Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru. 

For some time now, a few of the seekers and enquirers have been wanting to be initiated into Brahma Vidya, and they have been writing to us, speaking to us and also discussing about the subject. But because of Mā’s health problem, we had stopped or suspended giving deeksha for some time now. We are thinking of restarting it. And along with that idea, we also started thinking about how to make people understand, why is this deeksha, what for is it, and what is expected of a person who has taken deeksha, a deekshitha sishya? However much we may explain, I don’t think it is having the desired effect.

Every one of you should understand that I have taken deeksha myself. I took deeksha from my Gurudev and that deeksha, I made everything for me. I had put the whole of my attention to imbibing it on the one hand and pursuing it with all the vigour and sense of urgency and haste if possible.  Whatever has happened in my life, it is only as a result of this deeksha from my Gurudev and the deekshitha sadhana.  Why don’t you think about this factor?

Here also I hear that some people have come, and when deeksha is being discussed, some counter-items in spirituality are being shared and discussed by some of the people. I think that this is all very bad and unnecessary.  People have come to the Ashram to be exposed to Brahma Vidya and also to imbibe it whenever they feel like. And after having taken deeksha, if at all anybody says anything, it should be only to intensify the deeksha and deeksha sadhana.

Why a living Guru is accepted? So that you can discuss all matters of your life, particularly spiritual matters with him. In that context, if our people start discussing, “I have done this, I have done that, this is it, that is it.”, I don’t think it is a service or a help for anyone.

This is an Ashram where Satsang is regularly going on when we are here, and the same subject of Brahma Vidya is being discussed. After hearing it repeatedly, why is it that our minds are interested in other matters? Anything concerning a mento-intellectual practice should never be discussed here at all.  People are coming here newly and they are getting focused on Brahma Vidya and deeksha. In between, if some other items are discussed, don’t you think it will be a clear distraction? And why is this habit at all? It is bad because of the effect it produces. It is also bad from the person who discusses it because that person himself is not firm in the deeksha or deeksha sadhana which he is doing or he has taken up. The defect is twofold. It is something very serious.

Now, coming to what is this deeksha and deekshitha sadhana, I would like to say, everybody knows the truth is only one, God is only one. And being one and to be one, God and Truth are all-pervading. First is, God is one. Secondly, He is all-pervading. As He is all-pervading, He is everywhere. If He is everywhere, He is in oneself. If this much is clear, where will you search Him? Will you search Him within yourself or will you search Him somewhere else? Why don’t you discuss in your own mind, not with another person? Discuss and debate this point and come to your own conclusion.

God is one, He is all pervading, therefore He is everywhere. Therefore, He is in me.  So, shall I hunt Him in me or shall I hunt Him one millimeter away from me? Come to your own conclusion. So, the entire sadhana is a sadhana within oneself. Within oneself, within oneself, within oneself. Within oneself means what? Not physically opening the body, flesh etc. and reaching the bone or the nerves or the blood vessels. No. We are not going to do anything like that. It is an inner process whereby you go into your mind and your intelligence, your heart. All these are not biological at all. Mind, it produces thoughts and emotions and memory. Intelligence, it produces reason and enquiry. Ego, it makes assertion and assertional relationships. We are to find out what is all this and what is the source.

Early in the morning you wake up. Only when you wake up, you have the world and you interact with the world. Is it interaction with the world independent of your wakefulness or it follows your wakefulness?  Why don’t you go into it?  Unless you are able to primarily grasp this point, nothing can be done in Brahma Vidya.  I wake up, I see the world, then I interact with it.  If I don’t wake up, there is no world for me and there is no interaction. So, the world existence, it’s existence and interaction with the world proceed from me. If the entire world proceeds from me, what should be the focus of your enquiry? It should be within yourself.

Once you focus your enquiry and start doing deeksha and deeksha sadhana, then its effectiveness and fruition are the two points. If it is not effective, none else is responsible.  You are not sincere, you are not wholesome. You don’t have a sense of urgency or emergency. You take it as another cup of tea which is available from any tea shop that is available in the world or nearby. You have not become clear!

