Category Archives: Yoga

Meditation and the Transformation of the Character

June 29, 2017Meditation, Reflections, Vedanta, Yogamahendrajani

Meditation and the Transformation of the Character

Swami Adiswarananda, Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center, New York (1973 – 2007), had written several books related to Vedanta. His books are like mathematics and physics books. Every word and sentence of his books is thoughtfully selected, and one can see logical development of his ideas.

Currently, I enjoy reading his book, “Meditation and Its Practices.” It is a definitive guide to techniques and traditions of meditation in Yoga and Vedanta.

In this book, meditation has been looked at from several points of view, and it contains innumerable quotations from several standard books of meditation, Vedanta, and Yoga.

Personally, on many occasions, I was fortunate to see Swami Adiswarananda absorbed in meditation and felt uplifted by the spiritual environment created by these absorptions. Several times, I have heard him give talks after deep meditation, and I could feel that his words were coming from his direct communion with the Self, filled with convincing power and destroying all doubts.

The quoted paragraphs are excerpts from his book “Meditation and Its Practices.” I found these paragraphs to be very helpful for me to understand meditation and thoughts related to it. The titles and in-between thoughts are mine.

The importance of Meditation:

“Meditation is a subject of universal interest. It is practiced by spiritual seekers of all traditions, in some form or another, for serenity, peace, and blessedness.

The Vedic seers tell us that the causes of suffering are five, and they are:

(1) Ignorance that makes us out of touch with Ultimate Reality

(2) Ego that creates the world of dreams and desires

(3) Attachments to things and beings of that dream world

(4) Aversion toward things and beings we do not like and

(5) Clinging to life and not moving forward.

The only way to overcome the maladies of life is to establish contact with the Ultimate Reality, and the only way to make contact with It is through meditation.

Meditation liberates us from the bondage of the mind and body, and lifts us up into the vast expanse of the Infinite Self.

Meditation awakens the dormant powers of the mind.”

The Steps Leading to Meditation:

“The step leading to meditation is uninterrupted spiritual concentration of the mind on the Self. Such concentration does not develop by itself. It has to be practiced consciously and regularly, and requires overcoming the drags of perverted habits, attachments, and desires. For this reason, meditation is a twofold practice. It is focusing the mind on the ideal, while at the same time, practicing self-control.”

Meditation and Integrated Personality

“An average person’s spiritual goal and spiritual efforts are not well integrated because his thinking, feeling, willing, and acting do not support but instead oppose each other. Most often, his spiritual goal is subordinated to his material and worldly goals.

In his efforts, he does not follow moderation but swings from indulgence to asceticism, pessimism to optimism. Integration of personality is the alignment of all one’s thoughts, words, deeds, and aspirations to spiritual aspiration.

An integrated life, according to Yoga and Vedanta, is a grand symphony of many reflexes, impulses, desires, emotions, thoughts, and purposes. As the millions of cells of the human body must be well harmonized to produce a balanced physique, so must the multiple centers of our personality also be well integrated to make the symphony a reality. The more we get a glimpse of our real Self in meditation, the more we are able to achieve this harmony.”

What is Integrated Personality?

“Meditation enables us to discover the rhythm of integrated living, which is marked by withdrawal from and response to the everyday world. Mere withdrawal without response is meaningless, while mere response without withdrawal is disastrous.

The more active we are, the more we are required to be meditative. The more the musical instruments in an orchestra are played, the more they need tuning. Meditation is to the mind what sleep is to the body. Meditation is the inbreathing of life, while activity represents its outbreathing. Meditation, like a gyroscope, helps the aspirant maintain his poise and balance amid the turbulence of life. Sincerely pursued, meditation becomes the aspirant’s second nature and follows him like his shadow in every action and thought, enabling him to function as two voices singing in counterpoint.”

Meditation is more than the Concentration of the Mind:

“In the philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta, meditation is a mental process by which the meditator becomes one with the object of meditation.

Communion with our true Self, according to the Mahabharata, is the most efficacious form of meditation, comparable to bathing in a sacred river: ‘the river of Atman is filled with the water of self-control; truth is its current, righteous conduct its banks and compassion its waves…. Bathe in its sacred water; ordinary water does not purify the inmost soul.’ Meditation is thus the greatest purifier of the mind.”

Meditation is a constant awareness of our true identity (Atman) or the Ultimate Reality (Brahman). If one is a devotee and worships a chosen form of God (Ishta), then the constant remembrance of this form leads to meditation. Thus, japa, lovingly repeating God’s name or a mantra related to the beloved form of God, leads to an absorption into that form. This is meditation for a devotee. Finally, when this beloved form of God merges with the Ultimate Reality (Brahman), the devotee attains the highest communion with Brahman.

Swami Adiswarananda says, “Through meditation, our individual self, communes with the cosmic Self, as represented by our Chosen Ideal. These moments of communion lift us out of all egocentric involvements and infuse us with a quantum of inner serenity that heals the wounds of our mind, filling it with new strength to face the challenges of life. This inner serenity brings in its wake a stabilizing effect on our everyday life and makes it more efficient, creative, and purposeful. Our daily contact and communion with the external world of countless diversities temporarily overwhelms our knowledge of the unity of existence. As a result, our perception of diversities becomes exaggerated and heightened, and we lose the distinction between the Reality that is permanent and eternal and the realities that are impermanent or relatively permanent. Proficiency in meditation restores our true vision of reality.”

Being Calm and Serene is not Enough:

Only remaining calm or serene does not mean anything. We have to see what is the goal of the person who is calm and serene.

Swami Chetanananda told a story from the Ramayana. When Mother Sita was kidnapped, Lord Rama was crying profusely. At this time, he saw a crane standing calmly with complete serenity in a lake. Lord Rama told his brother Lakshmana, “See how this crane is calm and serene, while I am crying because of the separation of Sita.” At that time, a fish jumped up from the water of the lake and told Rama, “O Lord Rama! This crane has killed my wife and my children and now is meditating to kill me. It looks serene, but not with good intention!”

Meditation brings Transformation of Character:

Vedanta does not like any ambiguity, and it is not only a theory. Vedanta is very practical. The goal of Vedanta— “Self-Realization” or “Communion with the Ultimate Reality” — is not imaginary. The Bhagavad Gita and other Vedantic books clearly state the tangible characteristics of a person who has achieved Communion with the Ultimate Reality. One who practices Vedanta and makes sincere efforts to achieve its goal becomes a decent human being. Such a person’s thoughts, speech, and actions become blessings to society. Actually, society continues to survive due to the presence and inspirations of such people. Without them, people do not see a reason to become unselfish and do any amount of harm to fellow beings, even if destructive, to fulfill their selfishness.

The Bhagavad Gita describes the sets of characteristics of “A Person with Steady Intellect (Gita 2.55-72), “My Beloved Devotee” (Gita 12.13-19), and “A Person Who Has Gone beyond the Three Gunas” (Gita 14.22-27) separately. These characteristics help us know how a person practicing Vedanta becomes a decent human being and a blessing to society.

Meditation is a very personal thing. It is hard to find out whether a person is making progress in his/her meditation or has become stagnant, or if the person is becoming duller and more inactive than before. Many times during meditation, sleep or inertia takes over the meditator’s mind without him/her being aware of it. Experts in meditation say that if we want to measure the progress of the mind of a person who is practicing meditation, we must observe how that person does work in day-to-day life, how that person behaves with other people in various situations, and how the person expresses his/her thoughts in speech. In the following list, Swami Adiswarananda clearly expresses the characteristics of a person who is making progress in meditation and/or has attained the goal of meditation – Communion with the Ultimate Reality. It is an excellent guideline to measure progress in our meditation.

“The sure sign of an individual’s inner integration is his behavioral transformation.

