(Apr 7,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Svadhyaya – Its Practical Value by Swami Chidananda

 Svadhyaya: Its Practical Value

Divine Life Society Publication: God as Mother by Swami Chidananda

Mother Saraswati is actually an embodiment of the Vedas. Vedas mean transcendent knowledge of the Supreme Being. Upanishads are the highest reaches of the Vedas. We have been told how the very quintessence of these Upanishads was given to humanity in the form of the Bhagavad Gita. Therefore, Mother is present to the aspirant in the form of this unique universal scripture, Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Therefore, all great spiritual teachers, Acharyas, have enjoined upon the seekers to regularly, daily, study the Gita. We must always worship the Mother in Her form as the Gita, by unfailingly going to the Gita every day and trying to imbibe the gospel of the Gita gradually into our own lives. This instruction to read the Gita has been specially stressed in the Dinacharya which Gurudev has given to all aspirants living the divine life at his sacred feet. We also know that in the Niyama of the Patanjali Darshana, Svadhyaya is one of the important items. 

We have seen how Mother Saraswati the Parashabda or the Primal Sound is manifest in Her various progressive aspects as Dhvani, then the articulate sound or Vak, and the specific Vak in the form of letters of the alphabet, and combination of letters giving us the Nama or the name and the Artha of the Nama appearing before us in the form of Rupa. As Mother is thus embodied in and through the sacred letters of the scriptures, all spiritual books and also Dharma-Granthas and all scriptures are therefore a mass of Saraswati Tattva. She gives us the knowledge of the Transcendent Being in and through Her Form as the written letter and the word. Therefore, when we take up the spiritual scripture and study it as part of our daily routine, we actually come into contact of Saraswati and try to be instructed by Her directly as She is manifest in the word. 

Svadhyaya is an important Anga of daily Sadhana. Its importance to the spiritual aspirant is manifold; but at least one very significant part which Svadhyaya plays in the realm of Sadhana may just be touched upon, for it will show us how it helps to increase the Sattva and spiritual qualities in the thoughts, in the Bhava or consciousness of the seekers. 

We know the entire nature and the make-up of the spiritual Sadhana is decided by one’s Samskaras. The mind is everything; and the mind is but a bundle of Samskaras. These Samskaras are acquired by Vyavahara. Contact with external objects, moving with persons, the experience of these contacts, go to form more and more Samskaras in the being. If these Samskaras go on increasing day by day, they become a terrible downward pull, a force tending to externalize and making the mind more and more Vishayakara. But they cannot be completely avoided. It is impossible to completely cut off all Vyavahara for the vast majority of spiritual seekers. Therefore, as a supreme psychological method of counteracting these Samskaras, these spiritual ideas are made to get into the mind through daily study of elevating scriptures. For by daily, diligent and regular study of scriptures, every day the spiritual aspirant takes into himself a whole mass of sublime spiritualizing, life-transforming ideas; and they form powerful, positive, Sattvic, spiritual Samskaras in the mind of the seeker. Thus, they help to overcome the unfortunate unspiritual Samskaras that are gathered inevitably during the course of daily Vyavahara. They have got the power to give a fresh Bhava to the aspirant. They change the thoughts, the Samskaras and the very Bhava of the aspirant. This daily feeding of the nature of the seeker with spiritual and Sattvic food in the form of ideas is achieved by our contact with Mother Saraswati in Her form of sacred scriptures—the lives of Saints, Gita, Bhagavata, Ramayana, Bible, Quran, Zend Avesta, Dhammapada. 

