Why Boring Sadhana

Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:27:06 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