This book for sadhaks or seekers of Integral Yoga is based on the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It is a practical guide for sadhana of Integral Yoga.
On Yoga
THEME/S
XVI
(Dhyāna-yoga)
"Concentration is very helpful and necessary — the more one concentrates... the more the force of the yoga grows." (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, p. 729)
All of us are more or less familiar with the terms 'concentration' and 'meditation'. Every sadhaka, we presume, is expected to sit in meditation as a regular feature of his sadhana-life. But what is after all meditation? What state of the sadhaka' s consciousness should deserve the appellation of a 'state of meditation'?
We as sadhakas habitually meditate some time or other in course of the day. But the pertinent question is: What do we do individually when we sit in meditation? And what gain do we derive when we come out of our meditation into the active waking state? Do we add anything on the credit page of our spiritual progress after each seance of meditation? Or is it just a routine exercise expected of an aspirant, which perhaps gives some pleasant soporific touch to our drab mundane life?
A few other relevant questions crop up in our mind in this connection: Is meditation tantamount to one's sitting still with both eyes closed? Or perhaps offering one's prayers to the Divine with closed eyes? Or, who knows, meditation is perhaps the inner effort one puts in to bring to a standstill die ceaseless comings and goings of the wandering thoughts in our mind? Or, does it signify the steady visualisation of the inner image of one's preferred deity or spiritual Master? Or, to take the worst case, does meditation' boil down to passing some time in a half-awake and half-asleep state of peaceful torpor?
It goes without saying that none of the above descriptions con respond to a real meditation. It is well to remember that the capacity of sitting still in the same position for a very long time is no necessary sign of spiritual advancement. Even otherwise, when we concentrate, during our meditation, on the chosen object of our
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contemplation, what generally happens, is that most often our consciousness fails to go inward to the depths of our being; it remains functioning on the surface only and our mind and heart and inner senses continue ranging amidst the objects of the outside world subjectively imagined. The Mother's ironic remarks about this type of meditation are worth recalling in this connection so that our mind may be disabused of wrong notion about meditation:
"... they think that their state is delightful and remarkable. They have a very high opinion of themselves.... But usually it is a kind of kaleidoscope that is going on in their head, they do not even notice it. Still, those who can remain for a moment without moving, without speaking and thinking, have certainly a very high opinion of themselves. Only... if they are pulled out of it; if some-Hp comes and knocks at the door... they immediately get furious and say: There, my meditation is spoilt! Completely spoilt.'... Naturally this is not a sign of great spiritual progress." (Questions and Answers 1953, M C W, Vol. 5, p. 42)
Well, all these are counterfeit 'meditations'. But it cannot be gainsaid that there are genuine meditations of great spiritual value and among people who meditate there are some who know how to meditate. But even in their case the question may be pertinently asked: A traditionally conceived meditation, even if rightly done, how much does it help a sadhaka in achieving the goals of the Integral Yoga? For whenever we utter the word "Dhyānī' or a "Yogi in meditation', immediately in our mind there flashes forth the image of Lord Shiva or of Buddha or of Vivekananda, with eyes closed, a serene face and consciousness appearing to be completely indrawn, cut off from all contact and concern with the outer world.
But we must remember that this is only one specialised form of a successful meditation. As we are sadhakas of the Integral Yoga and seek the establishment of spiritual consciousness even in the waking state, and since we aim at the divine transformation even of our external nature, the connotations of the terms 'meditation', contemplation' and 'Samadhi' or trance should be much more wide
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and comprehensive in our case. Sri Aurobindo has warned us: "A 1 purely sedentary subjective realisation is only a half realisation." (Letters on Yoga, p. 540)
But why 'half? The answer is that in the traditional meditation, when effectively practised, the consciousness of the sadhaka splits into two distinctly different disjoint parts: one the inner one and the other the outer one. The inner consciousness of the sadhaka gets flooded with the downpour of supernal Light and Love and I Peace and Delight, abiding and self-existent, while the outer untransformed life is left outside to fend for itself with 'the past momentum of the Nature.
For the goal set before traditional sadhana is the cessation of the wheel of rebirth in this unstable and unhappy world and the securing of one's spiritual habitation in the blissful supraphysical heavens or even in the supracosmic timeless and spaceless Transcendence. And this goal can surely be achieved solely through the inner liberation somehow or other acquired.