(1) Such a person is always sincere, honest, and straightforward in thought, word, and action. Because he is honest with himself, he is honest with others. His honest intentions are always reflected in his conduct and behavior.

(2) Truthful in all circumstances, he not only desists from lying in any form but does not exaggerate, misrepresent, manipulate, or distort facts to suit his own convenience and self-interest.

(3) Free from all sense of guilt, he enjoys peace of mind.

(4) What he really is and what he appears to be are always the same, and so he is never secretive.

(5) He never broods over the past nor dreams about the future. He acts in the living present; being of clean conscience, he does not procrastinate or vacillate in his decisions or actions.

(6) Positive in his outlook, he is always ready to learn and grow in wisdom.

(7) He accepts the trials and tribulations of life as they come and does not blame anyone or anything for them. Grounded in self-awareness, he is neither aggressive nor defensive in dealing with others.

(8) He is spontaneous, efficient, and creative.

(9) Moderation is his motto, discrimination is his guideline, and Self-Knowledge is his goal.”

(Thanks to Nishank Mehta for editing this post.)

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – IV

October 7, 2014Reflections, YogaSpiritual Practicesmahendrajani

This is the fourth and the last post of the series “Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas.”

“Congratulations to 2014 Graduates”

The high school graduates are already in colleges and the college graduates are either working or in graduate colleges. I am sure these spiritual practices will help them and all of the readers.

In the first part, I shared my thoughts on Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga, in the second part on Raja Yoga, and in the third part on Bhakti Yoga.

In this post, I am going to share my thoughts on the four spiritual practices, which are considered the practices of the four yogas. These four practices are not mutually exclusive, meaning they do have a few things in common and are interconnected. For example, it is very difficult to be a Jnana Yogi without devotion, self-control and unselfish service. Similarly for all of the other three yogas, one cannot be exclusively one kind of a yogi. Swami Vivekananda wanted his disciples to practice all four yogas to speed up their spiritual paths. Practicing all four yogas is like driving a car with four cylinders instead of one cylinder, or flying an airplane with four engines and not only one.

The First Spiritual Practice (Jnana Yoga):

The first spiritual practice consists of Reading, Reflections, and Meditation.

(The numbering first, second, etc. is just for listing purposes. They do not signify the order of the practices. Any of the four practices could be the first practice.)

(i) Read and Reflect:

We have to read the scriptures and the lives and teachings of realized souls, and reflect upon them for the following purposes:

– to realize that the goal of human life is God realization, which is the highest state of knowledge that a human being can attain.

– to realize that this highest state of knowledge provides everything that a human being is seeking: peace of mind, unlimited bliss, a deeper understanding of life, and fulfilment.

– to learn that even though we have to live in this world and perform our duties, the goal of life is NOT making money, producing children, and running around to do errands to acquire little pleasures.

– to realize that no worldly pleasure or object can give us unlimited happiness in life. Worldly objects and sense-pleasures are limited and can give us only limited happiness and in return, we pay a very high price and suffer bitter consequences.

-to find out the way to realize God.

– to understand the characteristics of a person who had realized God.

– to learn how saints and sages have struggled hard to realize God.

– to enjoy reading about God and His/Her devotees.

– to realize that there is one life, one consciousness, and one God whom Vedanta refers to as Brahman. The same Brahman resides in each one of us as a soul called the Atman. It is divine. Its nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss absolute). That is our true identity and to realize It is our goal.

– to intensify our desire to realize the Atman lying within us.

If we read the scriptures and the lives and teachings of saints and sages but cannot fulfill the above purposes, then our reading and reflections become only an intellectual exercise. There is very little gain.

When we read teachings of saints and sages, we have to remember that everything we read may not be applicable to us at that time or, in some cases, may not be applicable at a later time either. There are some universal teachings that are applicable to everyone all the time. But, there are also teachings that were given to specific devotees and are only applicable to similar minded devotees in similar situations. Sri Ramakrishna taught things according to the needs of the devotees. Some may look contradictory. For instance, one of Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees lacked courage and did not stand up for the right cause. Sri Ramakrishna told him to be courageous, to be bold and stand up for what he believed to be true. However, when another devotee, who was aggressive in nature, came to Thakur in the exact same situation, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to be humble.

(ii) Meditation:

Along with reading and reflections, we have to meditate on Brahman which is permanent. The nature of Brahman is “Sat-Chit-Ananda” – Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.

How do we meditate on the Existence Absolute part of Brahman? We should realize that the whole universe came from Brahman. The universe resides in Brahman and is nourished by Brahman. Ultimately, the whole universe will dissolve in Brahman. Brahman is the Ultimate Reality. Everything else is constantly changing and exists only for a short time, even though this short time could be millions of years. We meditate and realize that Brahman has become everything. A potter makes various utensils from clay. Everything was, is, and will be clay. A goldsmith makes various kinds of ornaments like necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets from gold. They all look different, but ultimately it is all gold. Similarly, we meditate and realize that Brahman has become all people and all things around us. We then desire nothing to possess and hate nothing.

Also, through meditation, we realize that the same Brahman is residing in us as the Soul or the Atman. A pot filled with ocean water is floating in an ocean. The water inside the pot is the same water lying outside the pot. All the qualities of the ocean water exist in the water of the pot. Similarly, Atman has all the qualities of Brahman. Meditate on the idea that an individual is like a pot filled with ocean water freely floating in an infinite ocean. When the pot breaks the water inside merges with the water outside. The pot is our ego, which separates us from the infinite Brahman. This is how we meditate on the Existence Absolute part of Brahman.

We meditate on the Knowledge Absolute part of Brahman. Through meditation, we realize that Brahman had created all the brains of the world, is creating more brains now and will create them in future. The Ultimate Brain is Brahman. Each brain has partial knowledge and is a part of that Ultimate Brain.

We meditate on the Bliss Absolute part of Brahman, and realize that all of the happiness in the world is either a direct, or reflected, or deformed bliss of Brahman. Satvik happiness, derived from purifying the mind, doing prayers, meditating, and doing unselfish service to society, is a direct experience of the Bliss of Brahman. Rajasik happiness, which comes from fulfilling pleasures of the body and mind, is a reflected Bliss of Brahman. And tamasik happiness, which comes from ignorance and harming people, is a deformed Bliss of Brahman. Rajasik and Tamasik happiness bring more miseries and bondages with them, while Sattvik happiness frees us from miseries and bondages.

All of the happiness of the world combined together is just a small fraction of the Bliss of Brahman. The Bliss of Brahman which has been realized by many does not depend on any person or any object of the world. When we realize our true identity, which is our divinity or Atman, then we experience this Bliss of Brahman. Then and only then do all the miseries of life vanish.

There are various ways to meditate as a part of the Jnana Yoga practice. We can think that

– an individual self is like a bird flying freely in an infinite sky of consciousness

– an individual soul is a fish swimming freely in an infinite ocean of consciousness

– an individual soul is a point of light in an infinite luminous surrounding that envelops everything

– an individual self is a pot filled with ocean water and is surrounded on all sides by the ocean water (Consciousness of Brahman)

– in the heart there is a lotus, and in the middle of this lotus is an un-flickering steady lamp. The lamp represents the Self-awareness and un-flickering of the lamp represents our steady mind being merged with Brahman.

– a light spot in our heart (representing the Atman) slowly increases and merges into an infinite, all-pervading illumined space

– the whole universe is covered with divine consciousness or Brahman just as everything around us is covered with water during the monsoon

The bird and the sky, the fish and the ocean, the pot and the ocean, the light spot and the illumined environment are all supports for the beginner to focus the mind. Then they become steps to realize that everything is Brahman including oneself.

The Second Spiritual Practice (Bhakti Yoga):

For Bhakti Yoga, there are three major practices: Prayer, Japa, and Holy Company.

