Meditation and the Goal

Upadesa Saara – verses 7,8,9&10

In the first six verses of Upadesa Saara Maharishi talked about Karma, Karma Yoga. Bhakthi and Upasana.  In the sixth verse Maharishi has said “Singing the Lord’s praise is better than kayika Puja, but better than that is loud chanting of japa, and superior to loud chanting is soft chanting of japa. However, best of all is silent, mental japa.” The silent mental Japa is a process of upasana which is meditation only.  Maharishi discusses about meditation in the next verse no.7 which reads as:

आज्यधारया स्त्रोतसा समम् | (Aajya dhaarayaa srotasaa samam)

सरलचिन्तनम् विरलतः परम् || (Sarala chintanam viralatah param)   

Meditation or continuous thoughts (or continuity of a single thought) which is like the flow of ghee (or oil) and of the flow of water in a river, is better than broken thoughts (that which is interrupted).

Meditation makes one completely focused onto an object. At that time, there remains no external object except the object on which meditation is being performed. This is called dhyanam as well and is  defined in Patanjali Yoga Sutra (3.2) as “तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम् “ (tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam) i.e. “The repeated continuation, or uninterrupted stream of that one point of focus is called dhyanam”   For the  uninterrupted flow of thoughts in meditation two examples are quoted. One is the flow of ghee and other is the flow of water in a river. Flow of ghee stands for effort in achieving the flow and flow of river water for effortless ease in the flow of thoughts.  In both, whether with effort or without effort, Isvara Chintanam i.e. meditation on Ishta Devata and uninterrupted, continuous flow of thoughts are common. Initially effort is needed to guard against distractions, the natural tendency of mind. But with continuous practice and detachment from other distractions one can achieve this as Sri Krishna points out in Gita (6-35):  “O Arjuna, The mind is brought under control only through practice and detachment.”

After emphasising Iswara Dhyanam is superior to all other forms of worship, Maharishi  fine tunes it further by stating in the next verse (verse no.8) that Soham Dhyanam is superior to Dvaita Dhyanam

भेदभावनात्सोहमित्य्सौ | (Bheda bhaavanaath soham ithyasau)

भवनाभिदा पावनी मता || (Bhavana abhidha paavani mataa)

Meditation without feeling of duality, that is, meditating as ‘I am HE’, (which affirms identity of upasaka with the Lord) is superior to meditation with a feeling of duality which assumes a separation between the upasaka (devotee) and the Lord.

Iswara Upasana is classified here into two types, In the first one called Bhedha Bavana, the upasaka thinks of Iswara as different from himself and there is the duality of upasaka and Iswara and this is Dvaita Upasana. In the second one called Abedha upasana, upasaka looks upon Iswara as non-different from himself with the affirmation “I am HE” and invokes Iswara on himself, which is called Ahamgraha upasana. Ahamgraha upasana is Soham upasana. Soham is made up of two words Saha and aham i.e.He and I and together stands for He I am.  This upasana facilitates acquisition of Advaita Jnanam at a later date.  This Abedha upasana is done out of the knowledge “As Lord is everywhere He is also in me and that Lord I am meditating on” and not out of Advaita Jnanam “Aham Brahasmi”.  But as this upasana prepares one for Advaita Jnanam it is superior to Bedha upasana, marked by duality.

But this Abedha upasana can only take one to Savikalpa Samadhi where the distinction between meditator  and object of meditation is not erased and highest upasana is one that leads to Nirvikalpa Samadhi, where there is no division at all between the meditator and the object of meditation.  In verse no.9, Maharishi speaks about this highest upasana.
भावशून्यसद्भाव सुस्तितिः | (Bhaava soonya sad bhaava susthithih)
भावनाबलाद् भाक्तिरुत्तमा ||  (Bhaavana bhalaath bhakthih uttama)

Upasana without any divisions, Nirvikalpa samadhi, when a person is totally absorbed in abheda chintanam, is achieved through practice alone & is the highest upasana.

