Gist:
An Upanishadic insight of human
consciousness, mind, their form, structure and function are analytically
presented together with the description of phases and states of mind to get an
idea of working of the mind. Calming the mind is presented as a process of
de-learning illusory knowledge, relearning the real nature of human-being and
then practice the knack of completely unlearning or be unaware of all the new knowledge too but not the insight
gained. It is pointed out that meditation and calming the mind are synonymous
with Self Realization which are a process reverse to the process of generation
of thoughts. A list and brief description of ten Upanishadic ways-Vidyas-
for calming the mind and useful material for their implementation are
presented. The essential possession of an open mind and faith for the aspirant
is highlighted.
Article:
Talking about meditation and hence calming
the mind has become the necessity of modern life. Many meditative techniques
are in vogue currently intending to help humans to cope up with stresses and
strains associated with modern life and life-styles. Many traditional
meditation techniques are presently popularly encased in modern phrases.
Attempts to calm the mind will be fruitful and give desired results if
meditation is performed with knowledge about mind and its vagaries and also
about the nature of meditation process.
Upanishadic philosophy
which is Sat-Darsana is synonymous
with Sat or Truth revealed. The
process of arriving at and experiencing TRUTH is technically termed as SELF
REALISATION. SELF-REALIZATION sets in
calmness in mind and efficiency of mental functions increases. Possessing
an absolute faith is a must to calm the mind; faith in the approach; faith in
the text and teacher; and faith in oneself.
Cultivating, engaged in and maintaining a stable and harmonious
relationship with one’s near and dear ones and fellow-beings highly benefit the
aspirant in attempts to calm the mind. And many times lack of such a harmonious
relationship obstructs the setting of peace in the mind and mere observation or
practice of a meditative technique in an academic or mechanical way many not
help the individual in his/her aim or quest.
Ego, the self-consciousness, the
collection of thoughts about ‘I’ as body and associated personality traits,
social status, ‘me’ and ‘mine’, creates vasanas
(impressions/experiences/memories) within us. All
cognition/perception/volition/urge-related experiences are created and
retrieved by the antahkarana (inner
mental tool) chittam. Egoistic
thoughts and actions (with the thought and sense of ‘I’, where ‘I’ is
identified with respective individual) in Awakened/Wakeful and Dream conscious
states creates memories (vasanas).
These memories get activated later (with reference to physical time passage)
and cause happiness or unhappiness accordingly in the present of physical time The
phase of mind bereft of egoistic thoughts, memories or other cognitions
/perceptions/experiences is the state of Self (Atman, Ego-free, blissful, peaceful and is Time-transcendent). This
state is called Jagrat Sushupti or Wakeful Sleep. The three other conscious
states – the Awakened/Wakeful (Jagrat), the Dream (swapna) and Deep Sleep
(Sushupti) - conscious states are transient super-impositions over thever
present wakeful sleep (Jagrat Sushupti) conscious state
simultaneously/alternately.
Memories and record of our
experiences is our psychological past and our fears, anxieties, imaginations,
expectations etc., are our psychological future The thought-flow concerning
these past and future in the form of memories activated as remembrances and
fear, anxiety, anticipation, apprehensions, imaginations etc., consist of our
psychological past and future and gives us the awareness of time and feeling of
passage of time. Thus thought-flow (reflected chit-energy transformations) is the psychological time and its
flow. Living in the ‘past or future’ in the present leads to peacelessness. The
aim of spirituality is to enable one to cultivate the habit of living in the
physical present with peace.
Such a spiritual tradition suggests that the aim of human birth is to
cease to be ‘human’ and be DIVINE - Ego-free - , rather transcending human
nature and live in eternal blissful ego-free state. The adjective ‘human’ in
human-being refers to the ecstasies, excitements, grieves, aches, fears, anxieties,
thrills, sense of achievements or disappointments and many other psychological
comforts or discomforts felt or experienced by men and women during the course
of life. A human-being is tired of these psychological pulls and pushes and
craves for relief from this chain of states of emotional disorders and be
peaceful. Some others study Vedanta for
acquiring knowledge and to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. Arriving at
Truth gives peace in both the cases and calms the mind. Peace and Calmness are Divine Qualities. So
are Pure Consciousness, Being, Bliss, Silence, Timelessness, etc. The mental
process in which one can attain these qualities of Divinity or how a
human-being transforms oneself into a Calm Divine Being is known as meditation
on the SELF - the real Nature of the individual. SELF, BRAHMAN, ATMAN are other
names for DIVINE BEING.
