Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 27-2. Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday, October 15, 2022. 09:30.

Chapter 27: The Practice of Meditation-2.

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Even while sitting, what posture will you assume? There are standard postures prescribed. Padmasana, siddhasana, sukhasana are the usually selected standard poses. It is up to each person to select the posture according to one's convenience. The kind of posture one chooses should be such that it will not cause unnecessary mental attention on any particular part of the body. The very purpose of concentrating the mind in yoga is to lift it above body consciousness as much as possible. The balance maintained in the seated posture will enable the mind not to think of the body too much, just as when we are perfectly balanced in health we are not even aware that we have a body. Only when we have some illness do we begin to feel that there is a body hanging on us. A perfectly healthy person is like a child, not even aware that there is a body. That is the balanced state of the whole physiological system.

When there is a disbalance in the nerves or the muscles, in any part of the body, there is the demand on the part of the mind to be conscious of that disbalance, and our intention here is to free the mind from the necessity to think that it is lodged in a body. Body-consciousness is an obstacle in the pursuit of the ideal of yoga. In a graduated manner, the clutches of the body over the mind should be loosened, and this has to be done with care, not in a hurry. How is it done? By maintaining a poised, balanced posture, such a posture which will keep the body in perfect position in such a manner that after a few minutes of sitting in that balanced pose, one will not even know that one is sitting. There will be no necessity for the mind to think that there is a body seated in that posture. This is so because of the balance maintained. There is a stability automatically following from the maintenance of balance. 

The balance and the fixity are the same. We can fix any particular object in a particular position when its fulcrum is known and it is fixed on that point. So we must know the fulcrum of our physiological system, and then we shall be poised like a hill and unshakenly we shall be seated. When the balance of the physical system is ensured in this manner, the mind will feel secure, just as when the whole country is in great peace, the administration is highly satisfied. It has no work to do. It is only a disbalanced atmosphere that calls for attention from the administration. The mind is the administrator. It has no work afterwards when the entire atmosphere of its governance is in utter peace, as in Ramraja. So śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiram āsanam: having seated oneself in a fixed posture like sukhasana. Padmasana is a hard thing for modern legs; otherwise, it is said to be the best posture.

Nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ. This is a little commonsense instruction. This seat should not be too high above the ground level, nor should it be just on the ground level. That is the idea here. If it is too high, like this cot, for instance, and I sit for meditation, I could fall down. To prevent that possibility of the body falling down by any chance, we are told not to have a seat too high above the ground level. Nor should it be just on the ground level because some insects may creep in and they may bite us. Hence, let the seat be a little high, say half a foot high, not one meter high: nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājinakuśottaram. This is an ancient prescription in regard to the seat on which one can meditate.

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To be continued 

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