Car Driving and some Wisdom
Ever since I knew what is meditation, a very beautiful phenomenon has been happening when I just take a break from the thick of some activity. It was two years ago at a swimming pool on an afternoon when I was the only person who had the luxury of the whole pool. After a few rounds of swimming, I stood still in the water. From nowhere, there was so much perspiration happening. This thought came that even in life, when I am engaged in some activity and always on the move, the mind is ever afresh, alive and active. But the moment, I settle down at some point, thinking, "This is it, and there's nothing more," stagnation sets in.
Once while sweeping the floor, I was chasing quite a few dust bunnies to collect them in the dust pan. I wondered that it is the same with the mind too. It is like a little house surrounding the immediate physical body which has to be constantly swept, mopped and kept clean with prayer, meditation and pure thoughts of love for others. Lest dust bunnies in the form of thoughts that disturb, halt or impair the progress of evolution will collect in large numbers and the cleaning at that point may get very difficult.
For the past few days, I am refreshing my car driving lessons and it was gyan time again (not while driving, but after it was over and I was back home!). Just as it would be so ridiculous for one to theoretically learn driving, turn the steering left, press the clutch, change the gear, press the accelerator....rather than practically learn by driving a car - meditation in theory, happening all in the mind within closed eyes, seated in a corner of the room is of no avail unless applied in the 24/7 schedule of interaction with ourself and the society around.
Just as one practises driving in a few roads and masters the art of driving on roads anywhere in the world, the art of withdrawing oneself into the depths of silence, if practised for a few hours in life, comes as a lifelong knowledge in applying it to all situations in life and be aware of success or failure.
*****
17 comments:
you just nailed it there
"Just as one practises driving in a few roads and masters the art of driving on roads anywhere in the world, the art of withdrawing oneself into the depths of silence, if practised for a few hours in life, comes as a lifelong knowledge in applying it to all situations in life and be aware of success or failure."
great great!!
The mind in itself is like th steering wheel of a car isn't it? You need to keep pulling it back everytime it goes off track! :)
"Once while sweeping the floor, I was chasing quite a few dust bunnies to collect them in the dust pan. I wondered that it is the same with the mind too"
nice anology..:)
again , i would like to voice out that the ultimate motive of meditation should be not in the betterment of our own ego (like, I will at ease or I am able to do things better by meditating) of course those will be the inevitable results of the meditation but if one starts meditating with that motive in mind , i guess one should refrain from those kind of motivations. Meditaion should be done instinctively and should not be forced..That can be possible only by contemplating on the Supreme Brahman (the lord) who has got infinite divine qualities..once we think of that , we have got more chances of forgetting our ego..It is just because of the Lord(Supreme Brahaman) we are able to live our lives .CAn u Imagine life without the Lord? If ,One can very easily cross the ocean of ego and false pride just by uttering the names of lord, should one say anything about how great karma it is to meditate upon the Lord and his divine qualities?
Even the greatest of the scientist , Albert einstein once said that the world seems to be superfluous after reading the bhagawat gita...so , if possible, one should always try to get closer to the lord (Supreme brahman or the ocean of blissful silence). :)
SRI KRISHNAARPANAM
krishna has a point here...Meditation doen with a purpose can only strengthen the ego. What perhaps should be addded is that even praising the God inorder to reach him 'closer'
also is a selfish act. Even wanting
to get closer to god is a desire
and if this desire is predominant
even as one worship the God, then
that worship can be a corrupt one.
When meditation happens even without the desire or plan for enlightenment, perhaps the nirguna
brahman is reavealed. Bakthi in any case deals with the atributions
of god and the attirubtions are never real but the qualityless
God alone is the final destination.
During meditation one does not have to get closer to god and merge with god but just become
aware that he/she already is one with God. In that awareness all
the attributions are lost.
NIRGUNA INCLUDES SAGUNA AND SAGUNA
LEADS TO NIRGUNA...what say?
@Ganesh: OK OK
@Agnibarathi: Cute one!
@Krishna: Again. Just silence is the answer.
@dyke van dick is not me: I realise it is the same enlightened being coming in many names on this blog: "What say?" You ask. When the divine speaks, there's nothing to be said. Just listening. Thank You for the showering of so much Grace here.
-dyke van dick is not me-: As I was reading your comment, I saw that God was watching the comment and the person reading it too! The Nirguna Brahman watching through the window of the Saguna Brahman, its own self.
Hi Swahilya,
Great post. enlightening comments.
Simply put, the above discussions are essentially about the veracity in "Adavaita " or "Vishishtadvaita" school of thots , which have been there for a long long time.
Though an individual has the right to be-faith any of those schools of thot, its my opinion that such discussions should be encouraged.. and hence , I'm continuing to comment back..:)
Personally, I would rather like to be the humble servant and admirer of Sri Krishna (the possessor of all the divine qualities) than waste my life in the attempt to become the attribute-less brahman.
let's say if all those who have crossed the veil of maaya to become gods(brahman) again, which is of course formless, attributeless but the only TRUTH.Would it make much sense for such a god to deliver Bhagawat Gita to the needy arjuna..Even the greatest of the impersonalists, Sri Adi Sankara said
" BHAGAVADGEETA KINCHIDADHEETAA
GANGAAJALALAVAKANIKAA PEETAA"
Hence , If god is indeed formless/ attributeless , we never could have gotten the Bhagawat Gita.
He again describes the Lord as merciful in his bhaja govindam
" KRIPAYAA PAARE PAAHI MURARE"
SRI KRISHNAARPANAMASTHU
Great u explained that quite simply.
