The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavadgita- 7.5 -Swami Krishnananda.

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Tuesday, April 18, 2023. 06:00.

Chapter 7: The Art of Meditation.-5.

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What is called psychoanalysis is nothing but the simple process of bringing the subconscious and unconscious to the conscious level. We are not aware of what we are inside us. Therefore many a time we have moods; we have whims and fancies; we think differently on different days. Suddenly some thought comes, and we do not know why this thought has come. We say, “Well, I thought differently. Yesterday's thought was different; now I give up that idea.” Why did we give up that idea? We do not know what we are inside. Something that has been working and trying to get matured has suddenly come up to the conscious level. A deliberate process of bringing out the inner residue of the subconscious to the conscious level is to be attempted, and this is done by concentration. This process cannot be achieved by diversification of thought. Whenever we concentrate our minds, it is like hitting the subconscious with a hammer—it bursts. Otherwise it is like a hard nut which does not let out all its secrets. Concentration is a death blow that is dealt at the very root of the subconscious and the unconscious levels; that is why the mind resents concentration. Nobody likes concentration; they get fed up. Ask anybody to concentrate continuously. They get tired and run away from that place for a long walk, because the mind is very unhappy, as if it is a thief who is going to be detected. A thief is very uncomfortable in a public assembly; he wants to escape, somehow or other, if he is going to be pinpointed and interrogated. So if we go on attacking this subconscious by concentration, again and again, thinking only that, it resents, and the resentment of the subconscious creates various complications. We become unhappy and give up the practice itself.

All this is very difficult to practice, says Arjuna—cancalam hi manah krsna pramathi balavad drdham. The mind is very fickle and impetuous, and we don't know how to control it, just as we cannot control the clouds. But, abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena ca grhyate—by a real dispassionate attitude towards all externals and a persistent tenacity in the daily practice of concentration, we can subdue the mind. And finally, the great love that we have for the higher Self is itself a potent method of subduing the lower self. Towards the end of the sixth chapter there is a beautiful message for us, by which we are given solace that things are not as difficult as they appear to be. Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani catmani, iksate yoga-yukta-atma sarvatra sama-darsanah: One who is in the state of the Self perceives the higher Self in such a manner that it is recognised in other persons also. All beings are seen in the Self, and the Self is seen in all beings. The vehemence exerted by the objects upon the senses decreases in its intensity when they are meditated upon as parts of one's own Self. But if we reject them by force of renunciation, not having any positive attitude towards them, then they may do harm by retaliating or wrecking vengeance.

Therefore, the advice here is that the higher Self has to be recognised not merely in one's own personality, but also in other beings—sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam, sarvatra sama-darsanah. Yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi pasyati, tasyaham na pranasymi sa ca me na pranasyati: “He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, to him I am never lost, and he is never lost to Me,” says the Great Lord. God is ever with us as the supreme Guru and Guide, provided that we wholeheartedly surrender ourselves to Him. He is the highest Self, and when we are able to gravitate the mind and the intellect towards this highest Self, force descends automatically from there. In the same way as we touch a high voltage wire and draw energy, and we feel charged with that energy because we have touched a live wire, so it is, as it were, God is the highest live wire. The moment we contact Him inwardly, energy flows. But, it is not easy to contact that highest Self. So the layers of self are to be regarded as higher selves, by degrees. For this purpose the answer given by Bhagavan Sri Krishna to Arjuna's query is that though all this may appear so difficult, it will become easy by daily practice.

When we were babies we could not even walk; we fell down many a time and injured our knees. When we learned bicycling we fell down many times, and so on. Swimming, cycling, walking—all these are difficult things, but once we master the technique, we can run without even being aware of our legs. Those who are master swimmers do not become conscious of the water in which they are swimming. People who are masters in cycling do not think of the cycle on which they are sitting, and when we walk, we do not even know that we have legs. But when we were babies we were very conscious, and therefore we fell. So, practice makes perfect.

Gradual, honest desire to move away from distractive atmospheres and to concentrate the mind on the higher Being is mumukshutva, and is itself a potent aid. And finally, surrender of self to God. The surrender of the lower self to the higher Self is again, to reiterate, done by stages, by gradual isolation in the beginning—socially, physically, and finally even psychologically. We must find ourselves in a psychological sequestration, not merely physical isolation. We find ourselves alone even mentally, and then the mind comes down on an emotional level and a perceptional level—then it is that we can be said to be in state of proper concentration. Atma-samstham manah krtva na kincid api cintayet: After the mind has established itself in its own root, which is the Atman, there is no necessity to think anything. All thought is external and is lodged in objects outside, but when it has been weaned from objects and centred in the inner selfhood of non-objectivity, no thought is permitted, na kincidapi cintayet, and an unknown joy bursts from within like the sun shining in the midst of dark clouds when the mind returns to its own source. All happiness, whatever be its nature, is only a modicum of the tendency of the mind to return to the Self within. The more we go inside, the more are we happy, so that when we are perfectly established in our Self, we are in the state of highest happiness. The seer establishes himself in himself when consciousness rests in its own Self; chit becomes sat and when cit becomes sat, it becomes ananda, and one exists in a state of the highest divinity.

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Next
Chapter 8: In Harmony with the Whole Universe
To be continued

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