18 Dec 2015
Shri P V N M Sarma asked: what is meant by Dhyana or meditation?
Shri Swami Replied: Meditation is the seventh step in the Yoga, which was divided in to eight steps. First of all, you must know the meaning of Yoga. Otherwise, the basic foundation is lost. Yoga means the fortunate union. Dhana yoga means to have fortunate union with wealth. Putra Yoga means the fortunate union with issues. Kalatra Yoga means the fortunate union to get wife through marriage. All these are related to Pravrutti. The fortunate union with God is related to Nivrutti. This Yoga in Nivrutti is the highest since it is ultimate and eternal. All the yogas in Pravrutti are confined to this life only. Now, we have to think about the union with God. God is unimaginable and it is impossible to have union with God when even the imagination of God becomes impossible. Therefore, either some model representing the God or some medium in to which God entered and identified with it, is necessary for the union. The first type, which is the representative model (pratika) is inevitable for the majority of human beings. The model may be some external object or even a form of internal imagination. The second type, which is a medium in which God is directly present, is very difficult for achievement. Even if achieved, faith in it is more difficult. Even if believed, retaining faith against the test-cyclones is most difficult. The worship of first type is called as Pratika Upasana. The second type worship is called as Sakshat Upasana.
The preliminary four steps are Yama, Niyama, Asana and Pranayama. These four steps are related to the health of body and mind. Without the health of both, any effort even for a wordily achievement becomes impossible. Therefore, these four steps relate to the preparation of the ground.
The fifth step is called as Pratyahara, which means your detachment from all other things except the direction of your concentration regarding the specific goal selected by you. If this step is not achieved, dissipation of your energy in several directions takes place and weak concentration in one direction leads to your failure (Bahushakhah... Gita). If you have selected the direction for Nivrutti, you have to withdraw your mind from Pravrutti. The eternal value of Nivrutti is of such high status, which requires your detachment from the entire Pravrutti. When your activities of Pravrutti are transformed for the sake of Nivrutti, all your Pravrutti becomes Nivrutti only. Hence, detachment from Pravrutti does not mean your withdrawal from the activities of Pravrutti, but, directing these activities for the sake of Nivrutti. The mental direction proved by the practical sacrifice of the fruit decides whether you are in Pravrutti or Nivrutti and not the performance of the inert activities staying in an inert place. People misunderstand this and leave the activities and place of Pravrutti by going to forests and mountains in the name of meditation of imaginary forms by mind.
The advanced stage in Nivrutti is to recognize and worship the contemporary human incarnation. The only medium that is eligible for the entry of God for the humanity in this world is human being. The medium in the upper worlds for departed souls existing in energetic bodies is an energetic form. Relevance is very important in this point. People in this world give importance to the irrelevant energetic forms of God and reject the human forms of God here due to repulsion between common media. There is no difference between energetic and human forms since matter is another form of energy. The inner God is one and the same in both the forms. A scientific understanding is needed in this point. This is the reason why the energetic form does not appear to the human beings in this world due to the irrelevance. The devotion to the human form of God brings the Pratyahara in real sense. The reason is that the detachment from one thing is possible only by the attraction towards the other thing. When the other thing is absent, the detachment from anything is impossible since mind has the habit of attachment to something.
The sixth step is called as Dharana or maintenance. Once God enters your mind, the power of God creating attraction in you maintains God in your mind. In this step, the power and greatness of God is important. This step is, thus, related to the other side, which is the side of the goal. If the goal is not attractive, this step fails. This attraction from the side of God brings the detachment from Pravrutti and hence this step is the immediate sequential step of Pratyahara, the detachment. Dharana means capture of the devotee by the attraction coming from God.
The seventh step is called as Dhyana or meditation. This is also the maintenance of God in your mind by the power of your determination that stands stable against the test-cyclones, which come from Pravrutti by the will of God. This step is related to your side.