Maharishi calls highest upasana as Uttama Bhakthi, which stands for Para Bhakthi.  Bhakthi is classified into two types. One is Apara Bhakthi where there is the differentiation between the devotee and Brahman or the object of devotion. But in Para Bhakthi, this differentiation vanishes and only pure Consciousness or the Self alone exists.  Maharishi calls this as ‘Bhava Soonya’.  But it is not real soonya but only apparent soonya as this is a thought-free state.  In deep sleep one does not have any thoughts nor is one aware of anything as mind and all sense organs are completely at rest and one is not conscious of anything including the fact one is sleeping or even the fact of his existence, It is as if there is a void in one’s awareness.  But Consciousness is awake and alert and that is why one is able to say after waking up that “I slept very well. I knew nothing”.  The Consciousness was awake and knew of the nothingness.  This void happened involuntarily in sleep. In Nirvikalpa Samadhi one enters the state voluntarily and there is only Pure Consciousness, which is pure Existence, which  Maharishi calls as ‘sad bhava’.  This is the state of Para Bhakthi, the highest state of Bhakthi where a person is completely and fully established in Brahman i.e. pure Consciousness. This is achieved when mind is totally under control and free of thoughts and this is achieved through practice. 

After discussing the Karma yoga and Bhakthi and Upasana yoga, Maharishi moves on to discuss Ashtanga yoga and Jnana yoga. But before moving on to them, he makes an observation which we can call the essence of Maharishi’s teachings in the next sloka, sloka no.10. 

हृस्थले मनः स्वस्थता क्रिया | (Hrit sthale manah swasthathaa kriya)
भक्तियोगबोधास्चा निस्चितम् || (Bhakthi yoga bhodaascha nishchitam)

Fixing the mind in the Heart (Source) is true Karma (action), Bhakti (devotion), Yoga (union) and Jnana (knowledge) (Yoga)

Maharishi emphasises in this verse that whatever path one adopts, the final destination is the non-dual state of Advaita.  There are four main yogas or paths that can take one to Liberation.  Maharishi has discussed two of them already; Karma Yoga (action), Bhakthi or Upasana Yoga (Bhakthi).  He will discuss the other two in subsequent verses; Ashtanga yoga or Raja yoga (yoga) and Jnana Yoga (knowledge).   But all these paths end in one action, Mano-nasa by merging mind in spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is not the physical heart that is in the left side of the body.  Of the spiritual heart Maharishi has stated “The physical organ is on the left; that is not denied. But the Heart of which I speak is nonphysical and is only on the right side. It is my experience –. it is the Source of ‘I AM’’, whence the sense of ‘I’ rises”  It is this merging of mind with the spiritual heart, when the mind becomes thought-free is called Mano-nasa, not the destruction of the mind.  It is this state where the mind is turned totally in ward towards the Self and this is the goal of all yogas.

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Upadesa Saara - 1

Introduction

Upadesa Saara is a short text of 30 verses written by Ramana Maharishi in simple Sanskrit, which was originally written by him in Tamil under the name “Upadesa Undhiyar”. Maharishi wrote this text originally in Tamil in response to the request of his disciple Muruganar. The request was made under these circumstances. Muruganar was writing a puranic story in Tamil. There occurs a situation in the story which can be described as follows: 

In the forest known as Taruka Vanam there lived a few grihastha rishis who were staunch karma-kandis. They believed that the world and the Vedas are eternal and that karmas give karma phala by themselves.  According to them Vedic rituals give all the benefits during and after life and they by themselves are sufficient to get Moksha, the eternal, infinite Bliss of Liberation.  They did not attach any importance to Jnana Kanda portion of Vedas. But they were men of pure minds as they were focused sincerely on rituals. Once they were assembled for performing a Vedic ritual.  Lord Siva felt compassion for them. He wanted to reform their outlook and make them realise that Karma alone cannot confer the eternal infinite happiness of Moksha as mere actions do not remove ignorance of one’s own nature and it is only through Jnanam, that a person can get rid of all sorrow and sufferings. Lord Siva came to the forest as a young handsome Brahmachari seeking bhiksha. Lord Vishnu also came to His assistance as Mohini, a beautiful damsel. The assembled rishis were distracted by the Mohini and as she started moving away from them they followed her forgetting the purpose for which they had assembled. Suddenly the Mohini vanished and the rishis ashamed of their distraction went back, only to find their wives following the young Brahmachari almost in a trance. The Rishis became angry and tried to destroy the Brahmachari employing all the mantras and rituals they knew. When they failed, they realized that the young person is not an ordinary one but Lord Himself and they surrendered to Him praying that He remove their weakness. Then Lord Siva appeared in his true form, praised their devotion to rituals and then told them that the real purpose of his Leela was to make them understand the inadequacy of rituals alone to confer Moksha and the limitations of Karma and to make their Jnanam complete by imparting them the true knowledge of their Real Self, which alone can liberate them from Samsara and lead to Moksha.

