Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

ON MEDITATION

[This appeared in July 1977 issue of the monthly journal ‘Vicharasetu – The Path of Introspection’]

One effect of meditation is that you will be able to know again and again of what mental nature and mettle you are. Meditation will also reveal how much sharp and refined your intelligence is. Are your activities motivated by any kind of passion, or by a set prejudice, or is there any undercurrent of greed for recognition or popularity behind them? All these will also be brought to your light by the habit of meditation.

The mind may at times become violent and uncontrollable when you sit in meditation. By that it gives you an opportunity to realize what brings down such violence. The knowledge is invaluable. These are moments when one really studies his personality, its nature, composition and the scope for improvement. The earnest sadhaka will instantly begin to think of the way of correction.

Later, the process of meditation will itself thin down. The mind, the ripples it generates, will gradually dwindle. There will be moments when you will find the mind non-operative. It will lead itself to a state of cessation, extinction. When the mind dissolves, the substance of the Self, the Reality called the jeeva (the life-current) is realized in its own light. This is the sublime, but grand, state of release.

Get to it, find out if you wish to experience it over again!

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THE PATH OF DEVOTION

[An extract of an article that appeared in February 1979 issue of the monthly journal ‘Vicharasetu – The Path of Introspection’]

What is devotion, in truth? It is the constant nurturing in the mind of the devotee a group of fine sentiments towards the Deity or God whom he worships. These sentiments are, broadly speaking, love, regard, faith and reliance. From the time a devotee begins the practice of devotion, his duty is to see that none of these sentiments falls off or becomes weak, on any ground whatever. For only then his devotion will be classed as unflinching, and that kind of devotion alone will gain for him the absolute vision of God, Immortality and Bliss. But to preserve these sentiments at all costs is an uphill task. This does not mean that no one will be able to succeed in the attempt and become the receptacle of the highest Divine Grace. The only point is that there should be a consistent effort on the part of the devotee to preserve his devotion, strengthen and fulfill it.

Invariably, the devotee has to face many kinds of trials and ordeals at every step. It is a question of waging a direct intense fight with them. There is no possibility of escaping the trials altogether. If there were no trials, there would be no progression in our devotion too. The best of devotees are processed through the worst of trials. The reason for it is primarily two-fold. To begin with, the devotee does not have any clear idea about the nature and features of the God whom he worships. His lack of knowledge must be removed and full knowledge instilled into him. His idea that God is something or someone external, like the so many other objects of the world, has to be corrected. Also the feeling that the peace and blessedness to be had by seeking Godliness are something of a worldly or external nature has to be removed, and replaced by correct conceptions. This is generally accomplished by making the devotee turn more inward. Trials faced in the external world help this process greatly.

The other reason is that the nature of our mind, the course of the world and our life, these are bound to bring in some trial or the other, now and then. By meeting the various trials, the mind has to acquire a number of qualities like stability, surety, clarity etc. Thus, viewed in both ways, trials are a necessity. They are a sure help, and hence inevitable, if devotion has to prosper steadily.

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QUOTE FROM POOJYA SWAMIJI

O devotee, do not go to the temple and do the opposite of what you should do. Go there to feel passion for the Lord and dispassion for the world. Are you trying for this or for exactly its opposite? The same place and the same act can mean two different objects. Make sure the right one is chosen.

- Swamiji

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