Level of Mind Below Buddhi Indicates Vibrational Stage
The eighth step is Samadhi or fixation forever. The tests fail and God is fixed in your mind. This is the stage of decision made by Buddhi or intelligence. Buddhi alone makes the final decision. The word ‘Dhi’ here indicates buddhi only. This firm fixation is done by the deep and sharp analysis since analysis is also the faculty of Buddhi only. The level of mind just below Buddhi indicates the vibrational stage (Samkalpa and Vikalpa) during the tests.
All this process of Yoga can be applied in any path of achievement of the goal even in Pravrutti. Yoga is the knife that can be used for any purpose. You can cut your finger to go to hospital or a vegetable to cook and eat. Application of Yoga in Pravrutti is like cutting your finger. The same applied to Nivrutti becomes advantageous to you like cutting the vegetable. This yoga can be applied even if the goal is a representative model like statue. Tyagaraja applied this Yoga to the statue of Rama so much that he could not recognize even the God visiting his house as guest. However, the merit here is that the statue happens to be the model for Rama, who was a past human incarnation. However, he should be appreciated for getting perfection in the form of Yoga, that can be taken as training.
Gopikas are the best examples for the path of Yoga. You need not think that they were just ordinary uneducated ladies. They were the sacred sages, who performed the penance of analysis to find out the real relevant medium of God. Finally they found Lord Krishna, the contemporary human incarnation and were fixed in Him forever. Even though Uddhava came and preached the self Yoga (meditating on the awareness), Gopikas rejected it saying that there is no space in them for the entry of the words spoken by Uddhava since they were filled by Lord Krishna from foot to head. This maintenance of Krishna in their awareness is Dharana from the point of the attraction from Krishna. The same is Dhyana, the maintenance of Krishna from their side in spite of the cyclones from Pravrutti. The same is Samadhi, the final unshakable fixation of their faith in Krishna. Due to Krishna, they were totally detached from the Pravrutti sacrificing the fruit, butter, to the Lord from the beginning.
Atma Yoga is meditating upon the self. When the self itself is doer of meditation, how the process of meditation is possible when the goal is also self? One may say that thinking the self as awareness and not as the body is this yoga. Awareness is nervous energy and body is matter. Since one is the form of the other, what difference is achieved? By this, you achieve yourself and is it an achievement? However, this was propagated by Shankara for the sake of reformation in the society. The goal is fixed as pure awareness without qualities and feelings. When you identify yourself with such pure awareness, you get total peace and rest from the tensions of this world. By such process, you are devoid of all the bad qualities, which bring peace in the society. This brings the state of Zero in which neither negative nor positive exist. When you ask that you did not become God by such zero state, Shankara said that you have to pray the Lord having positive qualities for the perfect achievement (Eshvaranugrahadeva...). The antibiotics administered kill not only the bacteria but also some living cells simultaneously leading to weakness. Hence, destruction of negative qualities involves simultaneous destruction of good qualities also. After finishing the destruction of bacteria (bad qualities) construction of living cells (good qualities) is again done by giving tonics (devotion to Lord). After total destruction of the world, again creation starts with good people and this is inevitable when the world is almost fully filled with bad people. Shankara was incarnation of Lord Shiva, who always does total destruction of the world. This is the building up positive alone after making everything zero. This zero-state was praised as the state of God, initially, to attract the ignorant beginners. All this was an intellectual plan to reform the society from sinful bad qualities to give peace to the humanity. Therefore, Gopikas rejected this in the state of Nivrutti since such self yoga is only related to Pravrutti to get mental peace thereby establishing balance in a peaceful society. This is also essential foundation for the building of Nivrutti.
Hence, dhyana means your attraction to God after being captured by the attraction from God. Dhyana does not mean simply closing the eyes thinking some imaginary form by force. Similarly, Samadhi means the firm determination in you regarding your faith on God, which is misunderstood as some unconscious state obtained through use of drugs (like leaves of sedative bhang etc.) also.
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