Serving the supreme self

The vasanas or the knots of desire maintain the illusion of the world. With practice of samadhi—absorption of mind—all the knots loosen and the vasanas disappear. The illusion too is gone. The Vivekachoodamani of Sri Adi Sankaracharya says that through samadhi, all knots of vasanas are destroyed and hence the need to do actions is completely destroyed too. Within and without, at all times and in all places, there is nothing to perceive except life, which is our own real form. This happens really effortlessly. 

The Master points out the steps to achieve this state of meditative absorption. Mananam or reflection is a hundred times more beneficial than shravanam or listening to the words of the scriptures. A 100 times more than reflection is meditation. A lakh times more powerful than meditation is absorption called Nirvikalpa Samadhi which is a state of mind that does not waver or change for long periods of time. With practice of steady absorption of mind, the essence of truth is realised clearly and without a shadow of doubt. It can never happen by a wavering mind as there is always the confusion caused by a mixture of many thoughts. 

Therefore meditate, says the Acharya. How? With sense organs under control, a mind that remains ever calm destroys the darkness called ignorance which has no known time of beginning. This happens when the meditator is focussed on that one reality called Existence, Consciousness or Life. 

The means to this state of meditation is through yoga and the entry point for it is control of speech and not gathering unnecessary material goods around oneself. Being free from vain expectations of a particular way events should happen in the future; not desiring to start activities to achieve certain desired goals; and a quality of remaining withdrawn from the humdrum of worldly transactions. 

Giving a flowchart, the Master says that staying alone causes the sense organs to be controlled. This helps to control the mind, memories and intellect. This leads to steadying the ‘I’ thought or the ego. When this happens, the yogi experiences the essence of joyful state of unfettered bliss at all times. Therefore the teacher concludes that the one who maintains silence to do sadhana must work on controlling the mind, which is a combination of consciousness and objective thoughts, at all times and with considerable effort too. 

When the seeker identifies with the body, energy, mind, intellect or other limiting adjuncts, he acquires that state always. To avoid this identification, the teacher presents a flow chart. He says offer the speech to the mind, the mind into the intellect and the intellect into the witness. Offer the witness into the Supreme Self. Be absorbed in this steady and peaceful state of mind and serve the Supreme Self.

The writer is Sevika, Chinmaya Mission, Coimbatore (www.chinmayamission.com); email: [email protected]