But the Integral Yoga does not favour this kind of escapist spirituality. It demands that the Truth, the Light, the Power, the Bliss realised in the inner consciousness should enter into the outer waking consciousness also and become entirely effective there. Hence for the sadhaka of the Integral Yoga each act of meditation has to be outwardly dynamic and not confine itself to being merely subjective. The Mother has called this new type of meditation'. 'méditation transformatrice', the 'transforming meditation'. Well shall discuss hereafter how an ordinary meditation can be turned' into a transforming meditation. For the moment it will be enough . if we remember that even if we do not Sit in traditional meditation it may be possible for us to make progress in the Integral Yoga. ;
And this is because for us meditation does not mean necessarily the withdrawal from all outer activities and self-absorption in the inner depths; for us 'to meditate' means to keep one's whole consciousness turned and open to the Divine and the Divine Shakti, be it subjectively or objectively, always and everywhere and under all circumstances of life.
It is because of this basic truth that when someone asked the Mother whether it is absolutely essential that one should sit in med-
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tation for some time every day almost as a discipline, she answered:
"But a discipline in itself is not what we are seeking. What we are seeking is to be concentrated on the Divine in all that we do, at all times, in all our acts and in every movement.... The final aim is to be in constant union with the Divine, not only in meditation but in all circumstances and in all the active life." (M C W, Vol. 3, p. 20)
Does it then mean that the sadhakas of the Integral Yoga need not sit in meditation at all nor practise developing their power of concentration? Not so surely: for that will be another sort of exclusive extremism.
We the sadhakas of the Integral Yoga will surely sit in meditation but with a different attitude and a different purpose. We shall surely develop the power of our concentration but not for any limited specific goal but for orienting the whole of our consciousness in all its parts Godward. It is good to indicate here, although necessarily in brief, the nature, necessity and utility of meditation and concentration in the Integral Yoga.
In the fulfilment of our sadhana we aspire to lead a divine life here upon earth itself in an embodied physical existence. But is it possible to lead a divine life without first achieving the divine consciousness? For, it is consciousness that determines the nature and quality of the life lived. Therefore, our first task must be to acquire a truly advanced spiritual consciousness. Then and then only can we hope to translate that consciousness into the activities of the obiter life. Otherwise, it will be like putting the cart before the horse, which will be not only absurd but wholly bereft of any fruitful result.
It is because of this obvious folly shown by many sadhakas in pretending to lead a spiritual life backed only by a non-spiritual 'consciousness that the Mother once scolded the inmates of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in these words:
"Many people who are here forget one thing. They want to begin by the end. They think that-they are ready to express in their life what they call the supramental Force or Consciousness, and
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they want to infuse this in their actions, their movements, their daily life. But the trouble is that they don't at all know what the supramental Force or Consciousness is and that first of all it is necessary to take the reverse path, the way of interiorisation and of withdrawal from life, in order to find within oneself this Truth which has to be expressed." (Questions and Answers 1955, M C W, Vol. 7, p. 355)
The Mother further added: "That is, the first movement is a withdrawal of the consciousness from... [the] total identification with outward and apparent things, and a kind of inward concentration on what one wants to discover, the Truth one wants to discover. This is the first movement." (Ibid., pp. 354-55)
Long long ago, in the Upanishadic Age of ancient India, the Rishis pointed out the same situation prevailing with most men, when they declared: 'The self-born has set the doors of the body to face outwards, therefore the soul of a man gazes outward and not at the Self within: hardly a wise man here and there, desiring immortality, turns his eyes inward and sees the Self within him." (Katha Upanishad, II. 1.1. Sri Aurobindo' s translation.)
