ARANI SERIES
Spark 44
Friday, March 30, 2018
CORRECTING THE ERROR
Meditation is Medication
The Upanishads reveal our true nature: we are sat-chit-ānanda. All our worldly bondage is because of the basic error in perception, which itself is avidyā.
Those of us with a ripe intellect – pure mind, antah-karana – can eliminate the error (adhyāsa) right away following “listening and understanding” (shravana and the bodha that instantly results). Others need to reflect (manana) and meditate (nididhyāsana).
The practice (abhyāsa) of meditation has been described by masters as the effective medication to remove the ailment called the sense of being the separate self (jeeva-bhāva). Just as right medicine, taken regularly for a good length of time, ends a disease, dwelling on the revelations of Vedānta, with right understanding, ends the sense of individuality.
Sri Nisarga Datta Maharaj (author of the classic I AM THAT) was told by his guru, “You are not the body.” Maharaj held on to it and, he would say in later years, he realized his true nature (brahma-bhāva) in three years!
The word dhyāna, which means meditation, can be applied to both the Self (ātmā) and sense objects (vishaya). Dhyāna on vishayas strengthens our bondage and dhyāna on ātmā sets us free.
Therefore the seers have said, “The mind binds and the mind liberates!”
We must therefore engage in right study, intense reflection and regular meditation.
Swāmi Chidānanda