Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 125 Summary on 07 October 2026 Q&A

Discussion on Leela Dhyana, Guna Dhyana, and the Sattvic Nature of Mind

Question 1: Leela Dhyana as a Way to Grasp Guna Dhyana

Participant: So Maharaj, today you mentioned about the four types of dhyana.

Response (Maharaj): Yeah.

Participant: Guna Dhyana and Swarupa. But sometimes I find that Guna Dhyana – guna can be very abstract in some ways and may be difficult for someone, you know, like me, to grasp, let alone meditate. But I wanted to talk about and ask about Leela Dhyana. Is it that it shows us what the guna truly is, and how it is practiced, and brings these nama-rupa and guna together?

Leela Dhyana Begins with Vivid Imagination of the Ishta Devata

Response: Correct. So whenever anybody is doing this Leela Dhyana, what is the first thing? Vivid imagination of the chosen deity, Ishta Devata, isn't it? So is this person continuously seeing the form of Ishta Devata? Let us say Sri Ramakrishna as Gadadhar. Gadadhar is running. What are you looking at? The form of Gadadhar.

When you try to meditate, it will be broken. But when you are doing Leela Dhyana, you are seeing him continuously. Imagine a cinema is going on. Imagine that this cinema is clearly, beautifully, very effectively taken. Your mind is attracted towards it or not?

Participant: Yes.

Response: And you are following Sri Ramakrishna, where he is going – from the front, from the back, etcetera, isn't it?

Participant: Yes.

Nama Dhyana and Rupa Dhyana Together

Response: And you cannot separate name and form. And therefore this is Gadadhar, this is Ramakrishna. So continuous Nama Dhyana is going on. Rupa Dhyana is going on.

Okay, then imagine that he has run away from school and then some elderly person looks at him. Just I want to add this thing: when we are doing Leela Dhyana, at the beginning we read the story of Sri Ramakrishna and try to imagine it. But don't confine Leela Dhyana only to that.

Expanding the Imagination: The Story of the Weaver

Response: Leela Dhyana means what? You can expand that imagination – like, you know the story of the will of Rama, the weaver. So you know the story. So the magistrate asked him what happened, and by the will of Rama, this is what happened – he described – and the magistrate let him go. He is innocent, that we know.

Supposing the magistrate says, "I don't know whether it is the will of Rama or whatever it is. You are caught red-handed. I am going to put you in jail for 10 years, for 20 years." What would be the reaction of the weaver? Will he be more happy or not?

In this story, it is not told whether he was married or not. So let me imagine he is not married, but he is an able-bodied man – who is going to feed him? But now, what a relief! I don't need to go on weaving, because the prison authorities will be supplying me breakfast, lunch and dinner, and in between tea and all those things. And they insist upon exercise also in the evenings. And he can meditate upon Rama as much as possible, isn't it?

Building Your Own Scenarios

Response: So don't stop with whatever you know. That is only just a foundation. You build your own thing.

So imagine that in that Manik Raja's mango gardens, he had skipped the school. Not only was he guilty, he also gathered other school students. And imagine that maybe the teacher runs there and scolds. What do you think Sri Ramakrishna's – or Gadadhar's – reaction would be? What do you think the reaction would be to that scolding of the teacher?

Then the teacher – he will ask, "Sir, you sit down for one minute. I will sing a song for you." And the teacher also forgets his school: "Why am I suffering there? I want to join this school of Ramakrishna."

Another Scenario: The Teacher Beats Him

Response: So this is what I call Leela Dhyana. You can add, expand the known facts into as much as you want. Or take another scenario: that the teacher catches hold of his ear and slaps him and beats him. There is also one scenario. Then what do you think will be the reaction of Gadadhar? Do you think he is going to change? He has come not to be changed. He has come to change all of us, the whole world, isn't it? That is called Dharma Sthapana.

So you are wasting your time. So you also join. Like that, whoever comes, they will be falling into his honey trap. He was the greatest honey trapper. He is the greatest honey trapper in the whole world.

The Sequence: Rupa, Nama, and Guna Dhyana

Response: So this Leela Dhyana – what is the first thing? Rupa Dhyana. What is the second thing? Nama Dhyana. And this dhyana will continue. There is no breaking in that thread, isn't it? Then Guna Dhyana.

Yes, now he will be smiley. So if somebody appreciates, he will be smiley. If somebody depreciates also, he will be smiling. So what is that called – Guna Dhyana?

The Secret of Guna Dhyana

Response: That is – you know what is the secret of this Guna Dhyana? When you are happy, you can forgive easily your enemies, isn't it? You could afford to be very generous whenever you are very happy. Only when you are in a grumpy mood, all sorts of negative thoughts would occupy your mind. Is it not a fact?

So if Leela Dhyana is giving us so much of happiness, even the torment of God in Leela Dhyana becomes a source of great joy.

Examples from Gopala's Childhood

Response: Gopala's mother had that vision. She started saying, "I want butter." Is that a way of tormenting Gopala's mother, or is it one type of leela?

