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Sunday, September 06, 2009

More on the Yoga of Inner Light, By Swami Achyutanand Ji Maharajj




Chart


More on the Yoga of Inner Light,

By Swami Achyutanand Ji Maharaj, from

the book Vindu - Nada Dhyan


Sant Mat at Gaia Blog:
http://santmat.gaia.com/blog


Continued from earlier recent post by Swami Achyutanand on Bindu Dhyan --- One-Pointedness --- Drshti Yoga: Meditation on the Inner Light(s)


- Translated into English by Pravesh K. Singh

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sant_santati
http://profiles.yahoo.com/praveshksingh)



Vision gets collected or focused by bindu dhyAn. Ascension which is a direct corollary of collection enables the practitioner to pierce the cover of darkness and behold divine radiance. The practitioner arrives, thus, at the centre or the point of origin of the gross realm. He comes to wield total control over the entire gross universe. He acquires supernatural powers called riddhis and siddhis. However, in order to be able to attain to this state of bindu dhyAn, it is highly desirable to practice manas dhyan (meditating on the form of the Guru or the desired deity) first. Having stilled one's sight at the form of the desired deity, bindu dhyAn becomes very easy to perform. Our most adorable Guru Maharaj, Maharshi Mehi Paramhans Ji Maharaj, has written:

"prathamahin dhAro Guru ko dhyAn| ho sruti nirmal ho vindu gyAn ||"[First, meditate on the form of Guru. | This will purify the (fettered) soul and brings awareness of bindu.]


How would this awareness of bindu (Absolute Point) come about? The very next line of Guru Maharaj's above verse says it all: by focusing the currents of both the eyes in a point.

"dou nainA bich sanmukh dekh | ek bindu milai drishTi dou rekh ||"
[Gaze in your front in the centre of both the eyes. | The Absolute Point appears where the two lines of sight intersect each other. ||]


Where is this bindu obtained? Gurudev says,

"sukhaman jhalakai til tArA | nirakh surat dashamI dwArA ||"
[(Through bindu dhyAn) access in Sushumna is had where a dazzling point and a star are seen. | So, keep gazing at the Tenth Door. ||]


It is precisely through the bindu dhyAn that one enters into the Sushumna and the Tenth Door comes into sight to its practitioner. He moves into the Realm of Light, where wondrous, spectacular dazzles are visualized following which the practitioner enters into the World of Sounds:

"jyoti maNDal mein acharaj jot | shabd maNDal anahad shabd hot ||"
[ Spectacular lights are seen in the Realm of Light. | (Subsequently) Countless varieties of sounds are heard in the Realm of Sound. ||]


Anahad shabd/ nAd (sounds) are of numerous varieties. Subsequently, with the grace of Guru, the practitioner gets wholly absorbed in the True Sound, `Sat Shabd', or the Quintessential Word. This is the only way to swim across the ocean of existence, or to get liberated.

"Anahad mein dhun sat lau lay | bhavajal taribo yahI upAy ||"
[Amidst anahad (limitless) sounds (the practitioner's) attention gets intently fixed on the True or Quintessential Sound. | This alone is the way to swim across the ocean of transmigration. ||]


This alone is the true way of meditation and is extremely simple and convenient to practice.

"Mehi yukti saral sAnchI | lahai jo Guru sevA rAnchI ||"
[This technique, says Maharshi Mehi, is quite easy and genuine. | And becomes available to him who is wholly dedicated to the service of Guru. ||]


Goswami Tulsidas Ji, while praying to his Guru, has very eloquently expounded the benefits of bindu dhyAn in his epic Ramcharit Manas:

"shri Guru pad nakh manigan jotI | sumirat divya drishTi hiya hotI ||"


That is, through meditation or constant remembrance of Guru the inner divine eyes are opened. This inner Light is so wonderful that by beholding it, the darkness of delusion or attachment is destroyed; fortune begins to smile on him (the beholder):

"dalan moh tam so suprakAsU | baDe bhAg ur Awai jAsU ||"
[That beneficent Light shatters all infatuation. | Extremely blessed is he in whose heart it appears. ||]


Goswami Tulsidas Ji firmly believes that the sacred inner eyes are opened (through meditation), which results in the follies and sorrows of the worldly night being destroyed. Not only this, he (the beholder) sees all the amazing exploits or plays – direct or hidden - of God within himself. The spiritual practitioners who have become adept at this meditation see all the wondrous plays taking place over the earth, forests, etc:

"ugharahin vimal vilochan hI ke | miTahin dosh dukh bhav rajanI ke ||
sUjhahin Ram charit mani mAnik | guput pragaT jahan jo jehi khAnik ||
jathA suanjan Anji drig, sAdhak siddh sujAn |
kautuk dekhahin sail ban, bhUtal bhUri nidhAn ||"
[The pure eyes of the heart are opened up. | All the snags and sorrows of the night (that is, this world) are destroyed. ||
Various jewels in the form of the feats of Ram (God) become visible -- | those that are manifest as well as those that are hidden. ||
Just as an adept and learned practitioner applying the collyrium (lamp black) to his inner eyes |
Sees mesmerising scenarios – mountains, jungles, different earths (planets) – within. ||]


While narrating his own experience Goswami Tulsidas Ji says that he has attained that pristine divine vision by practicing meditation and only then set out to describe the story of the Lord Shri Ram who is capable of ridding us of the fetters of transmigration:

"tehi kar vimal vivek vilochan | baranaun Ram charit bhava mochan ||"
[Having made my eyes of discrimination pure with that very collyrium | I narrate the tale of Ram who can absolve us all of the worldly ties. ||]


Here it becomes obvious that he who does bindu dhyAn acquires supernatural or divine vision, which equips him (the practitioner of bindu dhyAn) with the ability to see far off through space. In the Upanishads also we find similar reference:

"vindau manolayam kritvA dUradarshanamApnuyAt |"
[Absorbing one's mind into the point, far-sightedness is acquired. |]


In the eleventh chapter of the Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna gave Arjuna, who was under the spell of delusion, a glimpse of his grand, supernatural form. Lord Shri Krishna says,

"na tu mAm shakyase drashTumanenaiv swachakshushA |
divyam dadAmi te chakshuh pashya me yogamaishwaryam ||"
[But you cannot see me with your (gross) eyes. |
I impart you, (therefore), divine eyes (or supernatural vision); behold My divine majesty. ||]


There were innumerable warriors present on the battlefield; however, none else but Arjun alone could see Lord Krishna's grand form. The legendary sage, Ved Vyas Ji, had granted Sanjay, the attendant of the King Dhritarashtra, the same supernatural vision temporarily (so that he could give live coverage of the ongoing battle of Mahabharata to Dhritarashtra). Therefore, Sanjay, too, could get a glimpse of the supernatural form of Lord Krishna, though sitting in a distant palace, and narrate the same to Dhritarashtra.