Advaita Practice---meditations

[An On-line Satsang]

N K Srinivasan Here are some meditational practices for Advaitic Practice: 1 Imagine yourself as a grain of sand on a beach; Imagine yourself as a star in the visible firmament or Universe---dwell on these thoughts for as long as you can. [This is to promote humility and reduce your ego!.] 2 A chant " Deham Na ham---Ko ham So Ham" [to be repeated] which means " Not this body--then who are you?-- I AM HE"; This is a variation of "Sau-ham" meditation or pranayam practice.

This was suggested by Bhagwan Ramana himself; As I recall, this was used as a chant by Saivite saints as 'advaitic chant' to utter when they circum-ambulated or went round the sanctum sanctorum of a Shiva temple. [I practised this for many years around 1978-1985 or later in a Shiva temple near Coimbatore-South India.]

Note 1 I intend writing on such specific methods of Advaitic practice

in this article. This article is for general audience with interest in Advaitic practices. 2 As a personal note, I must add that though I practice and promote Advaita in various ways, I also practice in devotional methods in Hindu traditions. I am an ardent devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba and offer my devotions to Him as my sad-guru and Parama-guru. 3 Readers may contact me through email: nksrinivasan@hotmail.com. 4 I do not ,however, wish to enter into polemical arguments over Advaita philosophy or practices or discuss the methods as such. But genuine questions seeking clarification on Advaita will be answered. 5 I do not wish to make comments on the past saints or sages of

any religion. You can visit my websites: www.nksrinivasan.webs.com and www.nksrinivasan1.webs.com [about spiritual quest and for saints/sages of India.] Advaitic Contemplation 1

You say " My Body",

"my feet', my eyes" --so the body parts are

not YOU, but belongs to you. You own them temporarily; you know that you may lose any of the body parts structurally, that is broken off or functionally, they become defective, dysfunctional---for instance you may lose your hearing or eye-sight....so these are not YOU , but your possessions---like your car, your house and your coat. You may lose them or they get damaged and should be replaced. You are not this body ,but you work with and work through the body with the help of your mind. Reflect on this!! You cannot control many things in your body.For instance when you sleep you don't know whether your heart is pumping or you are snoring!...You are in blissful sleep. Your body keeps working in some way.You realise you had a good sleep because you wake up refreshed. You did not control what went on during your sleep.You were not aware of your body during sleep.! Then why worry about your body so much during waking state. Is it because of some habit or your worrying mind! Again YOU ARE NOT THE BODY BUT A TEMPORARY OWNER OF THIS BODY WHICH MAY BE SNATCHED AWAY FROM YOU AT ANY MOMENT. IN FACT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHEN THE FINAL MOMENT WILL COME WHEN YOU WILL SHED YOUR

BODY...YES YOU MUST MAINTAIN YOUR BODY FOR THE SAKE OF FUNCTIONING IN THIS WORLD. THAT IS ALL. YOU ARE THE SPIRIT INSIDE YOUR BODY WHICH LOOKS OUT AT THE WORLD THROUGH THE SENSES...KEEP TO THIS THOUGHT AS LONG AS YOU CAN.! COME BACK TO THIS THOUGHT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN! SLOWLY THE MIND WILL KNOW HOW TO THINK BEYOND THE BODY CONSCIOUSNESS ['DEHATMA BUDDHI'] ---THAT WILL GIVE YOU A BIG LEAP WHEN YOU MEDITATE---WHAT EVER MAY BE THE TYPE OF MEDITATION YOU DO!!