Also, we find this creation of a set of powerful positive spiritual ideas in the mind help the aspirant during Dhyana, during the practice of concentration and inward meditation. We find that when an aspirant tries to do Dhyana, the mind wanders. In the beginning stages of Dhyana, this wandering is very powerful. The entire process becomes a see-saw, a sort of tug of war; the mind is brought to the Lakshya and it wanders again. There is one very undesirable thing here; when it wanders, the field of its idea in which this wandering takes place is all sensual, gross and worldly. This wandering cannot be arrested except by gradual practice and Vairagya. But in the meantime a change can be brought about; even if the mind wanders, provided that a whole set of powerful spiritual ideas are daily pushed into the mind through Svadhyaya, the field of ideas through which the mind wanders in its Vikshepa becomes gradually Sattvic. Instead of wandering in a vicious set of ideas, the mind has now a field of pure ideas, great ideas, elevating, Sattvic ideas through which it wanders. The wandering then becomes less harmful to the aspirant. The daily Svadhyaya is an invaluable asset to the aspirant.

Excerpts from:

Svadhyaya: Its Practical Value   - God as Mother by Swami Chidananda

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(July 23,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Kenopanishad

Kenopanishad

Divine Life Society Publication: Essays on the Upanishads by Swami Krishnananda

Karma and upasana act as steps leading to jnana. The immediate reality experienced by the human being is the physical body connected with the physical world. The function of the body is to act objectively in relation to external existence. It is never possible to keep one’s individuality inactive, because activity is a necessity that urges the individuality to transcend itself in some other state that is superior to the preceding one. Action can be destroyed through action alone, even as iron is cut by iron. Individuality can be transcended through individuality.

Upasana is a mental act, while karma may also be a physical act. Mind also is a constituent of individuality. The mind can be transcended through mind itself. The laws of the body and the mind are overcome through karma and upasana. Karma should be done as a necessity of individual life and not as a process of self-satisfaction. This is the distinction between selflessness and selfishness. Upasana is the method of subduing the distractive character of the mind through concentration on the one objective reality, viz., God. God is the unified wholeness of objectivity, though in upasana it is not possible to consider God as the secondless Absolute. The body becomes steady and calm; the mind becomes unshaken and the aspirant becomes fit for the higher state of Self-knowledge by purification attained thus through karma and upasana.

All actions done for the sake of the satisfaction of oneself become mothers of rebirth, because every desire has to be fulfilled today or tomorrow. The vastness of desires makes it impossible for the individual to fulfill all of them in this life itself. The nature of the future birth is determined by the desires that are left unfulfilled in this birth. Pleasures and pains experienced in this life are the results of the positive and the negative reactions of desires and actions. Knowledge is possible, therefore, only for one who ceases from desiring objects, whether physical or psychological, real or ideal.

Even the memory of desires and experiences has to be erased out. Nothing that is objective can be perpetual, because something becomes an object only when it has a relationship with a subject. All relationships constitute bondage. The mere fact that objects exist in the world does not constitute bondage. It is the relationship that is developed between one object and another that constitutes bondage. Desire for the knowledge of Brahman is not a desire, because such a desire is like the movement of a straw towards fire. Desire shall be burnt by the knowledge of Brahman. Movement towards the Self within is not the development of a desire, but the process of the cessation of desire. The senses and the mind get withdrawn and dissolved in the unity of the Self. Immortality is the condition of the experience of the Self as free from the connections that it appears to have with the not-Self.

The Mundaka Upanishad has said that the seeker after knowledge should first investigate the worthlessness of regions which are the effect of actions performed in this world. He should get disgusted with the world through understanding and not merely through tradition. Reason should strengthen faith, logic should supplement intuition. This shall bring about perfect vairagya born of viveka. Vairagya is not possible without a previous conviction, and conviction is not possible without analytical knowledge. This power of analysis comes to a person, first through past meritorious deeds, next through Satsanga, and later through svadhyaya and vichara.

