Sadhana

Why is meditation not given prime importance in this yoga as it is in other

places?

It is a very interesting question which merits a detailed answer. In the first

place, let me make it quite clear that meditation need not necessarily be a
spiritual practice. It is not always a part of yoga. A person may not believe in
God, in the soul, in a spiritual destiny, and yet there may be occasions when
the right type of meditation would help him to meet the challenges of life and
to find out solutions for himself. And what is meditation? Meditation, truly
speaking, is a flow of consciousness, a flow of the mind, on any subject, on
any theme. It may be a problem in mathematics, a problem in politics, some
knotty point in economics.

Mental faculties are spread out in a hundred directions. Not only mental
faculties, but emotional faculties, and sense faculties alsothey are all
dispersed. When one needs to think out something seriously, attend to a
matter with concentration, what is normally done is to summon back mental
thoughts, energies, sense-impressions and focus them on one particular
point, one particular theme. By such practice one learns the art of
concentrating the whole mind on a particular subject. Concentration is that
which fixes the mind on a particular point, particular form, particular sound
(or sometime. In the very nature of things one cant keep concentrated on
one stationary thing in this moving world. So after some time there is a
relaxing and the mind begins to think. The art of meditation is to keep the
flow of thought running in the chosen direction without allowing the thoughts
to run helter-skelter, irrelevantly day-dreaming.

In spiritual life, in the setting of the Ashram, meditation is the means to open
the mind, the being, to some greater light, to some greater being, to some
guidance from God. What one does is to gather the mind and think of what
one wants. Say, I want peace, then I pray for peace, I think of peace, I pray to
God to grant me peace, and keep that prayer all the time in the background
of my mind and keep the mind open in that direction. If I want knowledge, if I
want joy, that is the theme on which I pray, on which I keep the mind open.
So what precisely must be the thought occupying the person who meditates,
depends upon each person, depends upon what the person wants. So

meditation is a special period when ones hopes, ones aspirations, ones

prayers for anything that one wants are held in a concentrated way and one
reflects upon them, dwells upon them without distraction. Naturally, the first
obstruction one comes across when one doing this is irrelevant thoughts, one
gets disturbed. That always happens in the beginning. There are three or four
ways of keeping out the restless thoughts. One is to be alert and reject each
thought as it comes. If this is done for a length of time, the force of disturbing
thoughts slackens. Another is to think of peace, to think of silence and
concentrate upon it without caring for the thoughts that may come. The
thoughts that may come are left to go on, on the surface, but ones main
concentration is kept on the object of meditation. This leads to what is called
a bifurcation of the mind separating the main mind from the surface mind.
Thoughts are allowed to run about on the surface without oneself running
with the thoughts.

These are some of the ways in the technique of meditation for keeping out
intruders. Places like Ashrams, forests, hilltops, the sea where there is some
breath of infinity, are especially favourable to the exercise of meditation. But
ultimately each individual should work out his own poise of meditation, his
own climate for meditation. It always helps to read something that calms the
mind, that creates the proper atmosphere before one goes into meditation.
This is the usual method of meditation. Speaking more closely of meditation
in our life here in the Ashram, I should say that meditation is only a part of
our life. Meditation does not occupy, is not allowed to occupy the major part
of our life. It is the attitude of meditation, the attitude of receptivity to some
higher silence and peace, that is sought to be cultivated as a background for
the day-to-day activity. Periods of meditation, indeed, there are, but they are
seldom allowed to run into hours. A few peak periods, moments of meditation
form a part of our programme but during the rest of the day, the spirit of
meditation is sought to be prolonged, so there is always a background of
meditative attitude supporting the consecrated life of action.

prague_clockImage: prague astronomical clock via wikipedia (Creative

Commons)

Question : Here we find that meditation and other sadhanas are only given
for a brief time. We had thought that yoga-sadhana is a whole time
occupation. You said that meditation is only during peak-periods.

Answer: What you said is exactly what we are trying to do. I did not say that
we should do sadhana only in peak periods and not in the rest of the time. I
said meditation as meditation should be done at certain peak points. But the
rest of the time the attitude of meditation must back up the activity in
consecration. The sadhana is to continue all the twenty-four hours. We do not
distinguish between life and sadhana. In sadhana there are certain
movements: like concentration, like meditation, like intense prayer-those
moments have their own time. They cannot be allowed to occupy the whole
day even as in some-of the older yogas: one was expected to meditate for
four hours or five hours. do pranayama for six hours and so on. We say that is
not our yoga. In our yoga, there must be a continuous life activity, serving as
a channel of sacrifice, self-consecration to God; things like meditation and
prayer have their own timings. The sadhana goes on all the time. Sadhana
does not consist only in meditation or asanas. Sadhana is in the culturing of
ones consciousness, right from head to toe Godward, utilising each occasion
to let the consciousness growing towards God express itself in our day-to-day
movements, transforming the entire life into a rhythm of God. Nobody can
claim to be a sadhak here or a yogi who does not keep his mind constantly
attuned to the higher vibrations, to the Grace that is aflow, regulate his
movements, mental, physical and others in consonance with the spirit of the
ideal which he has accepted. It is an incessant endeavour for change and
self-transformation that is on. It is certainly left to the sincerity of each
individual to what extent he will participate in this effort. But the sadhana
continues all the twenty four hours. And for your information I may add that
there are sadhaks here who do not do meditation at all. They believe only in
consecrated work and they have certainly arrived at certain high points in the
evolution of consciousness only by work. Some natures are so constituted
that meditation is not meant for them, even as there are some natures which
are predominantly mentally developed and their way is through knowledge,
meditation. They may not spend as much time in work. It depends upon each
nature. There cant be any one fixed schedule to apply to all. Adhikara bheda
is there, variation in competence. So meditation, prayer, concentration, work
in the yogic spirit all are parts of sadhana. Sadhana is a continuous process.
Whether one is lecturing, whether one is driving, whether one is eating-that
movement must go on. It is the affirmation of ones aspiration for God that
must express itself in every movement of our life.

