What is meditation?

Narsimha purana mentions meditation as dhyana (nidhidhyasana) : continuous flow of thought towards an object. Note the term flow of thought.

The popular conception is : meditation is onepointedness on a particular object(more often a scene ).The method usually prescribed is :

• Calm your mind
  
• Focus on your favorite object
  
• Try to hold on to it.
  
• Make use of props like symbol OM
  
• Or some serene music
  
• Or some preach think as to all negative energy flow out of your system like smoke
  
• Many more such concepts which are not in sync with Purana.
  

  let us analyze these before arriving at correct meaning of meditation.
  

  Can our minds be calmed through effort ?
  

  According to upanishads :
  

  Mind is everwandering ,it is chanchal by nature. It keeps switching between thoughts sometimes without link.
  

  Consider a monkey , a restless creature. What if this monkey has drunk loads of wine.it becomes unstable , its actions are unpredictable.And if this monkey is bit by scorpion , it is going to jump from pillar to post without any control ,creating havoc in the neighborhood.
  

  Mind is like this monkey which has drunk the wine of ego(ahankara /mada) upon that it is bit by the scorpion of jealousy(asuya).it jumps from pillar to post to acquire the objects of its desire.(moha). This monkey called mind is additionally caught in greed(lobha).
  

  Is it really possible to bring such a monkey under control ?virtually impossible without the help of other agencies.If we say we can bring ourselves out of this mind delusion ,then this monkey should be able to calm himself without external help. This is unimaginable.
  

  So the first point itself seems dizzy (calm your mind /de-stress ).
  

  Focus, on what ? can u hold a static scene in my mind ? It is against the nature of mind.
  Hold on to it , what purpose is it going to solve ,well holding on to object of desire gives control over object of desire. But is that the goal of meditation.
  Make use of OM , does this calm the mind , definitely not. Music is a definite disturbance , moreover if I am restless over a issue in the office or my business , no props are going to calm my mind except solution to my issue.
  Drive out negative energy : in a happy frame of mind , especially when I am riding a horse named success, temporarily I feel I can control my mind and feel as though driving away unwanted thoughts. This is not meditation.
  So what is meditation.
  Ashtanga Yoga starts with
  

• Yama : discipline like getting up early ,cleanliness
  

• niyama : satya (speaking truth), asteya,(not stealing),tushti(being satisfied)
  
• asana :posture padmasana , veerasana,sukhasana.
  
• pratyahara : turning your mind away ,
  
• pranayama: breathing techniques. Rechaka ,puraka, kumbhaka,
  
• dharana :
  
• dhyana
  
• samadhi .
  

  The first five are preparatory towards the meditation. It helps in bringing the person to a state of mind to practise anything that he wants to? Whether he can sustain with his markata mind.!
  To sustain he should undertake Pranayama.
  Two types of pranayama. :keval and sagarbha,
  Kevala is without any mantra and sagarbha is with mantra like dasha pranava gayatri with bramhashirasa etc.
  Remembering Hari and vayu in kumbhaka is what the secret behind sustaining the concentration.This ignites narsimha jwala in the hrudaya that burns away all the sins.
  The hrudaya that we are talking about is one found in sushumna and not the heart organ.
  When the mind is pure , sense organs satisfied , chitta is still ,the mind can contemplate on the known issues. Known through sense organs . Nothing new can be contemplated of which we do not have knowledge. Hence to contemplate , we need knowledge about GOD. This is obtained by shravana , ie. Listening to the Guru.
  Guru teaches as various qualities of GOD. Student has to contemplate, manana
  Manana gives rise to doubts. Doubts have to be cleared by Guru.
  Once doubts are cleared ,the topic on which we have contemplated becomes steadfast,it cannot disappear from mind. When we repeatedly contemplate on this steadfast knowledge , we experience difficulty in holding on to this contemplation, this phase is known as Dharana.
  When this contemplation is continuous without break it is called Dhyana.
  

  When in dhyana if we are not able to hear external sounds then it is Samadhi.
  

  However in the astanga , each one is superior to the previous eg niyama is superior to yama , pranayama is superior to asana pratyahara. Dhyana is superior to pranayama etc.
  Dhyana can be done only on few qualities of God that we know of; but swadhyaya gives more knowledge of the God. Hence once should ever engage in the study of sashtras (swadhyaya) . It yields more punya than dhyana. Above all Adhyaapan , teaching the shastras , leads even more punya than swadhyaya, because it spreads the message of the GOD. Lord loves those more who speak about him.
  Thus Sage Mudgal says, "with two hands raised above shoulders , I declare that there is nothing in this world greater than Narayana(earlier now or in the future), knowing which nothing in this three worlds is impossible to achieve."
  