Advaitic contemplation 2

Beyond Duality
We live in a world of duality. When we are born, we are either a male or a female--duality begins there! Duality is the stuff of this world--a world of light and darkness,rich and poor, beauty and ugliness,strong and weak,good and bad, righteous and corrupt,noble and wicked. We cannot escape from the duality. We experience duality till the last breath of our lives. We cannot wish away one part of duality--say we will have only

goodness in everything. Such an utopian world is not possible. Good and bad mingle with equal frequency, in strange ways; they may follow in cycles. This duality is the play of God or His 'Leela' or sport, as Vedantin's would explain to the lay people.! But we can transcend the duality in brief moments---with advaitic contemplations. There is a common analogy given by sages--- including Bhagwan Ramana and Swami Nithyananda of Ganeshpuri---the movie and the movie screen. You go into a movie house and sit before a movie screen. You get absorbed in the movie projected on the screen.You even get identified with the characters in the drama. You cry with the suffering hero, get angry with the villain and laugh with the comedian. What is "real" here? Only the white cloth or screen in front of you. The light from the Projector [the self-effulgent Atman or Brahman] passes through the movie film [the past Karmic record] and projected on the screen [ the phenomenal world or Jagat] with

picture of light and shade [with 'mayic' illusion] creating the story ['samsara'...constructed by our mind]. We go through the emotions of joy and sorrow, taking it as a real story. When the projector is switched off and the hall ceiling light comes on, we see the white screen and leave the movie house as from a dream world. Tomorrow, another story, another movie will be thrown on the screen.! Therefore you can transcend the duality : Focus on the changeless, formless,attributeless Brahman--the white cloth or the screen of the movie house. Contemplate on this a few times a day.! Advaitic Contemplation 3 The ONE and the Many It is hard to see God everywhere and in everyone, though scriptures always say so. We must be convinced of this. Advaita school has many analogies and devices to bring this 'realisation' to our mind. First we should get convinced mentally that this is a valid statement. Brahman is ONE, without a second and pervades everything. It is imperishable, unchanging and eternal .

Everyone has a soul or Atman which activates our intellect, mind and then body. Without the soul , our body cannot function at all. A dead body or cadaver does not sense mountains and rivers. You need the soul to see the world or for all the senses to function as they do. This soul is a gift from God for dualists.But for advaitins, this soul is only a part of Brahman; Brahman alone acts through each of us which we call our Atman. Suppose you keep four mirrors in sun light. You will see four images of the sun. Though there is only one Sun, you are able to see four reflections or images of the sun. The individual souls are all reflections of one Brahman. It is Brahman alone who activates our body,mind and intellect. We perceive the world around us and the Universe only because of this Atman or Soul. The eye does not see; eye is just an instrument like a camera. The eye behind the eye is part of the mind which has the power to recognise an object seen by the eye. To elaborate further, the eye can be donated to another person to use.The mind cannot be easily transferred.The mind with its association with previously seen objects correlates to recognise the object.In dream state, the objects are 'visualised ' by this

faculty. Again consider our heart. We did not design or plant our heart inside. It just grew in mother's womb. It keeps pumping blood for the entire life with some precision . Even though we may say that this is only an act of Nature, Nature is only an expression of Brahman and not man-made. Nature or Prakriti is the part of Brahman. [ In common parlance we say that there is Purusha and Prakriti , Prakriti or nature being the creative part of the Brahman . Purusha is the seed principle. In puranic terms (based on mythology), Purusha is male God Shiva and Prakriti is the female goddess: Parvati, Shiva's consort. Such mythical concepts help to fix ideas, though a pure Advaitin will frown on such connections. These mythical concepts form the basis for temple worship with deities of Shiva and Parvati.A devotee with religious fervor, at least for a few moments, gets absorbed in these thoughts when he prays before the images of deities. ] In Vedanta, we invoke an Ishwara or God for worship who is in the 'apparent reality' of this world and the Universe. Ishwara is only Brahman, intended for worship by humans with limited intellect. We invoke the Ishwara or personal God in daily devitions. Why create

another entity called Ishwara and the associated mythical stories and images?. Brahman being abstract and formless/attributeless [niirankara,nirguna], it is difficult to focus on the abstract Brahman. For all purposes, Ishwara is with us in the relative,

apparent reality. This apparent reality is called 'empirical reality' or viavakarika or transanctional in advaita literature. Brahman is the paramarthika "Reality", the absolute Reality. Therefore meditate on Brahman who is present in all jivas or living creatures activating them through their intellect,mind and body.[Brahman is present in inanimate objects too, as matter.] If you have come this far with me, the contemplations would have given deeper meaning and carried you into thinking of Brahman, 'One without a second', pervading every thing. [ You may note that I have not used the concept of the world being illusory or 'maya' in these practices as this concept is as such difficult to learn and accept. This will become clear with further contemplations.] Meanwhile there is a simple analogy for understanding how Brahman is the creator as well as the indweller of this Universe. Consider a spider which builds its web and then gets enmeshed in the web. Such is the nature of Brahman.