Karma and jnana - karma is a modification of the present state into another state, directed by a necessity. Every action is based on a voluntary or involuntary desire, expressed or potential. One does not move without a purpose, and every purpose is a limitation, which shows that the actor is not complete in himself. But knowledge is not an action. Knowledge is being. If knowledge is an action it should be a means to some other end, but we do not find any end to be reached beyond knowledge. Knowledge is something like attaining to oneself, which, if it is called a process, would contradict experience. One cannot reach oneself or attain oneself or move towards oneself except by knowing oneself. A person who is asleep or dreaming may be said to be away from himself, but if he wishes to attain himself or go to himself in that imagined state of aberration, he can do it only by waking up from that dream or sleep and not by walking or moving. His body may be carried from place to place, but he will not attain to himself except by waking. Similar is the case with brahma-jnana.

One cannot reach Brahman through an act, because all acts are a proceeding away from the Self. Knowledge is subsisting and not proceeding. Knowledge is not a means to an end, but the end itself. After knowing we have to do nothing, but after doing we have to know something. This is the difference between action and knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, possible only after the dissolution of all actions, through hearing, reflection and meditation preceded by discriminative dispassion. This is the reason why the Upanishad has declared that the Self neither decreases nor increases through action, because action is a motion, and the Self is motionless.

Even if there is no intimate relationship between Self-knowledge and action, it is possible for the active individual to transcend his active individuality because of the fact that the Self pervades the individual as his very existence. The relationship between the individual and the Supreme is one of identity and not separation, but the imagined separation allows the possibility of sadhana towards perfection. Though sadhana is an action in the realm of adhyasa (superimposition), it is possible to get rid of individual consciousness through sadhana, because the process of attainment also is connected with the adhyasa. The conclusion is, therefore, that the attempt for Self-knowledge should be preceded by the longing for the same as the result of renunciation given rise to discrimination.

The Self is of the nature of Attainment. Therefore, it cannot be attained through any amount of external exertion or striving, and no striving is there without an objective motive. The Self is attained through putting an end to all motives and necessities governing the laws of the phenomenal universe. That which is one’s own Nature cannot be dealt with in any way. It cannot be purified, obtained, changed or defined. The Self is objectless, immaterial, formless and immutable. All our deeds bear fruits in a world of space and time. That which is not done (uncreated) cannot be attained through what is done (created). Anything that is obtained through perishable instruments is itself perishable. Everything of the world is perishable, and, therefore, nothing of this world can be an instrument in the attainment of the Self. Objective actions give rise to objective fruits. Mental actions give rise to mental results. The effect is of the same nature as the cause. The Self is neither a cause nor an effect. Therefore, all relationships and processes pertaining to causes and effects are external to the nature of the Self. The means adopted should befit the nature of the end. The end is immortality and the means to it, therefore, cannot be a mortal one. Knowledge is attained by the Self, not by doing something, but by not doing anything. This comes to cessation of all desires, whether subjective or objective, manifested or unmanifested. Knowledge is the same as existence or being, while thoughts and actions are becomings or changes.

Brahman is vastu-tantra (dependent on the object of knowledge). The knowledge of Brahman is not dependent on the mind of man. One cannot conceive of Brahman as one likes. It is minds that differ and not the Self. Conceptions and experiences belong to the mind. The Self is the general ground of all beings, and its knowledge therefore is the same to all. Different people cannot have different kinds of the knowledge of Brahman. The knowledge of Brahman is dependent on Itself. But thoughts and actions are dependent on the individual. One can change one’s thoughts and actions as one likes - they are purusha-tantra (dependent on the individual subject). This is the reason why conceptions and actions which are the characteristics of the mind and the senses have no access to the knowledge of Brahman. Brahma-jnana is possible after effacing oneself, after becoming non-existent, from the worldly point of view. It is the union of subject and object that is meant by Self-experience. The Self is dependent on its own greatness. Its glory is unsullied by external changes. Moksha is eternity. Eternity is perpetual changelessness. The Kena Upanishad establishes the truth of the unchanging, witnessing character of the Self. 

Excerpts from:

Kenopanishad - Essays on the Upanishads by Swami Krishnananda

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June 25,2013 Spiritual message for The Day - Do You Want Time To Think (about) God?

