Meditation

That the greatness of a person is directly proportional to the meditation a person makes. The more we meditate, the greater we become. In any field, it could be music, it could be science, it could be religion, it could be stupidity.

So, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says, The mountains are meditating as it were. The earth is meditating as it were. The rivers are meditating as it were.

The sun, the stars, everything is meditating as it were. Look at the history of the great people in any field. What is the one quality that we see common among all of them? Can you tell me what it is? It is focussing.

You call in modern language, focus. Concentrate. Through meditation, man becomes one with God.

Sharavat Tanmayo Bhavet. In the Mundaka Upanishad it says, Pranavodhano Sarohyatma Brahma Tallaksham Uchyate Apramatena Veddhavyam Sharavat Tanmayo Bhavet Pranava means, you know what is Pranava? Omkara. Pranava is the bow.

And the Jivatma is the arrow. And put this arrow, unite it with the bow of Pranava and with concentrated mind pull the bow, the strings of the bow and let the arrow go. Then it becomes one with the target.

What is the target? Brahma Tallaksham Uchyate. We see any great sadhu, how did they become sadhus? How did they become realised souls? What was the main sadhana they did? Do you know what it is? Meditation. That's why in India people go to mountain peaks, forests, lonely places to be able to meditate without any disturbance.

We also have to use the same method because that is the only method to progress in any field of life including domestic field. Husband and wife together, if they can focus on each other, love each other then the domestic life becomes a peaceful journey. We forget that life is a journey.

A journey must have a beginning. Journey must have a target, a goal. What is the target of the life's journey? Where are we going? We are all going to God only.

What about all the samsara, husband, wife, children, all those? They are all schools, classrooms in which we have to learn our lessons. What lessons? First, how to become unselfish? When a person is alone, he remains unselfish. When he has a wife, he is as it were divided into two.

They have to share each other. When the children come, they have to share with all the children. But our life becomes confined only to that much.

We don't progress any further. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam You know, you heard that one? Matame Parvati Devi Pitadevo Maheshwara Bandhavaha Shivabhaktasya Swadesho Bhuvanatrayam This is the concept. From a limited, constrained individuality raise yourself up to that universal self where you become one with everything.

How is this process to be achieved? Through meditation. And whenever you are initiated by any guru the first thing that he asks you to do is to sit and meditate. It is also called Upasana.

You heard about Upasana? Upa means near. Asana means to sit. Sit near.

Sit near whom? God. Sit near God. Sit near your own self.

Sit near means not side by side. It means you become one with him. So this word Upa has an interesting connotation.

We use them in other places also. Upavasa. What is Upavasa? Fasting.

What do they do? Fast. So that they can think about God. But what do they think naturally? Very naturally what would they be thinking? Ekadashi people are thinking about Dvadasha.

How soon this fasting will be over and how soon we can eat double the food that we have missed today. The idea is release the body consciousness. That is the purpose of Upavasa.

So Upasana means usually translated as meditation or concentration. It is not a correct translation but we will use it. We are all advised to meditate and we have peculiar ideas about meditation.

First let us find out what are those things which are not meditation. First Nidra is not meditation. You know many people they close their eyes, sit quietly and they go to sleep.

I am not joking. There is a reason for that. What is the reason? Because you see we go to sleep.

What are the conditions under which we get sleep? We quieten down the activities. We relax the body and mind. So when this preparation is done the mind somehow comes to know that it is time for going to sleep.

So when we sit for meditation the poor mind doesn't know that it is not time for going to sleep because the same conditions are present just before meditation. Sit quietly, no activity, try to focus the mind, relax the body and mind. We are conditioned creatures you see.

Immediately sleep comes. So that is a condition we have to definitely avoid. So if sleep comes what should we do? It's very natural and especially people are working very hard.

They come after hard work or early morning they have not yet woken up for the simple reason they went to bed only four hours back. Twelve o'clock. Nice cricket match they are watching.

Here is the proper sleep. Meditation becomes a wonderful venue. Nobody to disturb.

So that's very bad because soon we become conditioned. The moment we sit in a meditation posture our mind knows now it is time to go to sleep. So to completely avoid it if you are feeling sleepy get up and walk up and down and do your japa.

I will come to that point soon. Second thing is meditation is not mere concentration because a scientist would concentrate. Illustration is given how concentrated we should be.

A cat is given as a supreme example of perfect meditation. When a cat is sitting outside the hole of a rat how quietly it sits. Yes.

It's given as an example. Not even the breathing will come out. So that is given as an example that we should focus our mind.

That is called concentration. The power of concentration is tremendous. But you must understand concentration is not the goal.

Concentration is just a mere instrument. Suppose you buy the most expensive car. After all it is only an instrument.

If you don't know how to go, where to go, how to drive or you are a bad driver or you don't know where to go the car is perfectly useless. Many people buy the car not for the purpose of driving for the purpose of attracting girls and husbands. In UK BMW is a prestigious issue.

A young man has BMW so the people will get the girls are attracted. The poor dumb fellow doesn't know they are not attracted to him. They are attracted to the car.

You know this is what happens. So concentration is only part of meditation. It is very necessary.

Sometimes without concentration too we can contemplate. That is a different type of meditation called Leela Dhyana. Meditation on the divine sports of the divine being.

