Meditation and Japa supplement each other

(Continued from the issue 325 – article: ‘What to do after doing Japa?’)

Saints and scriptures have highly obliged the world by singing the glory of doing Japa of the divine Name along with meditation, because not all people do Japa with meditation. So they do not get much benefit without meditation. One should do japa of the divine Name more and more, as a miser loves his money, and meditate on his true nature constantly as a lover loves his mistress. Saint Tulsidasji says:

H$m{_{h Zm[a {nAm[a {O{_ bmo{^{h {à` {O{_ Xm_ &
{V{_ aKwZmW {Za§Va {à` bmJhþ _mo{h am_ &&

“May You be ever so dear to me, Rama, as a woman is dear to a lustful man, and as lucre is dear to the greedy, O Lord of the Raghus.” (Shri Rama Charita Manasa Uttara Kanda: 130)

Pujya Bapuji tells in his discourses how meditation and japa supplement each other: “What should be done more, japa or meditation? Without japa, meditation will not happen and without doing proper meditation, japa will not happen. So japa will happen properly only if you focus your mind on it. Japa done properly will gradually lead to absorption of the mind in the meaning of mantra and then it will become calm, and thus the mind will meditate. If the mind gets absorbed in the meaning of the mantra, it will become Bhagavadakara by assuming the form of God and the Bhagavadakara mind will get joy and the mind naturally gets focused where there is joy.”

Bapuji taught how to meditate

What is Meditation?

People do meditation but they meditate as per their belief and understanding, and hence they do not get the complete benefit of meditation. But those who get guidance from a Self-realised great man, having experience in Yoga like Pujya Bapuji, start the journey of deep meditation effortlessly. What is meditation and how it should be done, Pujya Bapuji’s words of blessings on this subject teach us: “All tasks are accomplished not only by ‘doing’, there are some tasks which can be accomplished by ‘not doing’. Meditation is one such task. What exactly is the meaning of meditation? Meditation is immersion in the Self. Meditation is introspection, ‘What am I?’ Watching this: ‘Where have I arrived?’ To see: ‘How much self-forgetful have I become?’ To see: ‘How much have I become absorbed in the Yoga of forgetfulness (Vismruti Yoga) so far?’

Even satsanga becomes fruitful

only to those who meditate. Your discrimination remains awake during meditation. There is a great level of awareness and alertness during meditation. Be less devoted to ‘doing’ and instead be devoted to ‘not doing’. Any amount of work you do, only non-doing will remain in the end. Where there is effort, where there is ‘doing’, there is also fatigue. Where there is effort and fatigue, there is no experience of bliss.

Where there is effortlessness, not even sloth or heedlessness, but the effortless state of Nissankalpa (devoid of thought or imagination), all is bliss as everything happens effortlessly. That bliss is nirvishaya (free from sense objects). That bliss does not arise from the contact of the sense organs with objects, so it is not dependent on others, but independent. Such bliss is not momentary or impermanent, it is eternal and permanent. Yet, everyone cannot get immersed in it. Only a few fortunate ones can get immersed in it, and consequently they also find out their bliss nature.

It does not mean to become lazy when we say ‘Be devoted to ‘not doing’. One who cannot do service without desire cannot do meditation. First purify the mind by doing selfless service. As the mind becomes pure, it will start to get absorbed in meditation and japa.

When people do meditation, their mind becomes inactive which gives some relaxation due to inactivity, it gives some benefit, however. Meditation is for a complete psychological transformation or it brings about the construction of a new mind.”

(Know how to bring about the construction of a new mind through meditation in the next issue.)