Muruganar who had been writing the story felt at this stage that Maharishi is the fit person to write that portion of Lord Siva’s teaching extolling the path of Jnanam to the rishis and so made the request to Maharishi to write this portion.  First Maharishi wrote in Tamil under the title “Upadesa Undiyar” and then at the request of other devotees rewrote it himself in Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam. This work “Upadesa Saara” can be taken as a sequel to the study of Tattva Bodha, that was discussed in eight blogs earlier, starting from SadhanaChathushtayam. This is a book that deals with both Vedantic teaching and sadhanas and so can be be classed as a Prakarana Grantha, a descriptive text.  This work deals with Karma yoga, Bhakthiyoga including Upasana yoga, Ashtanga yoga and Jnana Yoga, but the main emphasis here is on Athma Jnanam.  In the first 15 verses, Maharishi has laid down the paths of selfless Karma, Bhakti and Yoga, while the remaining 15 verses (Verses 16 to 30) are devoted to the path of Self-Inquiry.

Here all paths, including the puja and japa part of worship to a personal God, pranayama, etc., are dealt with as they all help in purifying the mind and makes it fit to pursue Self-enquiry.   As Swami Paramathmananda usually emphasises, Karma yoga, Upasana yoga & Ashtanga yoga give Jnana yogyatha, preparing the mind for Self-knowledge and Jnana yoga enlightens a person through this knowledge. 

Even though Maharishi always emphasised the path of Self-Inquiry, which is a direct path to Self-Realization, he knew that it wasn’t an easy method and that it required maturity of understanding. This is why he talked about other paths. He clearly stated on one occasion to his disciple: “If, however, the aspirant is not temperamentally suited to Vichara Marga, he must develop bhakti to an ideal – may it be God, Guru, humanity in general, ethical laws, or even the idea of beauty. When one of these takes possession of the individual, other attachments grow weaker, i.e. dispassion  develops....  In the absence of enquiry and devotion, the natural sedative pranayama may be tried. This is known as Yoga Marga... If an aspirant be unsuited temperamentally for the first two methods --- he must try the Karma Marga. His nobler instincts become more evident and he derives impersonal pleasure. His smaller self is less assertive and has a chance of expanding its good side...” 

Upadesa Saara, was chanted before Maharishi daily together with the Vedas and continues to be chanted before his shrine even now.

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Upasana Yoga

The word “Upasana” literally means “staying or sitting near”.  It should be understood as staying near God, referred to as Iswara. This proximity is mental proximity, which is achieved through meditation and also through manasa puja, mental worship.  So Upasana is translated as meditation and worship, depending on the context and we shall see it in both these meanings.  The practice of Upsana is called “Upasana Yoga”.  Like Bhakthi in Bhakti Yoga, Upasana of Upasana Yoga is the path of pure, unselfish love and devotion and cosmic love is its essence.   Upasana is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it, in accordance with the teachings of the sastras and guru. The fundamental aim of Upasakas as of Bhakthas is union with the Lord, whatever the name or form, for all are worshipping one higher reality, Iswara, only in various forms and names.  As Kanchi Periyaval had observed of Bhakthi, the main aim of Upasana is to quell all desires and get attracted to that Infinite source of Bliss, Iswara.

A great example for manasa Puja is Pusalar Nayanar. Pusalar was a great devotee of Lord Siva. He tried to build a temple for Lord Siva in his mind using his imagination, observing all  the rituals of temple-building, like sanctifying the ground and laying  the first stone on an auspicious day etc., mentally.  Over course of time he completed his mind-temple and selected an auspicious time for the Kumbhabhishekam ceremony.  The same time and day the Pallava king had  selected  for consecration of the temple he was building in the capital city.  Lord Siva appeared in the king's dream and instructed him to postpone the date of consecration as He would be present at that time in Thiruninravur for the consecration of His devotee Pusalar's temple.. The king postponed the date as per the divine decree and journeyed to see the temple of Pusalar, which Lord had  favoured over his own. However, on reaching Thiruninravur, the king could not find any new temple visible in the town and was perplexed. He reached Pusalar's house and informed Pusalar about his dream. The saint was overwhelmed by Lord’s words in king’s dream and told him that he had built the temple in his heart.  The king felt humble before Pusalar's devotion and bowed down to him and stayed with him as  Pusalar consecrated the temple mentally and took his blessings and left.  Pusalar continued his manasa puja in his mental temple until his death and on his death he attained liberation. 

