(May 19,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Meditation on Mahavakyas by Sri Swami Sivananda

 Meditation on Mahavakyas

Divine Life Society Publication: - Meditation by Sri Swami Sivananda

Mahavakyas are the sacred sentences of the Srutis. They are four in number:

1. 'Prajnanam Brahma.' – Consciousness is Brahman (Aitareya Upanishad of Rig-Veda)

2. 'Aham Brahma Asmi.' – I am Brahman (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of Yajur-Veda)

3. 'Tat Tvam Asi.'- That Thou Art (Chhandogya Upanishad of Sama Veda)

4. 'Ayam Atma Brahma.' – This Atman is Brahman (Mandukya Upanishad of Atharvana Veda)

The first is a Lakshana Vakya which gives a definition of Brahman and imparts Tatbodha-Jnana. The second is an Anubhava Vakya that gives Sakshi-Jnana. Third is Upadesha Vakya and bestows Siva Jnana. Guru instructs the disciple. Fourth is Sakshatkara Vakya which confers Brahma-Jnana. You can take any Mahavakya and meditate on it as you do on OM.

Meditation on Aham Brahma Asmi: Constantly feel that you are the Suddha Sat-Chit-Ananda Vyapaka Atman (Pure, Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute, All-Pervading Brahman), when you repeat mentally: "Aham Brahma Asmi." Lip repetition will not produce much benefit. You must intensely feel from the subjective heart. Gradually, you will be taken to superconscious state through deep feeling.

Sit in your Asana on a fourfold blanket. Face North or East and constantly feel:

1. Infinity I am.

2. Eternity I am.

3. Immortality I am.

Meditation on Mahavakyas is tantamount to meditation on OM. You can take either 'Aham Brahma Asmi' or 'Tat Tvam Asi' Mahavakya, and meditate on its significance. Negate or throw out the Koshas yourself and identify with the one essence that lies behind them.

Meditate. Purify your mind. Practise concentration in a solitary room. Then squeeze out the Upanishads and the Gita from your heart. Do not depend upon imperfect commentaries. If you are sincere, you will understand the real Sankalpa of the Rishis of the Upanishads and Lord Krishna, you will know what they really meant when they uttered those wise Slokas.

Unfold the Divinity that is lurking in your heart by concentration and meditation. Do not waste your time. Do not waste your life.

Negative Meditation

"I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa." Meditate on the above ideas constantly. Feel you are the Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa always, all through twenty-four hours. Negate the body-idea. Incessant Sadhana is necessary to remove Deha-Adhyasa which is due to Anadi Samskaras (beginningless impressions). If you can go above the body-consciousness, if you can leave the body at will, three fourths of your Sadhana is over. There is a little balance only. Then, there remains only the drawing of the curtain, removal of the veil of Avidya. That can be done quite easily. Even when you move about, even when you are at work, always feel that you are all-pervading, infinite Brahman. This is important. Thinking, concentration and efforts to separate yourself from the body should go together. In negative meditation, the Jnani dwells in Suddha, Nirguna Brahman. He has no consciousness of the world.

Positive Meditation

1. I am the All (Sarvatva)

2. I am in All (Sarvatmaka) 

Meditate on the above ideas. In this meditation, the body and the world are taken as Brahman. As expressions of Brahman they are included. It is highly preposterous to think that Brahman is by itself full of Ananda and that which is expressed out of Brahman is full of misery, pain and sorrow. Pessimism should be shunned. It is the Jiva Srishti that is at the bottom of all pain and misery. There is nothing wrong in Isvara Srishti. Isvara Srishti does not give the least pain. On the contrary, it is Kama, Krodha, idea of mine, thine, "I am the doer" etc., that cause all trouble. This is due to Ajnana which causes identification with the limited mind.

