WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF NIRGUN MEDITATION ?( SADHANA FOR BEGINNERS—10)

WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF NIRGUN MEDITATION ?( SADHANA FOR BEGINNERS—10)

There are three types of meditation & three types of samadhi:To know meditation it is essential to know three types of samadhi;-- 1-Savikalpa samadhi, 2-Nirvikalpa samadhi 3-Sahaja samadhi. 1-SAVIKALPA SAMADHI;-- 1-In Savikalpa Samadhi सविकल्पसमाधि, also called Samprajnata Samadhi and Sabija Samadhi, is meditation with support of an object ----- there can be thoughts inside the trance (a half-conscious state), but the trance will not be disturbed or perturbed. 2-The thoughts are like children playing in a room when the father is deeply absorbed in his studies. The children are playing, but they do not disturb him. So in Savikalpa samadhi there can be a turbulence of thoughts and ideas, but the divine trance that the seeker is enjoying will not be affected. 3--But in the case of the man who has no realisation, he sees the world as something outside, different and independent; (This is due to Avidya)this one is very important. 4-In the second variety, the world vanishes from view and the Jnani rests on Suddha Nirguna Brahman, according to Rajju-Sarpa Nyaya (analogy of snake in the rope). When a Yogi gives up his Savikalpa Samadhi, he meets Nirguna Brahman but this meditation make a perfect devout like Meera ,Surdas.A perfect devout IS JNANI but a jnani is not compulsory DEVOUT. 2-NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI;-- 1-In Nirvikalpa samadhi there is no thought, no idea, nothing whatsoever. All is tranquility, or you can say tranquillity’s flood. Here nature’s dance comes to an end. The restless activity of human nature cannot play its role. There is no thought, no idea, no form, only the transcendental Silence and boundless Peace, Light and Delight. 2-In this expanse of infinite Peace, Light and Delight, there exist only the seeker and his Beloved Supreme, who have become one. Nirvikalpa Samadhi, viz., one in which the Jnani sees the whole world within himself as a movement of ideas, as a mode of being or a mode of his own existence, like Brahman, by resting in Brahman (Svarupa Visranti). Brahman sees the world within Himself as His own Sankalpa . So does a Jnani also. This is the highest state of realisation as in the case of Lord Krishna, Lord Dattatreya, Sri Sankara, Jnanadev and others. 3- SAHAJA SAMADHI;-- 1-Then comes a samadhi known as Sahaja samadhi. In this samadhi, after having attained the highest realm of consciousness, one can remain on earth and enter into multifarious activities while maintaining his highest realisation. 2-It is as if one is sitting quietly inside a jet plane which is flying at a speed of seven-hundred miles per hour, but one does not notice any motion at all. In Sahaja samadhi one maintains the highest transcendental consciousness within and, at the same time, throws himself into the world’s activities in order to transform humanity and free humanity from ignorance. 3-This samadhi is for those who have reached the Highest and whom the Highest Absolute Supreme wants to manifest Himself in and through. MEDITATION based ON IDEA;-

10 POINTS;-

This is meditation based on Nirguna Brahman ,on OM / AN ABSTRACT IDEA

1-Sit in Padmasana. Repeat OM mentally. Keep the meaning of OM always in the mind. Feel that you are the All-pervading, Infinite Light. Feel that you are the "Suddha-Sat-Chit-Ananda, Vyapaka Atman, Nitya Suddha Buddha Mukta, eternally free Brahman."

2-Feel you are Chaitanya. Feel that you are the "Akhanda Paripurna, Ekarasa, Santa, Infinite, Eternal, Unchanging Existence."---- Every atom, every molecule, every nerve, vein, artery should powerfully vibrate with these ideas. 3- Lip repetition of OM will not produce much benefit. It should be through heart, head and soul. Your whole soul should feel that you are the subtle, all-pervading Intelligence. Negate the body-idea when you repeat OM mentally.This feeling should be kept up continuously.

4-Meditate on the above ideas constantly. Constant effort with zeal and enthusiasm is indispensable. Repeat mentally the above ideas incessantly. You will realise. You will have Atma-Darshan within two or three years. 5-Will and Manana(to ponder) are two important factors which play a conspicuous part in Nirguna meditation or Vedantic Sadhana. Manana is preceded by Sravana or hearing of Srutis and followed by Nididhyasana of a constant nature with zeal and enthusiasm. Nididhyasana is profound meditation. Sakshatkara or Aparoksha realisation follows Nididhyasana.

6-Just as the drop of water when dropped on a hot iron is absorbed by the hot iron, so also the mind and the Abhasa Chaitanya (reflected consciousness) become absorbed in Brahman. The balance left is Chinmatra or Chaitanya Matra (Consiciousness-Absolute). Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana of the Vedantic Sadhana correspond to Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi of Raja Yoga of Patanjali Maharshi.

7-By worship and meditation or Japa of Mantras, the mind is actually shaped into the form of the object of worship and is made pure for the time being through the purity of the object (namely, Ishta Devata). By continual practice (Abhyasa), the mind becomes full of the object to the exclusion( the act of not allowing someone)of all else, steady in its purity and does not wander into impurity. So long as the mind exists it must have an object and the object of Sadhana is to present it with a pure one.

8-The sound repeatedly and harmoniously uttered in Japa of Mantra must create or project into perception the corresponding thing, Devata. The Mantras gather creative momentum by repetition through the force of Samskaras.