I will come to that point later on. But meditation is not Nidra. Meditation is not mere focussing.

Meditation is not brooding. Many people you know they go to the shrine room or some place, sit. And in the beginning they bow down to God.

Afterwards go on brooding what happened yesterday in the office day before yesterday. Why the wife has not put salt in the curry etc. etc.

Go on brooding. Surely that is not even concentration. It is brooding.

It is very dangerous. So having eliminated these things now we have to define what is meditation. It is focussing the mind which is a part of meditation but focussing the mind on a noble subject.

Something of supreme value. It could be truth. It could be beauty.

It could be knowledge. These are the supreme values you know. Truth, knowledge, beauty.

These are in western world these are called the supreme values. But according to Hinduism what is the supreme value? God alone is the supreme value. So focus the mind but on any aspect of God that is called true meditation.

If meditation is to be successful certain conditions have to be fulfilled. In the Yoga Shastra the science of meditation is described as an Ashtanga Yoga 8 fold meditation. What are the first two steps? Yama and Niyama.

I am not going into the details now. What it simply means get rid of undesirable habits and acquire good habits. What is called character? First, behaviour.

Second, character. Third, intellectual understanding. Fourth, meditation.

According to Swami Ashokananda these are called the four pillars of wisdom. Absolutely logical. What is the first thing? Conduct.

What is conduct? Good behaviour. Get up at a particular time. How much time people waste.

What time shall I get up? 5.45 or 5.46 and half. What shall I have for breakfast? Half an hour gone. To decide.

These things should be so automatic that we should not need to spend one single second about them. Nowadays a lot of facilities universal, you know. What shall I take? Cereal.

Tomorrow morning what shall I take? Cereal. Life became very easy, you know. What shall I have for lunch? Sandwich.

What shall I have tomorrow for lunch? Sandwich. Only night a little bit problematic. And people come.

What is the first step? Conduct. What is conduct? Acquire some good habits. Why is so necessary? For two reasons.

No man of bad conduct can ever reach God. Not only God, he cannot even be successful in this world. Second, there are rainy days in spiritual life.

There is a great misunderstanding that spiritual progress is a linear go on progressing and progressing and progressing. It is never like that. It is like a wave like motion and sometimes you go up sometimes you go down.

It is the nature of the mind. So when the mind goes down what is it that can hold us up? Good conduct. Sadachara.

It is called Sadachara. Then good conduct leads to what is called character. You know what is character? I want you to interact with me.

What is character? Predictable behaviour. Now suppose for example you have a boss and highly temperamental and always irritated. Suddenly you know that it is predictable character.

One day you go very smiling, calm and quiet. You become frightened. Why? Why this? You know if he is normal self you know how to react.

Suddenly his whole character has changed. Character has not changed. His behaviour has changed.

Next morning you know he is back to his normal self. You heave a sigh of relief and say thank God. So what is character? Predictable behaviour.

How do we know we have acquired character? I will give you a simple example. Supposing you want to get up early in the morning and you buy an alarm clock and you set the alarm to say 5 o'clock. For 50 years you have been getting up regularly at 5 o'clock.

As soon as the alarm goes off you are getting up. After 50 years the poor alarm clock had kicked its bucket and the next day you get up only at 7.30. Have you developed character? So what is character? Alarm clock or no alarm clock? If you can get up exactly at 5 o'clock that means in that regard your character is fixed. This example can be extended to how we deal with other people, whether we speak truth, whether we are unselfish, whether we forgive other people.

These qualities do not fall from the sky. We have to acquire each one of them with great labour. That is why sadhana is so wonderful.

People also have a wrong idea. Sadhana means going to the rivers and taking a dip or eating tulasi leaves or worshipping images with coconuts, etc. Mirabai's beautiful song is there.

Sadhana karana chahiye manuwa bhajana karana chahiye preet karana chahiye manuwa prema lagana chahiye manuwa Then she goes, you know, by dipping into the rivers if hari mile to all my Bengali devotees would have disappeared long back from this earth. Do you know why? Because all the fish that have been living in the waters would have attained moksha. Without them, how can my devotees live? They also would go.

Nith nahan se hari mile to Ah, something, me in a mandir, they would have got. If by eating tulasi, then all the goats and other animals which eat the vegetation would have attained moksha. Right? If I can get moksha by worshipping a small image, why small image? I will go and worship the big mountain itself.

Says, Bina prema se nahi mile Nandalala It is the goal of meditation is to acquire love for God. Once we acquire love for God, we acquire everything else. So the point is sadhana karana chahiye We have to do sadhana.

What is sadhana? To acquire certain qualities, to get rid of certain bad qualities. Once we do that, then meditation automatically manifested. We will not meditate.

Meditation will take us over. It possesses us. Love, we do not love.

Love possesses us. That is the secret of any saint. Okay.

That is the second character. What is the third one? Intellectual understanding. Now, intellectual understanding does not mean academic intellect.

There are multiple intelligences. Some are good at music. Some are good at nature.

Some are good at painting. Some are good at maths. Some are good at logic.

Some are good at mythology. All these things are different types of intelligence. Some are good linguists.