Eka Vastu Chintanameva Dhyanam – is a
definition of the meditation. This means that meditation is contemplation on a
Divine Quality and finally merging mind into that Quality and Be That Quality;
this is also known as SELF REALIZATION.
Theology proposes Bhakti – the
path of devotion for this purpose. In this method the mind concentrates on a
Name or Form of a choice Divine Being and meditation on that Name or Form-
which are nothing but SELF’S
MANIFESTATIONS, mind becomes one-pointed. At the appropriate moment
Divine Grace showers and makes the mind to merge in that Name or Form.
Dhyanam Artha Bhavanam is
another definition of meditation. This is the path of knowledge. This
meditation process involves in concentrating the mind in the study and learning
and hence understanding the Divine Nature. This is also the Path to calm the
mind and live in and with peace.
In short,
meditation or calming the mind consists in concentrating the mind on a chosen
thing or contemplating on a chosen concept or expression or insight.
Upanishads contain descriptions of the SELF and many ways of meditation
on the Self, known as Vidya or Upasana. The knowledge other than that
of the Self is termed as Avidya by
the Upanishadic Seers. According to
their definition, Avidya consists of
all sciences, arts, skills, learning- of languages and other disciplines and
art-forms.
Isaavaasyoopanishat counsels to make use
of both Vidya and Avidya while meditating on the Self to
attain calmness within and warns that using only one of them leads to darkness-
the Upanishadic term for ignorance (sloka 9). Eleventh sloka of this Upanishad gives us the proper way of meditating on
the Self,
Vidyaam cha avidyam cha yastadvedoobhyam
saha
Avidyayaa mrtyum
teertvaa vidyayaa amritam asnute
This means that one must contemplate on and be aware of the Self by
using both Avidya and Vidya. Through Avidya one crosses mortality and by Vidya one attains immortality. Immortality is release from births
and deaths i.e., from the rise and set of egoistic mind (mithyaaham). Egoistic mind and self-consciousness are responsible
for all the disturbances the individual experiences and suffers. Thus knowledge
about both Vidya and Avidya is necessary for one to meditate
on the Self and live as Self in and with calmness.
The antahkaranas manas,
buddhi, ahamkaaram and chittam are responsible for us to get, revel on, entangled
in and come out of, the perceived and experienced external world and also for
acquiring knowledge and make active the in-built tendencies- i.e., the arishadvargas. All this knowing or
mental activity which is named as Tamas
(ignorance), blocks the SEER (sat)
and makes one view only the seen (jagat).
Hence all this activity of antahkaranas
with perceived or experienced external world and respective experiences, is Ajnana in Upanishadic terms.
The term Ajnana herein is used
not at all to belittle any of the acquired knowledge or their eminence but only
to point out that Truth, Self, Pure Consciousness or Prajnaam outlives rather transcends all these perceptions,
intellectual operations, self-consciousness, experiences and their
recollections by Being, manifesting as and in, causing, maintaining and
observing the origin, becoming and cessation of all these mental functions
carried out by antahkaranas- and is
the Ultimate Jnaana.
Mind as activities of antahkaranas is like a boat in the
river of consciousness and the self-consciousness of the person is the
individual traveling in the boat. The boat helps the person to move on in the
course of the life and at the end the river, the boat and the individual
together merge in the sea of pure consciousness. Thus meditation is a travel on
the mind-boat by the meditator to reach the Self, the Divinity and BE IT. After
this merger with the Divinity no trace of the meditator or the meditative tool
(the mind) are left (remain). Only object-free meditation goes on-which is
nothing but the Blissful State of the Self is continuously experienced which
sets in and maintains calmness of mind.
An individual by his samskaara
gets attracted to the use of one of the antahkaranas
as meditating tool and proceeds on with meditation. Different meditative
techniques are available to suit the temperament and mental make up and mental
preparedness of the individual.
SELF
or Brahman or Atman or Prajnanam is
present always. This is the revelation and the essence of Upanishadic Teachings. It is interesting to note that BEING, PURE
CONSCIOUSNESS AND BLISS are the characteristics of the Self described in the Upanishads, the Sat, Chit and Ananda.