(1) Prayer:

One must do prayer at least twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. We should be aware that prayer is more than physical food. A sincere seeker of God should not miss any day without prayer. In the initial stage of spiritual development, one should not miss prayer for any day and one should make all efforts to keep a fixed prayer time. Later on, when love for prayer and God increases, one will naturally follow the regularity of time and prayer. At that time, if one is helplessly engaged in some other activity, one’s mind will start praying even if one physically misses the regular prayer.

The length of the time for prayer is not important. The important thing is to be sincere in our prayer. We have to focus our mind on the prayer and its meaning, and feel the presence of God. If our prayer is sincere, then God comes and enjoys our prayer. Suppose in a prayer we may say, “O God! You are my mother and father. You are my sibling and a friend. You are my knowledge and wealth. You are everything for me.” If we say this, we should feel that God truly is our mother, father, friend and everything. If we only do this one prayer sincerely, feel its meaning, think about it, and practice it in our lives, then no other prayer is necessary. As a result of this one prayer, all of our worldly demands, desires, miseries, fear and weaknesses will go away. Through this one prayer we can have God-realization.

Initially, the mind may wander around, so a variety of prayers is necessary. But we hope that our mind becomes focused in some part of prayer. As we progress, our mind remains in prayer and one thought of the prayer can lift the mind to God and enjoy His/Her presence. Prayer is necessary to develop love for God. Sri Ramakrishna says that when love of God develops, then by listening to God’s name, one has “romanch” (goose-bumps), tears of joy flow naturally from the eyes, and one does not like anything else except name of God. At that time, one’s life becomes transformed for good. All of the virtues described in the Bhagavad Gita shlokas 12.13 -12.19 manifest in the devotee. These virtues include loving all, hating none, having humility, being truthful, lacking jealousy, and balancing the mind in all circumstances among others.

To do regular prayer at home, one needs a prayer room or a quiet prayer corner. That place must be used solely for prayer. It has to be clean and may have an altar with pictures of the forms of God that one likes. One can decorate it with flowers, clothes, and other items. Try to keep the decoration simple. Too much decoration may distract the mind; simple yet artistic decoration may create a pleasant environment. Lighting a lamp and burning incense create a mood for prayer.

Prayer may include worship, arati, hymns, bhajans, dhoons, doing japa, and reading inspiring biographies and teachings of Holy People who have realized God. If people cannot sing, then they can listen to arati, hymns, bhajans, and dhoons from audio CDs. Prayer can be a silent prayer done in one’s mind. The idea is to forget everything about the world, including one’s body and focusing the mind on God. If a prayer is done sincerely, many inspiring thoughts may come on the surface of the mind, doubts may be destroyed, the mind becomes serene and peaceful, faith in God and one’s own divinity becomes stronger, the restlessness of the mind starts going away, and one develop inner strength to face any problem in life.

(2) Japa:

Prayer should lead a devotee into the important spiritual practice of Japa. Japa is the repetition of God’s name with love. The name of God comes in the form of a Mantra. These mantras have been evolved over thousands of years and, by repeating them, many have had God-realization. That is why these mantras are potent. Repeating them properly with a true love of God will produce great spiritual results. If one can get a mantra from a God-person who has realized God or has been much advanced in spiritual life, then the mantra has a special power. If one has not found such a person, then one can select a mantra of the form of God one likes and repeat it with sincerity and love. God will be happy with this repetition too.

In japa, we can think that God is happily and lovingly sitting in front of us just as our loving father, mother, grandparent, or any spiritual teacher is sitting in front of us. One can then meditate on God’s feet, hands, chest, ears, eyes, mouth, and whole face while repeating the mantra. Then, meditate on the lotus feet of the form of God. One can also think of the life incidents and teachings of the form of God to whom one is praying. Sometimes it is helpful to read life incidents and teachings of the form of God before doing japa. For example, one can read from the Ramayana before doing japa of Lord Rama; one can read a portion of the Bhagavatam before doing japa of Lord Krishna; one can read the Shiva Purana or the meaning of the Shiva mahimna hymn before doing japa of Lord Shiva; one can read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna before doing japa of Sri Ramakrishna.

Singing dhoons, bhajans, or hymns also help in focusing our mind in japa. Japa leads one to meditation. While doing japa, when no other thought except the thought of God remains in the mind, then meditation begins.

Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, “O Partha! I (God) am easily revealed to the person who is constantly engaged in spiritual practices and is thinking of me with focused mind.”

(3) Holy Company: Sri Ramakrishna said that Bhagavat, Bhakta, and Bhagavan are the same, meaning that the scriptures of God, the company of a devotee of God and being with God are all the same. To develop love for God, holy company is most important. We need a living example. We need to see and be with a person who truly loves God. In the world we find people everywhere who love money, name-fame, shopping, food, comforts, and worldly pleasures. It is rare to find someone who truly loves God and finds that all other worldly are pleasures less important. Many saints have praised the importance of having holy company. Sometimes a simple action, expression, or hint coming from a holy person may transform our lives completely for good. Through this, our doubts can be destroyed and our faith in God becomes stronger.

But how do we know if our company is holy? A company is holy if in their presence our holy thoughts come to the surface of our mind. Through sincere prayer, we can prepare our mind to understand the spiritual impact of holy company. Many times people go to God-people and discuss politics or trifle worldly things that they themselves cherish. But, this is not the purpose of holy company. Out of love and a desire not to hurt others, holy people may talk a little bit about these things, but they really cherish talks about God and spiritual development more than anything else.

Swami Adiswaranandaji used to say that people make counterfeits because money is valuable, and mimic gold because it is precious. No one mimics dirt because it is not precious. Similarly, since holy company is the most valuable thing in the world, a few people may try to mimic holy people. As people have to be careful about counterfeits, people have to also be alert about holy company. But once we find true holy company, we should think that we are blessed by God. We have to take advantage of such holy company to develop spiritually. The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita says that we have to respectfully approach God-people and ask our questions to remove our doubts, to develop love for God, to understand the true nature of God, and to find and remove obstacles of our spiritual path.

The Third Spiritual Practice (Raja Yoga):

The two main spiritual practices of Raja Yoga are self-control and the focusing of the mind.

(1) Self-control by practicing values:

Most people think Yoga means physical exercises. However, this is an extremely simplified meaning. Yoga exercises are good in that they keep our bodies in good shape. Yet, the only purpose of maintaining our bodies is to prevent them from being an obstacle in realizing our inner divinity – God residing in us.

This is the same purpose for the breathing exercises (Pranayam) of Yoga. Breathing exercises help the mind to be ready to focus on our inner divinity or Atman. However, Swami Vivekananda warns us, saying that these breathing exercises have to be done in the direct guidance of an expert and in a measured way. If the exercises are wrongfully done, then they may damage our brains. Shri Shankaracharya says that if we do not realize our inner divinity or Atman through the breathing exercises (Pranayam), then we are torturing our nose.

The real self-control comes by practicing values including yama (practice of non-violence, truthfulness, not to steal, practicing celibacy, and simple living) and niyama (practicing purity, contentment, austerity, study of scriptures, and worship of God) of Raja Yoga. Let us keep it clear in our mind that sincerely practicing values to get control on our senses and mind is real Raja Yoga. In his Raja Yoga book, Swami Vivekananda describes the following values to become a yogi:

“He who hates none, who is the friend of all, who is merciful to all, who has nothing of his own, who is free from egotism, who is even-minded in pain and pleasure, who is forbearing, who is always satisfied, who is ever devoted to yoga, whose self has become controlled, whose will is firm, whose mind and intellect are given unto Me-such a one is My beloved bhakta.

He from whom comes no disturbance, who cannot be disturbed by others, who is free from joy, fear and anxiety-such a one is My beloved.