Very quickly they can pick up. So, different types of intelligences are there. But for progressing in spiritual life, in meditation, a particular type of intelligence is necessary.

For this, no academic education is necessary. To prove this, Sri Ramakrishna deliberately remained almost illiterate. To illustrate this further, Sri Ramakrishna's disciple, Swami Adbhutananda, became absolutely illiterate.

You know Swami Adbhutananda? Now, there is an interesting incident. You know Sri Ramakrishna was such a great soul. He himself undertook to educate Latu Maharaj.

His name was Latu Maharaj, Swami Adbhutananda. The education progressed. The oral teaching was over.

The consonant teaching came. He could not proceed beyond Ka. Because Sri Ramakrishna could not make his disciple understand the distinction between A and Aa.

Every time Sri Ramakrishna says Ka, then he says Ka. I am telling you Ka. He says Ka.

No, cannot be corrected. Sri Ramakrishna said, I give up. This is not because Sri Ramakrishna was a failure.

Deliberately he gave it up. Why? To prove to the world like us, no academic literary education is needed for spiritual life. We need a very special type of intelligence called spiritual intelligence, which in Sanskrit is called Medha.

Medhavi. Medhavi is not ordinary intelligence. There are so many people, clever people, that is nothing to do with Medhavi.

Medhavi means it is spiritual intelligence. It is this which every Hindu practically begs of God. What is that? Dhyo yonah prachodayat.

May that supreme reality guide my understanding. Once the God takes over this, our life, everything will be fine. That is what Sri Krishna represented.

What did Arjuna represent? Ordinary worldly intelligence. What did Sri Krishna represent? Spiritual intelligence. But Arjuna was a sincere aspirant.

So Sri Krishna immediately bestowed his grace. He drove the chariot of Arjuna. It is only an allegorical thing.

Driving chariot means what? Life is a battle. In this battle we need to win what? Not anybody. Worldliness.

Worldly forces. Demonical forces. Asuras.

Devasura Yuddha. This is the theme of Chandi. Devasura Yuddha.

Divine Mother comes. Yadevi Sarvabhutesh. Medha Rupena Samsthita.

Buddhi Rupena Samsthita. Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namaha. Everyday we are praying.

That is not ordinary intelligence. Because ordinary intelligence can be cultivated through ordinary means. Extraordinary intelligence can be obtained only through extraordinary means.

What is that? Grace of God. Intellectual understanding. What is that? Faith and Dhriti.

Determination. I believe in God. I want to lead a spiritual life.

My Guru gave me these instructions. And this is my path to God. This is called intellectual understanding.

Medha. Having got all these things. Then the journey really starts.

All this is preparation for the journey. Only in the fourth stage the journey really starts. What is that journey called? Meditation.

Dhyana. So Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara. Only then Dhyana starts.

Dharana. Then Dhyana. Then Samadhi.

Without preparation it is no use. There is no way. We think we are so clever.

We will skip all the first steps. And we will reach the last step. Hiram Krishna was a master parable teacher.

So one man was walking. And he saw that an old man was sitting under a tree. And so many people were running here and there working hard.

So the man went straight to the Guru. Because he found this is the only man who was free. He said, who are you? The man said, I am a Guru.

Who are all these fellows? They are my disciples. So what happens in this place? Guru explained, this is called an ashrama. So these disciples serve me and I teach them.

Can you explain a bit further? What the disciples have to do and what you have to do? He explained, the disciples, you know, they have to get up early in the morning, go to the forest, collect the firewood, bring it and build up a fire, prepare first class idli, sambar, etc., etc. Then what? Whole day, you know, they have to work. And what do you do? I get up at about 7.30, wash my face and go to the breakfast table.

I eat the breakfast. And after the disciples have washed away, cleared away everything, I teach them for about half an hour. Then they are busy preparing lunch.

I go at lunchtime, have lunch and take two hours rest. They go on massaging my feet. 3.30 I will have afternoon tea.

And another half an hour I spend in teaching them. And again they are busy preparing supper. And again after supper they massage my feet.

I go to sleep. The man said, I am interested in joining the ashrama. Just though the Guru asked, what do you want to become? If you don't mind, make me the Guru.

Ramakrishna story, you know, it's not that easy. Unless they become the disciples and do all those things, it is not possible. So all these preparations are very necessary.

Why am I telling you this? Because without even attempting to understand what are the preliminaries, people simply say, Swamiji, teach me meditation. No, you have to prepare. Otherwise you cannot meditate.

You can sit, you can appear to be meditating. But you will not meditate. In fact your life will be worse.

So now I will talk about what is called Upasana. Upasana has got four steps. Mind you, all those preparations you have to keep in mind.

This is only an intellectual understanding. Four steps. What is the first meditation? It is called Namadhyana.

What is Namadhyana? You all know it. What is it called? Japa. What is Japa? Repeating the name of God.

And we are all repeating the name of God. Sankata Kaale Venkata Ramana. We also repeat other times also, you know.

Other times. You see, there is some woman met in a drawing room and they are talking. They are boasting to each other.

You know, one woman was telling, when my son enters, all the people in the room jump up and say, Your Highness. He is a prince. Another woman said, That is nothing.

When my son enters, everybody jumps up and says, Your Holiness. He was a cardinal. Third woman was telling, That is nothing.

