Sunday, January 1, 2012

MEDITATION

MEDITATION

The core of spirituality or realization of the Supreme Self is defined in first Pauri of Japji of Guru Nanak Sahib in two words as “GURPARSAD” and “JAP”. That after being accepted and initiated by the Guru the course of intensive Jap or meditation has to be pursued. Hazur would often say that answers to all questions and the net effect of all scriptural reading is “ meditation”. Baba Ji repeatedly endorses—ho jeevan naam dheyan –that meditation of the shabd is the sole sustainer and support of life. Adi granth says “ mere mann Ekas se Chit la”—oh my mind let the consciousness be attuned to the One (through meditation). It further says—Ekas bin sab dhand hai, sab mithya moh.---save the One , all else is futile, fake and false attachments.

1. Some of the citations of Baba Ji’s on importance of meditation in satsangs are

a. waqt nahi hai—We often complain that “MEDITATION vaaste “waqt nahi hai.” We stand before mirrors for self adornment and admiration for hours. Fixing the turban takes much of our time—and then we complain that we do not have the time for the ONE who is our only Support and Sustainer , Giver and Doer, Provider and Patron. “lanat uas pyar nu jis vaste sade kol waqt nahi.”

b. je uas maalik kol time na hoye—If HE does not have time for us , then our very survival would be extinct. Kabir Sahib says, “ Mat HAR puche hum se, yeh kon pada hamre dawar.” ….. that the Lord may question who is this unknown creature who is lying on His door steps.”

c. “sojhi” comes through meditation.---- to differentiate between “Gyan” and “Sojhi”. Gyan relates to the MIND WORLD and Sojhi refers to the DIVINE WORLD. Mind World includes discrimination of good and bad, more and less , justice and injustice, time and space, up and down, change and reason etc. Divine World means harmony, love, compassion, full faith, forgiveness, peace, bliss, infiniteness and changelessness. Gyan is collation of information and knowledge that creates bondage with the mind world. Gyan is the ladder to Sojhi as realization dawns that Gyan has not led to detachment. ”Sojhi” is that understanding that sprouts with inner introspection, meditative concentration and Divine Grace. It is that experience that begins to free soul from body-mind entrapment for which Karmic load is to be shed by the settlement of karmic accountability. Sojhi is the ladder to Mukti.

2. Some more suggestions for consideration--

i Meditation is the daily feed for the soul. Just as physical body survives on regular intake of food while mind is nurtured by mental and material activity—the soul needs the ingestion of “nam” or “shabd” each day for its spiritual nutrition. The regularity of nourishment to the soul enhances its efficacy to check way ward tendencies of mind and senses. Mind gets empowered to face the ups and downs of life. It becomes easier to live in thy will. “Bhane te sab sukh payeea ante nam sahaii”--- Acceptance of thy will is ultimate succor and then the Nam takes care of the soul till eternity. Adi Granth --Simr simr simr nam jeevan mera tan man hoye nihala—by simran my body, senses, mind consciousness all are rejuvenated.

ii Divinity is dispersed like the rays of sun in every speck of creation. These rays when focused on a point through a convex lens generate intense heat and temperature enough to put a paper on fire and blazes it to ashes. Meditation is the “convex lens” through which the radiations of divinity when concentrated on the “third eye” illuminates the consciousness—leads the mind form darkness of illusion to the light of enlightenment. Mind then abjures vices and yearns for nobility, compassion and forgiveness that are conditions precedent for progression on the path salvation. “Jab hi nam hirdye basa bhaya paap ka naas, jaise chingi aag ki padi puraani ghass”—was most quoted by Hazur.

iii Most people harbor a grand delusion that salvation requires solely and merely adherence to a life style of righteousness and denial of non –righteousness. Their rationale being that clothes do not require dry-cleaning if they are kept neat and tidy. They are oblivious of the fact that human beings perform countless deeds unconsciously , unintentionally and in a state of subtle unawareness. Adi Granth –“Mann tu achet karm se darna”—“achet” means unconscious . Additionally, Karmic burden of past lives always remains a mystery perpetually unraveled. Despite pristine purity of mind and nobility of thought and action, none can be ferried across this ocean of phenomena without grace of a perfect master that must be combined with meditative concentration as prescribed.

iv Soul and mind are conceived simultaneously in an Embryo….says the mystic Hazrat Inyat Khan. Before the conception, the Lord, soul and mind are all ONE. Mind (Mann), after (physical) birth, dominates the human consciousness and ensures soul's forgetfulness from the ONE. This is the principle of existence on this mortal plane. Till mind attains back that state that was at the Embroynic stage, soul and mind cannot experience the Oneness. Meditiation is an attempt for that oneness.

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