He who does not depend on anything, who is pure and active, who does not care whether good comes or evil, and never becomes miserable, who has given up all efforts for himself, who is the same in praise or in blame, silent and thoughtful, pleased with what little comes his way, homeless, having the whole world for his home, and steady in his mind-such a one is My beloved bhakta.” (Translation of Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, shlokas 13 –19)

When we see so many values to practice, we become disheartened. But, in the same chapter, Swami Vivekananda says, “Be not afraid if you are not perfect in all of these (values). Work and you will succeed.” If we truly practice any one of the values described above, then all of the other values will come to us.

(ii) Focusing our mind (Meditation):

The purpose of all the efforts of Raja Yoga practices (including the practicing of values) is to attain control over our self and become fit to focus our mind to attain the highest knowledge – to realize our inner divinity and be free from all bondages.

Every day, we have to sit and try to meditate on our true identity. Our true identity is Atman, which is eternal. By discriminating between what is permanent and what is not permanent, we can focus on our Atman. For example, our body and the mind constantly change. Because of the unchangeable Atman in the background, we perceive these changes of the body and mind. We should try to focus our mind on the unchangeable Atman. We have to try to go beyond our sense of “I”, which is limited to our name and form, our gender, our age, our achievements, our belongings, our desires and attachments, our limitations, our birth, and death. Our true identity, the Atman, is beyond these limited things. It is eternal, infinite, formless, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. If we try to focus on this Atman every day, by denying all the false identities, then with other supportive activities we will be able to make progress and we will start feeling our true identity. What is the test of our progress? All of the characteristics or values described in the above-mentioned Bhagavad Gita shlokas will start manifesting in our lives and we will feel blessed. Then, we will find the true meaning of life and life truly becomes worth living.

Focusing our mind is not an easy task. Arjun, the hero of Mahabharat who could focus his mind in archery on an eye of a bird sitting on a tree, told Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita that to focus the restless mind in meditation is as extremely difficult as controlling the powerful wind. Sri Krishna agreed to Arjun and said, “O Mighty Arjun, yes, the mind is restless and very difficult to control. But, through constant practice and detachment, it can be controlled. This Yoga (realizing Brahman) is extremely difficult for one who has no self-control. But, this Yoga can be attained through proper spiritual practices by one who has self-control.” (Gita 6.33 – 6.36)

The Fourth Spiritual Practice (Karma Yoga):

The practice of Karma Yoga is unselfish service.

Who can do unselfish service?

We all have to perform our responsibilities and we are happy when we can do something for others. All of this constitutes service. Karma Yoga teaches us how we can make this service a spiritual practice.

Many people like to give lectures and/or guide others without building up their own lives. Similarly many people want to do service without first becoming fit to do service. Only a person who is “unselfish” or sincerely “trying to be unselfish” can do an unselfish service. “Trying to be unselfish” means to be committed to realizing one’s true identity as the divine Atman. He/she sees the same divinity in all beings and all things in the universe. Until one realizes this identity or ‘sameness’ in everything, one cannot be truly unselfish. If we are selfish, we might do harm to people whom we are serving. For example, if I am attached to my children, then I might be ignoring their weaknesses. I may not be able to tell them what is right and what is wrong. And in the name of doing service, I might be indirectly nourishing their harmful activities.

While doing service, somehow desire for name-fame, recognition, worldly-gain of any form creep in, and the service deteriorates into an ugly form of selfish worldly activity. If one does any work with a selfish motive, then it is okay, but doing selfish worldly activity in the form of service is ugly and counter-productive. A sincere Karma Yogi has to constantly watch him or her to avoid seeking any selfish motive from his/her service.

How can one be unselfish?

Practically, in order to be unselfish, one has to be selfish for one’s own spiritual development. We have to realize that in an absolute sense, we cannot do anything good in the world. The world is perfect as it is. Many people have tried to make this world a perfect place, and we see that the world has not become perfect and the fundamental problems remain same. Only the formats of the problems change. The problems created by jealousy, hatred, greed, and other vices continue to appear in different forms. Should we not try to do good then? Yes, we must try to do good for others in whatever way we can. But we have to remember that by trying to do good in the world we are doing good to ourselves. A true Karma Yogi is thankful to God for receiving an opportunity to do something good for others and in this process is able to expand himself/herself from his/her little self. If we have the spiritual goal to realize our true identity, which is the Self or Atman, then we can think of this doing good as a spiritual practice to go towards our Atman. We will then measure the success of our service not by the changes we have made in the world, but in terms of how much progress we have made in realizing this true identity and ‘oneness’ (seeing the same Atman in all). This way, even if the people whom we have served turn against us and blame us, we will not be disturbed. We will be able to remain calm and continue to serve. Also, if the people whom we have served praise us and shower us with worldly things, we will not be flattered or become tempted, but remain calm, controlled, and continue to serve without any selfish motive.

What makes us selfish?

We know that worldly attractions, prosperity, desire for name and fame, recognition, body-mind pleasures etc. make us selfish. Yet if we go deeper, we find that “me and mine-ness” and “doer-ship” also make us selfish. All worldly temptations come from these things. When we separate ourselves from Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, with the “little ‘I’”, covered with the body and mind, then the “me and mine-ness” and the “doer-ship” begin.

How do we get rid of the “me and mine-ness” and the “doer-ship”?

In order to get rid of these two, we have to start looking at ourselves and the world in their Reality. We have to recognize that some power or God has created this world, that It is nourishing this world, and that It will dissolve this world. We have very little control on ourselves and on the world. In fact, we have no total control on our own bodies. This limited control may even be a good thing because, with total control, we may harm ourselves. We have to remember that the world was going on before our birth and will go on after we die. Compared to the whole infinite universe, we are just tiny little things. Yes, as the Atman—a part of Brahman—we are infinite and have infinite power as Brahman. But, as our limited selves with just our bodies and minds, we are finite and have very little power. By realizing that we are the instrument in the hands of Brahman, the Ultimate Reality or Power, we can lose our “me and mine-mess” and “doer-ship.” Sri Ramakrishna says to take care of all of our responsibilities as caretakers, appointees of God, or as instruments of God. He gave the example of a baby-sitter who raises children of his/her master as his/her own but knows very well that they do not belong to him/her. Another practice in ridding ourselves of selfishness is to offer the results of our services to God.

Conclusion:

In brief, it is good to keep in mind the following four spiritual practices in order to attain the Ultimate Spiritual Goal:

(1) Daily prayer, japa and meditation

(2) Reading from inspiring books and keeping holy company

(3) Practicing values and

(4) Doing unselfish service.

I sincerely wish all the best to all who are striving for spiritual development. May God help us all.

(My special thanks to Ronak and Nisha Parikh for their help in editing this post.)

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – III

August 22, 2014Philosophy, Reflections, YogaBhakti Yogamahendrajani

This is a third post of a series of posts.

graduation-cap — “Congratulations to 2014 Graduates”

I keep the “congratulations to 2014 graduates” as a part of the post because I decided to write these four posts for the graduates. Of course, others can also enjoy reading and practicing these ideas.

I shared my thoughts on Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga in the first part and Raja Yoga in the second part of this series.

In this post, I am going to share my thoughts on Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is a path to attain the highest Knowledge or State or God-realization through love.

One can read more about Bhakti Yoga from the following books.

The Four Yogas - Swami Adiswarananda — The Four Yogas – Swami Adiswarananda

Why Bhakti Yoga?

Some people can reason well and can realize that “I am the divine soul and not body and mind.” They can align their thoughts, speech, and action to this conviction. These are Jnana Yogis.

Some people can easily become unselfish in one’s thoughts, speech, and actions, and live life serving all without any worldly motive. These are Karma Yogis.

Some people can control their senses and minds easily and can focus their minds on the inner divinity. These are Raja Yogis.

