Dhyana (Meditation) ,a great purifier

Meditation (dhyanam) is a portal to the kingdom of Spiritual science which aids spiritual growth.Dhyanam is calming the restless mind. 

This is a simple procedure to bring the sences , mind and intellect under control .Purpose of meditation is Establishing equanimity, ;preparing a self for God realisation by washing away the sins.

Dhyanam is making our mind empty,by shutting out all thoughts of external enjoyments.

Dhyanam prepares the inner self to a contemplative  self intending for self realisation .

How to do dhyanam.?

Fifth chapter in gita,26th,27th slokas clearly explains the method of doing dhyanam.

            '  Sparshankruthva bahirbrahmyam chakchuscheiivAntharE bhruvoh

                 PraNapanow Samow kruthva nA sAbhyantharachariNow'

Shutting out all thoughts from Mind,fixing the gaze in the space between the eye- brows,regulating the outgoing and in going  breath (watching the breath) one has to bring sences,mind and intellect under control.This empty state of mind acts as a gateway to tremendous amount of cosmic energy to enter the body. This capability of receiving  cosmic energy comes only when the mind is thoughtfree. This process of dhyana, when  practiced regularly prepares the common self to pure contemplative self,links to the universal self and gives  the experience of eternal bliss.

One has to observe ones own breathing consciously ,while  shutting out thoughts.

In the beginning, dhyanam seems very tough to practice because taming a wandering mind to a calm, blank mind is not easy. But once mind is conditioned, sences and intellect  are controlled, self consciousness connects to the universal consciousness. Huge amounts of cosmic energy begins to flood the body, purifying both the self and body. Expands the consciousness , wipes of the sins,dispels all doubts by enhanced spiritual knowledge.Dhyani ,with his disciplined mind realises the eternal truth ,Brahma, the abode of eternal peace, eternal bliss ,eternal knowledge ,present all around.

Dhyanam ( Meditation) is the simplest age old  technique used to liberate oneself. While meditating, one has to cut the thoughts at once and bring one's attention back to the natural breathing. 

Saint Thyagaraja of18th century ,who was a great Bhakta of lord Sri Rama, a great singer composer sang a song expressing the greatness of Dhyanam.

      ' DhyanamE vara Ganga snAnamu o manasa'. (Telugu language).

'Ganga is very  very sacred river, which came down to earth from heavens,;It is believed that

If any body takes a bath in Ganga, his sins will be washed off.Bathing, even a dip in 

Ganga purifies us. Similarly, dhyanam also clears all sins and sanctifies the Dhyani.Hence, Saint advices us to do Dhyanam.' Meditation purifies the body and soul.

When body and soul are purified, Truth reveals itself as bright light ,giving Supreme peace,and everlasting bliss. Dhyani experiences Self realisation .

'Santi achireNadigachchati'. SaysGita. It means everlasting bliss will be experienced.

Truth, knowledge and Bliss(sath,chith,anandam) are experienced at a time.

Dhyanam is an ancient cost less technique to realise the priceless Supreme.

                             Bhagavanuvacha 

The power of Bhakti (devotion )

Bhakti means devotion or unflinching  faith in God.  Bhakti is one kind of Bhava .

When anybody offers any thing  with full faith to his / her faith, God accepts that offering  delightfully .

Whatever it may be, a leaf or a flower or a fruit ,or even water,that  does'nt matter.But what matters here is ,with how much Bhakti ,with how much purity of faith one offers this  to God.The sloka below mentioned ,explains  this aspect clearly.Lord Sri Krishna says,

        pushpum phalam thoyam yo me Bhaktha prayachchathi,

      Thad aham bhakthyupahrutha masnAmi prayathAthmanaha.

 Things offered to God as a matter of formality,or as a matter of a ritual, without Bhakti, will be rejected by God. Subject

Similarly actions done with some expectations will not yield good results,because  mind is not totally dedicated to that particular action.That'swhy Lord Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to dedicate all actions to Him.

