One may ascend to the highest peak of the
Himalayas ; but unless one is exceptionally fortunate
and possesses tireless industry, deep faith, true know-
ledge and the highest degree of detachment, one
cannot overcome Illusion completely and reach that
final blissful state of merger with the Supreme Great
.................bet 139 and 145....
That is why the wise ones
regard "the intuition of nature as the contents of
Samadhi
....................
first of all, with
the help of the Mahatmas who have realized Italready
and suitable books understand to some extent the
nature of the soul.
From then he may learn that
soul is one without a second ; that It is omnipresent ;
that It is the same sotil that manifests itself as jiva
(in all living bodies ; that It itself is Brahman, the
ultimate cause of the universe.
Then he must con-
vince himself of this truth by independent reasoning.
Once he has done that he must meditate upon it intensely and without break.
The process is called
\Nididhyasan.
In the course of such concentrated,
devout meditations the mind merges with the soul
and in that state of samadhi he perceives It directly
The numberless doubts which assailed him before
now resolve themselves completely.
Self-abidance is the sole means
of attaining immortality : so, if you aim at immortality,
spare no effort towards reaching that state of self-
abidance.”
Yet, paradoxical as it is, they fancy that state of bondage
to be happiness The very awareness of bondage is the
[result of keen discrimination He who knows not
he IS bound, will not try to set himself free He
who does not desire freedom, cannot find any interest
m the search after Truth or in philosophical discussions
Philosophical discussions lead to philosophical wisdom
Knowledge of Truth leads to Soul
So long as man
mistakes the body for the self, and consequently
entertains feelings of “ I ” and “ mine ”, he can
hardly reach the portals of Soul Force Most people
caught in the toils of Illusion waste their lives, not
only without attaining Soul Force or self-knowledge,
but even without realising that they are in a state of
bondage Among all mankind, who has the strength
to overstep the limits of the wide realm of the mighty
Illusion which holds sway over everything, and engulfs
all men and women in the shoreless sea of desire and
dances intoxicated, blowing the trumpet of her victory
that signifies undisputed sovereignty
..But man is hardly aware of this truth , even if he is aware
of it, he does not fully believe it. Some evil in him
'obstructs complete self-surrender
Having consciously overcome obsta-
cles like laya, vikshepa, kashaya and rasaswada, man’s
mmd soars higher and higher like birds to the very
zenith of Nirnkalpa Brahman, and finds rest and
happiness there To those who have realized, this
kind of samadhi is a source of bliss , to the seekers,
it proves helpful in reinforcing knowledge There is
no doubt that the congeniality of time and place goes
a long way towards making the mind still and pointed
like the flame in a windless room and leading it on
to the state of Nirvikalpa and bliss. It may be stated
with certainty that the Hlmalayan atmosphere per-
meated with the noble penance and energy of the
great rishis, has exceptional powers of easily leading
minds to peace and concentration.
............
187 The very awareness of bondage is the
[result of keen discrimination He who knows not
he IS bound, will not try to set himself free He
who does not desire freedom, cannot find any interest
m the search after Truth or in philosophical discussions
Philosophical discussions lead to philosophical wisdom
Knowledge of Truth leads to Soul
...........
It IS the One without a second It is Brahman The
direct experience of It is what is called liberation
Kaivalya or Moksha consists not merely in the annihila-
tion of sorrow, but in the positive bhssful realization
of one’s true Self.
No amount of penance or ritualistic
jhvorship can take us to the goal.
Penance, by itself,
Itannot destroy the I-Comciousness.
That can be
'footed out only on the direct perception of Reality resulting from thought.
Until that is done there
cannot be real peace and freedom from suffering.
The state in which one has destroyed egoism, realized
the soul, and found the soul in everything movable or
immovable, is called mukn (liberation).
The attain-
ment of that state is the highest purpose of life.
.......
190 God is everywhere and at
all times , He sees everything He understands the
needs of all and supplies them as He knows fit But
Iman is hardly aware of this truth , even if he is aware
of it, he does not fully believe it. Some evil in him
'obstructs complete self-surrender
......
The Hindus as well as the Buddhists originally
designed the fourth asraina as a help to the determina-
tion of reality by undisturbed thinking.
But in course
of time, the Buddhist lamas, like the Hindu sanyasins,
forgot the ultimate objective and contented themselves
with wandering along crooked and remote tracks
leading nowhere, or still worse, vegetating like
trees, moving along no path at all.
When a Bhakta, filled
with the longing to see his Beloved, cries out as if his
heart would break, “ My Lord, My Lord, O Parmatma,
when shall I behold Thy lovely form with these eyes
of mine ?
” only people who have tasted the Divine
sweetness of that intense love, can understand it.
An uninterrupted revelling
in this non-dual Brahman realized as the quintessence
,of the world is the supreme goal of life.
In conclusion, I pray all my fellow-men who
possess enough intelligence and some purity of mind
j(|to work for the realization of Brahman, which alone
fulfils the purpose of human birth.
True Vairagya is the result of thought.
They
do so because all of them agree that without first
gaming a certain degree of concentration by fixing
the mind upon physical objects, it is difficult for people
to focus their minds upon the abstract Brahman
I know Truth is that endless luminous
Knowledge transcending the three gunas.