Krishna(the blogger)...you are a man of a subtle conflict. While you talk about uncompromising meditation, that there should not be an agenda in meditation, that there should not be any small purposes in meditation but only the highest, you also want to compromise the god with qualities is sufficient. Krishna(of Gita) is just the means to an end.
Reaching Krishna(of gita) cannot be the goal of arjuna but to use Krishna like a spring board and jump into the pool of conciousness is the idea. Krishna(the blogger) seem to spend time on justifyng the presence and the need of master like Krishna(of gita, who is not a God but who is only Godly).
Krishna(the blogger)is a conflicting surprise because he wants to prove the need and existence of god with all qualities which no one denies. But he also seem to ignore, in the process, that theres more to Truth than the krishna(of gita)with form.
The verse on Gita from Bhaja Govindam only tells that the need to study gita but not hold on to the teacher(krishna of gita)...
however for krishna's(the blogger) information that the first 12 verses only were composed by adi shankara called as 'dwadasha manjari' and the rest were composed
by his disciples including the verse 20 which is quoted.
sri krishna!!!!...sri krishna..!!!!
@Hari: Good to see you.
@Krishna: How much ever we may quote out of books, the truth lies in Silence between the Sounds and the Space between the Letters!
@Bhagya: Thanks. Do keep in toucb.
Michael Jackson Is A Man: So much effort thou has taken to say that forms should lead to the essence. Thanks.
*Whoami: Karma, Bhakti, Gnana or any form of Yoga are all branches of a tree that carry the same sap of the divine and lead to the same empty space, irrespective of their form, shape and colour.
@ michael, whoami, swahilya..
First up, I would like to appreciate ur interests in contributing to the ongoing discussion..
having said that , I would like to back off from wat i said about such kind of discussions related to wat is the REAL TRUTH?? Pardon me.
At this point , i guess , the wisest thing I could do is to stop arguing about wat is the TRUTH or wat is the nature of the TRUTH?
Instead , I would like to emphasize more on HOW to reach the truth easily , watever be it? If the krishna , as i see now, turns out to be same as the attributeless Brahman ( said to be the part of Supreme Brahman acc to Vishishtadvaita), i would be equally glad....
Anyways,For true God Realization , one has to first bring his/her senses under control, bhakthi Yoga and Jnana Yoga both being the means to the same..
Of course , Jnana Yoga and Bhakthi Yoga are the two broad streams to God. With Jnana Yoga , one has to bring his senses under control before god can be realized. Jnana without Bhakthi is often equated to ajana.Bhakthi is like a propellant in a rocket that'll get us elevated to that height but also continues stay with us till we get ourselves docked with that infintite silence/ may be bliss station..:)..When such a bhaktha performs jnana yoga( tho not necessarily ), it would be only for the supreme divine spiritual purpose and not for any other personal betterments...By this way, one can reap the benefits of both the yogas for the right purpose..No hassles. Bhakthi is the dictated for people in Kali Yuga. Without bhakthi as ur motive, u can easily fail to reap the real transcendental benefits of performing Yoga or should i say it is realy tough for one in Kali Yuga to do that as the influence of maaya is maximal.
The other Yoga thats left out is Karma Yoga. By developing bhakthi towards god , one can also be better humans. When one seeks god , god and all his divine qualities also get closer to that person...
Having said all that ,I would like to request Swahilya to post on the spiritual aspects of meditation, rather than posting on some of the trivial benefits that would anyway be inevitably realized by the meditating subject. Such posts seem to override and/or mis-project the actual purpose behind meditating.It would be great of you can post on spiritual lines of thought by making use of ur keen insight so that it helps us better . Please ,consider this as my humble request..:)
Finally, I would like to apologise for any difficulty u guys encountered in reading/understanding my words. If at all , my comments made any sense to you , it's all because of the krupa of the Sri Krishna and many of his devotees.
HARE SRI KRISHNA
HARE SRI RAMA
SARVAM SRI KRISHNAARPANAMASTHU
@Krishna: "Having said all that ,I would like to request Swahilya to post on the spiritual aspects of meditation, rather than posting on some of the trivial benefits that would anyway be inevitably realized by the meditating subject."
I remember a story when Nanak was a child, he did pranams at a Gurudwara facing the opposite side at the sanctum sanctorum. The priest said, "This is not correct. Your are supposed to face God and do it." Our brilliant Nanak did not get up. He asked the priest to place his feet where God is. The priest had no answer.
Likewise, there is no triviality in any object, subject or situation. Spirit is everywhere, Meditation is everywhere. God is as much in the car as he is in the temple. As much in the swimming pool as in the temple tank. As much in the Ganga as in the Missippi.
@swahilya..
I wouldn't like to comment back on the ur previous response coz it is more of an individual prefernce...:)
Anyways..Of all the greatest helps that one can offer to a fellow human, spiritual help is the greatest...
Thus, it would be better , if one can provide help that would make the beneficiary less attached to the material world. ( this is the need of kali yuga) . This is the cardinal purpose of meditation
The Yogi is the person that is free from any material attachment. Let the karma be done without being concerned about the fruits. when one expects some result that i will drive better by meditating , the meditation loses it's purpose. The bhaktha just fixes his mind upon the god . By doing so he is forgetting that he is not the doer.
The yogi just takes a more complicated path to the realize that but even to realize that the meditation should be done without bothering about the result.
Shri Krishnaarpanamasthu
@Krishna: Tatastu
who am i
glad if they made sense..:)
hare krishna
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