Meditation

May 1972, Summer Course 1972, Brindavan

Published English.

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The Moslems pray in the name of . The Jews pray in the name of Jehovah, the Vaishnavites pray in the name of , the Saivites pray in the name of . That one to whom prayers are offered in this manner, He is God and may He grant happiness and prosperity to everyone. God is One, though He is addressed and prayed to by different groups of people in different names.

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Keeping such sacred duties and obligations of man in view, our have established and given to us four or goals of life. These four duties of man are , , , and . Almost every experienced and learned scholar will tell us that among these four , the most important aim of our life, the ultimate goal of our life, in fact, the object on which we should concentrate, is or liberation. Then we ask ourselves this question: If is the supreme and ultimate objective, why mention and also? It is not as if there is no meaning for these two words, and . is the highest or exalted goal. That is our destination.

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In order that we may reach that exalted position which is our destination, we have to take recourse to something that should serve as a ladder. Since we want to go and climb up to that exalted place, this ladder will be of much help to us in that process. This ladder, which consists of various steps, must also have some support. This support is the earth. That is sometimes also called Nature. Thus, we are making an attempt to have this ladder, consisting of two sides and the steps, and , supported on the earth, which we have called nature or . By the help of this ladder, we want to climb up and reach this exalted position of . Support is the earth; destination is ; the earth, which is the support, is like or our conduct. It is only when we take the support and our destination, and , as our primary objectives, the two intermediary steps - and - will be meaningful and will have some significance to us. But if we neglect and , the basis and the goal, then and will become useless.

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Every individual who is born on this earth should to some extent understand the nature and the meaning of this world. upholds this entire creation, and we should also follow or righteousness in our conduct. You have been told about the life story of in a very lucid way. What is life? What is it that we understand by it? We accept that man’s breath, what he breathes in and out is his life breath, and we regard that as his life. But what kind of sound does this air, which is being breathed in and out, make? What is the inner meaning that is contained in the subtle sound we hear? Although we are breathing in and breathing out many times every day, we are not stopping and trying to understand the meaning of this breathing in and breathing out nor even the significance of the number of times we breathe in and breathe out. - that is the way we take the breath in and we leave it out. “So” stands for the word “THAT”, meaning God or . “So” therefore stands for “GOD”. “Ham” means “I” or “Me”. Thus, when we breathe in and when we breathe out, the sound that comes out means “” - “I AM GOD.” “I AM GOD.” In this sound, the one that is all important is called . From this one single sound called all other sounds are emanating. This situation is referred to by saying “” - “Out of the ONE come many.” In our , we use a musical instrument called a harmonium. Sometimes other people also use other instruments like the piano. What do we do with the harmonium? We fill air into the harmonium, that is all. But when we press one reed, we get one sound. When we press another reed, we get another sound. So out of one substance, namely, air, by pressing different reeds, we get different sounds. The air that has been filled is only one. However, we are hearing a large number of different sounds. Wherefrom are all these different sounds coming? They are coming from one and the same air that has been filled into the instrument. The basis, or the origin, is air; and that basis is like the sound . Out of this basic sound , we get so many different sounds. Those sounds are mere transformations of the shape of . It is only in this context that the addressed by saying, “” - which means is the embodiment of or righteousness.

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Just as for this , there are three principal sounds which go to make it up, namely A, U, M. who is the embodiment of , also has three supporting characters: , , and . The analogy is that , , and together make up , the Embodiment of . The sound A can be compared to , U to , and M to . The combination of all these three is the , and that is Himself. So, we have to recognise the inner meaning that , who is no other than , took birth on this earth in order to establish or righteousness.

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When we try to understand the teaching of our , we will learn that is “” or is the one thing that is the same as . “” - is One and only One, and there is no second to that One. When we think of our great seers and these great , or great sayings, which have been taught by them, we will realise that the entire world is , one in which there is no dualism. It is just One and only One. Even though those who follow the dualistic philosophy do not accept and agree with the truth of non-dualism or , the philosophy of non-dualism does not suffer from any special drawback. Some day or other, when proper enquiry has been made, the dualistic philosophers, as well as everyone; in fact, whether he is a believer or non-believer, whether he is a or whether he is one who is steeped in earthly wealth and pleasures, no matter who he is, will have to accept as the truest philosophy. When we go deep and make proper enquiries about the world, you will realise that it really is One, there is no duality and the non-dual One will make itself evident to you ultimately in this world. The appearance of plurality is something that is only a reflection of our own illusion. This is also being referred to by the word ignorance. The differences and distinctions and this plurality have started, in fact, from oneness. They have not started from the basis of plurality.