When my son enters, everybody looks, My God. He was seven feet tall. My God.

Remember God. So, Namadhyana means repeating God's name. So, I have to explain it.

We are all repeating, but parrot-like. Parrot. You know, you teach parrot.

I have to tell you, Detroit, you know, we went to one's house. A wonderful, you know, toy. It is a parrot.

Electronic parrot. And the boy, small boy brought it. So, what is it? Whatever you say, it will repeat.

I wanted to test. It was brought. You are bad.

He said, You are bad. In my voice. In my voice.

And then, flapping its wings, You are bad. Perfect. I never saw this kind of thing, you know.

That is called karma phala. I only uttered once, You are bad. It gave me back with compound interest.

You are bad. You are bad. Flapping its wings.

You must see that one to believe it. So, what is Namadhyana? Not parrot-like repetition. We are all taught, God's name has tremendous power and koti koti janma papas will disappear.

Is it wrong? Absolutely true. God's name has that power. But we also must have the receptive power of that God's name.

So, what is the secret involved here? This is what Patanjali says. Japa is recollecting to our minds the idea of a thing. That is why, in Sanskrit, the name for object is Padaartha.

Pada means what word? Artha means meaning. It is the meaning of the word, not the sound itself. So here, first of all, every object will have a particular name.

So, name, Nama. Then, we convey, we utter that name to convey it to others. That is called Shraddha.

But these two are only incidental things because in English this is a cushion. But in Sanskrit it is Asana. Different name, different sound.

So, if a person doesn't know Sanskrit, I say, bring this Asana. It makes no meaning to him. Right? That's not what is wanted.

Artha. What is the Artha? Idea. Idea is, as soon as you utter the name, the idea has to come.

Now, merely recollecting the idea is not enough. What is necessary? That idea must somehow bring about a transformation in my consciousness. How does it happen? I will give you an example.

Suppose somebody, I will give you a bad example so that you will understand better. Suppose somebody insulted you few days back. After that, that fellow had gone away.

Whenever you hear that person's name, your face becomes red. That is called Artha Bhavana. But when a good person's name is uttered, the effect is not so much.

Have you noticed? We must have that kind of Artha Bhavana, means this is God. Immediately, the presence of God must spring to our heart. If God is here, what worries we have, what fears we have, what insecurity feelings we have, is it not? It takes time for us to understand that.

God means perfect security. Just imagine that you are thirsty, very thirsty, asking for water, and you are becoming very restless. Just then somebody says, somebody utters, Oh, here comes water.

Even by hearing that word, what a relief you feel, is it not? So that should be the transformation. Whenever we hear the word, the name of God, it should have that effect upon us. Otherwise, it is not really repeating God's name.

It is a parrot-like repeating God's name. Some of our devotees are very clever. They say, Swamiji, we don't have any time for repeating God's name.

Can I tape record God's name and play it? I say, certainly you can do it. Will it help? Certainly it will help the cassette player. It will attain Moksha.

I don't know about you. It's legitimate, you know, when you are very busy, you can enjoy devotional music, but that is no excuse for you not to sit. Now, in connection with this subject, you know that the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the most marvellous document you will get in the history of the religious literature.

Why is it so wonderful? It is comparable to Bhagavatam. What is that Bhagavatam? When you open the Gospel of Ramakrishna and start reading, you are not reading past history. You are actually sitting in the presence of Sri Ramakrishna and you are listening to him.

This is the speciality. Otherwise, you would have collected some teachings and said this is what Sri Ramakrishna taught. Such detailed descriptions, where Sri Ramakrishna was sitting, which direction he was facing, who were the devotees, what was the subject, and whether he was laughing or serious or going into Samadhi, etc.

Right? This is called Leela Dhyana, which I will come to a little later. So the first Dhyana is, what did I say? Nama Dhyana. So in this connection, Aum is considered to be the most sacred syllable.

If you are in doubt, which mantra shall I repeat? You just repeat Aum. Now do you know why Aum is considered to be the best symbol of God? Do you know that why? There is a very wonderful explanation for it. What is it? See, every object in this world has a particular name.

Right? That means, every name can be uttered. The alphabets contain only, say, 26 letters in English, but 54 letters in Sanskrit. But this alphabet contains all the names of the world.

How many names of objects can you really utter in your lifetime? Still, infinite number of names remain unuttered. Right? But there is a secret. What is the secret? All the sounds that can possibly be uttered can only come out from this little voice box.

You know that voice box? Sounds do not come from anywhere else. I know sounds will come from the stomach also sometimes. This is called Anahata Dhwani.

You know what is Nivedita Anahata Dhwani? Undesirable sound. When somebody is snoring, that is called Anahata Dhwani. Undesirable, uninvited sound.

But the real sounds come from this voice box to convey the meaning. Now, Om has three syllables. Do you know what syllables are there? A, O, and Ma.

Okay, just do one experiment for my sake. Put your fingers very lightly. Find out where from A is coming.

Say, A, A, A. See where the vibration is coming from. It is not coming from here. It is not coming from here.

It is coming from... That is why A is... Aksharanam akaro asmi. The root of all alphabets is A. From A, everything else comes. That is why Akara is the first letter of the alphabet.