I believe whatever I do, whether I
read or write, eat or breathe, play or ramble, or remain
in a state of mental concentration (samadhi) is for the
good of my brethren.
There is no doubt, careful observers can learn not
only through scriptures but also through daily experi-
enee, something about the wonderful power of God.
The impossible becomes possible for no apparent
reason, and untrained observers do not understand
its secret.
Yoga IS defined as “ That is, it
consists in attaining complete control over the vacillations of the restless mind.
The complete
stoppage of breathing (neither inhaling nor exhaling)
is designated as Kumbhakam and that is the most
important part of Pranayama. Not only the Hatha.
Yogis but the Rajayogis also accept Pranayama as an
essential element of yoga.
The man
who conquers the individual prana by regular and
patient practice, simultaneously conquers the collective
prana. All one’s physical and mental powers proceed
from one’s individual prana , similarly all the acts of
the Universe originate with the collective prana
Thus by conquering the individual prana, the yogis
conquer the collective as well. (same thing said by Swami Vivekanand)
In fact, collective
prana and individual prana are not two different
entities but one and the same.
So the devotees of the
yoga philosophy claim enthusiastically that a yogi
who has effected the complete conquest of the individual
prana will have the sun and the moon at his beck and
call, because he has obtained control over the collective
prana.
And therefore it is plain, one cannot become a yogi
‘ until one is able to regulate the connection and the disconnection of the mind and the senses.'
As it is the
prana that carries on the processes of connection and
disconnection irrespective of one’s will, one shall be
able to withdraw the mind from the senses, on one’s
developing the control of prana by the practice of
pranayama.
This
pinning down of the mind according to one’s tastes,
to spiritual or physical objects such as an imaginary
bright light in the heart or between the eyebrows or
on top of the head or on Vishnu, Siva or Devi, is
called dharana.
If this control of mental activity is
continued for a long time it is called' dhyana.
The
state in which the distinction between meditation and
meditator disappears, and the object of meditation
alone shines, is called samadhi.
When a man has succeeded in attaining
'dharana, dhyana and samadhi with the help of corporeal
means, his next effort must be to reach these states
through incorporeal means.
“ Only when the mind has passed
through these various stages and got rid of the impu-
rities of Rajas and Tamas, it can comprehend the
Self which is the finest of the fine, with no form or
attribute.
Through the dharana and dhyana the mind
gains strength and rises into the prolonged state of
Samadhi.
When mind has become one with the Self,
as the camphor becomes one with the fire, or the salt
becomes one with the water, all distinctions between
the meditator, the meditation and the meditated dis-
appear and the Self begins to shine by Itself.
This
last and highest state of mind is called by the Yogis as Asamprajnata ; it is called Nirvikalpa by the Vedantins.
This state of samadhi raises a sadhaka to a
siddha and a layman to a yogi.
He alone is the real
yogi who has transcended the three mental states, Tamasa, Rajasa and Sattvika and
reached that supreme
state of Self-abidance.
The science of Yoga acknow-
ledges Asamprajiiala as its highest goal.
It recognises
him who has reached that state as the supreme yogi.
It also admits that there is nothing illogical if qualified
persons reach the goal at one leap, while persons less
qualified have to reach it by the regular practice of
Pranayama, Pratyahara, etc. '
Brahman is the ultimate Truth. He who has
accepted It has accepted everything ; who knows It
knows everything ; who has gained It has gained
everything.
But nobody knows that Brahman, nor
desires to know It.
Nobody seems to possess
that purity and fineness of mind which makes one desire to attain Brahman.
Few indeed are the people who aim
at that supreme Bliss. If people
fail to perceive their ultimate
goal, it is all on account of Maya.
But there are certain hidden,
abstract truths which even
inference cannot reach up to.
One can reach them only through one’s firm faith in the
mahatmas and the Sastras.
Without faith, it is
impossible to ascertain those
great truths
and without ascertaining them,it is impossible to take practical
steps to reach them.
How can I define the greatness of the
faith that is at the root of all prosperity here and
hereafter? How can I describe the skill and the
uniqueness of the faith that renders the most difficult
penances most easy ''
They firmly believed that the gain of all
the world was no compensation for the loss of one’s
soul.
They were never satisfied with anything less
than realization.
They found contentment only in the enjoyment of long periods of Samadhi.
Thus it is clear that it is the inner spirit that is
at the root of all beauty. I am that spirit which ever
shines unsurpassed. A man’s highest state is the
Jnanasamadhi in which he enjoys total identification
with that spirit.
But at last,
rising above all such perishable, though immediately
pleasant, things, their thoughtful minds turned towards
that One and only Object of perfect Bliss, which
transcends all attributes and action, and which is
limited by neither Time nor Space.
When, on hearing the glories of the Lord recounted,
the mind melts and flows uninterruptedly towards the
Almighty, it is called Bbakti.
Nevertheless, indifference to worldly pleasures, control of body and
mind, eagerness to attain salvation, places and time
without distractions and other factors are necessary
to an intensive search after Truth.
Without these,
mind can hardly become calm and pointed enough to
attain Truth.
If a man enters upon a life of thought
with all these necessary equipments, he will certainly
reach the state of Jnana before long.
It deserves to be specially mentioned that the
state of knowledge which is the sole source of ever-
lasting peace can be attained only by right thinking
and not merely by dhyana or samadln