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In our , we have the story of one individual who was a very learned man and who was himself a . His name is . He had a son by name . made several attempts to get his education at the feet of his own father, . But the father did not agree to such a procedure. The reason for this is, as a son moves freely with his father, it is rather difficult for both himself and the father to deal with and abide by the right disciple and relationship. The son will always have the idea that the teacher is his father and the concept of father and son will persist. This is because of the affection that obtains between the father and son. Where there is attachment, where there is affection and where there is a feeling of belonging, then there will be lenience; and it is not possible to impart education in its fullest measure and with the right discipline. Because understood and realised that education cannot be complete and proper when there is a relationship of attachment, he sent his son to another and desired that his son be taught and given proper education.

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, however, being young and inexperienced, mistook this and interpreted it to himself wrongly. He got the feeling that perhaps his father was not quite learned and had no competence to teach him and hence he was being sent to another for studies. For some years stayed in the ’s house and completed all his education and came back to his father’s house with some conceit of high learning. Noticing this, the father asked the son, “What is it that you have learnt? What are the various systems that you have learnt? Have you learnt about ? Have you learnt that particular branch of education which, if one has learnt, one need not have to learn anything else and will be knowing all?” Such were the questions put by the father. While the father was asking these questions, the son was behaving in a rather queer way. He was still displaying superior airs and conceit as if he was far more educated and learned than his father and that the latter would not understand at all if he started telling what all he had learnt over those few years. The father could easily understand the false vanity and the immature state of his son. The son was trying to show off, replying to his father that God is like this, God is like that, and so on.

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felt that his son would not be able to grasp anything at all if he tried to tell him the Truth about in words. He thought it better to teach him by example. So he brought a pot filled with water. He brought also some sugar in his hand and he showed the sugar to the son. After showing him the sugar, he put all that sugar into the water in the pot. Then he stirred the sugar till it was completely dissolved in the water and then looked at the son and asked him; “I brought the sugar with me and put it into the vessel. Can you tell me where in the vessel does the sugar lie now?” The son looked into the vessel and, of course, did not find any sugar remaining as such in the vessel. The father put a few drops of the contents of the vessel from the bottom on the tongue of the son and asked, “How do you find the taste? You can take a drop from anywhere within the vessel and taste it?” The son had to agree that sugar was there now in every drop of the contents of the vessel and that it was present everywhere in that vessel. Then the father explained saying, “Just as you have now seen this sugar being present everywhere, so also assumes the form of a , or one who has attributes, and comes into this world and resides in every being, in everything that you see around you in this world. It is not possible to see Him separately with your eyes, it is not possible to get hold of Him separately with your hands, but it is only possible to cognise Him by experiencing Him in the state of the world. You cannot do anything more with your gross body than to experience who is omnipresent and all pervading.” It is only after you have attained this rich experience that you will be in a position to talk of and give expression to the nature of God, His omnipresence, etc. It is only after such an experience will you have any claim, right and authority to talk about the omnipresence of God. Otherwise, just with mere book knowledge, to prattle like a parrot about God and His omnipresence, as if you truly know all, is childish. Only after the non-dual experience of Divinity, can you talk of or non-dualism. It is not possible in common parlance, in ordinary work that you do around yourself in the material world, to teach or to expound . When you put your finger in your mouth and take it out, you want to wash it with water. If there is so much difference between the limbs and the organs of one individual, how are we going to expound unity and oneness of the entire world? That there is only one God in all the beings of the world, in all the living things in the entire world, is something which you learn, which you can believe, in which you can build your faith, by listening to experienced people or by reading texts or by listening to our , and so on. But unless yourself have experienced it, you cannot truly convey this to others.

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Taking the one truth that God is present in all the living things in the entire world, if we examine it, we will find an ocean of difference between one and another in our experience and in their external appearance. Take the case of an ant. If an ant comes near you, you just push it away. If a snake comes near you, you get terribly afraid and you run away from it. The fact that you behave so differently towards these two living things shows that you are not able to experience the feeling that God is present and is the same in all living beings. How can we expound what we do not practise in our daily life? You should therefore not be merely content with using words and quotations to understand and explain or nondualism. You must make an attempt to experience this feeling. Otherwise there will be danger, too. It may land us in a situation that is totally contrary to what we are understanding by the term .