This is from the angle of Upasana as Bhakthi.  We shall see briefly Upasana as meditation.  Upasana is defined as a flow of thoughts centred on Ishta Devata, standing for Iswara, undistracted by other thoughts.  Ramana Maharishi compares the flow of thoughts to the continuous flow of viscous liquid like oil or ghee from one vessel to another and to the flow of water in a perennial river where the flow is effortless and continuous. The support which helps in keeping the mind fixed on one particular thought is known as ‘Alambana’.  Alambana is a symbol to worship the invisible Devata.  Alambana is taken as the Lord Himself even though it may be a symbol or image.  The Alambana can be the image/form of Ishta Devata, when it is called Prathima Upasana,  In Prathima Upasana Alambana has clear features. Prathima Upasana is Saguna Devata Upasana.  If Alambana is a symbol without clear features like Saligramam or flame of a lamp or a lump of turmeric, on which Ishta Devata is invoked it is called Pratheeka Upasana.  Pratheeka upasana can be either Saguna Devata Upasana or Nirguna Brahma Upasana.  In the latter case the Alambana will be like the sound of Om or Prana etc.  Ahamgrahopasana is a higher form of Pratheeka Upasana in which Iswara is invoked on oneself and this is also called Abedha Upasana.  Nidhidhyasanam is a special Upasana coming under Jnana Yoga where the meditation is on a Mahavakhya that proclaims Jeeva-Brahma identity. 

Sri Krishna talks about certain disciplines one must follow for success in meditation. We shall see a few of them selectively. For the practice of meditation a distraction-free place is to be chosen and one should also ensure body-mind control at the time of meditation.  Further:

प्रशान्तात्मा विगतभीर्ब्रह्मचारिव्रते स्थितः।
मनः संयम्य मच्चित्तो युक्त आसीत मत्परः।।6.14।।

Prashaantaatmaa vigatabheer brahmachaarivrate sthitah;

Manah samyamya macchitto yukta aaseeta matparah

He should remain seated with a serenely quiet mind, free from fear, firm in the vow of a Brahmachari, and with the mind controlled and fixed on Me (Ishta Devata), having Me as the supreme Goal.

Keeping the mind controlled and fixed on a subject, be it Prathima or Pratheeka is a difficult one.  But it can be achieved through constant practice and detachment, as success in Upasana cannot be achieved without control of mind.  So Sri.Krishna also states:

असंयतात्मना योगो दुष्प्राप इति मे मतिः।
वश्यात्मना तु यतता शक्योऽवाप्तुमुपायतः।।6.36।।

Asamyataatmanaa yogo dushpraapa iti me matih;

Vashyaatmanaa tu yatataa shakyo’vaaptumupaayatah.

My conviction is that Yoga is difficult to be attained by one of uncontrolled mind. But it is possible to be attained by one who strives and has a controlled mind.

Sri Krishna prescribes perseverance in effort as the only means of striving for control of mind. 

यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम्।
ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत्।।6.26।।

Yato yato nishcharati manashchanchalamasthiram;

Tatastato niyamyaitad aatmanyeva vasham nayet.

From whatever cause the restless, unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it and bring it under the control of the Self alone.

Sri Krishna also spells out the fruits of such meditation as liberation.

युञ्जन्नेवं सदाऽऽत्मानं योगी नियतमानसः।
शान्तिं निर्वाणपरमां मत्संस्थामधिगच्छति।।6.15।।

Yunjannevam sadaa’tmaanam yogee niyatamaanasah;

Shaantim nirvaanaparamaam matsamsthaamadhigacchati.

Engaging the mind thus always(in meditation), the yogi of controlled mind achieves the Peace abiding in Me, which culminates in Liberation. 