9-In Samadhi, the mind loses its own consciousness and becomes identified with the object of meditation . The meditator and meditated, the worshipper and worshipped, the thinker and the thought become one. The subject and the object, Aham and Idam (I and this), Drik and Drisya (seer and seen), the experiencer and the experienced become one. Prakasa and Vimarsa get blended into one. Unity, identity, homogeneity (all of the same kind), oneness, sameness refer to Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

10-There is a living universal Power or Intelligence that underlies at the back of all these names and forms. Meditate on this Power or Intelligence which is formless. This will form an elementary Nirguna meditation without any form. This will lead to the realisation of the Absolute, Nirguna, Nirakara consciousness eventually.

IN NIRGUN MEDITATION ;-

03 POINTS;-

1- The aspirant takes himself as Brahman. He denies and sublates the false adjuncts or fictitious environments as egoism, mind and body. He depends upon himself and upon himself alone.

2-The aspirant asserts boldly. He reflects, reasons out, investigates, discriminates and meditates on the Self. He does not want to taste sugar but wants to become a solid mass of sugar itself. He wants merging. He likes to be identical with Brahman. This method is one of expansion of lower self.

3-Suppose there is a circle. You have a position in the centre. You so expand by Sadhana to a very great extent that you occupy the whole circle, and envelop the circumference. This method of meditation is suitable for persons of fine intellect, bold understanding, strong and accurate reasoning and powerful will. Only a microscopic minority of persons is fit for this line of meditation.

THE KEY POINT;---

1-It is comparatively easy to meditate on 'Aham Brahma Asmi' when you are seated in a steady posture in a solitary closed room. But it is very, very difficult to keep up this idea amidst crowded surroundings, while the body moves. If you meditate for one hour and feel that you are Brahman, and if you feel for the remaining twenty-three hours that you are the body, the Sadhana cannot produce the desired result; Until at all times, you try to keep up the idea that you are Brahman. This is very difficult but very important.

2-A worldly mind needs thorough overhauling and a complete psychological transformation. Concentration and meditation bring about the construction of a new mind, with a new mode of thinking. Contemplative life is diametrically opposite to worldly life. It is an entire change altogether. Old negative deeds ( Vishaya- Samskaras )have to be thoroughly annihilated through constant and intense practices carried on with zeal for a long time and thereby new spiritual Samskaras have to be created..

TYPES OF NIRGUN MEDITATION :-

05 FACTS;-

1-AIR;-

Sit in Padmasana. Concentrate on the air. This will lead to the realisation of the nameless and formless Brahman, the one living Truth.

2-AKHANDA JYOTI;--

Imagine that there is a Parama, Ananta, Akhanda Jyotis (Supreme, Infinite effulgence) hidden behind all the phenomena with an effulgence that is tantamount to the blaze of crores of suns. Meditate on that. This is also another form of Nirguna meditation.

3-SKY;-

Concentrate and meditate on the expansive sky. This is also another kind of Nirguna, Nirakara meditation. By the previous methods in concentration the mind will stop thinking of finite forms. It will slowly begin to melt in the ocean of Peace, as it is deprived of its contents, viz., forms of various sorts. It will become subtler and subtler also. 4-AUM TECHNIQUE;-

03 POINTS;-

1-The sacred Aum vibration can be heard in meditation through the supersensory medium of intuition. First, the devotee realizes Aum as the manifested cosmic energy in all matter. The earthly sounds of all atomic motion, including the sounds of the body—the heart, lungs, circulation, cellular activity—come from the cosmic sound of the creative vibratory activity of Aum. The sounds of the nine octaves (A series of eight note) perceptible to the human ear, as well as all cosmic low or high vibrations that cannot be registered by the human ear, have their origin in Aum.

2-So also, all forms of light—fire, sunlight, electricity, astral light—are expressions of the primal cosmic energy of Aum. When the devotee's consciousness is able not only to hear the cosmic sound of Aum, but also to feel its actual presence in every unit of space, in all finite vibrating matter, then the soul of the devotee becomes one with BRAHMAN.His consciousness vibrates simultaneously in his body, in the sphere of the earth, the planets, the universes, and in every particle of matter, space, and astral manifestation.

3- In these highest states of meditation, the body itself becomes spiritualised, loosening its atomic tenacity to reveal its underlying astral structure as life force. The aura often depicted around saints is not imaginative, but the inner divine light suffusing the whole being.This Holy Vibration working in the subtle spinal centers of the astral body, sending forth life force and consciousness into the physical body, manifests as wonderful astral sounds—each one characteristic of its particular center of activity. Nirguna meditation is abstract meditation on Nirguna Brahman. Repeat OM mentally with Bhava (feeling). Associate the ideas of Sat-Chit-Ananda-Purity, Perfection, "All Joy I am: All Bliss I am: I am Svarupa: Asangoham-I am unattached: Kevaloham-I am alone: Akhanda-Eka-Rasa- Chinmatroham.

5-Chakras sounds;--

02 POINTS;-

1-These astral sounds are likened to melodic strains of the humming of a bee, the tone of a flute, a stringed instrument such as a harp, a bell-like or gong sound, the soothing roar of a distant sea, and a cosmic symphony of all vibratory sound.Their effects will be automatically realized by the advanced devotee .The Self-Realization technique of meditation on Aum teaches one to hear and locate these astral sounds. This aids the awakening of the divine consciousness locked in the spinal centers, opening them to "make straight" the way of ascension to God-realization.

2-As the devotee concentrates on Aum, first by mentally chanting Aum, and then by actually hearing that sound, his mind is diverted from the physical sounds of matter outside his body to the circulatory and other sounds of the vibrating flesh. Then his consciousness is diverted from the vibrations of the physical body to the musical vibrations of the spinal centers of the astral body. His consciousness then expands from the vibrations of the astral body to the vibrations of consciousness in the causal body and in the omnipresence of the supersoul.

CONTD ...SHIVOHAM...

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SHIVOHAM........