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One individual who was always talking of once went into a village. He went near a house and asked for alms. The lady of the house came and told this individual, the scholar who was asking for alms, “What is the point in my giving you uncooked rice? Why don’t you go and have a bath and come back? I can then give you cooked food which you can eat.” This , who was well versed only in dialectics, in talking and in describing in words, said, “,” which means the mere utterance of the name is equivalent to having a bath. He said that he did not have to go and have a bath. The lady of the house then replied, “,” which means that just the thought of and repeating that name is equivalent to having taken food always. So she asked him to please go away. If in truth the utterance of the name is equivalent to having his bath, why should that be not also equivalent to his having food? Thus, to depend only on these words to be argumentative with these words and to understand only the word-meaning of what is, may lead you into very difficult situations. The proper thing to do is at the beginning to accept a , that is a Form with some attributes, and so on, and through practice and through , gradually get over the situation and reach and attain the adwaitic experience. For the , that is one with attributes, and for , that is one with a Form, there is always a predetermined place. So, at first, in that predetermined place and at that fixed time you will have to take to it and derive the pleasure and benefit.

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It is possible that you may be getting a doubt that while God is present everywhere and anywhere, why should one go to a specific place, or why should one go on pilgrimages and seek God only in those specified places. When you have been able to imbibe the essence that is contained in the words which describe and transform them into your experience, then you do not have to go to a specified place at all - you do not have to go anywhere at all. But as long as you are content only with using words and just talking about and you have no experience at all, it is necessary that you should go to certain places. You have to make pilgrimages. Yes, for whatever you call , for whatever you call , you are seeking some Form. There is a place and time for that. But once you have got over this feeling, if you are seeking the , the ONE without attributes, and the , the one without Form, then there are no limitations of space or time.

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In the teaching that gave to his son in the beginning, sugar did appear as if it had a specific shape. It was only by taking sugar, which had a shape and which had some attributes, and putting it into water that it lost shape and its taste also to some extent. could teach the nature of the shapeless, formless, attributeless thing by starting from sugar, which had a taste and had shape.

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If you, as a young person, start your life by fixing a time and a form and begin your worship, and gradually by your practice you reach a stage when, out of that worship, you can just pick out a drop, a drop which has got a shape and taste, and so on, and put it into the large ocean, then the drop will mix with the large ocean that will appear to you later on as one infinite thing. For this, I will give you an example for what you initially experience as one which has an attribute, which has a time and which has specific shape, as against what you experience later on, as one which has no shape, which is present everywhere and which is not bound by time. Let us take our own congregation at present as the basis, I am now standing and talking and you are listening to what I am talking. But I and all of you are all inside this . You can listen to the talk that I am now giving for about one hour. The time is one hour. Look at this place; it is a small , and it is contained in a vast area and all of you are also grouped together as a body. In all of you, I am also one and am in every one of you. After this, all of you, each one of you will go to your own place or your own village. When you have gone back to your village and at some moment when you think of what happened now, you would say to yourselves that on such and such an evening was speaking to us, we were all sitting there and He was saying the following things, and so on. At that instant when you recollect it, then all of us, including myself, will have gone into you. Thus, this picture that has gone into your mind now will stand as a picture which is known to you all through your life. But this particular discourse with a shape and with an attribute has given you some experience and pleasure only for one hour. Because of the experience and the pleasure that you have derived in one hour, looking with your eyes at the shape and hearing the discourse, this experience is going to remain in your heart and in your mind for all your life. But if this did not happen for this one hour, if you had not witnessed all this, this will never have got imprinted in your memory. So you should not speak lightly of and should not neglect the and the aspect. You have to accept and take it and with the help of that, reach the goal of or .

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This process is called Meditation or is referred to as . However, today in the world many people are teaching in many different ways the meaning of the word . What is the meaning of ? What is it that we are going to meditate about and who is going to do it? For what purpose are we going to meditate? Unless there is an object on which you could meditate, it is not possible to meditate. Such an object on which you meditate or do is referred to as . Without the object of concentration, you cannot concentrate. There is an object of meditation, but who is meditating? Therefore, there must be a third thing - , which is you. You, who would be called , through the path of meditation or , have to reach and experience the object of meditation or . These three are being referred to as three factors: one who receives the obeisance, one who gives the obeisance and the process of giving obeisance. When the man who meditates takes to the object of meditation and goes through the process of meditation, then all these three, one who meditates, the one which is the object of meditation and the process of meditation - unite and coalesce into one and only then you achieve oneness. The one who loves, the one who is being loved and the process of love, are three factors. In one who gives , one who receives , and the process of ; we should regard all these three as one, through which the , or the aspect of love, is flowing. Even if any one of these three is missing, it is not possible to realise the completeness. If two, the one who loves and the process of love are there and there is no one to love, then it becomes useless. If the other two, the one who loves and the one who can be loved are there, but if there is no love between the two, then that becomes useless. On the other hand, there may be the process of love and there may be one who will be loved, but if there is nobody to love, then also it becomes useless. So, it is the oneness of all these three that will be referred to as or meditation. In all these three, is present to the same extent. This is referred to by saying “Love is God” - “Live in Love.” There is a need for us to make a proper enquiry into this path of meditation. This is a very good path to reach the Infinite. Although all these days you have been listening to what is contained in many of our scriptures like the , the , the and , and so on, if you have not understood what is meant by , the path by which to reach the destination, then all these may remain as book knowledge and may create an allergy in you. For , the time is important. This time that is important is referred to as . You will have to choose whatever form you like for the purpose of meditation, and during the time interval called the , which is from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., you will have to meditate on that at the same time, every day. There are also some methods and disciplines for this. You should not neglect and feel that there is no need for such specific methods.

