Meditation

(Based on Swami Paramarthananda’s Sivarathri talk 2019)

Meditation is a mental conditioning programme. The primary purpose of meditation is to develop the skill to control the mind which is a powerful instrument. An instrument is an instrument only when it is under one’s command. The capacity to control the mind is called manonigraha. All forms of spiritual practices require that mind functions as one’s instrument under one’s control.  We can classify all forms of meditation into five types as follows:

1. Relaxation meditation. – This is for relaxing the mind in particular and relaxing all the other parts of the body as well.  This can be also called as de-stressing meditation.

2. Focussing meditation – This is for developing mind’s ability to focus on any subject, material or spiritual, for a length of time

3. Expansion meditation - in this meditation one learns to expand the mind to visualize the totality of creation.  This can be called also as Viswarupa dhyanam, as the Universe is meditated upon as the form of the Lord.

4. Value meditation – In this meditation one tries to bring about a total inner transformation by changing the thought pattern.  This is also called Transformation meditation

5. Vedantic meditation –  This is for for internalizing the acquired Athma Jnanam, removing the viparitha bhavana. This meditation is called Nitidyasanam and is practiced after acquiring doubt-free Jnanam through Sravanam and Mananam.

Whatever be the form of meditation, success in meditation is dependant on mind management. Mind being a subtle organ it is not easy to control it.  Arjuna in chapter 6 of Gita which deals with Vedantic meditation complains to Lord Krishna with these words

“Chanchalam hi manah krishna pramaathi balavad dridham I

Tasyaaham nigraham manye vaayoriva sudushkaram.II 34II

The mind is restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate. O Krishna! I consider it as difficult to control as to control the wind.

Lord Krishna while replying agreed with him and added “Abhyaasena tu kaunteya vairaagyena cha grihyate.( Arjuna, it is brought under control through practice and dispassion)”. Through the practice of karma yoga one acquires dispassion. To practice mind management one should understand the mind. Mind is flow of thoughts and mind management can be interpreted as thought management.   One’s thoughts can be classified in two groups

1.     Voluntary thoughts – thoughts which are deliberate and will-backed

2.     Involuntary thoughts – thoughts that occur without one’s intention, which are not will-backed

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The process of meditation involves two steps

1.     Displacement of involuntary thoughts at will

2.     Maintenanace of voluntary thoughts for a considerable length of time of our choice.

Sri Ramana Maharishi in his Upadesa saar (verse 9) says that wandering thoughts of mind can be controlled through pranayama.

Vaayurodhanaath leeyathe manahI

Jaala pakshivad rodhasaadhanamII

By control of breath, the thoughts in the wandering mind subside. This is like a fluttering bird being trapped in a cage.

By regulating the breath, the mind becomes like a caged bird – it cannot wander.  According to scriptures prana is born out of the rajo guna of panchabhuthas and mind is born out of the satva guna of panchabhuthas. So they are linked together like the branches of a tree.  Sri Ramana Maharishi says that since both are connected to each other, if you regulate one the other automatically gets regulated. So through pranayama one regulates the breath directly and the mind indirectly. And In Ashtanga yoga of Patanjali maharishi, pranayama is given as one of the eight limbs and this step is before Dhyana, which is another name for meditation.

All forms of spiritual practice require that a sadhaka should develop manonigraha and keep the mind under one’s control and this is achieved through meditation.  All such meditations entertain thoughts centering on Bhagawan to the exclusion of all other thoughts. Manasa puja, manasa parayanam and manasa japa are all various forms of meditation only.  While in Puja, the whole routine is meditated upon, a sthuthi and a mantra are meditated upon in parayanam and Japa respectively. 

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The importance of Japa can be seen from Lord Krishna’s words in Gita (10-25) “Yajnaanaam japayajno’smi (Among Yajnas I am Japa Yajna)”.  In Japa dhyana a Mantra on Ishta Devata is chosen for chanting.  Sandilya states in Sandilya Upanishad, "The Vaikhari Japa (loud pronunciation) gives the reward as stated in the Vedas; while the Upamsu Japa (whispering or humming which cannot be heard by any one) gives a reward a thousand times more than the Vaikhari; the Manasic Japa gives a reward a crore of times more than the Vaikhari".  Sri Ramana Maharishi also observes in Upadesa Saar(verse 6) that Japa Dhyanam is superior to the other two in achieving manonigraha; “Chittajam japa dhyaanam uttamam (best of all is silent, mental japa).  Nama and Rupa are inseparable. So when one thinks of the name of Lord in Japa, His form comes before the mental eye and vice versa, when the chanting is done mindfully and not mechanically.  So when one does Japa of Om Namasivaya or Om namo Narayana, or Hare Rama etc., the form of Siva or Vishnu or Rama will come before one’s mind. One focusses on the form at start and shifts the focus to Mantra itself slowly.  Mantra by itself is powerful as it represents Divine power manifesting in sound body.  So the chanting itself is beneficial and doing it as Manasa Japa empowers one with manonigraha and also endows one with Divine Grace, thus helping one in receiving the Jnanam, retaining the Jnanam and reaping the benefit of Jnanam. Japa Dhyanam is done after Pranayama as thoughts get displaced in Pranayama and they can be replaced with the Mantra of one’s choice in Japa Dhyanam.  With the mind control skills developed in Japa Dhyanam one can achieve manonigraha effortlessly and stay absorbed in the Mantra, and this will lead to Samadhi state, the climax of meditation.

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