Herein lies the absolute necessity, also the proper utility, of withdrawing our sight from the superficies of life and bringing it inward to the depths of the being. In the last chapter of his magnum opus The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo has elucidated this important point in great detail. We quote here a small portion of what he has said there:
"These things are impossible without an inward living; they cannot be reached by remaining in an external consciousness turned always outwards, active only or mainly on and from the surface. The individual being has to find himself, his true existence; he can only do this by going inward, by living within and from within: ... If there is a being of the transcendence in us, it must be there in our secret self, ... If there is a self in us capable of largeness and universality, able to enter into a cosmic consciousness, that too must be within our inner being.... There must be for the divine
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living a transference of the centre and immediate source of dynamic effectuation of the being from out inward; for there the soul is seated,... Thus to look into ourselves and see and enter into ourselves and live within is the first necessity for transformation of nature and for the divine life." (The Life Divine, Cent. Ed., p. 1027)
So we see that if we would like to lead a truly spiritual-divine life with our nature divinely transformed, what becomes essential for us is not to remain floating on the surface level of our consciousness but rather to enter into the depths of our being, dwell there permanently, and send from there into our habitual waking consciousness all the spiritual glories and treasures.
We should not miss the import of the last part of the above sentence, for therein lies the special character of the Integral Yoga. We do not want to plunge into meditation only to disappear into some superconscient realms of consciousness. We seek instead the integral divine transformation even of our waking life and of our active outer nature. And we resort to meditation only as a necessary preliminary preparation for attaining to this ultimate goal. For it cannot be denied that a rightly conceived and properly practised meditation opens wide all the now-closed doors of our veiled reaches of consciousness. But Sri Aurobindo calls it only "the first necessity" and the Mother "the first movement". To quote verses from Savitri
"To free the self is but one radiant pace;
Here to fulfil himself was God's desire."
Book HI, Canto 2, p. 312)
If we keep this final goal always in our view, then only will we be able to give to meditation and concentration their right places in the comprehensive framework of the Integral Yoga. For in that case whatever supernal treasures and realisations we shall garner through meditation, we shall bring them into our outer waking consciousness, and stabilise them there. In this way a bridge will be built between the inner and outer ranges of our being.
Let us recapitulate: If we would like to be Spiritual sadhakas
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worth the name and not be satisfied with being merely religious devotees, we have to develop in ourselves the higher spiritual corn sciousness as a first necessity. But what is the form and nature of this higher consciousness? Let us listen to Sri Aurobindo:
"The higher consciousness is a concentrated consciousness, concentrated in the Divine Unity and in the working out of the Divine Will, not dispersed and rushing about after this or that mental idea or vital desire or physical need as is the ordinary human consciousness - also not invaded by a hundred haphazard thoughts. feelings and impulses, but master of itself, centred and harmonious." (Letters on Yoga. Cent. Ed ., p. 744 )
Yes, "consciousness concentrated in the Divine, not dispersed and rushing about", and "consciousness not invaded by a hundred haphazard thoughts, feelings and impulses", these are the twin goals we have to achieve if we would like to progress in the Integral Yoga. And here comes meditation as a great help to the sadhaka in attaining to these double objectives. But what is after all meditation? How is it distinguished from concentration and contemplation? And how to arrive at a successful meditation?
The answers to these questions cannot be properly understood unless one refers to the actual operations of one's consciousness. A mere intellectual discussion will not bring us any nearer to the right comprehension of these psychological things. Let us therefore start from the very beginning, always keeping our searching eye of observation fixed on the functioning of the various stages of our own consciousness.
Let us begin with the concept 'consciousness'. In the parlance of sadhana we often use expressions like 'development of consciousness', 'concentrating one's consciousness', or 'the widening, the inwardization, the heightening of one's consciousness'.' But what is 'consciousness' ? Is it the same thing as thinking or feeling or willing or some such thing? The answer is: Not so. Consciousness is something behind and outside all these operations and it can observe them as a completely detached witness.
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All our thoughts and feelings and willings and imaginings and all other movements of our subjective being ceaselessly move in a procession before the consciousness as a spectacle, drśya, to borrow Patanjali's nomenclature: while the consciousness acts all the time as the seer, the drastā, of this variegated spectacle.
Now, if such is what 'consciousness' is, it is obvious that most of us, ordinary sadhakas, do not possess it even for a short while. For, in our normal subjective functioning in the course of our daily life, we remain totally involved in and identified with the uninterrupted stream of our psychological movements:- we fail to observe them from outside.
