In the previous post, we discussed how a dhyaanayogi is able to have the same outlook towards all people.
This is such a difficult quality. All of us like some people, while we simply hate others. If we dislike somebody, then our attitude to them is also bad. Once a friend told me, ” I hate my mother in law”. I tried to reason with him and said, “Come on, think of it this way. Without your mother in law, you wouldn’t have your wife!!”. He replied, “That is another reason why I hate her”.
While it is extremely difficult to have a good attitude to people whom we dislike, the yogi is one who thinks of the welfare of even enemies, sinners and hostile people just as much as he thinks of the welfare of friends and saints. It is said that little drops make a great ocean. Likewise, we need to cultivate such qualities at least to some extent. We decided that, for a start, we need to develop at least one good quality and conquer at least one bad quality. Having introduced the qualities of the yogi, the Lord now describes dhyaanayoga in greater detail.
योगी युञ्जीत सततमात्मानं रहसि स्थितः ।
एकाकी यतचित्तात्मा निराशीरपरिग्रहः ॥६- १०॥
yogii yuJNjiita satatamaatmaanaM rahasi sthitaH .
ekaakii yatachittaatmaa niraashiiraparigrahaH .. 6.10.
The yogi who has controlled his body, mind and senses, should, live in seclusion all by himself and constantly meditate on God. 
yatachittaatmaa – one who has controlled his mind, body and senses : niraashii – one who is free from desires : aparigrahaH – one who is without possessions : ekaakii – all by himself : rahasi sthitaH - living in seclusion : satataM – always : aatmaanaM yuJNjiita - engage his mind in (meditation on God)
In the following verses, the process of meditation is described in greater detail. A yogi described in this Sloka is devoted to meditation. His only objective is God realization.
He is described to be aparigrahaH or devoid of all possessions. This means that he is free from his possessions. He is no more bound to this world by material objects. If a person is attached to worldly objects then it will not be possible to meditate because of the various distractions caused by these attachments.
Once a miser was walking in the beach with his only grandson, when a giant wave swept the boy away. The miser was in tears and he looked towards the sky and said, “Oh! God! You have taken away my only grandson. How will I be able to answer my son and daughter in law” and he cried a lot. Another wave came by and the grandson was washed ashore and he was OK. The miser again looked up at the sky and said, “Oh! Lord, What happened to the hat which was on his head?”
This is what happens when we become possessed by our possessions. Whenever we have a problem, we are ready to leave everything and surrender to God, but as soon as the problem is over, we feel that the material objects are more important than our faith. When we go to a temple, if we keep thinking about the slippers that we have left outside, then we cannot have our mind fixed on the Lord. When we get so attached even to our slippers, then how much more other objects will have power over us?! So, it is necessary to first free ourselves from all our possessions.
Secondly, this yogi is described to be free from desires. He not only possesses nothing, he also has no desire to possess anything. Only when a slate is clean, we will be able to write anything. So, it is necessary to clean the mind of all the impressions of the world caused by desires and hopes of getting material things and only then there will be room for God realization.
The mind, body and senses should be under our control. When we go to a shopping mall with a child, we see that the child will want to buy everything that is there. In fact, if you go to a toy store with a child, it will be impossible to come out without buying something. However, we find that, even though we behaved the same way when we were children, we do not do so any more. This is because, with age, a certain amount of maturity has come to us and we are able to control our desires to some extent. This shows that, it is very much possible for us to control our desires.
In heaven there are two gates for married men. The first gate has the sign that it is for married men who say that they are the boss and the second one has a sign that it is for married men who say that their wife is the boss. Normally there are only queues in the second gate and very few people stand in the first gate. So one day, God was surprised to see a timid looking man standing before the first gate. He went up to him and asked, “How come you are standing in this gate? Should you not be standing in the other one?”. The man replied, “I don’t know all that. My wife asked me to stand here”.
Similarly, we appear to control our minds and senses. But this is because of the delusion that our minds give us and make us feel that we are the masters, while, in truth we are nothing but slaves of our senses and mind. We need to practice control of our mind and this is possible only when we start meditating and watching our mind function. If we sit still for a few minutes and pretend that we are outsiders watching our mind, we can see that within just a few minutes, our mind is able to roam in so many different directions. We need to slowly rein this wandering mind by reinforcing the form of the Lord in our minds and trying to think of that again and again.
Why do children study in class rooms? Why can they not study under trees or in gardens? When Children are placed outside their minds will wander and it will not be possible to teach them or make them concentrate. Only when they are placed in rooms and provided with an atmosphere where they will not have distractions, the child can be made to concentrate. Similarly, a person who desires to meditate cannot seat himself in a place which is full of distractions. He needs to go somewhere where he will be alone and away from the disturbances of the world. He also needs to constantly think about the Lord. In practical life, it is not possible for us to seek a forest or jungle. Since we are all animals in this concrete jungle, we can only try and find an empty room in the house where we will be able to free ourselves from outside distractions.
We should think about the Lord not only when we are meditating, but also at all times. Once Narada became very proud and thought to himself that he was the greatest devotee of the Lord. The Lord wanted to teach him a lesson and so told him that His greatest devotee was a farmer who lived in earth. Narada wanted to know how a farmer could be the greatest devotee and went to see him. He saw that the farmer, before ploughing his field in the morning said “Narayana” and then started his daily routine. In the night, before going to sleep, again he said, “Narayana”. He did not pray or do any other rituals other than this. Narada wondered how this man could be the greatest devotee of the Lord. He went to the Lord once more to talk about this. When he reached Vaikunta, the Lord asked him if he could take a cup filled with oil and cross all the three worlds without spilling even a single drop on the ground. Narada also accepted to do so and he carefully crossed all the three worlds, taking extra care not to spill even a single drop. He reached Vaikunta successfully and told the Lord that he had completed his mission. The Lord asked Narada, how many times he had thought of the Lord during this trip. Narada was silent. He also realized that the Lord had taught him a lesson.
Narada considered himself a great devotee and yet when he was involved in another work, even for a little while, he had totally forgotten the Lord, while the farmer, who was working day and night, managed to find time to think about the Lord, every day. This is all that the Lord expects from us. As devotees who are still engaged in day to day activities, it may not be possible for us to remove ourselves from all activities and think about the Lord at all times. We should strive to think of him, while still doing all our work and if we do that then we are sincere devotees of the Lord. We should also try and keep some time aside for meditation, because it will teach us to control our minds and calm our mind which is subjected to all the harassment of this world. The next Sloka describes how to meditate.