          Yathkaroshi,Yadasnashi yajjuhoshi dadathiyathu

           Yatthapasyasi KownthEyA that kurushva  madarpaNam

                                            (Rajavidya Rajaguhya yoga)

Arjuna,whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire,whatever you bestow as a gift,whatever you do as a way of penance, offer it to Me. By doing so you will become

Free from the Bonds of Karma.

What are the bonds of karma? Every action we perform yields some results; Good actions result positive consequences called PuNyam, bad actions result negative consequences called Papam.

Which action results papam and which to punyam is very difficult  to define. Hence,dedicate all actions to God, and escape from this papam .Take Gods name while doing any action, so that the results of action goes to God  only. Lord says....

                        Subhasubha phalairEvam mokshasE karmabandaneihi

                         Sanyasayogayukthathma vimuktho mamupisyathi

Here,in the above sloka,  ' sanyasayogayukthathma' means renunciation of the results of the actions. Either good or bad (subh or asubh ),all results will go to God only.We will become free from papam.,free from bonds of actions.....This is what means   MokshasE karma Banda nihi.

When one is free from 'papa punyams' ,purifies his self and reaches God.

        Here, the underlined  Bhavam is Bhakthi. Do any action dedicating it to God,with Bhakthi. Offer anything with pure Bhakthi, you will be blessed ,your offering iis surely accepted, you will be blessed. 

What a simple formula to get rid of sins?

What an easy way to get God's blessings?

Bhagavad Gita advises very simple way to liberate one's self, but one has to practice

It religiously, regularly,;;

Attribute all achievements to God.  Success and failures are in Devine's discretion ,we are instrumental in performing actions. This is a spiritual way of doing actions.This is the true spirit of Karmayoga.

Bhakti alone helps anybody to realise this truth of Truth.

                                 Gitauvacha

The importance of last wish

This is a very  Bitter Truth:: Anybody once born has to die one day and has to take birth once again .None can escape this repeated cycle of birth  and  death.

         

 Lord Sri Krishna says

                                "  jathasyahi dhruvo mruthyuhu dhruvam Janma mruthasyacha."

In 26th sloka of Sankhya yoga-2nd chapter.

This process of changing body like changing  the worn-out dress is an inevitable law of nature.

But changing the nature of mind is in our hands.

When?one leaves the body,and how ?and where ?know one knows .

But,when a Jeevi(praNi) leaves the body,he carries with him, his mind and Karmaphalam(the accumulated result of actions).This we all know.

Mind carries the thoughts, character ,and knowledge of a person with it.

So,with whichever  thought the Jeevi leaves the body, the same thought ,it Persues

in its next birth.Whether negative or positive, the same last thought will be persued 

in the next life.Jeevi(praNi ) craves to fulfill it's unfulfilled desire of the previous birth .This is a very big sacred secret.

Henceforth,one should always  entertain Good Thoughts( Sadbhava) through out his/her life time.Why?

Reason is, no one knows when one dies. Time of departure  is a big mystery.

Respecting this sacred secret of Bhagavt gita,our. Indian penal code asks the last wish of  even a criminal before being hanged .Not only this ,our Indian Penal Law , honours Gita by asking the accused 

To take an oath,saying that he will speak only truth,by keeping his hand on Gita.

Death bed wish is taken very seriously in our Indian society.

This sacred secret is very beautifully explained to Arjuna by Lord Sri Krishna in only two slokas.

                 Yam yam vapi smaraNa bhavan thyajathyanthEthu kalEbaram

               Tham  thamEvythi kownthEyaa! SadA thath BhAva bhAvithaha.

Yasmathu sarvEshu kaaleshu maamanusmara yuddhacha

Mayyarpitha Mano BuddhirmamEvishyasya na samsayaha.

Meaning of slokas goes like this..........

Arjuna! Thinking of whatever entity one leaves the body at the time of death, that and that alone one attains, being ever absorbed in that thought.

Therefore, Arjuna! Think of me alone at all times and fight with mind and intellect  thus set on Me,

You will definitely come to me only,no doubt in it.