In other words, we happen to "think" but cannot "see' ourselves thinking; we "feel" but cannot "see" ourselves feeling; we "will and desire" but can not "see" ourselves willings . So long as we are in this state of identification, it will be impossible for us to "meditate " with a concentrated consciousness . We must first learn how to separate our subjective functioning into two distinct parts : one the executive operative part; the other the silent and detached observant part. And with this sāksī or "seeing" part we have to 'meditate' .
"But that is not the normal state with most of us who are only novice sadhakas. Ours is a state of quasi-total identification with the streaming flow of subjective movements. For successful meditation we have to develop there a constantly functioning 'witness consciousness', 'sāksī-cetanā'. But how is one to do it? Is there any sadhana-procedure for that? The answer is: There is; and this sadhana has to pass through a succession of progressively advanced stages. To comprehend well the whole process, let us bring on the stage a fictitious sadhaka in his novice state and 'observe' carefully all that is happening in his subjective field while he is trying to "meditate". Let us start with the most elementary state
First Stage (of so-called 'meditation'):
An introductory Note: Those amongst our readers who are even cursorily familiar with the history of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram(Pondicherry) know that at one time in the past the Mother used tocome every morning at 6 a.m. to the northern balcony of the Ashram
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Building to give 'Darshan' to the disciples and devotees who used to gather on the street below. The Mother would remain standing on the balcony for more than five minutes and then withdraw.
This short introductory piece of information concerning the 'Ashram life' of those days will help the readers to follow well our discussion of the various stages of meditation. Here is the very first stage:
Let us hypothetically imagine that our novice sadhaka has been standing on the road and waiting for the appearance of the Mother on the balcony overhead. He takes a pious resolution that from the moment the Mother comes out on the balcony till she goes back, he will keep himself concentrated on her and her alone to the exclusion of everything else; outwardly he would keep his eyes steadfastly fixed on the Divine Vision. So far so good.
Ah ! the Mother appears on the balcony and looks down on her children assembled below. Our novice sadhaka joins his palms in a gesture of adoration and looks up- at the Mother with a devotional smile. At the same time, he starts "meditating" on the Mother; for such was his resolution.
Time passes in silence; seconds tick away and soon five minutes are over. The Mother withdraws from the balcony and disappears out of sight. The assembled devotees and disciples disperse in silence to proceed to their respective places of work. Our novice sadhaka too terminates his 'meditation', brings his joined palms on to his forehead in a gesture of 'Pranam' to the Mother and then slowly walks away in a half-indrawn state. He is immensely pleased with himself for having had a successful "concentrated meditation" on the divine Mother for full five minutes. But was it really successful as a meditation ? Did he derive much spiritual benefit out of his routine exercise in daily morning meditation ?
For right answers to these questions we have to look into the subjective field of the sadhaka and follow the course of the thoughts and images that actually raced through his mind and heart while he was ostensibly "absorbed" in the "concentrated meditation" oh
Well, here is one possible stream of thoughts and images that might have passed through his mind. There could be a thousand
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other alternative pathways. The individual joints and links in these plains of thought, which seem to the untrained eye as apparently quite unconnected and accidental, are really determined by a set of definite psychological laws and shaped by the person's hopes and fears and impulses and inclinations. Some of these laws governing the succession of thoughts are: (i) Law of Similarity; (ii) Law of Contrast; (iii) Law of Contiguity; (iv) Law of Intensity; (v) Law of Proximity; etc. There is no necessity of elaborating on this point further here.
As we were saying, the shape of one possible stream of successive thoughts and images that raced through the sadhaka' s mind while he was "absorbed" in his meditation on the Mother might be as follows:
1. The Mother. 2. She is dressed in a red robe. 3. The colour of the robe is somewhat like that of a red rose. 4. Rose is not an indigenous flower of India. 5. Rose was introduced into the country by the foreign invaders. 6. Alexander the Great was the first invader of India. 7. Alexander's Master was Aristotle; Aristotle's Master was Plato, and Plato learnt at the feet of Socrates. 8. Socrates had to drink hemlock and die. 9. Was Christ too offered hemlock before his crucifixion? 10. Christ is one of the three Avatars mentioned by Sri Aurobindo, the other two being Krishna and Buddha. 11. Strange! Buddha was born in India but Buddhism almost disappeared from India. 12. Buddhism is the first established religion with a founder of its own while Sikhism is the latest; etc.