Do You Want Time To Think (about) God?

Divine Life Society Publication: Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

 

The cosmos is one integrated completeness. We are not merely inside it; we are inseparable from it. The hands and the feet are not inside the body, and they are not outside the body. They are the body. In a similar manner, you can imagine that you are not outside the world, nor also are you inside the world, but you are the world. If that is the case, what are you looking at with your open eyes? You can imagine the error of sensory perception. A deep analysis is called for here in the interest of any spiritual seeker.

 

You will find that this is a hard task, because the habit of consciousness to look outward and place itself in the limited context of an observer of the world is so strong. Indriyani pramathini.  The sense organs have tortuous, impetuous, gale-like force, which are nothing but the avenues of the gushing of consciousness in an externalised fashion through an imagined space-time complex.

 

A spiritual seeker, therefore, is perpetually vigilant. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great saint, in one of his statements, tells how you have to be cautious, and never be wool-gathering. Suppose it is heavily raining, and it is the middle of the night. You find a little shelter – a little thatched hut. You sit there just to have a little respite from the dark and this pouring rain outside. By the starlight, you see that a snake is crawling out of a hole, and another snake is by your side; and behind you is a scorpion. Everywhere you find little creatures coming, dreaded things showing their heads, and you are sitting there because you can’t go out in the heavy rain. Will you sleep even though you are tired? The whole night you will be looking all around, from ten directions, to see what is happening. What happened to your fatigue, and your wish to sleep? It has gone because of the fear of what is there around you. You can give several examples of this kind where it is possible for you to get highly concentrated on a thing, and never forget it.

 

You may say that the mind is very mischievous, the senses are strong, desires are powerful, or that you are unable to concentrate your mind. These arguments arise on account of your lukewarm affection for the ideal that you are choosing. You may be tired, you may be thirsty, you might not have eaten for several days, and you would like to rest, but if you are carrying a large fortune in your pocket, which is your very life, as it were, it will not permit you to think of anything else except that. The value that you see in a thing will enable you to concentrate on it.

 

Perhaps, we cannot see enough value in living a spiritual life. There are so many mistakes we commit in the very thought of what spiritual life is. Often, we think it is an other-worldly life. We think that it is a movement towards a reality that is not in this world, that it is far away from us, that God is not in this world, and that we have to die here in order that we may reach the Absolute which is above this world. The transcendent character of the world, of felicity, God above in heaven – these ideas arise in us because of the limitations to which the sense organs are subject by the operation of space, time, and cause. God is not transcendent. He is neither outside nor inside, nor we can say that He is everywhere. All these ideas arise on account of definitions that we attribute to Him in terms of space, time, and causation.

 

If you know the value of attaining God, you will think nothing else in your mind. But you do not believe that there is as much value as the scriptures, saints and sages say because you think that there is some value in this world also. Who can say that this world is valueless? This pull from the world, which is apparently full of value, contaminates your love for God who is apparently transcendent to your sensory perception. Even the concept of God is vitiated by the involvement of the mind in space, time, and cause. That is why you find even a few minutes of meditation is very difficult. Neither can you do japa, nor chant the name of God, study, svadhyaya, or concentrate – nothing is possible because this world, which is working havoc in terms of our vicious activity of the sense organs, prevents you from knowing the true noumenal indivisibility of Being which is independent of and completely free from the phenomenal texture of your temporal personality.

 

Lots of time is to be devoted for this purpose. Spiritual life is a whole-time occupation. You will live for it, and die for it. Spiritual life is not one kind of activity among other activities in which you are getting involved: “I have to go to the factory, I have to go to the shop, I have to maintain a family, and I have to do meditation also.” So, you consider meditation on God as one among the many other activities of life, not knowing that it is not an activity at all. It is an inwardness of your Being to which you enter, and it comprehends all other things in your enumeration. The factory-going, working, amassing wealth, and all other things are included within this.

