Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 11

Meditation is the solution

Dhyana Heyaha Tadvrittayaha
The mind moves in waves called vrittis or the chitta vrittis/ These waves can be quietened by constant practice of meditation. You might find yourself at the cross roads of life sometime and too many paths beckon at the same time. during such moments, dropping all the search and chasing of ideas, quiet moments of being in meditation can quieten the mind.
- Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 38

Contemplations of visions in dream and sleep

Swapna Nidra Gnanalambanam Va





There is yet another way of bringing the mind to a state of tranquility. That is by recalling and meditating upon any clear vision of truth that we may have had during the dream state and the deep sleep state.


Though we might not be aware, dreams happen during the time just after we go to bed and even while we are fast asleep. Nidra or sleep as we saw in one of the first few Sutras is among the five activities of the mind. Not all dreas should be meditated upon. Most of them can revolve around the undigested thoughts of fear, anger, jealousy, hatred or fundamentally an unnecessary emotion.
Some dreams can be visions of truth too. Recently I experienced such a dream - of myself being a blob of liquid floating in a vast ocean in a subtle human form nevertheless. I am looking up to another similar blob of liquid - another human being for love, grace and benediction.
For a moment, I pause and look beneath my watery feet and it is a deep ocean with unfathomable, yet crystal clear water. The bed of the ocean is no sand, but an orb of light like a moon almost glimmering and from the bottom there are bubbles of love that rise to the surface. In the same dream, I contemplate and realise that the same love, grace, blessings and energy that I look forward to receiving from another person is available all around. And even the other person who will give us also takes from this same ocean to do so. This was not surprisingly a vision of the conscious mind while meditating, but something that I recall happening in deep sleep!
- Swahilya Shambhavi (Fitness, Satori)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 37

Focus on the one

devoid of passion

Veetaraga Vishayam Va Chittam

Another method of bringing the mind to lovingly rest with consciousness is to set it upon a self-realised individual who has renounced all passions. What the mind sees, that it becomes. It can be the image of a deity or the form of the Guru or the Master. As the mind focusses on the form

in the picture or an idol in a temple or a living personality in front of him or her, reading about such a person, meditating upon him or her who is not swayed by passion - a Vairagi or desireless person, the mind also becomes so and rests quietly at the altar of consciousness instead of being swayed like the waves of an ocean caught up in a storm.

Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 36

See the light and you become it

Vishoka Va Jyotishmati

Another form of meditation is on the luminous effulgent light that is beyond sorrow. Practices in many religions have a lot to do with light. Traditional Hindus light a lamp. Christians

light the candle and many light fires and invoke the presence of the divine too. There is also the worship of the sun, moon and many stars in the galaxy. What your mind watches for a while, it takes up that form.

In my own experience, I have always loved to gaze at the illumination of the serene soft light from a lamp placed in a dark room. Seeing the light even for a while, can throw up great visions that take you to the pleasant light that all of us are composed of. We are in essence beings of light.

During one such time spent in gazing at a lamp a couple of yeas ago, I had an arresting vision of a Jyotirlingam - a huge cylindrical column of light, fire compressed in the shape of a Lingam that has a flat circular base and ends in a round dome - orange in colour. As if covered by a sheet of glass, there was a layer of water, with more water constantly flowing over it. The circular base of the Lingam was of solid matter in the form of a black stone. After the water, there was air and then came space.

First I saw this apart of myself. Then analysing the contents further revealed that it was myself - the fire within, covered by the constant flow of water, air passing through and surrounded by space. The whole subtle structure is supported in the base of the body, that is gross matter. A moment of intensely watching the lamp led me to this inner realisation. - Swahilya Shambhavi swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com (Fitness, Satori)

Pic: The full moon and its reflection in the Bay of Bengal on Guru Purnima this year.