And five minutes are over. And the Mother retires. The novice sadhaka' s 'meditation' too ends in a mood of highly pleased elf-complacency. But how can you call it meditation? It is nothing but a kaleidoscopic procession of haphazard thoughts and images. See the fun: the novice sadhaka begins with the Mother and ends with Sikhism! And he is blissfully ignorant of this jumbled procession effervescing beneath his 'meditating' consciousness!
And this is what happens in most people's meditation. Each thought and image quickly leads to another by the law of the association of ideas and the series could have continued indefinitely if
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the Mother would have stayed on the balcony for a much longer period of time.
Second Stage: This represents a little more advanced stage of 'meditation'. In the preceding stage, the first stage; thoughts in the sadhaka' s mind were rushing from 'station' to 'station' almost with a mail-train's speed, just touching the stations but not halting there.
In this second stage of 'meditation', the thoughts stop for some time at individual 'stations', roam about them for a little while, and then proceed to the next station, and the procedure is repeated. Taking the example of the first stage given above, the pathway of this second stage may be hypothetically represented as follows:
1. The Mother. 2. She is dressed in a red robe. 2/a. Robes may be of many different fabrics, 21b. Nylon robes are quite popular in our time . 2/c. Robes worn by people vary from country to country, also from age to age . 3. The colour of the Mother's robe is somewhat like that of a red rose 9. Christ was one of the three Avatars mentioned by Sri Aurobindo. 9/a . But what is this concept of Avatarhood ? 9/b. Is it the same as that of 'Incarnation' prevalent in Christianity? 9/c. Sri Aurobindo has explained the phenomenon of Avatarhood in his Essays on the Gita.... Etc.
Please note that in the succession of thoughts here, "The Mother" is still the first centre but "Robes" has become the second centre, "Avatars" the third centre, etc. There is a temporary halting at these sub-centers, also the phenomenon of thought-radiations from these derivative centers. The 'procession' of thoughts is thus no more continuous as in the first stage but rather intermittently interrupted.
Third Stage: This is a still further advanced stage of meditation. In the first two stages one was diverging away from the original centre, "The Mother", leaving her far behind and almost j forgotten, in one's rapid centrifugal march outward. But in this third stage one keeps to the first centre, "The Mother", and turns round her in one's thoughts, not of course deliberately, but propelled by the same laws of association of ideas. For example, in this third stage of 'meditation', the chain of thoughts and images
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passing through the sadhaka' s mind may be conceived of as follows:
1. The Mother. 2. She is dressed in a red robe. 3. Last time on Durga Puja Day the Mother was dressed in a different colour. 4. We have a photograph of the Mother dressed in a gown and a fur coat, dating from her Paris days. 5. The Mother used to wear kimonos while she was in Japan. 6. She came back from Japan in 1920.7. The Mother established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926. 8. The Mother met Rabindranath Tagore while in Japan. 9. Dalai Lama met the Mother in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the sixties of the twentieth century. Etc.
It is to be observed that in this case 'The Mother' remains the connecting link amongst all the different thoughts of the series. It is as if die individual thoughts were placing themselves at the tips of so many different radii emanating from the centre of the circle, which is "The Mother" in the illustration given above.
Fourth Stage: Here too "The Mother", the originating centre of the series continues to remain the centre and the 'meditating' sadhaka' s thoughts continue to turn round her but the circle of divevergence has become very much smaller. Thus, in the just preceding third stage our thoughts touched in their wanderings Paris, lapan, Tagore and Dalai Lama, although all connected with the Mother in some way or other, but in this fourth stage all the thoughts main very close to "The Mother". For example, the flow of thoughts in the sadhaka' s mind during his 'meditation' may take the form of the series below:
1. The Mother. 2. The Mother represents divine Consciousness in a human body. [The thought stops here for quite some time and then proceeds.] 3. The Mother's Grace is boundless. [Thought Hops here too for a good length of time and then moves forward.] 4. Self-surrender to the Mother is the most effective way of one's spiritual fulfilment. [Thought pauses again and ponders in silence what surrender means; and then gives place to the succeeding Bought in this slow-moving series.] Etc.