  " Alodya shastrani cha punah punaha ,nasti narayana samo devo ,
  

  na bhuto na bhavishyati Yetena satyavakyena sarvarthan sadhyamyaham"
  

  
  

  srikrishnarpanamastu
  

Nav vidh Bhakti -Types of Devotion

what is devotion? is blind faith devotion? can ecstatic trans like hsyteric activities be termed as devotion?

NO!

Shastra has clearly laid down the definition of Bhakti. Bhakti is of nine types.

1 shravanam kirtanam vishnuh smaranam vandanam

archanam padasevanam dasyam sakhyam atmarpanam

shravanam - listening to shastras which tell the glory of the Lord from a relevant Guru.

kirtanam - chanting lord's name ,naming children by Lord's name.

vishnu's smaranam - remembering Lord in every aspects of Life.

vandanam - paying respects to images of Lord through namaskar. here animate inanimate things represent a particular image of God. knowing and behaving thus need knowledge.

archanam - Doing Pooja of Lords' vigraha in a vedic way as prescribed to pefection.

padasevanam - doing dhyana of lord's feet in the solar chakra or sahasrar.

dasyam - declaring oneself as servant/slave of God and acting thus as though completely serving him in every form HE exists befittingly as liked by HIM .(again point of thorough knowledge)

sakhyam - treating Lord as one our close associates like Friend, Brother,Father,Child,Lover etc.(Not all are eligible for this kind of devotion).

Atmarpanam - completely devoting oneself to the servitude of Lord , with even daily chores also to be taken care by Lord himself .Such should be the conviction that everything about self is giverned by Lord. it is upto him to look after you.(Again a case of extreme knowledge , not eligible for every one);

So it is clearly seen that devotion is a clear knowledgeable affair and not one of histrionics. You cannot neglect studies and say i am devoted and God will take care. You cannot say i am more devoted alhough less knowledgeable and hence i will not abide by learned.Knowledge increases devotion , devotion increases knowledge. Gnyanmay Bhakti (Devotion coupled with knowledge) is what appeals to GOD.

Say you love your Father. why ? if you say" i dont know, i just love him. " you are lying or you dont completely love your Father . But when you understand that your father had taken lots of pain in protecting you all through your childhood , in raisng you, in giving you education etc.Finally when you understand that he is chief instrument to have brought you into this world to carry forward your sadhana . Your love towards your Father increases manyfold. Your love (increased ) leads you to follow your Father in many more ways , with each success of Father you finally decide , i would become like my father ,then i cannot be as great as him . But definitely i shall emulate him to the extent He shall appreciate me.
Similarly when you are more knowledgeable about GOD you start loving him with devotion. When you listen to Bhagavat , you understan how lord protects his devotees through stories of Prahlad, dhruva, ajamidha,madhava,arjuna etc you develop faith in HIM. also your own experiences consolidate above faith. Finally you understand it is GOD alone who is pervading all over ,with entire universe at HIS command yet he exclusively takes vare about you . You lose interest in everything other than HIM . because every other thing is only because of HIM .You start seeing HIM everywhere in every being. (Aprokshagnyana). You yearn nothing but his presence and His grace, like a Father mad about bringing his wayward son into his FOLD , like a lovestruck man helplessly longing for a loving glance of a beloved,like a miser ever looking after his wealth ; One seeks GOD everywhere successfully traeting Gold and mortar equally , unaffected by sorrows and pleasure , heat and cold, onepointed towards LORD .Lord takes him to his abode granting him mukti of four types sayujya ,samipya ,salokya and sarupya in VAIKUNTHA.