Because that is the root. From there, everything else comes. Then, what is the next syllable? O. Find out where from O is coming.

Just say, O. Find out the vibration. O, O. You will find it in the middle of the voice box. What is the last syllable? Ma.

Where from is it coming? From lips. You utter Rama with open lips. So, A, O and Ma complete all the sounds that one can make through this voice box.

That is why Om... If you utter Om, you are uttering all the possible sounds in this world. Indicating, representing all the names of every object. Which means, you are remembering the name of every object by just uttering the word Om.

This word Om contains every name of God. Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Allah, etc., etc., etc., right? This Omkara, what I told is a very superficial meaning. This Pranava has an unuttered letter called Amatra, Om.

Silent, because sound is of two types, uttered and unuttered. That unuttered sound is called the real idea of Vyakta. That is real purpose of uttering Om.

Anyway, I won't go into the details. That's an entirely different scripture called Spotavada, philosophy of sound. How the whole creation has come out of sound, Shabda.

Shabda, don't mistake Shabda for sound that is heard by these external ears. It is intuitively the idea comes into the mind. That is why our Vedas are called Shruti.

Shruti means what? Heard. Heard means what? Through their ears? No. Through intuition into the heart they had a flash of that knowledge.

But there is no way to express it. How did that come? Okay, we heard it. It is not an external sound at all.

Our Vedas are called Shruti for two reasons. One reason is because the Rishis had intuitively got this knowledge and our Rishis had propagated what they had obtained in the form of utterance. They will utter these secrets into the ears of their disciples.

So from Guru Parampara, Guru utters the words to the disciple. Disciple passes on to his disciple. That is why it is not written.

It is called Shruti. Anyway, the name of God is very very powerful. By the very utterance of the name of God, the mind becomes very quiet.

This is a well-known psychological phenomenon. Hypnotists use this by uttering Om again and again. And you can also experience in every one of my classes, as soon as I start talking, all of you are in agreement, slowly slowly, when your mind becomes quiet, even in the highest state of Samadhi, you start agreeing with whatever I say.

You even laugh sometimes without hearing what I told. Because everybody is laughing, you know. You think, if we don't laugh, what do the other people think about us? First step in Dhyana is, what did I say? Nama Dhyana.

That is, with sincere devotion, utter, go on repeating the name of God. Any name of God, that will do. The second step is called Rupa Dhyana.

What is Rupa? Every God or Goddess has a particular form. Krishna has a particular form. Shiva has a particular form.

And Divine Mother has a particular form. These forms, you must remember, are not concocted by some people sitting together and having a table conference and let us make Krishna like this. No.

They are divine revelations in the hearts of their devotees. They simply pass down these forms. They are divine forms obtained through intuition.

You must have the deep faith in it. So the next step is, just as with open eyes you can see the form of God, with closed eyes you should be able to see as though the Ishta Devata is alive. This is called Rupa Dhyana.

And when some devotees practise intensely this Rupa Dhyana, you know what happens? Their very personality becomes similar to the Ishta Devata. Sri Ramakrishna's life, there are examples, he meditated on Hanuman and he became like Hanuman. He meditated on Radha.

And it is said he even started having monthly periods like women. It looks unbelievable but that is what happened. So by meditating, the meditator becomes similar to the meditator.

It has a lot of reason for that. If we meditate on a very pleasant form of Ishta Devata, our face also becomes very pleasant. Have you noticed that? Saint Francis of Assisi meditated so intensely upon Jesus Christ, he even obtained what is called stigmata.

And it is very believable because if any mother intensely meditates upon the pain of her child, the mother also is likely to suffer from a similar pain. Have you noticed that? Mentally every mother suffers because she loves her child. But physically if child is having headache, the mother is also likely to have headache.

If she meditates upon the child intensely enough, it is a well documented phenomenon. Okay, now let us not go too deep into it. So the second step is what is called Rupa Dhyana.

Nama Dhyana and Rupa Dhyana are only very preliminary stages of meditation. The most important thing is the third step which is called Guna Dhyana. Meditation on the divine qualities, auspicious qualities of the God or Ishta Devata.

Now you do not need to meditate on a very quality or you should not meditate at random on any quality. You must meditate on that quality which you need, which you lack, which you need. For example, if you are very short tempered person, what is the Guna you should meditate upon? What is the opposite of? Shanta Bhava.

God never gets angry, very peaceful. That is the quality. Otherwise it becomes counterproductive.

You know this is what is called negative meditation. An American advertised in newspapers that if you send five dollars, I will teach you a secret how to convert metals into gold. Many people, you think that anybody, if he knows the secret, why should he pay? Please advertise him.

Why should he want five dollars? He can make his own money. But there are many of us who, many people, and he sent the secret. All that you have to do is take a tumbler full of water, put the metal you want to convert into gold.

For five minutes, think intensely that metal is turning into gold. This is the instruction. And if it doesn't turn into gold, I will return back your money and give you more.

But below, caution, please do not think of a monkey. You can understand. Nobody succeeded.

You know why? I should not think of a monkey. I should not think of a monkey. You missed a first class story.

Later on you hear it from Tushar. Okay. So, as you know, many times we sincerely wish to get rid of some undesirable qualities.