But there are many people who have difficulties in reasoning, becoming unselfish, and controlling the senses and the mind, and focusing the mind on an object of meditation. Such activities are not natural to them. What is the way for these people? The ancient teachers found that it is natural for most people to love. Most of us have experienced love between parents and children, teachers and students, between friends, and between spouses. The ancient teachers found that for most people it is easier to attain the highest knowledge through loving God. The Bhagavad Gita says that as long as we have body-consciousness, it is extremely difficult to think of God as formless (12.5). Thus this love of God comes in the relationship with a form of God . Swami Vivekananda says that if a fish thinks of God, it will think of a huge mighty fish. Similarly, when a human being thinks of God, he/she thinks of a super-human being.

How to develop love for a form of God?

Many people have this question: How can one believe an imaginary form as God and love this God? It is a genuine question.

For an answer to this question, we can look at this from different points of view. When we read a novel or watch a movie, we know very well that the hero and heroine are imaginary. But, we get attached to them. We think they are real and we become happy and sad with them. For sincere readers, these characters are real to them. Similarly, Sri Rama and Mother Sita from Ramayana and Shri Krishna from Mahabharata are real to many people. Not only that these forms are real to them, but by following the virtues of Sri Rama and Sita as exhibited by them in the Ramayana, and the teachings of Shri Krishna described in Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, people can improve their lives and become good citizens in the society. This is exactly the reason why the Shiva Purana, Vishnu Purana, Devi Puarana and other Puranas were written. In each Purana, life incidents of a form of God or Goddess have been described. Devotees read them, get attached to them, follow their teachings, and improve their lives spiritually. If we look deeper, we find that the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other Puranas have built up the Hindu culture. The Upanishads and Brahma Sutras provide the essential philosophy of life, but the great epics and the Puranas showed people how to put the essential teachings of the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras into practical life.

In a way, everything is an imagination. A picture of our friend or relative in our mind is also imaginary. Yes, we see them and we talk to them, but we also carry an image of each person in our mind. If we already live our lives with these imaginary pictures, then what is wrong with having an imaginary picture of God that helps us to improve our life? However, for the devotees, the form of God is real and not imaginary. It is as real as the picture of our friend and relative in our mind.

Swami Vivekananda says, “Some imaginations help to break the bondage of the rest. The whole universe is imagination, but one set of imaginations will cure another set…. The highest imagination that can break all the links of the chain is that of Personal God. ‘Om tat sat’ is the only thing beyond Maya, but God exists eternally. As long as the Niagara Falls exists, the rainbow will exist; but the water continually flows away. The falls are the universe, and the rainbow is personal God; and both are eternal.”

Some people still may not be convinced to develop an attachment to a form of God. For many of them, an incarnation of God or a great saintly personality who was actually born, lived in this world like any other person, and in whose presence people felt the presence of God, could be a form of God to love and to help one grow spiritually. Buddha, Ramanuja, Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Arobindo, and Sri Raman Maharshi are but a few such examples.

Is God limited to a form?

We have to remember that a bhakta (devotee) begins with loving a form of God, but does not limit God to this form. Bhakta has to go beyond the form of God. He/she ultimately realizes that the Ultimate God is infinite, formless, and omnipresent, and He/She still lies within each one of us as our inner divinity. It is our divinity which makes us run around to find God. Swami Vivekananda, in one of his poems, says that he searched for God in temples, mountains, and caves, but he could not find God anywhere. Ultimately, when he was desperate to see God, he realized that God was present in him the whole time as his inner divinity, and this divinity made him look for God outside.

A great devotee, Hanuman, gave us a deeper understanding about the perception of God. When Lord Rama asked him, “How do you look at me?”, Hanuman replied, “When I am aware of my body (Deha-buddhya) I see you as my Master and I am your servant. When I am aware of my individual soul (Jiva-buddhya), I see that you are Infinite and I am a part of you. But when I am aware of my inner divinity, which is Atman (Atma-buudhya), then I see there is no difference between You and I.”

Thus, a devotee looks at God in different ways according to his/her state of mind. Each form of God is true in that mental state.

The Essential points of Bhakti Yoga:

– As a mother is happy to love her child, a devotee is happy and satisfied to love God. He/she does not want anything from God. The beginning, middle, or end of Bhakti Yoga is nothing but love for God. By loving God, a devotee finds complete fulfillment of life.

– As a true mother is ready to sacrifice anything for her child, a devotee is always ready to sacrifice anything for God.

– Love does not have fear. Where there is fear, there is no love. A devotee is fearless. He/she has completely surrendered to the wish of his/her beloved God. When a devotee goes through a painful situation, he/she holds on to God knowing very well that there is no other alternative. When a mother punishes her child for wrongdoing, a child holds on the cloth of the mother knowing that there is no alternative.

– A devotee has full faith in God’s words: “Na me bhaktah pranashyati (My devotee never perish.)” (Gita 9.31)

– When true love for God comes, then all the states of the other three Yogas come naturally to a devotee. He/she can realize that God is Real and everything else is unreal, he/she can become unselfish, become ready to serve all as God’s children, easily have self-control, and focus the mind completely on his/her beloved God.

– Devotees’ lives become filled with bliss and satisfaction. A devotee thinks that he/she has attained everything in life that can be achieved and there is nothing left to attain. No joy or sorrow can throws off a devotee from this blissful state.

– A devotee does not have to reason for God or to prove anything to others.

– A devotee has a positive outlook of life. Everything is created by his/her beloved God, so he/she accepts all lovingly and hates no one. A devotee always encourages all to remove weaknesses and he/she helps others manifest their inner divinity. A devotee’s world is real and not imaginary.

– A devotee is always active to fulfill the responsibilities given to him/her by his/her beloved God. When a mountain asked Hanumanji to take some rest, he said, “Rama Kaju kihne binu mohi kahan bishrama (Until I finish Lord Rama’s work, how can I take rest?).”

– A devotee does not want to become one with God. He/she wants to remain as a devotee so that he/she can enjoy taking name of God and enjoy loving God. He/she does not want to become sugar, but wants to enjoy sugar.

Practices of Bhakti Yoga:

The following are few practices to develop love for God.

1. Japa: Constantly repeating name of God.

2. Kirtana: Singing glories of God through hymns, bhajans, and dhoons.

3. Puja: Doing worship of God through various means like washing feet of God, offering water for bath, offering sandal paste, flowers, cloth, food, and other things.

4. Reading scriptures: Reading the life and teachings of the form of God that one is worshiping.

5. Lila-smarana: Thinking and remembering the life incidents and/or teachings of the form of God that one is worshiping.

6. Holy Company: Seeking the company of Saints and devotees that increases love for God. The company of people who sincerely love God, have realized God, or are trying to realize God, is extremely important.

7. Prayer: God listens to our sincere prayer. A devotee regularly and constantly prays to God for devotion.

8. Serving Devotees: Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “Bhagavata, Bhakta, and Bhagava are same.” Since a devotee loves God, he/she loves anything associated to God, especially people who love God. Serving devotees is like serving God.

9. Build up a relationship with God: A devotee has to establish some form of relationship with God. There are various examples of such relationship. Hanuman had a relationship with God as a servant. Prahlada had relationship with God as a son. The cowherd boys had a relationship with Sri Krishna as a friend. Yashoda, Kaushlya, and King Dasharatha had a relationship with God as His parents. Sri Radha and the Gopis considered Sri Krishna as their beloved. Sri Ramakrishna had a relationship with Mother Kali as her son. Sri Ramakrishna said that the servant-Master and the child-parent relationships are the best relationships Bhakti Yogis can have with God. Only when mind becomes completely free from thoughts of lust can one understand the relationship of Sri Radha and the Gopies with Sri Krishna.

10. Combine three attractions: In order to realize God or develop intense love for God, one needs to combine the intensities of three attractions – a greedy person’s for wealth, a lustful person’s for lust, and a mother’s attraction for child.