Repeat the above idea mentally at all times. Feel you are the All. Feel that your Shakti is working in all bodies. Constantly dwell on these ideas: "The whole world is my body. All bodies are mine. All lives are mine. All pains are mine. All joys are mine." Jealousy, anger, hatred, egoism all will vanish. In the Samadhi of positive meditation, the Jnani sees within himself the world as a movement of ideas. He is both Saguna and Nirguna.

Excerpts from:

Meditation on Mahavakyas by Sri Swami Sivananda

 

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(June 19,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Discrimination of the Mahavakyas (The Great Sentences)

Discrimination of the Mahavakyas

Divine Life Society Publication: The Philosophy of the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

There are four Mahavakyas, or great statements in the Upanishads, which have a profound significance as pointers to Reality. 

The Mahavakyas

 These Mahavakyas convey the essential teaching of the Upanishads, namely, Reality is one, and the individual is essentially identical with it.

‘Consciousness is Brahman’

In the sentence, ‘ Prajnanam Brahma’ or Consciousness is Brahman, a definition of Reality is given. The best definition of Brahman would be to give expression to its supra-essential essence, and not to describe it with reference to accidental attributes, such as creatorship etc. That which is ultimately responsible for all our sensory activities, as seeing, hearing, etc., is Consciousness. Though Consciousness does not directly see or hear, it is impossible to have these sensory operations without it. Hence it should be considered as the final meaning of our mental and physical activities. Brahman is that which is Absolute, fills all space, is complete in itself, to which there is no second, and which is continuously present in everything, from the creator down to the lowest of matter. It, being everywhere, is also in each and every individual. This is the meaning of Prajnanam Brahma occurring in the Aitareya Upanishad.

‘I Am Brahman’

In the sentence, ‘ Aham Brahmasmi,’ or I am Brahman, the ‘I’ is that which is the One Witnessing Consciousness, standing apart form even the intellect, different from the ego-principle, and shining through every act of thinking, feeling, etc. This Witness-Consciousness, being the same in all, is universal, and cannot be distinguished from Brahman, which is the Absolute. Hence the essential ‘I’ which is full, super-rational and resplendent, should be the same as Brahman. This is not the identification of the limited individual ‘I’ with Brahman, but it is the Universal Substratum of individuality that is asserted to be what it is. The copula ‘am’ does not signify any empirical relation between two entities, but affirms the non-duality of essence. This dictum is from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

‘That Thou Art’

In the Chhandogya Upanishad occurs the Mahavakya, ‘ Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘That thou art’. Sage Uddalaka mentions this nine times, while instructing his disciple Svetaketu in the nature of Reality. That which is one alone without a second, without name and form, and which existed before creation, as well as after creation, as pure Existence alone, is what is referred to as Tat or That, in this sentence. The term Tvam stands for that which is in the innermost recesses of the student or the aspirant, but which is transcendent to the intellect, mind, senses, etc., and is the real ‘I’ of the student addressed in the teaching. The union of Tat and Tvam is by the term Asi or are. That Reality is remote is a misconception, which is removed by the instruction that it is within one’s own self. The erroneous notion that the Self is limited is dispelled by the instruction that it is the same as Reality.

‘This Self is Brahman’

The Mahavakya, ‘Ayam Atma Brahma’ or ‘This Self is Brahman’, occurs in the Mandukya Upanishad. ‘ Ayam’ means ‘this’, and here ‘thisness’ refers to the self-luminous and non-mediate nature of the Self, which is internal to everything, from the Ahamkara or ego down to the physical body. This Self is Brahman, which is the substance out of which all things are really made. That which is everywhere, is also within us, and what is within us is everywhere. This is called ‘Brahman’, because it is plenum, fills all space, expands into all existence, and is vast beyond all measure of perception or knowledge. On account of self-luminosity, non-relativity and universality, Atman and Brahman are the same. This identification of the Self with Absolute is not any act of bringing together two differing natures, but is an affirmation that absoluteness or universality includes everything, and there is nothing outside it.

Continue to read:

The Philosophy of the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

Mahavakyas by Gurudev Swamiji Sivananda

A Call to Liberation by Swami Chidananda

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