An Andhra gentleman of middle age asked Sri Bhagavan how he should make his .
M.: The contains the word “namah”. It means that state in which the mind does not manifest apart from the Self. When that state is accomplished there will be an end of the japa. For the doer disappears and so also the action. The Eternal Being is alone left. Japa should be made until that state is reached. There is no escape from the Self. The doer will be automatically drawn into it. When once it is done the man cannot do anything else but remain merged in the Self.
D.: Will lead to ?
M.: is not different from . Bhakti is being as the Self (). One is always that. He realises it by the means he adopts. What is bhakti? To think of God. That means: only one thought prevails to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That thought is of God which is the Self or it is the Self surrendered unto God. When He has taken you up nothing will assail you. The absence of thoughts is bhakti. It is also mukti.
The method is said to be (enquiry). This is nothing but “supreme devotion” (). The difference is in words only.
You think that is meditation on the Supreme Being. So long as there is vibhakti (the sense of separateness), bhakti (reunion) is sought. The process will lead to the ultimate goal as is said in Srimad “Bhagavad Gita”:
Any kind of meditation is good. But if the sense of separateness is lost and the object of meditation or the subject who meditates is alone left behind without anything else to know, it is . Jnāna is said to be ekabhakti (single-minded devotion). The is the finality because he has become the Self and there is nothing more to do. He is also perfect and so fearless. “dwitiyāt vai bhayam bhavati”—Only the existence of a second gives rise to fear. This is . It is also .