11. Turn the faces toward God: For a devotee, nothing is bad. A devotee turns everything towards God. For example, he/she gets angry for not making spiritual progress, has an intense desire to realize God, and becomes greedy for God-realization.

Two kinds of Bhakti:

There are two kinds of Bhakti (devotion): preliminary Bhakti and matured Bhakti.

Preliminary Bhakti consists of ritualistic worship, going to temples, doing a certain number of japa, doing regular prayers, and practicing values. The practicing of values includes keeping holy company and avoiding unholy company, controlling passions, keeping external and internal purity, being truthful, having sincerity, giving compassion to all, not hurting anyone through thoughts, speech and actions, not stealing, not indulging in vain thoughts, and not brooding over injuries received from others. One must acquire inner strength and remain cheerful in taking the name of God, but avoid indulging in excessive worldly pleasures. People who get overjoyed easily also get depressed easily. A devotee’s mind must be steady, peaceful, and well balanced.

Preliminary Bhakti is good in the beginning to develop love for God. But one must advance in the path and acquire mature Bhakti. In this state, love for God intensifies. Now, a devotee feels that without God, there is nothing important in the world. He/she does all the work of the world, but his/her mind constantly thinks of God. A devotee does not like any other talk except of God. When a devotee’s mind goes away from God, he/she becomes as restless as a fish out of the water. By taking the name of God, the voice chokes out of love, the skin gets goose-bumps, tears of love and joy flow, and the mind becomes absorbed in the thoughts of his/her beloved God. Everything else drops off from the mind except the thought of God. At this stage, the form of God envelops the whole universe and one sees God everywhere and in everyone.

Thus when Bhakti matures or deepens, the mind becomes absorbed in the thought of God. This is called Bhava. This Bhava matures into Mahabhava and it matures into Samadhi, the complete absorption of the mind into God. In this state, one is not aware of space and time. The body-consciousness goes away completely. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Ramakrishna had this state. The state of matured devotion and matured knowledge is the same. There remains only Bliss, Bliss, and Bliss.

Who is a true devotee of God?

In the Bhagavad Gita (12.13-19), a list of characteristics of a most beloved devotee of God has been given by Lord Krishna himself.

It says that a most beloved devotee of God is one who

hates none
is a friend of all
is merciful to all
is unselfish (has gone beyond thinking of “Me” and “Mine”)
is egoless
remains the same in pain and pleasure
is forgiving
is ever-satisfied
is constantly devoted to God
has total self-control
has firm conviction that God is the Truth
has given the mind and intellect to God
does not afflict the world
cannot be afflicted by the world
is free from excessive joy, jealousy, fear, and anxiety
is totally self-dependent (God-dependent)
is pure
is skillful
is unbiased
is free from all anxieties
does not get indulged into any selfish activity
rejoices not (by worldly gain), hates not, grieves not, and desires not
has gone beyond the idea of auspicious and inauspicious
is filled with devotion
is fair with a friend and a foe
remains balanced in honor and insults, heat and cold, and pain and pleasure
is unattached (completely attached to God)
considers praise and blame as equal (to learn)
speaks when needed
accepts everything that comes to him as a “Prasad” (gift) from God
considers whole world as his/her home and
has steady intellect.

These virtues are inter-connected. If one establishes one virtue, then the other virtues follow. Sri Ramakrishna says that when a devotee sincerely loves God, then by the grace of God these virtues manifest in the devotee. At that time, we know that the God-realization is very near for the devotee.

Sant Narsimha Mehta has inter-woven these virtues into his famous bhajan “Vaishnava jana to tene re kahiye..” which was a favorite to Mahatma Gandhi.

Dangers:

A devotee should be aware of the following things.

– Devotion is not easy. There is a big difference between emotion and devotion. Most of the time, a devotee gets confused between the two. A temporary uplifting of the mind may be caused by the external environment and it vanishes in the absence of that environment. A devotee considers this falsely as a genuine inspiration. One should know that a genuine inspiration must come from one’s own spiritual practices and deeper understanding. It should not depend on any external thing. All tears may not be of devotion. Tears may come due to several reasons. For example, tears may come due to anger, helplessness, and jealousy, or memory of past sad experiences or unfulfilled desires.

– A devotee becomes a victim of fanaticism. If I like one form of God that does not mean that others also should like it. I love my mother, but I cannot tell others to love my mother and not theirs. The Motherhood is important. The forms of mothers may be different. Fanaticism has killed more people on earth than for any other reason. People become blind with fanaticism. This attitude is not spiritual at all. It is anti-spiritual. It is better not to believe in God than to become fanatic in the name of God. Because of fanaticism, many people hate religion and spirituality or anything related to God.

– A devotee doing regular prayer and other ritualistic worships may wrongly believe that he/she has become a true advanced devotee and that he/she has nothing to do anything more for progress. In this case, one gets stuck at one place in the spiritual path. Ultimately, such a devotee remains deprived of all spiritual benefits. This may lead a devotee to quit spiritual practices thinking that the practices are useless.

– A devotee loves a form of God and worships God with many ingredients, but remains unaware of the sufferings of fellow human beings. This is why we see huge temples being built and tons of money being spent in the worship of God while outside those same temples, millions of human beings (the living God) are dying without food and basic necessities. Devotees may become insensitive to the sufferings of others. Such attitude is not a genuine devotion.

– Kirtan (singing name of God or God’s glories) raises the mind very quickly. If a devotee has not developed self-control and discrimination, then after the kirtan the mind takes a big fall into the sense-pleasures. Eventually, instead of progressing in spirituality, a person becomes worldlier. Kirtan is a great spiritual practice, but it has to be supported by strict self-control and discrimination. Also, without discrimination, a devotee cannot separate the joy of music and the joy of devotion. Such a devotee gets bored by frequently singing the same dhoons, bhajans, or hymns. He/she needs newer and newer dhoons, bhajans, or hymns to satisfy his/her musical enjoyment. Sri Ramakrishna gives the example of a person who was playing tabla in kirtan, but after sometime began playing for money and name-fame. To prevent this, one should be aware of this fact. Then, each time one sings any dhoons, bhajans, or hymns one has to focus one’s mind on the meaning of this singing and feel the presence of God. One should always sing to please one’s God and not people.

– Knowledge and Devotion: We have to remember that “Knowledge without devotion is dry and devotion without knowledge may become futile sentiments.” Thus, we always have to think and remember why we are praying to God, who we are praying to, and what should be the outcome of our prayers.

– Grace of God: Devotion (true love for God) comes only by grace of God. We have to sincerely try and pray for this grace.

Four Spiritual Practices and Four Yogas – Part II

July 14, 2014Philosophy, Reflections, YogaBhagavad Gita, Spiritual Practicesmahendrajani

This is a second part of a series of posts

Congratulations to 2014 Graduates!

In the first part, I briefly talked about the philosophies of Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga before describing simple but effective spiritual practices of the yogas. In this part, I would like to share with you briefly what I understood the practical major points of Raja Yoga.

One can learn more about Raja Yoga by reading the Bhagavad Gita (especially chapter 6), Swami Vivekananda’s book “Raja Yoga” and Swami Adiswaranandaji’s book “The Four Yogas”.

Raja Yoga: Raja Yoga is a path to realize the Ultimate Reality or Brahman or God that is lying within through self-control and focusing the mind. As sun-rays gathered by a magnifying-glass creates fire, similarly the mind, gathered by self-control and focused on our inner divine Self (Atman), reveals our true identity. This is God realization.

Raja Yoga logically and scientifically describes the stages of progress from the beginning to the last stage of realizing the Ultimate Reality. These steps are different states of our mind. Once we go through all of these stages, we understand all the aspects of our mind. These are the famous eight steps of Raja Yoga.