 

The indivisible Being, which is the God whom you are aspiring for in your meditations, is inclusive of all things. The mind will not accept this truth. It will say, “It is not so. The world is there. It is beautiful, and it can give a lot of satisfaction.” Who can say it is not? Do you think that this world is hell? The mind says, “It is like heaven. I can get whatever I want from this world,” and it gives a little corner in a limbo of your existence for the seat of God; and finally, you will find that God is completely excommunicated from this world. The world kicks God outside. As in Aesop’s fable, the camel kicked the Arab out of the tent. This is what is happening to poor God. We have given Him a little niche of our life, grudgingly; we have no time for Him, but we do not understand that all time is included in Him.

 

Why do you want time for thinking God when it is Timeless Existence? Do you want time to think God? It is Pure Being as such; it is your existence. Do you want time to exist? How much time do you want to exist? It is a meaningless question. Existence does not require a time. If that is the case, the thought of God, meditation on God, or the absorption of your consciousness in God does not require time, because it is a timeless operation of your consciousness.

 

Knowing all this, withdraw your sense objects. Never be a slave to the temptations of the senses, and do not play second fiddle to the mind, which is just dancing to the tune of the sense organs. Be under the guidance of a good teacher, a master, a guide, because however much you may hear, your mind will not retain all these things. When you go out, 90% of this goes out. Nothing is there; the whole thing is washed off because the mind is powerful. Repeated study, continuous svadhyaya, satsanga with saints and sages, Guru Upadesha, an honest search for God and a real wanting it is required. ‘Real wanting’ is to be underlined. If you really want it, it has to come. As it is well said by a great master, “Ask, and it shall be given.” If you ask for it, it shall be given. If you don’t ask, it is a mistake. So, be happy. God bless you.

 

Continue to read:

Everything About Spiritual Life by Swami Krishnananda

 

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(Apr 9, 2013) Spiritual Message of the Day: OM TAT SAT

OM TAT SAT

 Divine Life Society Publication “Discourse 47: Commentary on the Bhagavadgita” by Swami Krishnananda

The Supreme Being - Brahman, the Absolute - is designated as Om Tat Sat.  The aboveness is Tat, the hereness is Sat, and the everywhereness is Om. Therefore, in all auspicious beginnings, Om is chanted; and when we conclude anything, we say Om Tat Sat, dedicating the performance to the Almighty.

The Supreme Being - Brahman, the Absolute - is designated as Om Tat Sat. We commence any holy act - Sacrifices (Yajna), charities (dana), austerities (tapas), a prayer, a meditational session, a worship or a svadhyaya –with an inward recitation of Om.

Yajna, dana and tapas are associated with the letter – Tat – in the same way as Om. Sat is the third symbol, which signifies goodness and an auspicious beginning. Satsanga, sant, saint, all come from the word Sat. The words yajna, dana and tapah, become stable and meaningful and bear the requisite fruit only when they are associated with Sat, or Pure Existence. The activities that we perform for the sake of fulfilling  our spiritual aspirations – for the welfare of our own self as well as that of others, all come under Sat, or immense goodness.

Tat is the transcendent, the otherworldly, beyond the reaches of space and time; and the Sat is that very same thing immanently involved in this creation as the soul of all beings.. Our difficulty in blending together the notions of distance and nearness arise on account of our thinking in terms of space. Nobody can think God because thinking is a process involved in space and time, and the Thing called God is beyond space and time.

Yet, in spiritual meditations we are expected to wean the mind from this involvement of thinking in terms of distance and duration, and bring together the concepts of transcendence and immanence – Tat and Sat – together in an Om that is all-inclusive. The whole of Brahman is present in this world, and yet the whole of Brahman is above this world. Purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate: The whole Brahman manifests the whole universe, and the whole Brahman enters wholly this whole universe.