Advaitic contemplation 4 The most basic thought in your life is the "I" thought. Every other thought you have hinges on this thought or evolves from this thought. Your activities, achievements,satisfaction,frustrations, misery ---are all based on "I " thought. Just think how many times you use "I" or "Me" or "Mine" in daily conversations. How many times you talk to yourself: " I should do this"... When you get up in the morning after deep sleep, the first thought that arises is this "I". Only after that, other thoughts rally around: "Yes, I am awake now; I should brush my teeth; I should take coffee; I should go to the bank or ATM machine"; "I should meet xxx." Every other thought arises after the I thought. Even if you want to sit for meditation, you tell yourself " I should sit for meditation now." Can you find the source of your " I"....This is a big task, a tall order...think carefully what it implies right now... Your "I" thought is bound to this life like gravity is bound to any object on earth...you cannot break away from this "I" thought...that you are an individual--a person.

Investigate what is the basis for "I" thought...Where it comes from? What is its source? "I" thought came to you when you were a foetus in the mother's womb....sometime when you grew up there....From that point ,the 'I' thought continues to function till the last breath---except when you are in deep sleep or perhaps in a coma. Though the "I " thought is continuous, you experience it when you get awakened from deep sleep. Again when you go to sleep, it dies down. Your consciousness continues during deep sleep, but "I" thought is gone... So this "I" thought comes and goes, unlike your Jiva-- consciousness or Atman. So, " I" thought can be controlled.It can be reduced to its minimal functionality.! When you sleep, you do get great reprieve from this "I" thought. In normal mundane life you cannot function without "I" thought.It is like an ID (Identification) card you wear.....It separates you from all others on this Earth...from all the seven billion people populating this earth...In that sense, this "I" thought is useful.... When Sri Ramakrishna was asked by someone: "When can "I" see God".

Sri Ramakrishna replied " When the " I" is not seen".This sums up much of Vedanta! This "I" thought separates you from Cosmic Creation of which you

are an integral part. Yet you feel separate. Thus Bhagavan Ramana always said " Find out who this "I" is ----with this pregnant question: " Who am I/"..." Find out what happens to this "I" after death; what was "I" before you were born. [In simpler terms, the "I" is similar to the Identity card you get when you join a company---with the company seal and authorized signature. When you leave the company ,you surrender the ID card...it has no value for you. Even if you keep it as a souvenir, it has no intrinsic value.] It is important to reflect on this "I" thought from time to time and keep it in proper place! It is needed, but may not obsess your soul. [There is a short moment after deep sleep and before "I" thought begins.Can you extend that period?] [9th Oct, 2011]

Advaita Contemplation 5 Advaitin takes everything as it comes---without planning or looking for som e future event or making a "sankalpa". Sankalpa is one's deep wishes for some event to take place. A jnani is without any ego and as such does not wish for anything...so sankalpa does not arise. But in relative 'vivaharika' or transactional terms he may plan and wish for certain things. For isntace you want to travel somewhere;you would plan for that. Again if the travel

plan is modified or the travel is cancelled, the Jnani does not show any emotional upset ...that is the advaitic contemplation. [A Bhakta or devotional seeker does the same thing resigning everything to the will of God,because he has already surrendered to God.] The contemplation is then to think of everything wwithout personal wishes or preferences or even interest. This may be tried with small things first and then extended to serious matters affecting one's life.!

-------------- Om Tat Sat----------