So you see, He was gathering firewood and he wanted a pillow. Whatever his excuse, he knows very well, better than anybody: "I never provided this poor lady with a pillow. How is she going to provide a pillow?"

That means he says, "You put your hand; I will put my head on your hand, and I will embrace you, sleeping with you." He pretends to be afraid – Krishna. When somebody was complaining, he will hide behind his mother's sari and peeping out, and then with frightened eyes. But sometimes he makes eyes also from behind the veil.

So that is how this Nama Dhyana, Rupa Dhyana, Guna Dhyana is going on.

The Result: Swarupa Dhyana and Ananda

Response: And what is the result? Ananda. And that is called Swarupa Dhyana. That is called Ananda. Sat Chit Ananda.

Participant: And that Ananda comes consciously. Can you be unconsciously happy? No. You have to be conscious, isn't it?

Response: Yeah.

Participant: So you are aware that you are. You are not aware of anything excepting pure bliss. And that is this trait. Swarupa Dhyana, Leela Dhyana fulfills all these things together.

Response: Yeah.

Participant: Thank you. Thank you, Maharaj. Thank you. Pranam, Maharaj.

Question 2: Is the Mind Sattvic in Nature, and Are the Organs of Knowledge Also Sattvic?

Participant: Maharaj, you mentioned about mind and its nature to be sattva. Mind has all the three gunas manifested at any point of time. So if its nature is sattva, then – is it right that all the organs of knowledge are also sattvic in nature? They are also pure.

The Mind Is Created from the Pancha Bhutas

Response: No, no. We have to be very careful about it. When the mind is created, it is created out of the Pancha Bhutas.

Participant: Yes.

Response: All the Pancha Bhutas are nothing but a combination of these three gunas. Which guna is more manifest? See, look at a child. Which guna is more manifest?

Participant: No, no.

Response: Sattva guna – because he doesn't entertain "this is my enemy, this is my friend."

Participant: This is, isn't it?

Response: But as he grows, his experiences also grow. And as per the experiences, his old samskaras are also growing.

Panchikarana: The Grossification of Elements

Response: So we are talking about a mind before the same subtle elements became grossified and mixed together. This is called Panchikarana. That is the special term. Advaita uses Panchikarana – means divided into five parts. I think some English word is there – "quintalization" or something like that. Whatever it is, you know that you should remember it.

So each element becomes 50, divides into 2 – 50, 50. It retains 50%, and then the other 50% becomes equally divided into 4 and mixes it with all the other 4 elements. And all the 12 and a half percent of the other 4 elements equally come and join, let us say, this Akasha. Then all those 12 and a half times 4 is 50, and its original 50. This is called Panchikarana.

Now we are talking about mind. All the – what is called – divided and mixed gross elements produce this gross universe. And the mind at the beginning is pure, and that sattvika part of the mind – the mind which reflects that chit – and that is why it is called chidabhasa.

Samskaras and the Reflected Consciousness

Response: And then slowly, slowly we develop some samskaras; then the mind may become more rajasik, more tamasik. But that reflected consciousness never leaves it, isn't it? Otherwise, how do you recognise whether I am a good person? I am a happy person, I am an unhappy person. How do you recognise? That recognition requires awareness, isn't it?

Oh, the awareness is the sattvic part of the mind. That alone illumines whatever thoughts are going through the inner organ. Therefore, without that, it is like a person who is dead, unconscious. There is no question of spiritual aspirant or worldly person for a dead person. Only two aspects are available by a dead body: tasty and not tasty. That's all.

So you understand now that one part of the chitta which is possessed by the sattva guna is the one which always reflects that chit. Yeah, that is how we have to understand. And it is never absent from birth to death.

What Happens After Death: The Analogy of the Broken Mirror

Response: What happens after death? Chidabhasa – it is like a broken. When a mirror is broken – imagine the sunlight is there, a mirror is there, the mirror is reflecting the sunlight. So when the mirror is broken, the sunlight is not dead. The mirror is – other mirrors are reflecting that sunlight.

So what we think is: when a person – when I am dead, I am not conscious anymore. So long as there is life, that reflection will be there. Only thing is, we only measure things from the physical awareness. But we do not understand that internal awareness is never lacking.

Unconsciousness Does Not Mean Forgetting God

Response: That is why if a person is always thinking about God but meets an accident and becomes unconscious, never ever think he is forgetting God. God's remembrance will be going on inside. Only thing is, the medium to express it is not available any longer. Only when he becomes conscious, the brain starts functioning.

Consciousness, unconsciousness, doesn't belong to the mind. It belongs only to the body, of which brain is only one part. And that is our mistake. We think that unconsciousness means the person forgets God also.

Sri Ramakrishna's Example of the Musician

Response: That is why Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful example. Once a musician – he was talking "come delusion, come illusion." Somehow his tongue turned in words; he became unconscious. He was buried, and after some time he became conscious again and started shouting what? "From delusion."

Same thing.

Participant: Because it is functioning previously in the mind. He did not have the instruments to shout it out. Now he has got back his external instruments for expressing it.

Response: Sure. Yeah.