Readers are invited to observe carefully the notable features here.... One thought emerges from the centre, "The Mother", trav-
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els along a particular radial line and remains suspended at its tip for a measurable length of time. The meditating sadhaka' s consciousness then goes back to the centre, "The Mother", and comes out in the form of a second thought along a different radial line, remains stationary at its tip for a good measure of time. Then, the consciousness goes back to the centre, "The Mother", and emerges as a third thought pursuing a third radial line, etc., etc.
The continual centrifugal procession of thoughts so characteristic of the three previous stages of meditation has now been reduced to a circular sweeping of the field having for centre the first centre, "The Mother".
As the meditation advances in its quality, the circle goes on reducing itself more and more and the time-interval between two suscessive emerging thoughts goes on increasing progressively; till we reach the fifth stage of meditation.
Fifth Stage: The circle has now been reduced to a single point, the central point of meditation, dhyeya. Thoughts have lost their penchant for mobility. And the consciousness remains suspended in a "contentless" condition. Yes, "contentless"; but that does not mean that it lapses into a static condition of inertia. Not so at all; rather it gains in acute attentivity and luminosity, and is intensely; and one-pointedly concentrated in the then subject or object of meditation.
And this what is meant when one speaks of 'Consciousness' with a C cap. To disengage this Consciousness from the medley of running and whirling and crisscrossing thoughts and feelings and desires which have been always occupying the subjective field of the sadhaka, is one of the principal tasks he has to accomplish in Dhyāna-Sādhana or the Sadhana through Meditation. For, a genuine meditation can be conducted only with the help of this contentless but concentrated consciousness.
But in connection with tile sadhana for the attainment of this state of contentless concentrated consciousness we have to remember one very important point. We should always keep in mind that our consciousness is not uniplanar; it is multilayered. As in any
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geological exploration of the globe starting from its crust and ending in its centre, we are apt to come across many different levels with altogether different contents and constitution, so is the case with the exploration of our consciousness. There are many many levels intervening between the normally functioning surface consciousness and our deepest and truest being, the psychic centre. Now all these levels have different types of subjective movements, creasing in their subtlety and complexity as we move farther and farther inward.
Well, if such is the actual situation, it is obvious that the really 'contentless' consciousness is not so easy to acquire and so soon on the part of the sadhaka; it can come only at the end of a long and arduous sadhana.
For, when we come to believe that we have been able to detach ourselves completely from the subjective movements ranging on a particular level, we should not hasten to presume that we have indeed possessed the 'contentless' consciousness.
For, behind and below this apparent stillness obtained, there are all the time subtler and subtler movements active on the more pro-found levels. After we have successfully silenced the subtler movements of the second level, we should not terminate our effort and rest on our oars. We have to move from level to deeper level and bring about stillness everywhere. At the end of this long process of self-withdrawal from all the pratyayas or subjective movements characteristic of all the different levels of our consciousness, we shall at last reach a state of absolute calmness and stillness whose spiritual value and importance is simply indescribable.
This is what is really and truly the "contentless consciousness" or simply the 'Consciousness' and it is this 'Consciousness' which we have to employ for the acquisition of various treasures of the Spirit in our life of sadhana.
The entire course of this great Sadhana of Silence beginning at the very beginning and ending in the final attainment has been elaborately described by Sri Aurobindo in all it various steps and stages in Book Seven Canto Six of his epic poem, Savitri. The interested readers may go through pages 538 to 544 of the Poem to be acquainted with the nature of the whole journey with all its
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complexities and variegated episodes.
This momentous sadhana of introspection commences in thisway:
"And Savitri ... mused
Plunging her deep regard into herself
In her soul's privacy in the silent Night.
Aloof and standing back detached and calm,
A witness of the drama of herself,
A student of her own interior scene,
She watched the passion and the toil of life
And heard in the crowded thoroughfares of mind
The unceasing tread and passage of her thoughts.
All she allowed to rise that chose to stir;
Calling, compelling nought, forbidding nought,
She left all to the process formed in Time
And the free initiative of Nature's will." (p. 538)
Passing from stage to stage and through a very complex sequence of thought-adventures the sadhaka at last reaches a state which Sri Aurobindo has described as follows:
After a long vacant pause another [thought] appeared
And others one by one suddenly emerged,
Mind's unexpected visitors from the unseen
Like far-off sails upon a lonely sea.
