4 posts tagged with "samyama"

I wrote previously that I wanted to cultivate devotion as pure meditation was not providing me with the Brava that I wanted. Further, just sitting in meditation all the time was leading me to get a bit antsy. Meditation creates focus, but if Bhagavan isn’t in focus, then the carnal pleasures become the objects of focus. So I decided that I want to focus more time on devotion as part of my day that takes on various forms not just meditation. What I came to realize is a few things:

1. Meditation time should be considered Devotion time. Whether I am on the meditation cushion or not I need to develop a love of Bhagavan. By focusing only on meditation I am limiting myself to potentially other forms of Bhakti. Further, 10-20 minutes of deep meditation is much better than 30 minutes of spacy meditation. I am focusing more on quality as opposed to length.
2. This devotion time I can use for other things. I need to get into the shastras more deeply and this time spent throughout the day is time I can use for this focus. Further, I can use it as a time for prayer, sastra reading, meditation, and hatha yoga study, and reading of some classics.

In order to simplify my life even more I have divided my day into two buckets: Devotion and Work. Yes, I include time for exercise, family and cleaning. But for the most part the day is simply broken into 2 hour work chunks and 30 minute devotion chunks. This radically simplifies what I need to think about at any given time. This also gives me ample time throughout the day for devotion and thinking about Bhagavan to center myself.

I still hope to meditate about 30 minutes a day, but it also gives me 2.5 hours to dedicate to studying other things.

Lastly, the Devotion time should be focused on improving one of the 8 Limbs. This is a significantly important point. By improving the 8 Limbs I am focusing on progressing spiritually not just arbitrarily reading things.

I can’t always meditate or sit for prayer. Further, my study is all over the place and not consistent so I am trying to simplify my Routine. Instead of having three types of Meditation I will just have one. This will just be a meditation for 20 minutes and study of the sastras for 10. So a 30 minute block of study. This simplifies the practice and I have the exact same type of meditation every time so that I can get into a groove.

Having three different types of meditations is not fruitful and is a bit distracting. By having a single type I can get into the same type of meditation every time. Secondly, having the study after the meditation I can focus after clearing my mind instead of distracting it. I am performing a Raja Yoga which is “yogas citta vritti nirodah” so distracting the mind by focusing on a verse first seems to be counterintuitive. So my focus is to read the texts after.

Lastly, I may not always be able to meet the meditation time. So if I cannot meet it I will focus on working on studying the sastras or study some spiritual text.

| Worshipping the Idol is the first step; better than this is repetition of a | holy Name and singing of divine glories. Better still is dhyana or contemplation | and the last and the highest state is to realize ‘I am He’. -Tantrasara, | Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatiswarananda page 380.

So the way to read this is as follows:

1. Pray externally on an idol, an alter, or at a temple. The goal is to setup a dualistic entity that is outside of you as the basis for worship.
2. Japa and memorization of devotional songs.
3. Meditation in a Raja Yoga sense in a dualistic way
4. Jnana Yoga and understanding oneself as ‘I am He’

I’ve already noticed that the different forms take up different aspects of my life. All three are the same. Hanuman is an avatars of Shiva, Shiva is a Saguna Brahman, and Saguna Brahma leads to Nirguna Brahman. When I think of my body Hanuman plays a strong role. When I think of myself as a soul Shiva takes a strong role. However, in meditation it seems to bridge between Saguna and Nirguna.

So I do think the three forms are helpful in day to day life. While I return to my Ista mantra, I also find it helpful to have a mantra (Jain Shree Ram) for when doing something physical to light myself within. This focus on Hanuman at the physical level focuses the body and work as service to the divine.

The mantra repeatedly internally is to focus the mind on Shiva which leads to the oneness of Brahman in meditation.

• Hanuman Chalisa (Karma/Bhakti): Devotion
• Yoga Sutras (Raja): Discipline
• Bhagavad Gita (Karma/Bhakti/Jnana): Wisdom

These three shastras encompass the spirit of the Four Yogas and it seems just understanding these three fully and deeply seems to be sufficient. As I stated on v0.11 that I was going toward this path but I didn’t fully understand the depth of each. Frankly, I didn’t think much of the Hanuman Chalisa and now have absolutely fallen in love with it.

The Hanuman Chalisa is not just a song but each sloka is a mantra and an aspiration of behavior that was exuded by Lord Hanuman. Each sloka has a depth of meaning of the trials of Hanuman and how he overcame them. It is in essence the ultimate in the Karma Yoga texts that are succinct to follow the understanding versus reading Ramakrisha or Vivekananda. While, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda act as gurus to guide us to the Four Yogas the Hanuman Chalisa is a condensed version of the values that they want us to lead.

The Yoga Sutras act as a means for disciplining oneself. If the Hanuman Chalisa teaches how to act outwardly then the Yoga Sutras teaches us how the inner world should be. The Yoga Sutras are a guide on how to structure and setup the inner world so that you can act like Lord Hanuman to always be focused on Lord Ram. Since Rama means “light within” it is also a representation the Brahman.

Lastly, the Bhagavad Gita acts as a bridge between the outer and inner world. While the Hanuman Chalisa deals with outer virtues, the Yoga Sutras the inner world, the Bhagavad Gita deals with the battlefield of life of how to deal with yourself as an individual in society at large. It has the ideas that are included in both the Chalisa and Yoga Sutras as well as the Upanishads. It acts as the source of Jnana Yoga encompassing the why of it all.

These shastras have a lifetime of study ahead of them and I am content knowing what I need to focus my energies around.

Jai Shree Ram