srikrishnarpanamastu

To Create is the very nature of the God

Upanishads say God creates ,
just as spider spins its web . Just like a child plays by the sea with the mounds of sand .
its natural of God to create ie. it is in his nature . svabhava. Like we all have some unique(repetitive) characteristics defining us. and people confronting us says," oh well, that's his nature". similarly it is the nature of God to create. And to create again and again and again.
Just as web springs out of the spider , this world springs out of HIM.(Kamalanabh)
Like a child He creates and at the end of the day destroys it all.
He does not exert himself due to creation. There is no exhaustion. He does it playfully.
He has no purpose of his accomplished by creation . ie. there is no swartha. He is not achieving any selfish motto in creating this world. He creates this world to uplift the souls ,which are in deep slumber ,to achieve infinite bliss. His creation is varied and not monotonous.He is highly imaginative and beyond comprehension with his Creations. He creates to give immense pleasure, of having a great family, to his wife LaxmiDevi. She time and again feels proud about her Husband's abilities. Sometimes as maya she poses many difficult puzzles with humans /souls as subject , which Lord solves, showing his many marvelous auspicious qualities hitherto unknown , without breaking the laws set upon by himself. It is HIS achintya adbhut shakti that brings more dynamism into creation, much to surprise of Brahma ,shiva ,shakra, who rejoice in a meditative mood over these incidents.
God is not dependent on anybody for his pleasures. He is both Male as well as female. His female form Narayani is always present in Laxmi Devi. She is always under his Control.He creates only to pleasure others. Others rejoice in HIM. Souls achieve salvation by HIS grace .Salvation is realization of self for a soul. Self means souls own attributes(different from GOD) consisting of happiness and infinite bliss . This self ,a soul is ignorant of . God through his creation and by putting a soul in a series of birth and death cycles; and in the process, makes Atman realize his own qualities and bliss (whuch is always covered by MAYA (linga deha)). This self realization W is resisted ,obstructed,blocked by the SHRI BHU DURGA forms of LAxmi Devi.This is a cosmic game played by the Celestial Couple. And the reward is infinite bliss (MOKSHA -Unending happiness)for being part of this game , for a soul.
Bliss is obtained by the grace of the LORD . hence he is known as MUKUNDA.( one who grants moksha by HIS Grace). Grace can be obtained by pure devotion. Devotion comes by Knowledge and knowledge increases due to Devotion.Knowledge can be obtained by listening to shastras from a GURU and contemplating on it with deep devotion to GOD.
in the next post we shall see what is DEVOTION.

Srikrishnarpanamastu

What is universe according to Vedas;

Vyam Vedvyasaya Namaha

universe created by God consists of fourteen worlds.

1.satyaloka 2.tapoloka 3.janolok 4.maharloka 5.swargaloka 6.bhuvarloka 7.bhuloka 8.atal 9.vital 10.sutal 11.talatal 12mahatal 13.rasatal 14.patal.

It consists of souls (jivas) various types of species living in these worlds.

jada-various types of mountains rivers , plains ,desert, oceans ,space, stars, planets ,houses, mansions, palaces, gardens, markets ,utensils ,minerals, light, water, air, soil etc

Narayana(GOD) rules and regulates the entire universe.

satyaloka tapoloka janoloka are ruled by chaturmukha Bramha.

People here do not have to physically eat or sense to satisfy themselves .

Maharloka is ruled by Shiva . Mount kailash is present in this loka.

Swarga is ruled by Indra in Amravati capital. here we can find heavens and apsaras entertaining meritorious.

Bhuvarloka consists of stars with Dhruva as pivot . Various planets and zodiac find their place in this loka. Also many Gandharva , vidhyadhars , yaksha have floating cities in this loka. they are illuminated brightly and happy land.

Bhuloka consists of many vast lands and our earth(prithvi) is just a small portion of this loka. earlier kings ruled entire Bhuloka not just prithvi.

Atal etc till rasatal are inhabited by nagalokas , rakshasas and daityas. they contain enormous wealth. There is no sunshine in these worlds. People here have bright light emanating from them to see around.Most of them have only water base below oceans( not the oceans of prithvi). each is ruled by Maya , vasuki ,karkotak,etc

sutal is ruled by Raja bali.

Patal has shesha carrying entire universe on its head which is akin to a mustard on our head. so huge is shesha. this shesha is carried by lord vayu on the edge of his tail . in turn vayu is resting on a great tortoise namely \kurma. lord himself.

This universe is 100 crore yojana in width. one yojana is eight miles .

Difference exists between jivas and jada.

Difference exists between jivas and other jivas ( among themselves)

Difference exists between jadas and other jada(among themselves)

God Ishvara (Narayana) is diffrent from jivas

Difference exists between Isha and jada

hence there is five fold difference it is beginingless.

because there is five(panch) differences seen again & again everywhere , this world is known as Pra-panch.This difference is real. Only ignorant feel otherwise.

in the next post we shall see why there is evil in this world?

srikrishnarpana

Definition of Narayana in Shruti

Vyam Vedvyasaya Namaha
Sri Gurubhyo namaha
Sadagamaikvignyeyam samateetksharaksharam
Narayanam sada vande nirdoshasheshasadgunam

Samateetksharaksharam:

In the previous post we have dealt with Sadagamaikvignyeyam.

here we will elaborate samateetksharaksharam.

It means there is nothing greater than Narayana in this world of sentient and non sentient.

kshara means that which is perishable. it also means jiva and jada . the bodies of all the jeeva /souls are perishable.jada is ofcourse undergoes all kinds of deformation and alteration. at the end of the universe/kalpa pralaya all these perish .