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There is a small example for this. We have planted a small fruit tree. When it is a small plant, we want to protect it by giving it fences. When it is a young plant, why do we put fence around it and why do we try to protect it? It is because we feel that goat, sheep and such other animals will come and probably eat it up and destroy the plant. We want it to grow well and we keep a fence around it. But when that plant has grown and become a big tree, then we remove all that fencing. Why are we removing all the fence and protection at that time? The meaning of removing this fence is that the very same animals, like goat, sheep and cattle, which would have eaten up and destroyed the plant when it was tender, will then come and will seek shelter and shade which the big tree now provides. The practice which ultimately gives you or liberation should, in the initial stages, be regarded as a plant. For this practice, the fence, which we shall call discipline, is absolutely necessary. The reason for this is that bad company, bad ideas, bad associations and such other things may come and may destroy this young plant of practice. In order that they may not come and may not destroy, we will have to accept and observe discipline as the fence which will protect us. When this young plant which is seeking by , when it grows and becomes a big tree, then even though such bad ideas, bad company and bad thoughts come close to the person, the big tree is such that all these visitors will only get pleasure and happiness out of that tree. They cannot do any harm to that tree.

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That is why when we commence and when we want to be in meditation, we should try and put ourselves in what is called a . For today’s , although there are not bad qualities and bad thoughts in you, the type of trousers, the drainpipe pants that you are wearing are coming as an obstacle for your sitting in . You should not sit on bare ground. You should sit on either a wooden plank or on a mat or something like that. Not only that, you should not sit on a bare wooden plank. You should spread a piece of cloth over it. In the beginning, you should attempt to make a start with a wooden plank that is above the ground at least by half an inch. There are some reasons for taking a wooden plank. The reasons are that the earth has got the power of conduction and diffusion. When you sit in meditation, because through you is passing the current of divine strength on account of your , on account of the attraction which the earth has, you should not get disturbed. Therefore you have got to have a plank. When we lay an electric wire inside a house, we also have a specially constructed wire which is called the earth wire and which is put into the earth. Likewise, we should regard our body as our house. While thus in the house of our body we are in the process of giving rise to and establishing the divine current, we should take all precautions that are necessary by insulating ourselves from the earth and by preventing the power or the strength in you from flowing away or dissipating into the earth. That is why our ancients have taught us that we should sit on a plank.

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The practice of getting up at 4:30 a.m., at the , is also a very good habit. You are young, and if while you are young, while your mind and body are still very sound and sturdy, if you do not start such good practices and get used to them at this age, when you grow a little older, when your body becomes a little more infirm and stiff, it will not be possible for you then to do so. It will be very difficult for you to acquire this practice at a later age. Truly, this age of yours is such that it is quite possible to understand many sacred things. If you grow older and start practices late, you may not be able to get the happiness and benefit out of the practices. There are many people who think that they will do all this after they retire. Before they retire, they always say “duty is God; work is worship” and they go on doing all kinds of work, taking all kinds of jobs either under the Government or under some private agency. But this is not right. It is much better that you should do these things then and there and not go on postponing. This has been told to us in the . When the servants or the attendants of come and pull you with a rope and ask you to move on, when they drag you with their rope and ask you to be quick and go along as your time is over, your own relations will say, “Now there is no hope, put this body outside the house” and your wife and children will simply cry and say, “Now it is all finished, there is no more hope.” Under such conditions, is it possible for you to utter the name of the Lord and offer your devotion to God? So at this young age, I am very hopeful that you will understand the significance of and start and become an ideal example for the rest of the country.