What we do is counterproductive. I don't want to be angry. I don't want to be, that won't work.

That's why Patanjali indicates, what is it called? Think of the opposite quality which you want to get rid of. This is the secret of gunadhyana. When you go to a doctor and the doctor selects the medicine which will counter your disease, is it not? The same process, that quality which we want to get rid of from our character, and the opposite of that quality, imagine God is full of that embodiment of that particular quality.

For example, if we are miserly, what is the quality we should meditate upon? Generosity. If we cannot forgive the slights we receive from the world, what is the quality we should meditate upon? Forgiveness. So, that is the secret and it works because what is the psychology? Psychology of the mind is, the mind cannot entertain two opposite emotions at the same time.

If you are happy, you can't think of unhappiness. If you are unhappy, conversely, you cannot think of happiness too. If you are peaceful, you can't think of the opposite.

If you are restless, you can't think of steadiness of the mind. The mind can entertain only one particular emotion at any given time. That is why Sri Ramakrishna said that before meditating on God, try to be happy.

If I scream, don't think I scream. No, no, I do not. If I scream can make you happy person before meditation, please have a little bit of I scream.

Otherwise, you will be going on screaming in your meditation at God, which is not good. That is why we must always think of God in a most pleasant way. He is very gracious.

He is pleased with you and he is pleased. This is, mind you, you are not imagining him. Do you think God takes human beings' faults very seriously? If two children quarrel, you know, your neighbouring children and your children quarrel while playing, do you take it very seriously? And if you take it very seriously, you are worse than the children.

You know why? After two seconds, the children will be embracing each other and playing. Have you not seen? Yeah. So this is the law of the mind, secret of the mind.

Another secret is whatever we think, that becomes our character. Most of the time if you think of love, you become loving person. If you think of generosity, you become generous person.

Because whatever we think, that is what we become. That is why there is a saying, you know, tell me what your thoughts are, I will tell you what you are. Sometimes, you know, tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.

There is a lot of truth in it. That is why if you say, I regularly attend satsanga, I know that you are a good person. This is the, slowly with the persons we mix with, the books we read frequently and enjoy and the thoughts we cherish in our mind, they make our character.

Is it right? So what is the third step in meditation? Guna Dhyana. This is what every saint, every sage has done. So one example is, Mother, give me devotion.

Mother, give me devotion. Mother, give me devotion. What are you thinking about? Devotion.

Slowly, devotion will come. Mother, give me viveka. Give me vairagya.

Give me shraddha. And shraddha will come. And incidentally, I forgot to tell you, there is a Shraddha Sukta.

Mind you, not Bengali Sukta. This is a Vedic Sukta. Sukta means su-ukta.

Sukta. Most beautiful prayer. There are wonderful Suktas are there.

Sri Sukta, Narayana Sukta. See, morning we are chanting Narayana Sukta, Urusha Sukta, Bhu Sukta, Neela Sukta, Durga Sukta, Ratri Sukta, Devi Sukta. These are wonderful hymns in our Vedas.

So, what are these? Mother, give me this Medha Sukta. Medha, Devi, Jusha, Maana, Aaga, Vishwachi, Bhadra, Sumanasya, Maana, Vaya, Jushta, Natha, Maana, Durukta, Dhruva, Dvadhuta, etc., etc., it goes. What is the essence? Oh, Mother, you are the embodiment of Medha.

Please grant me Medha. Similarly, Shraddha Sukta is there. Not Shraddha.

Yeah. You know, words are North Indian. Did I tell you that? Words are very important.

Once, you know, we have an ashram in Delhi. So, one Punjabi devotee and one UP devotee were sitting near the Swami. The Punjabi devotee was complaining to the Swami, Dekhiye Swamiji Maharaj, ye anadi ko.

Askol ko iskol bolta hai. So, you know, North India, they can't understand the difference. Brahma and Brahma are two totally different words.

Opposite meaning. And similarly, Arathi. You know, Arathi, we do Arathi.

Arathi. Arathi means distress. Maharaj, when are you going to have Arathi? He said, I am having sufficient Arathi.

Of course, they do not know the difference. So, we must be very careful. Shraddha means intense faith in the scriptures, in the words of the Guru.

Guru, Shastra, Vachaneshu, Satya, Buddhi, Avadharana, Shraddha. Shankaracharya's definition in Vivekachudamani. So, pray.

This is a prayer. Oh Mother, grant me Shraddha. Prayer is a wonderful thing.

Sri Ramakrishna used to pray, Mother, grant me Ahaituki Bhakti. I don't want anything else except to love you. Grant me an opportunity to love you.

What is Ahaituki Bhakti? Motiveless devotion. What is motiveless devotion? Whether you love me back or not, I don't care a bit. I want to love you.

It is now, if you want to love me, that is your headache. But I love you whether you love me or not. That is called Ahaituki Bhakti.

There was a great Sufi saint, woman saint called Rabiya. You know what? Most marvellous statement, prayer she gave. Oh Lord, if I am loving you so that I do not burn in hell, then burn me in the hell.

If I am loving you for gaining entry into the heaven, then exclude me from the heaven. But if I am loving you for your own sake, please do not withhold yourself from me. This is called Ahaituki Bhakti.

