In the previous Sloka, the Lord told us to employ the mind and intellect on the Lord. However, Arjuna’s expression revealed the thought “Where do I have control over the mind and intellect?” We want our mind to think on the Lord but it wants something else. So the Lord says “Do not be alarmed. Even if the mind does not cooperate, it can be tamed by practice”.
अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम् ।
अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनंजय ॥१२- ९॥
Atha chittaM samaadhaatuM na shaknoshhi mayi sthiraM
Abhyaasayogena tato maamicchaaptuM dhananjaya
Dhanajaya – Oh Arjuna: Atha – if: ChittaM – mind: Mayi sthiram samaadhaatum – is firmly fixed in me: Na shaknosi – unable : TataH – then Abhyaasa yogena – by practice of concentration: MaaM aaaptum : to reach me Iccha – seek
The Lord says, we should try slowly. It will be possible – abyaasa yogena tataH maamichaptim DhananjayaH. However, the desire should be sincere.
The Lord apparently says, “Ok Arjuna, if you can’t direct mind and intellect on me, do not be afraid – Practice”. Normally we understand practice in everything. But in this aspect, we want overnight
salvation. This is impossible. We have to practice at all times. Once Swami Vivekananda was in the US and his speech inspired many people. A doctor who was inspired by him told him “I am really impressed by your knowledge. I want that knowledge, Can you give it to me?”.
Vivekananda said, “Vedanta is for everyone. So I will try and give this knowledge to you”. The doctor replied, “Look I don’t have time. I am paid $10,000 per hour. So tell me fast in one hour”. Vivekananda replied, “You wasted five minutes in speaking. You have 55 minutes left. Just as your one hour is worth ten thousand dollars. I also have a cost”. The doctor said, “just name the price I will pay it”. Vivekananda replied, “I don’t want money. In this 55 minutes we have, I will give you this knowledge in 27.5 minutes and in the remaining 27.5 minutes, you teach me your knowledge in such a way that I will also be able to earn $10,000 per hour”. The doctor laughed and said, “It is not so easy to give my knowledge. I studied for 40 years for getting this knowledge”. “You needed 40 years for getting knowledge of the bones and flesh. You think you will get knowledge of the paramatma overnight”?
Regularity is the secret to success in any path. Spirituality should not be a kind of hysteria!!. Sometimes, people attend spiritual camps, and for this people wake up at 4.30 am and then later go and sleep in the discourse!. Then they say (yawning), “it is a great joy to get up in the morning, but thing is, afterwards I sleep the whole day”. After a week, they take revenge for 6 months by sleeping. In the beginning, one should never meditate for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time by forcing oneself. Otherwise we will become so exhausted and want to discontinue. Break it up many times totaling 1 hour since the mind has no patience.
The first requirement of meditation is to start with a happy peaceful mind, In the 18th chapter the lord says “Brahma bhuta prasannaatmaa, na shochati na kaaN^gshati”. One cannot fight and meditate because when you sit for meditation you will only end up thinking about the fight and not the lord.
In addition, our sadhana will be possible only if God’s grace is there. If the mind wanders, we need to employ it in other ways of thinking of the Lord and make it steady and peaceful. We can read scriptures, chant the sahasranamam, sing Bhajans and find our own ways to think of the lord.
We are all stuck in something – husband, wife, neighbor or his dog! If the neighbor’s dog barks, our meditation gets disturbed. Why should it bother us? So, we should find out what our mind is stuck on, because only we know what we are obsessed with!. If we can’t calm it, who can? In addition to this, there should be an overriding determination that we should see God. Vision of the Lord will come to us only today. Not in the past, which has slipped away or future which is uncertain. It has to come in the present and we should become as determined as though today were our last day in life.
“maaM icchaaptuM dhananjaya” – More our desire to see God, the more intense our practice. If we think, “If I see God today, then OK, otherwise let me try tomorrow”, then we can never see Him – because, if we are not in a hurry, why should God be? The more determined we become we cannot be disturbed by any worldly objects. That person who is disturbed by worldly objects does not have the desire to see God.
Once a man was doing his prayer. A lady went walking by and without noticing him, she walked on his towel and went. She was going to see her lover and she stepped on his towel by accident. He became very angry. When she returned he scolded her. She said, “I was so intent on my lover that I never noticed you. If you were intent on God, how come you noticed me?” The relationship with God is not a crying relationship, but a challenging one – just as Surdas had with the Lord. Surdasji sang to the lord, “try going out of my heart”. If our mind is intent and firm on the lord, he does not have a choice but to show Himself”
Once a kid was crying. Intelligent mothers will never buy expensive toys for their children. They will give them old toothbrushes, cookie tins etc. such things are more interesting for the kids. So when the child was crying, his mother gave him a toothbrush and asked him to play with it. He threw it. She then gave him food, but he did not want that also. Finally the mother took the child and put him on her lap. Only then he stopped crying. Just like this, if we don’t get caught in the world accepting anything else, and cry for Lord, nothing else will distract us and we will have Lord’s vision. This is called abhyaasa yoga, “abhyaasa yogena tataH maam icchaaptum dhananjaya”
In Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s mind, every night, the sorrow of his not seeing the Mother was there. How many of us cry for seeing the lord? We cry for everything else but this. Our desire for the lord should be strong that we want nothing other than the Lord. Only then our Sadhana becomes meaningful.
A question might arise in our minds. We have a family wife / husband and so how is it possible to think of Him 24 hours? In such a circumstance, what do we do? The Lord says, “even if we cannot practice in such a fashion, at all times, we should adopt the attitude, “yad yad karma karomi tadtad akilam shambo tavaaraadhana” – whatever we do, we should do it as an offering to the Lord! We will further elaborate on this concept in our next post..
Thank you!Your site is very nice
==