In second sloka, Lord hints us the simplest method  practicing which, one can come out  of this tiring 

Cycle of birth and death.

Here is an interesting story of one Ajamila,from Sri mad bhagavatham to illustrate the importance of a last wish.

Once upon a time,long long back,there used to live a person named Ajamila.He was an epitome of all

Sins and unrighteousness in this world.When his time of departure approached ,the attendants of Lord Yama(lord of death) appeared  to him .Frightened by seeing  those fierce full ,scary Yama's attendants ,Ajamila screamed,calling his most favourite last son whose name  was Narayana.

Without his knowledge Ajamila shouted the name ofLord Vishnu, left the body.

immediately ,Lord Vishnu's attendants came down,argued extensively with Yama's attendants

And took Ajamila to Vikuntam.

By sheer uttering  the name of Lord Vishnu unintentionally at death time,Ajamila's

entire unrighteousness  is totally washed off and he got entry into Vishnu Loka.

This story explains emphatically ,how powerful is our last thought of life,,How it works out  to decide the next life?

In the recent past we all know,Mahatma Gandhiji also spelled 'HE Ram,HE Ram' even  when he was shot.    Had there been someone  else than Gandhi, he/she  could have shouted something else

but  not  Lord's name.Because Mahathma Gandhi  used to read Bhagavath Gita very regularly,,

he knew what to do at the time of death,He knew the sacred secret ,remembered  every second of his life. that's why he could  implement the secret at exact time needed.

Great souls always act great,even at the time of leaving the body!!

Mahathma  Gandhi  very we'll knew that by calling Sri Rama ,no doubtedly he could reach Sri Rama..

He got liberation!....janmarahithyam. No doubt in it.  This sacred secret about last wish works as sukshmam lo moksham. Is'nt it a wonderful,simple formula for liberation?

Sukshmam lo moksham;;;;means...Liberation,using simplest technique.

                        Gitauvacha

The unique quality of this world

How fortunate are we all took birth on this planet?.Our world is named Manushaloka Loka. .Because of  this continuous cycle of births and deaths of humans ,our world is also named Marthyaloka .

Where from the Jeevi comes into a human body and when it leaves and to where it goes,no one knows,,it is a big mystery.

In this world of mortals ,we  worship deities practicing some rituals in a specially designed manner to fulfill our wishes and they will be granted  usually very quickly.This whole process of fulfilling wishes , Gods sanctioning the desires ,happens very quickly,;;happens, only and only In this Loka because of its special cosmic potential energies.

In Marthyaloka  time taken for fulfilling  the desires is extremely less than the time  taken in the other worlds.

Hence,for this reason,sometimes even Divine beings of different hierarchy willfully  take birth on this planet,to upgrade their status in Divine Lokas  By observing special yogic practices here on our earth ,they get Siddhi, and fulfill their wishes,and leave our world. 

Yaksha, Kinnara ,Kimpurusha , Gandharva , Sura, Vidyadhara ,Siddha, Munigana ......ect are of different Divine  beings with different degree of Divine 

powers. They always desire for higher planes of divinity ,with higher grade of Divine powers. All this is explained by LordKrishna while teaching Arjuna,the impartence of a human  birth ,in12th  sloka in chapter 4 in Gita.

                       Kankshanthaha karma nam siddhim yajantha  iha devathaha 

                   Kshipramhi manusherloke Siddhirbhavathi  karmaja

How great is our world,How great is our birth here?

Even Divine beings are thronging to take birth in our world,therefore ,how much previlaged  we are.?

Let it  be any mode  of practice either,,Dhyana or Japa or Thapa or Kirthan or Yoga or some other thing, we too can reach the Divine orchards...,We too can benifit the advantage of taking birth on this fast track wish fulfilling globe.In a small period of time,one can raise spiritually to bigger,higher levels.

I feel earth is a specially designed and positioned cosmic body for one's Self uplift ment. 

Are'nt we fortunate to be human?

Is'nt human birth a great opportunity given by God, to raise ourself to Divine levels.

                    Bhagavanuvacha