But soon that commerce failed,
None reached mind's coast
Then all grew still, nothing moved any more;
Immobile, self-rapt, timeless, solitary
A silent spirit pervaded silent Space." (p. 544)
Through a process of assiduous sadhana when the sadhaka has reached a state where he can command at will, whenever he likes, this luminous blank of utter stillness, he can apply this "concentrated contentless consciousness" on various subjects/objects of meditation and achieve any spiritual objective whatsoever. It is worth
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recalling in this connection what Sri Aurobindo has said about the inestimable contribution of "Yogic concentration". He writes:
"It is by the thought that we dissipate ourselves in the phenomenal ; it is by the gathering back of the though tin to itself that we mustdraw ourselves back into the real. Concentration has three powers by which this aim can be effected. By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets;... By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of... any object whatsoever; ... By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself, we can become whatever we choose..." (The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 304)
Here is a representative illustration of the power of concentration in spiritual life. Through the persistent application of the "concentrated consciousness" on any object whatsoever, we can come to realise the Presence of the Divine in that object. This is how Sri Aurobindo has described the process:
" ... one concentrates on the idea of Brahman omnipresent one looks at a tree or other surrounding object with the idea that Brahman is there and the tree or object is only a form. After a time if the concentration is of the right kind, one begins to become aware .ofa presence, an existence, the physical tree form becomes a shell and that presence or existence is felt to be the only reality. The idea then drop s, it is a direct vision of the thing that takes its place... one sees with a deeper consciousness, sa paśyati. It should be noted that this concentration on the idea is not mere thinking, mananam - it is an inner dwelling on the essence of the Idea. " (Letters on Yoga, p. 726)
In fact, as we have mentioned above, the sadhaka can apply this "concentrated consciousness" on different dhyeyas or subjects! objects of meditation depending upon his need of the moment or the occasion presented, and derive out of it appropriate spiritual benefits. To satisfy the curiosity of the readers we append below a
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short list of these possible applications:
(i) To establish, and stabilise a new experience in oneself; (ii) to discover the hidden roots of any one of one's weaknesses and uproot them; (iii) to call down into oneself the knowledge, did power, the purity and the bliss of the Spirit; (iv) to "see" the Divine everywhere, in all that is manifested; (v) to realise in concrete experience the essence behind any abstract idea; (vi) to make; the "entry into the inner countries" (Sri Aurobindo) and discover one's psychic being; (vii) to have direct knowledge of the realities of the suprasensuous supraphysical worlds; (viii) to go through forms to the Formless beyond; (ix) to open one's consciousness to the action of the Divine Shakti; (x) to purify the habitual impure nature; (xi) to learn the secret of how to surrender oneself to the Divine; (xii) to find the solution of any specific problem of one's life; (xiii) to evoke and receive the Grace and aid of the Divine Mother before undertaking any special work; (xiv) to establish; peace and silence in oneself; (xv) even to eradicate the maladies afflicting the physical adhara; etc.
Another possible application of the power of concentrated consciousness is in connection with the opening of the different psychic Centres or Chakras in the subtle body. These Centres or Chakras are generally considered to be six or seven in number and have each one a fixed psychological use and specific function.
Now the sadhaka can meditate with his consciousness concentrated in any of these Chakras with a view to open it and make it active. But the psycho-spiritual results of these openings will vary according to the Chakra selected for meditation. Sri Aurobindo has given us a graphic description of these spiritual consequences of the opening of various Chakras in his epic Savitri. The readers are requested to carefully go through Book Seven Canto Five of the poem (pages 528-30) of the Centenary Edition.
We have not yet touched a very important point. It is true we have described in detail the different progressive stage through which 'meditation' advances, starting from the novice sadhaka' s highly dispersed state and arriving at last to the 'contentless concentrated consciousness' of the advanced Yogi. But we have not yet indicated the exercises which can help to overcome the disper-
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sion of the normal state and arrive at the final attainment.
This is what we are going to do now, although necessarily in brief, for all these things become comprehensible only when one puts these things into actual practice; no elaborate theoretical discussion can serve the purpose.