Seven Steps of Raja Yoga & Eighth step of Vedanta:

(1) Yama: Yama constitutes of five practices to help attain self-control:

(i) Ahimsa (Non-violence): One should not hurt anyone physically, verbally, and mentally. Any thought, or word, or an action which harms any person keeps our mind in an agitated or reactionary mood. With such a mood, a person cannot focus one’s mind completely. We can focus our mind partially on the Self along with harmful thoughts. But such partial focus cannot help us to attain the highest knowledge. A person with idea of revenge or harming others cannot be a decent human being, not to talk about a Yogi. Therefore, 100% focus of our mind is necessary.

(ii) Satya (Truthfulness): In order to be a Raja Yogi, one has to practice to be truthful in thoughts, speech, and actions. Hypocrites and dishonest people cannot progress in any Yoga. Being truthful prepares a ground to begin our journey to realize the highest knowledge.

(iii) Asteya (Not to Steal): Respecting the property of other people and not stealing builds up self-control. These properties of others could be in any form.

(iv) Brahmacharya (Practicing Celibacy): Sri Ramakrishna said that lust and greed tie mind of a human being to the lower planes and will not let it think anything higher. Brahmacharya is to control lustful thoughts, speech, and actions. There is a short story that encapsulates this point. Someone once had a mongoose as a pet and he had a small ground for it to go around. The ground was surrounded by a wall. To stop mongoose from running away, the owner tied a brick to its tail with a string. Each time mongoose tried to climb the wall to go away, the weight of the brick brought it down. Lust and greed are these weights.

Lust is a natural instinct in all beings to continue the creation of the universe. But, it is a small part of human life. Human beings are not born just to produce more human beings and die. There is much more to life. People forget this and orient their whole lives around this lust-oriented joy. Therefore, they miss a lot of uplifting joy of life which the scriptures describe. The Upanishads say that the sum total of all worldly joys is lesser than one-billionth of the bliss one gets by realizing Atman.

Those who try to fulfill lustful desires are either not aware of or forget the fact that these desires are like fire and attempts to fulfill them are like adding ghee into it. The more we put ghee into the fire, the more it intensifies. It is like the Myth of Sisyphus. Each time one rolls a stone up, it rolls down. Sri Shankaracharya says that trying to fulfill all worldly desires and simultaneously get the highest knowledge is like trying to cross a river holding a crocodile.

What can be done? Not all people can live a life of celibacy. It is true that only 1% of human beings truly renounce everything and fully dedicate their lives for God-realization and service to humanity. In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says, “All legitimate desires come from Me (God)” (Gita 7.11). That is why in the Hindu system there are four parts of life: Brahmacharya, Gruhastha, Vanprastha and Sanyas. In the younger ages (up to 25 years), students should practice celibacy and devote all their time and energy to acquire moral and spiritual knowledge, learning various skills to make a living in the future and to build their character. Then, there are two choices. One path is to renounce everything for God-realization and service to humanity. The second path is to get married, raise a family properly, and get control over lust and greed. And then, after having experienced the world, they can renounce everything for God-realization and service to humanity. This is Vanaprastha and Sanyasa. Sri Ramakrishna said that after one or two children, the husband and wife should live like brother and sister and should help each other in their spiritual progress. This is possible if they understand the importance of spiritual practices and the bliss, peace, knowledge, and fulfillment that follow. This has to be done very carefully without damaging an individual’s mind and his/her relationship with the spouse.

Controlling and focusing the mind on God or Self is not an easy task for it needs tremendous will-power. This will-power comes from controlling the lustful thoughts and other desires through which our energy runs out. This is where spiritual practice becomes difficult and we need help from the All Mighty. We have to sincerely pray and try. If we are sincere, at right moment help comes from the All Mighty. Actually, devotees feel that only by God’s grace can we do spiritual practices.

(v) Aparigraha (Living with minimum belongings and not receiving any gift or favors from others): Those who have a higher goal of God realization or attaining the highest knowledge need all of the possible time and resources to make progress on achieving this goal. They cannot waste their time maintaining lots of unnecessary material things. That is why they select a “simple life,” meaning to live on minimum number of worldly things. For example, they question to themselves: How many minimum numbers of clothes, shoes, toiletries and other things are needed for me to live? They will find out what the minimum liabilities they should go into are. They chose bare necessities over luxury.

Receiving gifts or favors from others creates a sense of guilt to pay back in some form or other. The giver may have some form of expectation that may result in guilt if we cannot fulfill them. A question comes: “In house-holders life how can we avoid not receiving gift or favors?” The answer is, “We should receive gifts or favors only in unavoidable situations. And whenever we receive any gift or favor, we must try to give back more than what we have received. This way no guilt will be left and mind remains free.”

(2) Niyama: Niyama constitutes the following five observances:

(i) Saucha(External and internal purity): Cleanliness of the body and mind is very important. Cleanliness of body is easy to maintain, but cleanliness of mind takes a long time. When mind is clean, only then does the divinity manifest from within. Thus, cleanliness of mind is the ultimate goal. A Raja Yogi should have this goal of purification in mind and constantly work for it. As mind gets purified, one advances towards one’s true identity, The Divine Self or Atman. One develops a sense of purity, and consequently impurity will make one uncomfortable. We have to remember that whatever takes us away from our divine Self is impure.

(ii) Santosh(Contentment): A student of Raja Yoga develops a sense of contentment. Being in the world, it is natural that we have desires. We need to fulfill legitimate desires. But, we have to realize the following facts: (1) We cannot fully satisfy all the worldly desires. The more we try to fulfill these desires, the more they grow in intensity. (2) The fulfillment of worldly desires gives us little pleasure initially, but then we have to pay a high price for our energy, time, and resources. At the end, the consequences make us suffer more than the pleasure. (3) Worldly desires make us slaves of worldly objects and people. We cannot think and act independently. (4) It is always good to have desires which help us grow spiritually and give us better understanding of our lives. Thus, we have to keep our legitimate desires minimum, be happy with what we have and what we get, and continue striving for spiritual development. Scriptures say that “contentment is the greatest wealth one can have.”

(iii) Tapas(Austerity): We have to learn to bear the pain that comes when we make efforts for spiritual development. People suffer so much to attain a worldly thing which eventually gives them very little joy and still they do not complain. Why then should a spiritual seeker complain in bearing a little suffering which will give infinite joy? If we are forced to remain hungry, it is painful. But, if we willingly fast, then it is an austerity.

(iv) Swadhyaya (Study of Scriptures): A study of the scriptures is important. In the beginning, it is good to listen to the experts who had practiced what the scriptures say and had developed spiritually. Listening to intellectuals who do not practice the essence of scriptures will not help much. Through the God-realized people, we can learn essence of scriptures and practice them. This way we avoid spending our time understanding useless and unnecessary things. We will also avoid misinterpretations of the scriptures. Furthermore, we have to learn what is applicable to us at this given point. Many inessential things of the scriptures are necessary to preserve the essential things. For example, a banana skin is necessary to have banana. But, we have to remove the skin and eat only the banana.

(v) Ishwar Pranidhana (Worship of God): Some form of worship of God is necessary to develop love for God. Also, for a person with body-consciousness, it is important to think God with a form. It will be easier to focus on God with form than God without form.

(3) Asana: We have to master a sitting posture that is comfortable and will help us focus our minds on God. We have mastered a posture if by sitting in that posture we can forget our body and comfortably think of God for an hour or more. Usually, this posture consists of sitting on the floor with crossed legs. For a normal healthy person, the mastery of this posture can be developed through regular spiritual practice. Those who have been advanced in the spiritual path say that sitting crossed-legged while keeping the spinal column, neck and head in straight line, helps focus our minds on God or our spiritual ideal. The Bhagavad Gita also describes the same posture in the shlokas 6.13.