You have to sit on an asana. Insert your fingers, put them on your lap, close your eyes and probe into your own mind. Probe. But where? Into your own mind. Nothing else, nothing else, nothing else. The probe into your mind, it is not probe into the mind, it is probing into the consciousness. And probing into the consciousness means which brings about wakefulness, sleep and dream. In the wakefulness, we have an external gross world, in dream we have the same parallel world, but internal, that means the mind is capable of producing gross things all by itself. Then in sleep, the external and internal world, both are suspended and you go into your own essence.  So, our mind is capable of generating the world, writing the world on itself and then wiping it off at the end of the day. This you can hear, think about, reflect upon. But what you have to do is to make it actual, true and realistic.  For that, nothing else is to be done. You have to be sitting and doing your sadhana.

When you do sadhana, many things can happen, many things can happen, nothing can happen.  It is all a question of how fervent you are.  Why don’t you feel and generate the fervour? Any joy is of the mind, any sorrow is of the mind, any doubt is of the mind, any clarity is of the mind, any sensory perception is of the mind, thought, emotion is of the mind, everything is of the mind. So, the mind is the source of all that you can think of. Are you prepared to feel it? Then sit, close your eyes, never think of any subsidiary practice. You can have some breathing exercise if you like. I have written about it in Brahma Vidya Abhyasa. Nothing else. Do not think of anything like rekhi, pokhi, sokhi, shakhi. What is all this? Who wants all these things?  If you want to become a doctor, go and become one. If you want to be a teacher of pranayama, go ahead and teach.  But in Brahma Vidya, none of these things comes. It is a purely mento-intellectual pursuit. 

Somebody comes and says, “Swamiji, when I sit for meditation, Oh!  My mind! what all things come into the mind!”

So, the problem of the mind is there. How to deal with it? If you have a Guru, ask him, ask him,“What shall I do?” 

The answer is not another exercise or an alternate one. Mind is yours and the mind produces. I always say, never be afraid of the mind and never misunderstand your mind. Mind is a store house of all the impressions that have taken place ever since you are born.  And the mind is supposed to bring these impressions whenever it is necessary and help you. 

Today some people have come here newly. When I look at them, my mind tells me, they were not here yesterday.  They were not here, the day before yesterday.  When my mind compares their imprint with whatever it has in stock, it is able to tell me they have come newly. If the mind doesn’t do it, of what help is the mind? So, the mind will think. So, what is meant by sadhana then and what is meant by meditation? That is where you require jnana.

Meditation or meditational pursuit is not one of switching off the mind. ‘I switch off my mind. Then after some time, I will switch on.’ Suppose you have switched off your mind, you tell me, do you have intelligence, please follow me, then you  tell me, how can you switch on? So, the mind itself is switched off. Then can you switch it on? You can sleep. But can you wake up? Nobody thinks about it! People are fools.

When you have slept, you can postpone sleep, you can avoid sleep, but once you have slept, how can you think of waking up? Because you are lost. A lost man, can he still remember to wake up? Then you have not slept at all. Then what is this waking up? It comes by itself, it comes by itself. It is a provision of nature.

So, the mind is supposed to give you all the memory and help you. Such a mind, you say, is bad? Then who is good for you? Why don’t you discuss this subject? Spend hours on it and try to understand it?  Success in meditation is not switching off the mind and then switching on. If you have switched off, you can never switch on. Then who switches on, you tell me. And then once you are doing your sadhana, you should do it well.  You must have patience, tolerance, power of assimilation.

The mind will become pure, the thoughts will become thinner and lighter. There may be moments or durations of silence, absorption, many things will happen and the whole mind will become pure and there will be a stage when your mind and thoughts almost resemble a full moon brilliance. You will not be disturbed by anything. This is how you progress. And the whole sadhana is self-centeredness, self-centeredness. Not in the bad sense. You have to be centered in your own mind and heart. Thoughts are come from here. They prevail here. They dissolve here. Then to deal with the thoughts, where are you looking at? Are you looking at pranayama?  Are you looking at psychic healing? Psychic healing for whom?  Are you healing others, then you are a healer, you are not a seeker, you are not a meditator. If you are healing others, heal yourself. Use your psychic healing if at all, and heal yourself. Be fit. And let the mind be treated, body be treated, everything be treated if you can.

I think that we have to arrest our mind, its vagaries. Let us be clear about. So, we are making a form in which we are going to ask the incumbents to give us a description of their mind, their personality, do they already have a Guru, do they have a mantra and all these things in an effort to see that the initiation is made more and more focused and the initiation when given will have its desired effect. I am not at all happy with the desired effect the initiation produces. One part of it rests with me. The other part rests with the incumbent. So, he must come with a proper approach. It is very, very difficult to deal with the complexities of the mind. So, it requires a lot of association, discussion and all that or faithful sadhana.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.