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Spiritual Journey

In response to my status in the Face book regarding my blog “True happiness”, Kumar, my young nephew in U.S. commented “--- when the blood has vigour it becomes difficult to comprehend these sayings”.   Happy that he has taken an interest to read through the blog and comment on it, I commented back as follows giving the gist of the blog. “In simple words what it says is "the happiness that comes of inaction (Tamas) and the one that comes of action (Rajas) are transient and so not true happiness. But the happiness that comes of inaction in action i.e. wisdom (Satva) that your Real Self is not the doer or enjoyer but only the witness is permanent and so is the True happiness". Pat came back his further comment with a question “Thanks for the explanation.....getting it...true happiness is possible only when we get enlightenment. how does a common man get enlightened and what are the different milestones....I believe there is no destination point for that journey”  I replied back as “One can start on the spiritual journey by moving from being world-centred to God-centred slowly. God here is any Ishta devata, on which you can focus without effort. Once you choose, stick to it without being fanatic about it. Just be sincere and serious in your effort and leave the rest to Him.”  But I did not feel satisfied as the expressions ‘God-centred and world-centred’ were too general.  So I decided to write a little more on spiritual journey in this blog.

First thing is to make clear what ‘being spiritual’ means, as more often than not it is mistaken for ‘being religious’.  Both are based on strong faith in God or the Divine principle behind the world, also referred to as Brahman, but they are of different dimensions due to areas of emphasis. In ‘being religious’, the emphasis is on observance of rituals and procedures of worship and so there is a body orientation, with do’s, don’ts, rules and regulations with regard to food, dress marriage and other social disciplines.  ‘Being spiritual’ is of a different dimension where the focus is on knowing about God and His creation, seeking Him and experiencing Him.  And so the emphasis here is on disciplines that ensure purity of mind, subtlety of intellect and the resultant jnanam and attitude change and so there is more of a mind orientation, mind including intellect, as both are two phases of Anthakaranam, inner organ. 

Before embarking on spiritual path we are all world-centred.  Our main interest is on worldly pleasures, possessions and relationships.  Our ego defines our individuality and our actions and thoughts are governed by ego. God is in our life, but only for a brief moment during prayer at home or in occasional satsang or during a visit to temple, where we seek something for us or for people close to us or where we seek to avoid something for us or for people close to us.  We blame everybody else including God, for things going wrong with us.  We want to change everything else and everybody else except ourselves.  In contrast when we become God – centred, God-consciousness underpins all our thoughts and actions. In fact the priority shifts away from material pursuits and our prayers also reflect it.  We seek His Grace only at all times for our spiritual advancement.  Even the material benefits we seek are to equip ourselves better for pursuing the spiritual interests.  The ego is defanged as dehabhimana takes a back seat, yielding place to God-consciousness.  We take responsibility for our actions and inwardly blame ourselves only and not blame others for things going wrong with us. We understand that when we change, the world also changes for us, and so any change should start from us only.

Our efforts to achieve the shift in priorities constitute the spiritual journey.  Karma yoga, Bhakthi yoga, Upasana yoga, Raja yoga are the various sadhanas in this path.  But the journey does not stop with one becoming God-centred.  It is continued until one realizes through Jnana Yoga that his true Self is God only and that all of us in creation, though separated by body-mind-complexes are in essence one only i.e. God only.  When emphasising separateness we are thinking like the wave that thought that it was different from other waves because of its height and depth, time of rise and fall without realising that all waves and ocean are one only in essence, the essence being water.  So all of us in the world, whatever be our colour, sex and religion are one only in essence, essence being God.  When this realization dawns one accepts everything that happens to him with equanimity, judging no one and blaming no one, not even himself for anything going wrong. 

Sri Nochur Venkatraman narrates an incident in Ramana Maharishi’s life, which can be recalled here.  Once one householder came to Maharishi and was narrating his woes for nearly an hour. Maharishi was silently listening, without speaking a word.  Then another devotee tried to console him by remarking that the householder is like a person standing on the banks of Ganges and crying he is thirsty.  Maharishi immediately corrected the devotee by saying it is like Ganga itself crying it is thirsty, implying that the householder is as much divine as Maharishi himself.  If one after realization of his inner Divinity can stay steadfast like this in the inner conviction of the essential Divinity of one and all at all times as well, then that person can be said to have arrived at the end of the journey:
Journey from Aham, aham –---> Daso’ham –---------> So’ham.

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