Monday, April 22, 2013

(Apr 22, 2013) Controlling of the Mind and Senses through the Sadhana-Chatustaya

Controlling of the Mind and Senses Through the Sadhana-Chatustaya
From Divine Life Society Publication: “The Path to Freedom: Mastering the Art of Total Perception” 
by Swami Krishnananda

Why is it that you want the spiritual life? What do you know about it? What has made you get attracted towards it? The details may be variegated, but there is one very essential point to remember: Your want for God should be a positive longing and not a negative retreat.

We treat the world as a kind of object, and we would like to treat spiritual life and the path of spiritual sadhana, also as a kind of object. The first and foremost psychological qualification required of us is peace of mind. A self-controlled person with a tranquil mind, subdued in the senses and the mind alone approaches a Master for the knowledge of the higher life.

Sadhana-chatustaya is a Sanskrit word which means the fourfold qualification of sadhana:
Viveka is discrimination, power of understanding, the capacity to discriminate the real from the unreal
Vairagya is dispassion, the lack of taste for the objects of the world due to the recognition of their essence
Satsampat or the sixfold qualifications is of an emotional and personal nature
Mumukshutva is the yearning for freedom

After these qualifications shravana-chatustaya or the other set of four is said to follow:
Sravana is listening to the teachings from the Master;
Manana is reflection, deep consideration over it, thinking deeply over what is heard;
Nididhyasana is profound meditation; and
Satshatkara is realization

The third of the sadhana-chatustaya is satsampat.  Kshama (tranquility of the mind) and dhama (control of the senses), said to be the internal and external control respectively, are perhaps the most prominent of moral qualifications, followed by uparati, shraddha, titiksha, and samadhan.

Mumukshutva – longing for God in its essential nature, is supposed to be pre-eminent among the four qualifications.

The tranquillity of mind that one has to acquire and the control of senses that one is to achieve, called kshama, shanti, should be a natural outcome for God-realisation. The mind cannot be subdued by ordinary means of tapasya – by dieting, vigil, studies, walks, and so on – though in the beginning it appears to be subdued. As long as there are samskaras or psychological impressions in the inner layers of our hearts, our minds cannot be in peace.

Physical isolation from tempting objects is one part, though, the objects are not the temptations, they are used as temptations by the power of our own mind. Some of the important preparations for control of the senses and subdual of the mind are:

Svadyaya, a disciplined study of a specific literature like Moksha Sastras, conducted daily,
Japa of a mantra, like the Gayatri mantra,
Physical isolation from tempting things as far as possible,
Prarthana or prayer to God , an inner contact established with God, with devotion. If we cannot pray without words, we may offer prayers with words, chants, mantras, hymns, stotras, etc., because the stotras, in words, convey prayers or thoughts for our sake.

Remember, na hi kalyāṇakṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati (Gita 6.40): If we honestly aspire for the good, we shall not be defeated. The grace of God is there and the meritorious deeds that we performed in the past will also help us. Therefore, sadhakas should go with confidence of mind that the world is behind them as a help and not as an opposition, because God will speak through the faces of nature. The divinities that preside over the corners of the world shall act as a leaning staff to the plodding soul in its march to perfection, if only its longing is genuine and the aspirations come from the heart.

Continue to read:
The Meaning and Method of Meditation” by Swami Krishnananda
Sadhana Tattva” by Swami Sivananda
The Purpose of Life” by Swami Sivananda

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http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi
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