That is what Sri Ramakrishna has asked us. So you may wonder, you know, if I pray without asking anything from him, then how do I live? You see, you don't need to worry. All that the baby has to do is to just look at the face of the mother.

Will not the mother do that? Everything necessary for the baby. Simple psychological truth. Anyway, Guna Dhyana.

Guna Dhyana is only third stage of real meditation. This is not real meditation. Yet we have to enter into real meditation.

These are all preparations for real meditation. What is the fourth state? It is called Swarupa Dhyana. Swarupa means God's nature.

What is God's nature? There are simple statements in the Upanishads. One is Sat-Chit-Ananda. God is Sat-Chit-Ananda.

It's a wonderful definition because Sat means what? Existence. Sat is a name for existence. Anything that you find existing is nothing but God.

This carpet, is it God or not? Then comes Chit. Chit means what? Anywhere you see a bit of that consciousness manifesting, a small worm is struggling. You try to put your foot there, it stings you.

Why? Because it doesn't like you. Is it? No. What is it telling? I am a poor creature.

Do not crush me. I want to live. That is called manifestation of consciousness.

Wherever you see that bit of consciousness, it's not telling human beings only. It's not telling only Hindus. Rajaji, have you heard about the name of Rajaji? A big politician and great man.

Sri Ramakrishna Upanishad, Rajagopalacharya. He used to make fun, you know. Of all the people in this world, Indians are great.

Of all Indian people, the Tamilians are great. Of all the Tamilians, those who live in Madras are great. Of all the Madras people, those who live in this street where I am living are great, best.

And of all those who are living in this street, my family is best. And of all my family, I am the best. Now, everything is included in this word, Chit.

And then, wherever you see a spark of Ananda, a dog had a wonderful food, it is lying, enjoying. And a goat, you know how affectionate creatures could be. Cows, it just comes running to you.

Just give a small bit of food, it will never be ungrateful to you. It will come to you. They are expressing their Ananda in this way.

Wherever we see manifestation of Ananda, you have to salute and say, God is manifesting there. I cannot forget two wonderful sights in my life. One day, I was in Bangalore, and we were constructing a temple.

There was a coolie woman. And women are very ugly, oldish looking. She had just given birth to a baby.

And in the long time, I just went after lunch. The coolie woman also was having lunch. She brought her baby, hung the baby near a tree.

And how lovingly she took that baby into her lap and was suckling her. And she was looking at the baby. That particular moment, I happened to see at her face.

I cannot describe. She was completely oblivious of who was looking at her and what she was doing. So much love, lovingly she was looking at her baby.

That is manifestation of God. Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Matra Rupena Samsthita And another sight was, one day I was walking in Bangalore street, going to our ashram, from Lalbagh to our ashram. And on the way, one young woman was carrying a baby.

And this baby, you know, she was bouncing him up and down. And he was laughing uproariously. This young woman was completely absorbed with her baby.

Same scene. She was not looking how many buses are going this side, that side, what people are looking at her. She was absorbed looking at her baby, laughing and playing with her.

These scenes I can never forget. So wherever we see a spark of happiness, loveliness, you must remember that is a manifestation of God. This is called Swarupa Dhyana.

Where do you see God? Whatever is existing, that is God. Wherever there is a spark of consciousness, that is God. Wherever there is a bit of happiness manifesting, that is God.

Suppose you have some enemies. And those enemies are eating rasagullas and very happy. What are you looking at? God himself.

This is the highest type of meditation. But of course, when you pass through this Guna Dhyana, they are no enemies any longer to you. Because your mind has attained what is called Sthita Pragnathwa.

Sthita Pragnathwa, Kabhasha, Samadhistasya Keshava. Sthita Dheeli, Kim Prabhasheta, Kim Asita, Rajyatha, you know? Bhagavad Gita 2nd chapter, end of the 2nd chapter. That is the state because our mind has become filled with auspicious Gunas.

There is no place for enmity, pettiness, selfishness, quarrelsomeness. Then we are able to see, wherever we look at, it is manifestation of God. This will ultimately take us to that realisation called Brahma Sakshatkara.

These are the 4 steps of true meditation. Starting with Nama Dhyana, Rupa Dhyana, Guna Dhyana and Swarupa Dhyana. Now I said, I will very briefly talk about another type of Dhyana where a devotee need not sit.

Whatever he is doing, it is a meditation. It is called practising the presence of God. So that is why Bhagavatam, this Ekadasha Skanda depicting the Leelas of Sri Krishna.

Meditate upon them. How does it work? Those who are devotees of Sri Ramakrishna or Holy Mother, I will give you an example. You don't need to go, Jairambati.

Jairambati is the birthplace of Holy Mother. Sit here. Yes, Sharda Devi.

Sit here, close your eyes, go mentally to Jairambati. And imagine you are very tired. You might have got up from your bed just now and had a first class breakfast or bed tea.

Don't count to that. Pretend you are very tired walking in that hot sun and you enter there with great anticipation. As soon as you approach Mother's house, Mother is sitting there.

Immediately she is very concerned. Oh, my child, you are coming. Come quick, quick.

Take this water. Wash your face. Wash your hands.