[M.P.Pandit, Under the Mothers banner, Pondicherry : Dipti Publications,

1975.]

Question: Is not an increasing effort of meditation needed and is it not true

that the more hours you meditate the greater progress you make?

Answer: The number of hours spent in meditation is no proof of spiritual

progress. It is a proof of your progress when you no longer have to make an
effort to meditate. Then you have rather to make an effort to stop meditating:
it becomes difficult to stop meditation, difficult to stop thinking of the Divine,
difficult to come down to the ordinary consciousness. Then you are sure of
progress, then you have made real progress when concentration in the Divine
is the necessity of your life, when you cannot do without it, when it continues
naturally from morning to night whatever you may be engaged in doing.
Whether you sit down to meditation or go about and do things and work,
what is required of you is consciousness; that is the one need, to be
constantly conscious of the Divine.

Question: But is not sitting down to meditation an indispensable discipline,

and does it not give a more intense and concentrated union with the Divine?

Answer: That may be. But a discipline in itself is not what we are seeking.
What we are seeking is to be concentrated on the Divine in all that we do, at
all times, in all our acts and in every movement. There are some here who
have been told to meditate; but also there are others who have not been
asked to do any meditation at all. But it must not be thought that they are
not progressing. They too follow a discipline, but it is of another nature. To
work, to act with devotion and an inner consecration is also a spiritual
discipline. The final aim is to be in constant union with the Divine, not only in
meditation but in all circumstances and in all the active life.

There are some who, when they are sitting in meditation, get into a state
which they think very fine and delightful. They sit self-complacent in it and
forget the world; but if they are disturbed, they come out of it angry and
restless, because their meditation was interrupted. This is not a sign of
spiritual progress or discipline. There are some people who act and seem to
feel as if their meditation were a debt they have to pay to the Divine; they
are like men who go to church once a week and think they have paid what
they owe to God.

If you need to make an effort to go into meditation, you are still very far from
being able to live the spiritual life. When it takes an effort to come out of it,
then indeed your meditation can be an indication that you are in the spiritual
life.

There are disciplines such as Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga that one can practise
and yet have nothing to do with the spiritual life; the former arrives mostly at
body control, the latter at mind control. But to enter the spiritual life means
to take a plunge into the Divine, as you would jump into the sea. And that is
not the end but the very beginning; for after you have taken the plunge, you
must learn to live in the Divine. How are you to do it? You have simply to
jump straight in and not to think, Where shall I fall? What will happen to
me? It is the hesitation of your mind that prevents you. You must simply let
yourself go. If you wish to dive into the sea and are thinking all the time, Ah,
but there may be a stone here or a stone there, you cannot dive.

[Collected Works of the Mother, vol. 3, pp 20-21]

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11 thoughts on 24-hour Sadhana

Aravind D Reddy
January 28, 2009 at 11:10 am

A wonderful compilation on meditation. It would be very helpful to me.

Especially the last question and answer should be read by all who are
practicing Integral yoga.
Reply
Sharad
August 6, 2009 at 4:58 am

Great effort sandeep, thaks a lot.

Also, All the best for you sadhana and life.

Reply
kalpana
October 8, 2009 at 5:49 am

Thank you for the very thoughtful and very informative posts !
Reply
Aditi Kurhade
March 19, 2010 at 5:47 am

Thank you so much for all your efforts into making Mother and Sri
Aurobondos writing available online in such a format. I am very grateful.
Reply
Vedanta Saraswati (Tony Wilmot)
May 22, 2012 at 7:32 pm

Thank you very much for the post. I find it very refreshing and just what
one need to understand sadhana and practices around the path. Thank you
again.
Reply
Sandeep Post author
May 22, 2012 at 7:39 pm

Youre welcome Tony. Sri Aurobindo and the Mothers repertoire is vast
and you may find other nuggets of wisdom on this blog.

Reply
Dr Bodh Bral J&K
January 3, 2013 at 11:49 am

nice
Reply

Pingback: Ways of navigating this blog | Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo &
The Mother
P Das
April 7, 2013 at 3:44 pm

Sandeep, go deep within. Those who are sincere in searching will get
answers from the divine.
P Das.
Reply
Sandeep Post author
April 7, 2013 at 6:21 pm

thank you for your encouragement and advice, Mr Das.

Reply
sawagu
October 7, 2013 at 9:54 pm

Thanks Sandeep.
Reply

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