(4) Pranayama: Our breathing is connected with our state of mind. If we are calm, then our breathing is slow, smooth, even from both the nostrils, and has fewer inhale-exhale units per minute. If our mind is excited, agitated, angry, or scared, then our breathing will be faster, shorter, and will have more units of inhale-exhale per minute. Also, we do not need to breathe from both of our nostrils all the time. This depends on our state of mind. Naturally our mind is calm when night meets day and in the evening when day meets night. These are the best times to pray, do japa, or meditate.

Raja Yoga also teaches how to do the opposite – to control the mind by controlling breathing. This has to be done systematically and in the presence of an expert. Otherwise, one may damage one’s mind. Along with this breathing exercise (Pranayama), one has to do all the practices described above for self-control.

(5) Pratyahara: We must get control over the mind’s power of attaching and detaching to our sense-organs. This can be done with 3 things. (1) One must observe how various thoughts come and how the mind gets attached or detached from the sense-organs and their objects. Mostly, the mind gets attached to the sense-organs and their objects through desires, causing the mind to wander around. By observing the mind and having desire to get control over the mind, the desires and thoughts get reduced over a period of time. (2) One must have the will-power to withdraw the mind from the sense-organs and their useless desires. Using too much force is not good. This has to be done cleverly without breaking the mind’s ability to function. (3) One must explain to his/her mind how useless it is to run after every desire that comes to the mind. By discrimination, from all desires, we have to separate the favorable and legitimate desires and the harmful illegitimate desires. Then, tell the mind to get rid of the latter desires and focus on the favorable and legitimate desires.

(6) Dharana: Practice to focus the mind on God or Self (Atman; our True Identity) and keep it focused as long as possible. The mind has to be focused and must remain steady like the flame of an oil-lamp or the candle in a windless environment. If we can focus our mind continuously on God or Self for twelve seconds then it is called Dharana. Imagine, we have to focus continuously for only twelve seconds! But, the mind’s activities are very fast and can in fact be measured in nanoseconds. However, yogis can still control and focus their mind on God or Self. Many people focus their mind unconsciously on the worldly object they love. We have to use this ability in the spiritual path in order to obtain the unlimited bliss, deeper knowledge of ourselves, unselfish love for all, and fulfillment of life.

(7) Dhyana (Meditation): When the focus of our mind becomes steady, then we can go into meditation. Twelve seconds of continuous focus of our mind on God or Self makes one unit of Dharana and twelve such units of Dharana makes one unit of Dhyana or meditation. When people say that they are meditating, then they are actually NOT meditating. Because, when one is aware that ‘I am meditating,’ that is a distraction of the mind. In meditation, there is no awareness of anything except the form of God or Self. One only becomes aware of the meditation after the actual meditation happened. Trying to meditate is different than meditation. In meditation, there is no awareness of body, time and space.

(8) Samadhi: This is the final stage of consciousness in which the meditator, the object of meditation, and the meditation become one. Twelve units of meditation lead one into Samadhi. It is very difficult to attain Samadhi. However, it is not impossible. People have witnessed Sri Ramakrishna attaining Samadhi often. Any thought of God or any uplifting thought would take his mind to either God (Mother Kali) or further into Infinite Atman or Brahman. Doctors have even checked his physical state during Samadhi and found that all the activities of body have stopped, though his face continued beaming with divine bliss. In Samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna was oblivious of the space, time, and environment. Only towards the end of his Samadhi would his mind slowly become aware of space, time, and environment. Regaining consciousness, his words would become very powerful, filled with inspiration and wisdom. Being one with the Universal Mother in Samadhi, he used to say, “The Universal Mother speaks through me.” By a mere look and touch, he transformed many people’s lives for good. These people (his direct disciples) inspired millions of people all over the world. Following Sri Ramakrishna’s guidance, they uplifted themselves, removed their sufferings, experienced infinite bliss, and served humanity with their unselfish service. This is the outcome of Samadhi. A person experiencing Samadhi can improve lives of millions of people.

Six Centers of Spiritual Consciousness: Raja Yoga also includes six centers of consciousness.

These centers are in the spinal column and match with the nervous-system of a human being. According to Raja Yoga, the consciousness of a person moves along three subtle nerve channels called Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. If we take a horizontal figure eight ( or the infinity symbol and pile up several of these symbols one on top of the other, that would resemble what prepares the nerve channels of Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. The left circle represents Ida, the right circle represents Pingala, and the middle hollow part is Sushumna. This column goes from sacral plexus to the top of the brain. The different plexuses that have centers in the spinal column do match with the centers of Raja Yoga. Usually, the messages between brain and other nerve centers travel through Ida and Pingala. Yet, a Raja Yogi, through control on the senses and mind, develops a faster communication between brain and the senses through Sushumna. The signals travel through air like wireless communication. It is amazing that when Swami Vivekananda explained the work of Sushumna, the wireless communication was not even invented.

These six centers of Raja Yoga range from the lowest plane of gross impulses to the highest plane of pure bliss.

(i) Muladhara (Center symbolized with a four-petal lotus): This is the first state of consciousness. When mind is at this level, a person thinks only of food, guided by gross subconscious desires.

(ii) Swadhisthan (symbolized with a six-petal lotus): At this level of consciousness, a person is constantly swayed by gross impulses, imaginations, and animalistic propensities.

(iii) Manipur (symbolized with a ten-petal lotus): This is situated at the naval level of an individual. At this level, one feels that as clouds obstruct the vision of sun, the clouds of gross urges and impulses are obstructing the Truth.

(iv) Anahata (symbolized with a twelve-petal lotus): This is situated at the level of heart. When consciousness rises at this level, an individual starts getting a glimpse of the Ultimate Truth or God or Self. Every now and then the clouds of the gross urges go away and one has spiritual vision of God or Self.

(v) Vishuddha (symbolized with a sixteen-petal lotus): When mind rises to this level of consciousness and stays there most of the time, then all impurities of the mind goes away.

(vi) Ajna (symbolized with a two-petal lotus): This center lies between eyebrows. At this level of consciousness, one has clear vision of God or Self. However, it is as if an extremely clear and thin glass surrounds this God or Self. This clear glass is the thin ego of a person who wants to enjoy the vision of God or Self.

Vedanta talks about seventh stage of consciousness.

(vii) Sahastrara (symbolized with a thousand-petal lotus): It is located at the crown of the head. When the consciousness rises to this level, an individual becomes one with God or Self. All the ideas of identification of an individual with body and mind vanish. An individual’s consciousness merges with the Universal Consciousness. Now a person feels Oneness with all. One feels that everything is manifestation of consciousness (Brahman). One directly sees that consciousness (Brahman) has become everything. There is no matter.

With above mentioned practices of Raja Yoga, one can raise one’s consciousness from the lowest level to the highest level.

Dangers:

(1) Usually people think that Yoga refers to just a few physical exercises to live a healthy life and get some mental peace. This wrong impression prevents them to get something higher. It is like people seeing few pictures of Himalayas and thinking that they have seen Himalayas. By just seeing a picture, they cannot get thrilling experience of the grandeur and beauty of Himalayas.

(2) People look at the requirements to be a Raja Yogi and become afraid that they can never be such a yogi. The steps of Raja Yoga are so clearly described that people get overwhelmed. But, with determination and practice, one can become a true Raja Yogi.

(3) In Raja Yoga, “Laya” is a great obstacle. When people travel in a car or a train or a plane, they fall in sleep by the rhythm. Similarly, in Raja Yoga when people try to meditate, most of the time “Laya” comes and people cannot separate this lazy state of mind from the actual meditative state. People spend years remaining at this stage believing that they have attained meditative state. A highly meditative state and a state of inertness look alike. Swami Vivekananda clearly stated the difference between a person in Samadhi and a person in deep sleep. He said that an ignorant person feels physically good after falling in deep sleep, but remains ignorant. On the other hand, when an ignorant person goes into Samadhi, he becomes wise.

(Thanks to Ronak Parikh for editing this post.)