From: Dharmaviira
Subject: Why Boring Sadhana
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Baba
PS Intro: This following song can be taught to non-margiis as it belongs in
the 'Krsnaliila' series. As we know, in Baba's Prabhat Samgiita collection,
there are a number of songs about Lord Krsna. So when any program is
organised related with Krsnaliila, then these songs are most useful to
attract non-margii devotees who have love for Krsna. So this song is not
for our regular devotional chanting. This is not a devotional song for
Ananda Margiis. If anyone has any doubt or confusion about this, please
refer to Baba's discourse: "Onm'kara and Is't'a Mantra".
"Ka'j kare yete esechi dhara'te, kuruks'etra ei dhara'..." (PS 1307)
Purport:
O' Lord, by Your grace, I have come in this world to do work and serve
You; this world is kuruks'etra [1]. O' my dearmost, with Your divine
compassion I have come here to engage in positive work and serve the
humanity. Remaining idle and inert, and wasting time in lethargy is not the
flow of life. This is not how human beings should live. O' Prabhu, by Your
divine grace You have blessed me with the energy and motivation to involve
in work-- to do something for the great cause of dharma.
O' Lord Krsna, everything You have done with Your cakra [2] and Your bow
and arrow. Everyone is aware about Your epic adventures. That immortal tale
and everlasting story remains flowing in everyone's memory-- in everyone's
mental plate.
O' Prabhu, everyone is moving forward by Your divine pull; there is no
scope for anyone to pause or stop. No one can lag behind; all are moving
ahead. O' Lord Krsna, that divine story of the Mahabharat led by You
Yourself which took place on Kuruksetra is filled with song and has been
beautifully written by the great sage, Dvaepa'yan [3].
O' my Lord, by Your grace I have come on this earth to serve You and
work for the welfare of all..
NOTES FOR PRABHAT SAMGIITA #1307:
[1] Kuruks'etra: Everyone knows that the meaning of dharmaks'etra is one's
human body whereas kuruks'etra has two meanings. The first meaning of
Kuruks'etra is that area of land near Delhi in the state of Haryana where
the Mahabharta battle was fought around 3500 years ago. And the second
meaning of Kuruks'etra refers to the grand idea that everyone has come into
this world to so some work-- because this world is known as kuruks'etra.
Here following is Baba's special explanation.
Baba says, "The real name of this world is kuruks'etra, because it is
always telling you Kuru, kuru, kuru - 'Go on working and working and
working. Don't sit idle. Don't let your existence fall under a curse due to
your indolence. Move towards success through your works.' So the real name
of that ks'etra [field] which constantly advises you in this way is
kuruks'etra. Kuruks´etra thus stands for the manifested world around us,
the sam'sa'ra, where you exist in your physical body, dharmaks'etra." (DKG)
Indeed Baba has graciously given so many discourses on the meaning of
Kuruks'etra and by listening to His Prabhat Samgiita people can refresh
their mind of the real meaning of Kuruks'etra.
Here the overarching idea is that all the various aspects of Baba's
expansive AM ideology are present in seed form in His collection of Prabhat
Samgiita. Baba has written His Prabhat Samgiita very indirectly and those
with a pointed mind understand how each song links with in-depth
explanations which He has given in His AM philosophical discourses.
[2] Cakra: This term has a variety of meanings and in this song Baba is
referring to one of the weapons of Lord Krsna. Because during the
Mahabharat battle, there were times when Lord Krsna unveiled His divine
cakra.
Here below Baba Himself describes the historic scene in the Mahabharat
where the people thought Lord Krsna covered the sun with His cakra so that
Arjuna could fufill his great vow of slaying the immoral Jayadrath.
Baba says, "You know what happened at the time of Jayadratha's death.
Arjuna, as per his vow, was supposed to go to the funeral pyre immediately
after sunset in order to keep his promise. Suddenly people observed that
the sun was no longer in the sky and that it had become dark all around.
Everyone thought that the sun had already set. Those who were devotees, not
philosophers, commented that Lord Krs'n'a had covered the sun with His
Sudarshana Cakra...and people thought that the sun had gone down. Soon
Arjuna was able to keep his promise and kill Jayadratha. " (NKS, Disc: 24)
[3] Dvaepa'yan: This is another name for the great poet Vedavyasa Deva who
recorded the Mahabharat in written form.
Baba says, "Krs'n'advaepa'yan'a Vya'sa is renowned as Vedavya'sa for having
divided the Vedas into three main portions (Rk, Yajuh, and Atharva)...He
was born in a fisherman's family (Kaevarta [a fishing caste]) on a blackish
island that rose out of the waters of the confluence of the Ganges and the
Yamuna at Prayag, and for this reason the people gave him the name
Krs'n'advaepa'yan'a. This Krs'n'advaepa'yan'a or Vedavya'sa was the
composer of the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata was composed long, long, long
after the Vedas, but nonetheless it is undoubtedly more than three thousand
years old." (SC-2, Disc: 11)
Final Note: Baba composed the above Prabhat Samgiita #1307 on 29 Feb 1984
when He Himself was touring through Kuruks'etra, thus giving credence to
the idea that indeed the historical account of the Mahabharat is itiha'sa.
== WHY BORING SADHANA ==
Namaskar,
Every sadhaka is aware that the repetition of our ista manta is based on
the divine idea that the individual mind of the unit being can become one
with the vast ocean of that Cosmic mind. So our mantra japa has tremendous
meaning and is part and parcel of our spiritual cult.