Akshara refers to prakriti . the trigunas ie. chitprakriti satva rajas tamas. it also means Laxmidevi.

Narayana is infinitely above and different from kshara and akshara ie. jiva jada and laxmidevi.

In other words these jiva jada and prkriti are neither equal nor above Narayana.

Samateetksharaksharam is a definition of Narayana in Vedas.

Bramha shivaha suradyashcha shariraksharanat ksharaha

laxmiraksharadehatvadakshara tatparo hari (paramashruti)

srikrishnarpana.

in the next post we shall see what vedas say about this world:

Veda Apoursheyatva - eternality of veda

Vyam Vedvyasaya Namaha

Sri Gurubhyo namaha

Sadagamaikvignyeyam samateetksharaksharam

Narayanam sada vande nirdoshasheshasadgunam

Why only vedas should be considered supreme authority?

Sadagamaikvignyeyam :

Bramha can only be known through Vedas .The word sadagama refers to vedas , pancharatra , moolramayana , and mahabharata and purana and other treatises which are in sync with the above.

For every work the anubandachatushtaya must exist. what are they

1. vishaya (subject of enquiry) 2.prayojana ( goal) 3.sambandha (relationship between previous two) 4.adhikarin (follower)

here 1.Narayan is the vishaya , 2.knowledge of Narayana and attaining liberation(Moksha) through this knowledge is the proyojana. 3.sajjana -all good souls are the adhikarin and relationship among these is 4.sambandha.

Vedas declare themselves as supreme authority in conveying Narayana.

some statements are:

"He who does not know Veda etc sacred scriptures will not be able to comprehend the Supreme Who possesses infinite auspicious qualities and is all pervading . Veda teaches on to attain Moksha" -------- Taittiriya Shruti

"The Knowledge of the Supreme cannot be obtained by Logic nor can it be removed by logic if already obtained . This knowledge when imparted by competent teacher leads to Vision of the Supreme" --------------------Kathak Sruti

"Nor the senses nor the inference can help comprehend Bramha , Vedas can alone enable one to comprehend HIM"----------------Pippalada Sruti

Vedas are not compositions of any individual. ie. They do not have an author.

Let us examine this statement.

Vedas as recited by learned in kashmir and the one in Kanyakumari or somewhere in Assam/ bengal or far west in Gujarat will be same. There will not be any disagreement with the vedic passages among these scholars though these scholars might never have met each other .

And all these scholars unanimously accept that there never was an author to these passages and they have been handed down revealed from time immemorial from father to son / guru to shishya etc.

In this world of copyright every single piece of useful info is patented and meticulously assigned ownership to author. and least to say how many cases are being fought in the name of royalties to known algorithms. sometime stolen or copied from others.

In such a practical scenario a content with enormous value to human being has not been claimed authorship definitely augments the case of non composition by the Humans.

But some people argue there cannot be single statement which is not composed by a Human.

Let us explore a bit more ;

The society needs moral laws . There has to be code for Dharma Adharma etc. These laws are beyond sense perception and are accepted by all religious philosophers and thinkers.

If anyone says my philosophy has nothing to do with dharma adharma , then this teacher is without any subject and a purpose. Because if people believe there is no dharma adharma, then they will become aggressive and calamity will befall society. in such situation any harm done to very teacher himself will not be considered wrong . whats' the use of such teaching which brings no good to teacher himself.

But at the same time a person cannot claim complete knowledge of dharma adharma all by himself without drawing authority from some source. else he will have to postulate many attributes like non ignorance and non deception etc unto himself. Ignorance and defects of death and birth and diseases are seen everywhere . so such a postulation is not observed in the real world. Hence concepts of dharma adhrama etc should come from a source that is not composition of individual or humans.

On the other hand if this is accepted nothing has to be postulated to accept vedas as source.

Vedas are self evident ( svatah pramana)

Knowledge is registered in our system , this is cognition.

what is validity of cognition?

A true knowledge /right knowledge is self evident!

i take a hot water bath , i feel 'hot' do i need anything else to validate this feeling of HOT!

it is self evident .

On the contrary a faulty cognition requires another agency to validate it being faulty. sometimes through inspection. Hence scrutiny is required only for invalid cognition . Valid cognition does not require validation.

Vedas are self evident its only the mind/ due to faulty thinking finds fault in it . scrutiny is required to remove certain faults of thinking (ie invalid cognition).

Vedas are eternal

Finally in sanskrit akshara ( a aa e ee u uu etc ) are eternal . they are neither created nor destroyed. sequence of these aksharas are also fixed they are not formed as a probability.