This inclusiveness is signified by Om or pranava, which is partly a vibration that creates all substances constituting the universe, and partly scriptural as it is a name or nomenclature for God. We have to designate God only by the term Om, Pranava, because all names arising from language denote some object which is in some place. No word in any language can designate That which is everywhere and at all times. Hence, Om is specially regarded as a symbolic expression which embodies in itself the total process of sound production, and when uttered, creates a vibration in the vocal cords.

Thus, the three-fold definition of Brahman – Om Tat Sat – means God here, God above and God below, and God everywhere. The aboveness is Tat, the hereness is Sat, and the everywhereness is Om. Therefore, Om Tat Sat is a complete mystical symbol which was evolved by ancient masters. Therefore, in all auspicious beginnings, Om is chanted; and when we conclude anything, we say Om Tat Sat, dedicating the performance to the Almighty.

Continue to read:

 “OM TAT SAT” by Swami Krishnananda

“The Pranava or Omkara” by Swami Krishnananda

(March 30,2013) Course of Sadhana by Swami Sivananda

Course of Sadhana by Swami Sivananda

From Divine Life Society Publication “Yoga in Daily Life” by Swami Sivananda

1. BRAHMA MUHURTA - Get up at 4 a.m. Answer calls of nature. Clean your teeth and wash your mouth. Take bath where possible. Arrange to sit for Dhyana as quickly as possible, for Brahma Muhurta is extremely favourable for meditation on God.

2. ASANA - Practise to sit in one Asana only, preferably Padmasana or any convenient pose in which you will be able to sit for long hours without physical strain. Sit erect with body, head and neck in a straight line. Sit for at least one hour from 5 to 6 a.m. at a stretch without any physical movement.

3. PRAYER - Offer mental prostrations to Acharyas, your own Guru and Ishta Devata. Pray that all beings be happy, peaceful and blissful. Recite a few prayer Slokas that will produce sublime thoughts. Pray for knowledge and devotion only.

4. JAPA - Do Japa of Ishta Mantra mentally from 5 to 10 Malas (of 108 beads) daily.

5. DHYANA - Before going to actual meditation, practise simple Pranayama for two minutes. Feel the indwelling presence of the Lord and his form in you. Think of the attributes of the Lord, such as purity, love, perfection, all-pervading intelligence, bliss-absolute, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience of Him in and around you. Meditate now on the form of Ishta Devata. When the mind runs away from the object of meditation, repeat Ishta Mantra. This will steady the mind. Have another sitting for meditation at night. Do not neglect meditation as it is most important. Regularity in the practice of meditation is divinising of oneself for God-realisation.

6. SVADHYAYA - Read one chapter or ten verses of the Bhagavad Gita with meaning and any holy text which will increase your psychic and spiritual culture, daily.

7. PHYSICAL EXERCISE - Practise Asanas, Surya Namaskara or any useful exercise for physical movement of the body in any form best suited to you.

8. FOOD - Take light simple food. Have a balanced diet. Fast on Ekadasi days or take milk and fruits or root only. Offer to God every food you take.

9. SEVA - Do some selfless service for one hour daily or for one or more hours on Sundays and holidays.

10. ENERGY - Practise abstinence from speech and also be free from worldly thoughts for two hours daily and four to eight hours on Sundays and holidays. Observe celibacy according to your age and circumstances. Restrict the indulgence to once a month. Decrease it gradually to once a year. Finally take a vow of abstinence for whole life.

11. SLEEP - Go to bed early or not later than 10 p.m. A rest for more than six hours is not necessary.

12. SPIRITUAL DIARY - Maintain a regular diary from the day you begin Sadhana. Stick to your daily routine at any cost, never say tomorrow, for that tomorrow never comes. In your practice of Sadhana in seclusion, the spiritual diary maintained, takes the place of an absentee Guru, for, it reminds you to be regular in your daily habits and spiritual practices.

Continue to read:

Yoga in Daily life by Swami Sivananda

Gayathri Japa by Swami Sivananda

Guide to Sadhakas by Swami Sivananda