Here and there however, some lose sight of the greater meaning of their
ista mantra and instead get stuck up in a literal meaning. This below story
where one of our esteemed acaryas was doing a lesson review with one margii
follows this pattern.
STORY: 'THE SMILING SADHAKA'
At dharmacakra, one acarya told this following story about his own
experience when doing a lesson review with on youth.
One time a margii university student approached this acaryaji and requested
him to do a lesson review. As that is one of the chief duties of our wts,
the acarya wholeheartedly attended to this request.
So the acarya reviewed various aspects of that sadhaka's meditation,
including his ista mantra. And everything seemed fine so then they both sad
down for sadhana, sitting a short distance from one another.
After some time, the acarya opened his eyes and looked over at the young
sadhaka to see how everything was going. And he noticed that the student
was broadly smiling while doing sadhana.
Gently the acarya walked over to inquire about the student's meditation.
And the acarya said, 'I noticed that you are smiling in your sadhana, are
you repeating your ista mantra'.
Then the student very sincerely told, 'Yes I am repeating my ista mantra,
and I am smiling because that is the meaning of the mantra'.
Then the acaryaji requested, 'Tell me what mantra you are repeating'.
Then in quick fashion the student told his mantra. And the fast way in
which he spoke it, the mantra sounded just like the Hindi word for smiling.
Then the student very sincerely told, 'So I am just doing what the mantra
says to do-- that is why I am smiling in my meditation'.
And then at that point acaryaji understood exactly what the student's
problem was. Instead of understanding that the devotional meaning of the
mantra is related with the divine idea of calling out to Parama Purusa,
instead of that the boy was just taking the mantra too literally. And in
his innocence the student was repeating the mantra and literally taking it
to be one Hindi word meaning 'smiling'.
So he could not link up with the proper ideation of the mantra.
Instead with this overly literal meaning, the boy was just following what
the mantra said to do. That is why he was smiling doing sadhana.
At that point the acarayaji gently guided the youth in the proper
direction. He told, 'Do not think of the mantra in such a literal way that
it just turns into one common Hindi word meaning smiling. Literally
repeating the mantra in that parrot-like fashion will not work. Rather when
you do your sadhana then when you inhale repeat the first syllable of the
mantra and think about yourself. And then when you exhale with full
devotional feeling repeat the second syllable of the mantra and ideate on
merging into Parama Purusa. This of ideation must be followed when
repeating your mantra-- this is the of proper ideation. And when sincerely
following this approach then your sadhana will be successful.'
Thereafter, when the youth returned to his meditation he properly followed
this approach and his sadhana naturally flowed in a deeply devotional
rhythm-- as he repeated his mantra and linked with Parama Purusa each and
every breath.
BABA'S SPECIAL EXPLANATION
In His unique discourse, 'The Stance of Salvation and How to Attain It',
Baba guides us about what can happen when one takes the meaning of their
mantra too literally.
On page 84 of SS-18 (1992 Edn), Baba explains how one sadhaka was repeating
the mantra 'Rama'. The first syllable was 'Ra' and the second was 'Ma'.
But the meditator was thinking too literally about each of the syllables.
So instead of ideating on the divine concept of merging in the vastness of
Parama Purusa, i.e. Rama, instead of that the sadhaka just became bored
with the literal sound of each syllable of their mantra-- Ra & ma.
In that boredom, the sadhaka could not keep their mind fixed on the
syllables of the mantra. So when repeating 'Ra', the sadhaka was thinking
about 'ma' and when repeating 'ma' he was thinking about 'ra'. In that way
the sadhaka totally reversed the entire mantra. And instead of thinking
about the divine idea of 'Rama', the sadhaka reversed the syllables and was
literally repeating 'mara'-- which means death.
This all happened because the sadhaka took the process of repeating the
mantra too literally. And in that way the mind could not sustain any
psychic or devotional flow. Just it got stuck in the literal repetition of
each of the syllables.
WHAT SHOULD BE OUR APPROACH
We should not allow such things to happen to us in our meditation.
Sometimes we see in sadhana shivir programs that some sadhakas get bored or
start falling asleep in their meditation. Sometimes this happens at our
various AMPS functions. In most of these cases, the sadhaka is unable to
link up with the expansive idea of their mantra. Rather than getting bored
and literally repeating each syllable of the mantra, we should just repeat
the mantra with the full thought of Parama Purusa in our mental plate.
It is just like when one baby repeats 'mama'. The whole time the baby is
yearning for its mother. It is not thinking of the literal meaning of 'ma'
on the first syllable and then the literal meaning of 'ma' on the second
syllable. This is not the way the baby's mind is working-- not in that
literal fashion. Rather with wholehearted love and yearning the baby is
ensconced in the idea of mother and crying out 'mama...mama...mama'. And by
that way the baby gets its mother.
Similarly, in our sadhana we should devotionally ensconce the mind in
Parama Purusa and use the mantra as a means to call out to Him. This is our
devotional approach in sadhana-- thus permanently ending the problem of
boredom in sadhana. This is Baba's divine teaching.
BABA'S BLESSING
By Baba's divine grace and by ideating on Him when we do our mantra japa,
then one will reach that pinnacled point.
Baba says, "Be established in Parama Purusa...come in contact with the
universal flow of divine nectar...for a sa'dhaka, the most valuable thing
is his ista mantra. With the help of the ista mantra and his personal
incantation, a sa'dhaka will attain enlightenment." (SS-18, p.95)
Namaksar,
Dharmaviira
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