Sadhana for Week 24
Intellect Level: Meditation
Chant Nirvana Shatkam& Contemplate on it for 10minutes after your bath.
Quote:
Meditation is the path
In which the ego learns to withdraw
Its false evaluations of life and itself and
Comes to the final experience
Of its own Divine nature.
To rise above our identifications with our limited mind and intellect by a conscious contemplative flight, is the only method of awakening into truth and reaching the higher Consciousness.
Ancedote:
Before PoojyaGuruji Swami Tejomayananda himself became a swami, he had asked PoojyaGurudev in Uttarkashi, “how long should I meditate?”
“Twenty-four hours,” was the reply. PoojyaGurudev explained – “To experience half an hour of quiet peaceful meditation, twenty three and half hours of alert and vigilant living is required.”
Meditation is not an activity that is separate from rest of life. If one leads a life filled with agitation and negativity and selfishness one cannot expect to sit down and meditate and experience peace and bliss. The mind will not be able to concentrate and withdraw, instead it will be even more active and restless!
Fulfilling one’s duties within the family, working with selfless motives in the world and spending time with spiritual people and literature help purify the mind and prepare it for that special time on the meditation seat.
Meditation
? Meditation comes from the Latin word medit, meaning – to heal.
? Meditation makes the body healthy & strong.
? It heals our sorrows, conflicts, confusions and makes us light.
? It cures us of the 6 impurities(mala) – kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya.
? It destroys the primal-ignorance of our true nature and sets us free.
What is Meditation?
? State of effortless awareness of Divinity or our true nature as Pure Consciousness
? It’s not a practice to do. Meditation is a noun, not a verb. It’s a state of Consciousness. It’s the fourth ‘State’ of Consciousness which is the support of Waking, Dream & Deep Sleep
? The practice is called – Contemplation.In contemplation you reach a ‘State’ called Meditation. Sometimes both are used interchangeably.
? In Meditation, one withdraws the attention from the external to the body, from body to breath, from breath to mind, from mind to intellect and then through contemplation on the Self one discovers one’s true nature beyond the ego, as Consciousness.
Nirvana Shatkam
Nirvana Shatkam or Atma-Shatkam is one of the most inspiring and popular compositions of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. These 6 verses (Shatkam) are meant to negate our false identification with the body, mind and intellect and strengthen our identification with the Self (Atma), thereby leading to Liberation(Nirvana).
Each verse has 3 lines of negation of the false and 1 line of assertion of the Truth. After making the mind quiet, one must chant these verses and contemplate on its meaning.
Contemplation is not thinking. It is to lift the mind to the state indicated by the words. Reflection and thinking should be done before contemplation and one should know the meaning and the logic behind each line. Once that is done, in contemplation, one allows the words to gently sink into the mind and lift the mind to the state conveyed by the words.
PoojyaGurudev Swami Chinmayananda loved Nirvana Shatkam. The chanting of Smt. Sudha Malhotra is available at the end Bhaja Govindam summary talk by Swami Chinmayananda available in a CD. Available at:
http://www.chinmayapublications.com/detail.php?id=&prodid=MB05
To purchase the text and commentary of Nirvana Shatkam by PoojyaGuruji Swami Tejomayananda, click here: http://eshop.chinmayamission.com/index.php/freetextsearch/search/result/?keyword=nirvana+shatkam#.VqOtRTbYpSw
To listen to the chanting of Nirvana Shatkam/AtmaShatkam by Swami Brahmanandaji please buy the CD Prabhat Sudha.
To listen to talks on Nirvana Shatkam by Swami Swatmananda, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5kMTTkyiPA&list=PLBL6q3YRxEE6N4r0okYdIH45Ni7e7GD7D
How to?
1. Preferably chant and contemplate after a bath.
2. Sit erect. The head, the neck and spine in a straight line. Come to a comfortable posture and suggest to yourself that for the next 10-15minutes I’m steady and still, without any movements.
3. Pay attention to whatever is happening around you. Don’t think or analyze it. Just be aware. Spend a minute on this. ?????????ciousness. t for the of Nirvana Shatkam, click here: Consciousness playing different roles. ciousness. t for
4. Focus on the body and scan through the body from head to toes. As if you are watching your body as any other object. Spend 2-3minutes on it.
5. Be aware of each and every breath. Inhale and exhale slowly, steadily and deeply. Do this for 10 breaths atleast.
6. Chant the Nirvana Shatkam slowly.
7. Contemplate on the meaning. Feel that you are beyond the Body, Mind, Intellect and ego. You are Pure Consciousness. Let the words sink in.
8. Sit quietly for sometime
9. Offer your gratitude and prostrations to the Lord or Satguru for being able to contemplate on the Self.
10. Rub your palms, place them on the face, gently open your eyes and get up slowly.
11. Try and remember through the day that you are not a body but Pure Consciousness playing different roles.
Benefits:
Meditate! Meditate!! Meditate!!!
This is the highest vocation in life
And man alone is capable of it.
Let us meditate and discover for ourselves
Its benefits and blessings.
And in this we must help ourselves – no one else
Can ever help us.
- Swami Chinmayananda
The benefits of meditation are numerous:
1. Integrates the personality
MEDITATION kindles life.
It fills the personality
With new vitality, strength and dash to achieve and to rebuild.
Meditation rehabilitates
Man’s broken, tired, weary, inner personality and
Makes him a master of his destiny,
An authority who commands
The world of happenings around him.
- Swami Chinmayananda
2. Develops clarity in thought
The daily practice of meditation is one of the most effective springboards
For developing clear and precise thinking.
- Swami Chinmayananda
3. Aids discrimination and develops wisdom
To expose the mind
To the quiet atmosphere of meditation
Upon the All-pervading Being,
Is to heal the mind of ulcers
And cause it to become
Perfect in wisdom.
- Swami Chinmayananda
4. Helps develop detachment
Liberation or attainment of perfection is a condition experienced by the mind;
Liberation is only for the mind because the mind alone was in bondage.
- Swami Chinmayananda
5. Helps reduce the body identification
The end of the ego is the “Mystic Death” of the meditator.
- Swami Chinmayananda
6. Growth in spirituality
Meditate to grow!
Grow in meditation!
Grow to become the very dynamic power behind all growth!
- Swami Chinmayananda
7. Unites with the Lord
True knowledge enables a man to realize that
He is the soul with a body.
Now, in his ignorance, he thinks thatHe is a body with a soul.
- Swami Chinmayananda
Beginners and Advanced:
Beginners:
1. Do as advised above.
Advanced seeker:
1. Spend 30 minutes in contemplation in the morning and evening.
UNTO HIM OUR BEST