I will give you something very nice, sweet she will give you. After that, you sit and go on chatting. How are you? Where are you coming from? Coming from Cedar Rapids.

Where is it? It is in America. How far is it? 5 miles? 10 miles? No, Mother, it is long distance. You have to cross a sea.

Ah, that's good. So, whom have you there? Talk. All your details, you know.

So, my child, what do you do? Working in the rock well. So, are you quite happy, my child? No, Mother, I have a manager, most horrible. Talk.

Instead of paying $100 and talking to a stupid psychologist, it is far better to talk here. And talk, Mother will give you answers. Because even expressing, sharing, it removes a lot of grief.

Have you not noticed that? So, you talk. This is called Leela Dhyana. Then you forget everything Mother treats you.

What is the most wonderful thing in this Leela Dhyana? It doesn't matter who we are. A worthless fellow, this, that, so many things. In the eyes of the Mother, each one of us, most precious gem, Chand Mukhu.

Even if the nose is running, it is Chand Mukhu only. Mother loves all of us. That is why she is called Holy Mother.

All of us, no question of deserving or undeserving her love. We all are her children. So, that is the idea.

Then you go on looking at her, speaking with her. What are you doing when you are talking with her? Are you not doing Rupa Dhyana? Are you not doing Nama Dhyana? Are you not doing Guna Dhyana? She is so lovingly talking to you. Is it not Guna Dhyana? Is she feeding sparingly? Or is she feeding you? How does she feed you? Tell me now.

Not only that. Quantity? She will pile up your plate with your favourite food. So, you talk over your problems, everything.

And I tell you, I assure you, she gives you the right answers. And when you come out of this Leela Dhyana, for a short time, you are a transformed personality. If you really do it, try it.

Don't simply listen and say, yes, it is wonderful. Try it and see whether you can also meditate or not. You can meditate.

Same thing, you can apply. If you like Ramakrishna, go to Kamarpapur. If you like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, go to Nadiya.

If you like Krishna, go to Vrindavan. And talk to him. And pray to him.

Sing with him. And he will share everything. This is called Leela Dhyana.

This is specifically prescribed for devotees. And the Gospel of Ramakrishna is a wonderful scripture for Leela Dhyana. This is called sacrament.

What is a sacrament? Turning an ordinary event into a sacred event. Bringing the past into the present. We are worshipping Ramakrishna.

We are not thinking of 120 years back. We are thinking Ramakrishna is present right here and now. He is witnessing us.

Even though we are not seeing him. He is looking at us. This bhavana or vichara, manas is called sacrament.

That is why puja is so very necessary. So this last is called Leela Dhyana. You can do it if you are sick.

You can't sit. Then you can lie down on your bed and do it. You can sit.

You can be travelling in a train. You can do it. Travel in an aeroplane.

You can do it. Anywhere is good enough to do this Leela Dhyana. Except while driving.

Please don't do it. Be careful about it. So this is the process of meditation.

And unless we fulfil these conditions, meditation will not be successful. But once we go step by step, then you will see by God's grace, our life will be transformed. Meditation is only thinking of God, I said.

But meditation also involves another element which I will very quickly cover. This is called simulation. You know nowadays simulation machines are there.

If you want to learn driving, if you want to learn piloting, in fact these pilots learn to Microsoft Flight Simulator. It helps. What is it? Meditation not only involves thinking about God, meditation also involves looking into our past, finding out how we reacted to certain situations and simulating them again in the mind so that we should react in the right manner.

Suppose you are irritated. Somebody colleague comes and then he asks a silly question and you burst out. You are disturbing me.

I have no time today. It's a wrong reaction. Just as an example.

But if you don't correct yourself, it becomes a habit very soon. So what do you need to do? Sit in meditation. Recollect this event.

Oh, this is how I reacted. Again bring that same event into your mind. Now you should react correctly as you want to react.

If you practise it in your mind, the next time when such a situation occurs and it will in some form or other, then you are in a better position, immediately this will come. You know, when you are planning driving, suppose suddenly somebody runs in front of your car, is there time to think about it? Automatic reaction should take place. So if you can practise this simulation, what happens is when somebody runs, this automatically takes over.

It is exactly the same phenomena, psychic phenomena, when we meditators bring, simulate, this is how I would like to react to these situations. And if you go on practising over and over again, immediately whenever such a situation occurs, even without your knowledge, you will be reacting in the practised manner. And this is the method which psychologists are taking advantage of and trying to help people.

For example, public speakers, who when they get up on to the stage, their knees become jelly and they start shaking, sweating and all those things, you practise it in your mind. And this is the method they are using to alleviate those who are suffering from phobias. Phobias.

So this is, they understood. And not only negative way, positive way. If you want to, anybody wants to become a first class baseball player, 90% of the practise, they say nowadays is simulation in the mind, 10% is actual practise.

It works. If it can work in the case of baseball player, why can't it work in meditation? Our yogis have found it out long, long before. So that is something which you should keep.

Meditation is not only remembering God, it is also correcting our behaviour by recollecting certain events which we should not have reacted in a particular way. So these are the two elements. Go on correcting yourself, go on thinking of God.

When these two elements are combined by the grace of God, one day our character will be transformed. This is how meditation helps all of us. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti