Success in meditation
Having described the physical pre-requisites for success in meditational practice, Krishna next states that meditation is purely a sadhana of the mind and intelligence. All the other disciplines like pose, breath regulation, etc. are at best helpful in conditioning the mind. In essence, the seeker must be able to discipline his mind and make it Self-absorbed. The two verses he uses to describe this inner process are unambiguous in their content.
Renouncing completely all the desires arising from worldly thoughts and imaginations, employ the mind to keep the senses under full control from the influence of the surrounding world.
Gradually and steadily, with close attention, withdraw yourself. For that, the intelligence and will to be diligently employed. Once the mind becomes self-ward and finally self-settled, do not think at all. All thinking and willing must come to a stop.
These two verses define the second level of true spiritual meditation. The emphasis Krishna had laid on the physical conditions such as careful preparation of the seat for meditation, keeping the body erect etc. becomes redundant now. He says that the factors that count are the mind and intelligence. That the intelligence which is sufficiently enlightened and convinced about the need for meditation and benefits there from, will have the strength and resolve to make the mind look inward.
The efficacy of all spiritual practices - listening, reading and reflection on the scriptures, worship, meditation, etc. is to be judged by the success the intelligence achieves in reining the mind and senses.
Conscious absorption is what the seeker should aim at. Meditation is only a practice taken up for gaining this. To get absorbed is different from thinking about or concentrating on anything. Mind is given to thoughts. Thinking makes one involved with the world. Contrary to this, absorption implies the cessation of all thoughts and the very process of thinking, making the mind rest on itself. Self is no other than the mind’s own pure essence. When the mind begins to think, the function overtakes this pure essence of the mind. Thinking becomes a superimposition.
Meditation is, in fact, intended to bring about the reversal of the mind process. To be seated in the Self is to be free of the very thinking process, mind process. Krishna makes this point very clear.
In true meditation, the entire thinking process comes to a stop and the ‘thinking substance’ itself begins to shine forth in its natural splendour. It is an effortless state. In other words, to meditate upon the Self is to stop the meditating effort and make the mind rest upon its own essence. Not knowing this, many seekers strive to focus the mind on some point or region like bhrumadhya (the point between the eyebrows) or nasikagra (tip of the nose). Some others hold that one should meditate upon the heart. There are still others who feel that the centre of the head (sahasrara) is the last place for concentrating on. All these are circuitous ways.
True and effective meditation solely depends upon the pre-meditational purity and resolve, which Krishna has been stressing all along. Once this is gained and the right focus is grasped, the meditation will be a clear and simple effort of withdrawing from all external interactions and involvement, and making the mind go back to its source in a relaxed manner. Such restfulness is characterized by the cessation of the thinking process, making way for the mind-essence or the Self to shine forth. Seekers must be very clear about this point. Otherwise, their sadhana will lose direction.
Even when you think of God, His universal nature, the process works the same way. To be universal is naturally to be form free, to be expansive like space. So, when Krishna asks the seeker to stop thinking, he is in fact asking him to make the mind rest upon its own essence. That is to generate a spatial dimension within. This spatial dimension is the secret of all spiritual sadhana.
Seekers should be keen enough to grasp this second stage of meditation, and understand how it works. Its effects are immediate, and comprehensive too.
The question arises: Can the mind attain such restfulness so easily? What is to be done when the process of withdrawal and self-restfulness becomes difficult or delayed?
Krishna foresees the question and adds:
Restrain the desultory mind from wherever it goes and bring it back repeatedly to make it remain fixed on the Self.
The mind has the ability to remain free of thoughts and be restful in itself just as the eyes can remain open without focusing on any object. It is true that the seeker will find the process strange and even perhaps difficult. This is natural because right from birth, everyone’s mind grows with the habit of going outside by linking to sense objects. Imprints caused by sense perceptions begin to fill the mind and drag it further and further towards sensory objects. Thus, thinking and objectification reign as an inevitable trait of the mind. To orient such a mind for withdrawal, is not easy at all. But, to make it restful in itself should be the sole aim in meditation - just as a swimmer remains afloat by continuously overcoming the drowning power of water. Herein lies the success of the sadhaka.
Sadhakas stumble here, and here alone. They are not able to evaluate such restfulness of the mind. The craving for strange and mystic experiences often takes them over. This is where the right exposure to scriptures becomes invaluable.
Attaining Braahmic state
To that yogi, whose mind has become quietened and in whom the rajasika propensities have attenuated, dawn the comfort and contentment arising from the taintless Brahman.
Krishna states in very clear terms what the climax of meditation is. The mind gradually becomes quiet and still. The very thinking process comes to a stop. The mind begins to love to remain steeped in stillness and quietude. This means its impurities have left. Such a mind irresistibly derives a comfort and contentment that emerge from Brahman alone. In that comfort there will be no influence of any worldly note or contamination. ‘Braahmic happiness’ is that which arises from the mind, when it becomes pure, still and restful.
Krishna speaks about the further development the seeker has to aim at and achieve:
Pursuing the inner contentment and restfulness steadily and steadfastly, the yogi becomes blemish-free. He comfortably enjoys the supreme delight arising from the communion with Brahman.
Spiritual pursuit, says Krishna, has to be regular, sustained and wholesome. When the sadhaka becomes sufficiently pure and sublime, he begins to experience the unhindered comfort and contentment, arising from Brahman.
Krishna calls this wholesome comfort as Brahma-samsparsa-sukha. If the earlier sukha was inner and Self-born, this is wholesome and unlimited. As Brahman is all-pervading and full, the delight born of Brahman also becomes equally so. The dimension and magnitude change appreciably. Krishna says atyantam sukham asnute – he literally eats or ingests the unending delight – not in trickles, but in much larger measure, as a sumptuous meal.
The small measure of inward comfort the seeker enjoys during his meditation gives place to the ceaseless delight and poise even when he interacts with the world around. This state of expansion is quite pronounced and must be achieved. Krishna emphasizes this point over and over again.
As in the case of the sthita-prajna discussion in chapter 2, where he began with atma-sthiti (2.55) and took it to the comprehensive Brahmasthiti (2.72), here too Krishna takes the sadhakas from limited, time bound meditational absorption and Self-state to the unlimited expansion of Brahma-samsparsa-sukham. The idea conveyed is one of unmistakable expansion. This is possible and must be achieved by the earnest seeker.
To clarify the state further, Krishna describes how the self-realized Knower perceives the world and its objects, and how his vision is always steeped in oneness and homogeneity, despite the countless, variety perceived by the senses.
The vision of the Knower
The yogi perceives the Self established in all beings, and all beings in the Self; such a yogi, who has gained equal vision everywhere, is truly integrated within. He who sees Me, the supreme Reality everywhere, and everything within the supreme Reality, never loses the Supreme and is never lost to Me, the Supreme. He who worships (knows) Me, the Supreme established everywhere, verily resides in Me, in whichever manner he may be.
All the plural notions the body and senses generate continuously will become unified (with the Self) in the mind and vision of the Knower, says Krishna. This is where the powerful senses yield before the sublimated mind.
Everything exists in the world as objects of perception. But, because the Self pervades everything, all verily abide in the Self. Using both descriptions - ‘seeing everything in the Self’ and ‘the Self in everything’- Krishna makes the sadhana and its fruition devoid of loopholes. As a result of this two-way vision, the knower attains the greatness of equal vision. Whether it is colours seen by the eyes, sounds heard by the ears, odours smelt by the nose, tastes felt by the tongue or the touches sensed by the skin - the superb note of equal vision reigns in the Knower. He is never dislodged from it. That graces him throughout.
Krishna adds that it is the same as seeing God everywhere and everything as Him. God is not merely in the idol or shrine made and installed by man himself. What is idolized, in fact, abides everywhere by dint of His universal nature and permeation. For a knower who realizes and perceives this truth constantly, where is the question of his losing touch with God or supreme Reality any time? Krishna brings in a note of personal touch and assurance, a feature to be found more and more in later chapters: “For Me too, can such a Knower ever be lost?”
A knower will not have the need for any kind of formal worship or practice. His very perception of the supreme Reality everywhere and in everything, his realization of the supreme Oneness, is itself the true and wholesome worship. It is the worship in the nature of perception. In place of picking flowers with hands and placing them at the altar, or offering food and other substances to the idol, the Knower’s worship completely rests within him. Reigning in his own heart, mind and intelligence, it is the ultimate natural worship abiding in knowledge.
Such a unique Knower-devotee cannot be compared with anyone else. He is like God Himself.
Krishna has something more to say about the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment:
The Yogi, who perceives the Self everywhere and alike in the event of sukha or duhkha, I consider to be excellent and supreme.
The true Yogi, he says, will see everything as his Self. It is not that he will not see the world or objects around him. The five senses will still be ceaselessly engaged in bringing in perceptions of the outside world. Neither the perception of the objects nor the role of the senses, is questioned, negated or invalidated by Self-knowledge. In fact, Self-realization becomes necessary and useful only in the context of the variety of the world, and the plurality of sense perceptions.
Equal vision (sama-darsana) has its bearing only in the context of unequal display. The world naturally evokes through senses the dual feeling of sukha and duhkha. Equal vision must be towards sukha and duhkha that arise in the mind under various conditions and situations. World interaction means generation of sukha and duhkha. Krishna says that the excellent Yogi or Knower is he who equates both sukha and duhkha with the Self, and preserves an unfailing note of uniformity towards both.
The secret of such uniformity lies in knowing the Self rightly. Sukha and duhkha are experiences of the ‘I’ or the Self. That is why everyone says “I am happy” or “I am unhappy”. What is present in happiness is the ‘I’. It is the same ‘I’ that becomes unhappy too. The entity that manifests happiness is not happiness itself. Happiness is but a condition or aspect of that fundamental entity. The Self-knower realizes that it is the ‘I am’ part that appears both as happiness and unhappiness.
That is the secret of the Knower – how he sees the Self everywhere, and regards all experiences as revelations of the same single substratum. Alikeness with the Self, becomes his very nature.
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(From Essential Concepts In Bhagavad Gita - Volume 3)