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Before you take your and before you sit on the wooden plank, have a small , a candle light, in front of you. You look at that , the light, well with open eyes. After one minute, close your eyes; after you have closed the eyes, feel that the light that you had seen before closing your eyes, is in your heart. You get the feeling that inside the lotus of your heart, right at the centre is this particular . If you are not able to picture the in the lotus of your heart and get that feeling, then open your eyes, look at the light again; close your eyes and try to picture it inside your heart once again. After that, you think of it and you picture to yourself, fix it in your mind and feel that particular is put in the centre of this lotus. After that, you take this from the centre of the heart and move it to each part of your body; bring it to your neck; from the neck bring it to your mouth; from the mouth bring it to your hand; from the hand take it to your leg; from the leg take it to your ear; take it to your eyes; take it to your head; from the head bring it out all around you; when you have brought it out of your head, you imagine that you have taken this and given it to those who are related to you; those who are affectionate to you and your friends. Not only that, spread the light even amongst your enemies. After that, you picture to yourself that you have taken this and given it to all the birds, the beasts and everything around you.

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Where this or light has moved, there will be no darkness. It is in this context that all our have said, “.” Since this has reached your eyes, you will no longer have any bad vision or bad sight. Because this has gone to your ears, you will not hear evil. Because this has reached your tongue, out of your tongue will no longer come any bad words. Since this has reached your head, evil thoughts should no longer go into your head nor will they arise in you. Since the same has gone into your heart, bad ideas should no longer enter your heart. Since the same has also touched your feet, your feet should no longer walk into bad places. Because to your hands, the same has reached, your hands will no longer engage themselves in bad acts. The word bad is synonymous with darkness. In truth, if you have allowed this to spread everywhere, there is no room anywhere for this darkness or bad to persist. If, while engaged in such or meditation, you are still doing something bad, it simply means that this has not reached that particular organ which is doing bad.

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By this meditation, not only bad traits that are in you will have been removed, but in their place noble and sacred ideas and sacred actions would have entered; not only that, you would be able to get the glorious of or you would experience , the experience of oneness, because the light that is in you is present in all human beings, because the light that is present in you is present in all the birds and animals - the light is everywhere. By realising this, you will also have established the truth of the saying, “.” Some of you may get a doubt and say to yourselves, “Well, we like , He is our God; we like , He is our God; we like , He is our God. Why should we not take and meditate on one of these Forms? Why should we have a light in front of us for meditation?” But a shape or a particular form is not a permanent thing. That is a changing thing; that is also a fleeting thing. It is not right that you should put your concentration on something that will change, which is not permanent. You must have something that does not change. That is why you have to take the . Having the which does not change, in your meditation you can certainly put into it, the or form which you want and which you want to pray to. There is nothing wrong in doing that. In this form or , there is always a growth and decline. On the contrary, if we have a , or a light in one place, it does not matter how many people may come and light up their lamps from this one , this is not going to diminish or lose anything. This first , the source, is called the . Those who come and light up their lamps are called . So many , all of them have started from one single only. By putting this in our hearts, in each individual ’ s heart, the result of the meditation will be that this single jivan will go and merge itself in the and will teach you the nature of , or the oneness of this world and the entire creation.

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For this, a time, a process and a place are very essential. The place may change. Today you may be in , tomorrow you may be in , the day after that, you may be in another place like . For this body, which is traveling from place to place, it is not possible always to have a fixed place for the purpose of meditation. Even if there is a change with regard to the place where you meditate, you must take great care to see that the time at which you meditate does not change. At the time that has been fixed for your , if you, out of your heart, are willing to offer through your meditation, then surely at the appropriate time, God will come and will receive your , and will give you all happiness. What you have to give to God is . It must be coming from within your heart. It must be at the appropriate time. So, if you give heartfelt at the appropriate time, then God will certainly receive it, and God will shower on you all happiness.

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You must also have heard that God is (). I have now to tell you the meaning of . is B.A.B.A. The first B stands for Being; A stands for Awareness; the third letter B stands for Bliss; the fourth letter A is for . The first B - BEING is ; the next letter A - A W ARENESS is ; Third letter B is BLISS or . The last letter, the fourth letter is , that means is . You also know the meaning of ; is TRUTH. It is something that is unchanging during all times. The word has three sounds in it; , , YE.

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stands for the sacred and Divine; means mother. In different languages, we have for the mother, , and . means mother; means father. is the Divine mother and father. - Divine mother and father. In the same way we use the letter for Divine, for mother we can use the word , for father we can use the word , (). or are exactly the same, there is no difference between the two. Therefore, it becomes evident that this is “”. So, if you want to taste and experience this Divinity, if you want to taste the nectar of bliss, then from tomorrow you start on meditation. I am blessing you and I am hoping that you will be able to get the happiness and bliss of Divinity by such practices.