These sequences are sentences which are of fixed nature . they exist in the mind of GOD. These fixed sequences are what known as Vedas. They are revealed to the seers sages in their penance.

Sound(shabda) syllable(akshara) is the manifested in space(Akasa) -is well known. hence it can be seen .Thus this revealed knowledge is self evident because they are imperishable and covey only truth because of their impersonal nature due to lack of authorship.

Narayana is the chief purport of Vedas he is above living(jeeva) and non living(jada) being and conveyed only through Vedas - Sadagamaikvignyeyam.

in the next post we shall examine the nature of Brahma as given in Vedas

OM Om shastra yonitvat OM

srikrishnarpana

Bramha Jignyasa -Inquiry into Bramha

Vyam vedvyasaya namaha

Srigurubhyo namaha

Abhramam bhangarahitam ajadam vimalam sada

Anandatirthamatulam bhaje tapatrayapaham

Who Am I ! Who is Creator! From where does this beautiful world surrounding us emanate?

This solicits enquiry.But mere enquiry can it solve this inquizitiveness ?

What are essentials of finding Truth?

To begin with let's start with our own body.

AM I This Body? We all say this is 'my' "hand" This is 'my' 'face' This is 'my' body'

This 'my hand my face my body' points to the fact that 'I' am different from ' hand , face body etc' ; 'I' am essentially seperate from 'Body' (deha) .

Am I 'mind'.

No because we say my 'mind' is wandering when mind is irrestive and dont say I am wandering.

so 'I' is different from the 'Mind'(manas)

AM 'I' SOUL

yes very word 'I' suggests individuality (Aham Atma)

where is this Soul . How to accept its existence.

Truth can be ascertained in three ways

1>By perception through five senses/sense organs( Pratyaksha)

2>By logical inference (Anumana)

3>By Scriptures

Let us analyse each for whether they can reveal ultimate Truth.

1> Sensory perception : it is knowledge acquired from what we see , hear , feel , taste or smell.

but not every time what we see does end up in reality. because it is well known that human being is subjected to illusions. for eg. a man with colour blindness might see red as some other colour . so his knowledge of what he sees is incorrect. Also due to imbalance of tridoshas( bile phlegm and wind ) in the body gives rise to false tastes and touch. So it can be concluded that correct knowledge cannot be ascertained through sense perception alone. When delusion exists with knowledge of sense objects in the matters of worldly objects then least can be said about enquiry into existence of Bramha , Soul etc. through sense perception ie. Pratyaksha alone.

2> Inference (Anumana)- Certain knowledge can be obtained with application of logic.

say 'Sun is Hot' , no one till date has touched sun but it is indisputably agreed that 'Sun' is hot.

because rays of sun on a summer mid day can reign in curfew like situation in every city known for soaring temps. If rays of sun can creat such heat so sun must be a hot .

But can we rely solely on the logic for knowing Bramha , Atma etc. completely.

consider this . there is smoke coming atop a hill . 'there must be fire on the hill'.

Not every smoke speaks of definite existence of fire.Logically it can be endlessly argued on account of both pros and cons.So anumana cannot alone establish Bramha Atma Srishti etc .

3> Scriptures(Agama) :

Scriptures are of two types 1> wriiten by humans 2> unwritten scriptures.

when we are all in school we are given a text book and we mug it up to write exams . we get 1 st rank second rank etc and rejoice. little do we doubt that what is being taught to us ,' whether it is right or wrong'?

we take it for granted . For most of educated many ,Science exists because it is taught in text books. We grow up thinking high of 'Newton' only to be told that his theory was faulty and classical mechanics is replaced by Quantum in post graduation. Then stephen hawking walks in one fine day and declares all we were thinking that was right untill now was far from truth.

where are these scriptures taking us? Can it be relied upon.

We see a film and get thoroughly influenced by it whereas it is a just a directors' / writer's viewpoint and not absolute truth.Hence all the written material about God creation by a human agency cannot be accepted as ultimate 'TRUTH' because it has a human agency . Every human agency has a defect known as Birth and Death. it is imperfect .

IMPERFECT Cannot give rise to PERFECT.

So only unwritten scriptures can give or convey ultimate TRUTH.

Bramha is the ultimate TRUTH to be known by the souls.These unwritten Scripture is known as VEDAs.

Conclusion: Bramha is said to be Adhokshaja in Vedas ie. one who cannot be known through perception and logic . 'Pratkyakshaanumanaatit'-Adhokshaja.

in the next post we will see , why veda is unwritten , how it is ultimate authority why it cannot be disputed.and what vedas say about Bramha

OM Om Athato Bramha Jignyasa OM

Sri Krishnarpanamastu