Godhead.
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