The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : 11.1 - Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Sunday, 23 Jul 2023 06:55.

Chapter 11: The Yoga of Meditation - 1.

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The Yoga of Meditation is the subject of the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita—Dhyana Yoga, as it is called. We have noticed that, for the purposes of meditation, a convenient place, free from distractions, is necessary. The time that we choose for meditation, also, is to be such that it should not have the background of any engagement or activity which may distract the attention of the mind from the goal of meditation. A suitable place, a suitable time—these two are very important prerequisites.

But more important, perhaps, than place and time is the preparedness of the mind. The mind should be eager to sit for meditation, and it should not feel any kind of compulsion. We do not sit for meditation merely because in our daily routine it is the time allotted for meditation. That would be something like going for lunch at noon, even if we are not hungry, merely because noon is prescribed as the time for lunch. It is not the time, but the need that is important. If the mind does not feel the need for meditation, a mere prescription of place and time will not be of much benefit. Most people feel a difficulty in getting any kind of satisfactory result, because the mind is not prepared.

How is the mind to be prepared? Here a question arises, which can be answered by each one, independently, from one's own point of view. Why do we feel the need for taking to Yoga practice? If the need has not been felt, we would not have been resorting to Yoga at all. Somehow, we have felt within our hearts that Yoga is a solution to the problems of life. Everyone has difficulties and tensions, and our conscience has somehow persuaded us to accept that the panacea for all problems in life is Yoga, finally. We have accepted, of our own accord, that no one can help us in the end, except that great principle which Yoga regards as the ultimate reality of life. We do not take to the Yoga of meditation just because somebody has told us to do it, or some textbook has eulogised it, just as we do not go to the dining hall for our lunch, or dinner, merely because somebody asked us to go there. We feel that it is necessary, and, therefore, we go.

Now, this need that we feel for the practice of Yoga should be a genuine one. The mind is a trickster. It always deceives us from moment to moment, because it does not have a continuity of moods. The moods of the mind change almost every day. It is not difficult for the mind to get dissatisfied with things, and it can be dissatisfied even with that which it once regarded as a very necessary item in its life. There is no more difficult thing to understand than our own mind. We ourselves are the greatest difficulties in life. Our mind, like a weathercock, moves from one state to another.

So, while most of us may be honest and sincere in our resort to Yoga practice, we are also in some way subject to the whims of the mind. “I do not feel like it,” is what we often remark. But why should we not feel like it? What has happened? And we would only say, “I do not know what has happened.” That means to say that our mind is not under our control. Even our taking to the practice of Yoga may be a mood of the mind and not be a real conviction born of understanding; this is important to remember. Even as there are umpteen moods of the mind, Yoga also may be one of the moods, and it may be a very unreliable mood, for it may pass away. The problems we feel when we sit for meditation are due to the unpreparedness of the mind basically, at its root, though on the surface it appears as if it has accepted the adventure. Many times we accept things only on the surface, and in our basic attitude we are not prepared to accept everything.

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To be continued

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