Being is a present continuous form of the verb ‘to be’ and Becoming, the
present continuous form of ‘to become’ – and both are present continuous forms,
the becoming being the physical and psychological manifestation of the Being.
The natural state of human-being is BEING, the present continuous form of ‘to be’ and not becoming, the present
continuous form of ‘to become’ – which
is limited by past – i.e.., the memories, the aches, the fears, the future –
the anxieties, the fears and the imaginations. But normal state of a human
being is a combination of series of Being and Becoming or Peace and Disturbance
or Past and Future or alternates between all these and seldom is Being, the
natural present continuous state-the blissful state. One becomes something when
one cognizes an object or uses an antahkarana
or the mind, else when mind ceases to cognize one comes back to or is in
the natural state of Being. Becoming is a super-position and causes disturbance
on this Being and makes one live in the unreal state of some becoming.
Mind,
in the form of antahkaranas, is
responsible for human-being getting transformed into a human- becoming. Luckily this transformation is transitory and
reversible. These transformations of mind worry ordinary people. But the
realized souls are always aware of the transitory nature of these
transformations and the simultaneous presence of the two present continuous
forms – the Being and the Becoming, which are consciousness and awareness – and
ARE always BEINGS. They only view the becomings in the form of vasanas and jagat occurring within and without and are not concerned or touched
by these ‘unreal’ happenings.
Upanishads talk about Mithyaham or virtual Self or maya.
The virtual Self is the reflected Sat
and is made up of the same stuff as Sat.
This virtual Self is the first Becoming in the individual and is responsible
and is contained in all mental functions, - which are its own transformations.
Virtual self always – transforms itself as antahkaranas
resulting in the perceptions and experiences (vasanas) which are viewed by and are aware to the Self in the
different conscious states (Concept Diagram I). The various transformations of
the virtual Self as various antahkaranas
to perform various mental functions and back to itself are the forward and
backward i.e., reversible becomings (vivartanam). These becomings constitute the mental times
and thoughts and the feeling of passage of time in the individual and
identifies the individual to the body, psychology, gender, social status etc,
the form and structure of ego and self-consciousness)
If
these becomings – the thoughts, feelings, intellectual functions, perceptions,
experiences, understandings, urges, instincts, institutions, tendencies – all
cease to happen or the virtual Self undergoes no transformations then it is
Unoccupied Awareness, Bliss, Peace, Silence, Eternity and hence Timelessness.
Thought-ego- and feelings-free consciousness their transcendence in the form of
calmness and peace is experienced within and is observed by the Self as Prajnanam or Seer. Self as Seer is always
present and is eternal or Timeless or Transcending is a present continuous
BEING.
A reading
of this transcript is itself a de-learning, relearning and unlearning process
i.e., a way to calm the mind.
Note: Method of meditation or calming the
mind is not unique. Single general method with mass instruction will not be
fruitful. Just as the psychologist treats each case individually so also method
of calming mind is individual-specific and heavily depends on one’s mental
makeup.
1. Meditation / calming the mind is
putting veil on our ignorance and unveiling our knowledge.
2. Meditation / calming the mind is
putting veil on our false identification and unveiling our real or true identity.
3. Meditation / calming the mind is putting veil on our unreal or apparent or misunderstood nature
and unveiling our true and real nature.
Sri
Ramana Maharshi’s Insight on Meditation:
4. Find out wherefrom this ‘I’ springs
forth and merge at its source; that is tapas-meditation.
5. Find
out wherefrom the sound of the mantra
in japa rises up and merge there;
that is tapas-meditation.
In the
above piece the
Upanishadic insight of human consciousness, mind, their form, structure
and function are analytically presented together with the description of phases
and states of mind to get an idea of working of the mind. Calming the mind is
presented as a process of de-learning illusory knowledge, relearning the real
nature of human-being and then practice the knack of completely unlearning or
be unaware of all the new knowledge too
but not the insight gained. It is pointed out that meditation and calming the
mind are synonymous with Self Realization which are a process reverse to the
process of generation of thoughts. The essentiality of possession of an open
mind and faith together with cultivating and maintaining harmonious
relationship with one’s near and dear for the aspirant are highlighted.
Reference:
Ramabrahmam, V., 2007 Upanishadic ways of calming the mind,
Presentation
at the national seminar on “The Indian Approach to Calming the Mind” on 25th
and 26th August, 2007 at VedaVijnana Gurukulam, Bangalore.
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