Be that as it may, here are the steps and processes through which the habitual dispersion of the thoughts can be progressively controlled and the final state of concentrated contentless consciousness achieved:
(1)"Concentration in self-observation": While sitting in meditation, the sadhaka should observe with undivided attention all the pratyayas, impressions (thoughts, feelings, desires, etc.) that invade his inner field. He will to discover in a totally detached way the sources from which they are arising. This very knowledge, if not vitiated by any personal egoistic involvement, will progressively discourage the distracting effects of the intruding impressions.
(2)"Concentration in witness-detachment" this exercise toe sadhaka will try to consider the racing thoughts and feelings as not his own at all but rather alien offsprings of universal human nature, passing through his mind's sky as so many wandering birds of passage. Let them wander at their whim: the sadhaka will refrain from taking any interest in them, either positive or negative.
If the sadhaka can do this in the right and persistent manner, he will arrive at the following result:
"In this way it usually happens that after a time the mind divides into two, a part which is the mental witness watching and perfectly undisturbed and quiet and a part which is the object of observation, the Prakriti part in which the thoughts cross or wander. Afterwards one can proceed to silence or quiet the Prakriti part also." (Letters on Yoga by Sri Aurobindo, p. 731)
(3)"Dhyāna of liberation": When the first and the second exercises as described above reach their mature fulfilment, the sadhaka can proceed to establish in his inner field what Sri Aurobindo has termed "a true vigilant blank" totally free from any
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intruding thought or image or feeling. As a sequel a genuine spiritual knowledge will dawn in the sadhaka' s consciousness in a most vivid and luminous way as if somebody has written something in white chalk on a black board.
(4)"Throwing away the incoming thoughts": This is a very difficult sadhana, possible only for the rare souls, some Mahayogis. In this sadhana the meditating sadhaka can clearly "see" that all the thoughts and images are coming from outside the brain and trying to get an access there. But before they succeed in this malevolent enterprise, the vigilant sadhaka flings them back with the! help of his clairvoyant will-power. Sri Aurobindo has mentioned}! in his autobiographical notes that he realised the experience of\ Nirvana in only three days by following this method of "throwing/ back the thoughts". This is how he has described his experience!
"There are in fact several ways. My own way was by rejection of thought. 'Sit down,' I was told, 'look and you will see that your thoughts come into you from outside. Before they enter, fling them! back.' I sat down and looked and saw to my astonishment that it was so; I saw and felt concretely the thought approaching as if to enter through or above the head and was able to push it back concretely before it came inside.
"In three days — really in one — my mind became full of an eternal silence — it is still there. But that I don't know how many j people can do." (On Himself, Cent. Ed., pp. 82-83)
(5)"Constant practice of rejection": This method is meant for those sadhakas who are still on the lowest rung of the scale ofr meditation and are just novices on the Path. What else can they do during meditation except to be always on the alert to detect in themselves the appearance of any intruding thought and immediately; take their mind away from all its interest in the thought and bring it back to the original subject of meditation. This consciously cultivated inattention to the encroaching thoughts, persistently applied leads to some sort of quietude. To quote Sri Aurobindo:
"You are probably paying too much attention to them [the
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thoughts of the mechanical mind]. It is quite possible to concentrate and let the mechanical activity pass unnoticed.... What has to be done... is to detach oneself from these movements and concentrate without further attention to them. They are then likely to sink into quietude or fall away." {Letters on Yoga, p. 734)
One last point and we have come to the end of this long chap-, ter on concentration and meditation in the Integral Yoga.
We must not forget that meditation for the sake of meditation has not much value for us. To have some illuminating experiences while sitting in meditation cannot be the special object of our seeking. What we seek after is to be united with the Divine always and under all circumstances, whether in silent meditation or in active waking life. As the Mother has reminded us:
"Whether you sit down to meditation or go about and do things and work, what is required of you is consciousness; that is the one need, — to be constantly conscious of the Divine.'' {Questions and answers, M C W, Vol. 3, p. 20)
Such being our real objective, meditation can be for us only a means — a potent means at that — to acquire this state of constant and unfailing concentration on the Divine. In our Integral Yoga the sadhaka has to become concretely aware, at all time and in all situations, of the Presence and Working of the Divine Reality. And this awareness he can gain through a proper course of meditation. Therein lies for us the necessity and utility of concentration and meditation.
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