How to advance your dhyana
Namaskar,
We have all heard and read about how Ananda Marga ideology says that we are to “sit on the lap of Parama Purusa.”
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "One is sure to reach one’s destination. And what is the destination? To merge into Parama Purus'a, to sit on His Lap." (1)
What is the meaning of 'sitting on the lap'?
Here are a few important points to note:
1) A sadhaka attains salvation by sincere dhyana, i.e. exclusively by His causeless grace. In proper dhya'na, SadGuru is gracing the sadhaka.
2) From the human perspective, all we can do is dhyana and ask for His grace.
3) With first lesson one can only get mukti (liberation) through savikalapa samadhi; whereas, by dhyana one can attain moksa (salvation) through nirvikalpa samadhi.
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Various stages & degrees of dhyana: part 1
Most understand that the practice of 6th lesson is not easy: It demands sincere and proper effort, and, most importantly, His grace. Without bhakti, all those steps in dhyana are mechanical, or may even seem to be fruitless. Depending on one's inner spiritual feeling and quality of mind, there are various phases one may undergo in dhyana.
First, if one's mind is down and one is not feeling an inner link with Parama Purusa, then that sadhaka will not even like to practice dhyana. Rather, sixth lesson will seem boring or mechanical, and one may just do it for one minute at the end of sadhana, or even not at all. And in that condition, they will not even like to talk about Parama Purus'a in a more intimate manner.
Think of it this way: When one loves their own child then they will always be thinking about the welfare of that infant, and they will always discuss their darling baby with their friends and family members. So in the next phase of dhyana, when one feels more spiritual love towards Parama Purusa, then one gets the idea that, “I should talk to Him and do something for Him.” In that flow, when doing dhyana, one tries to serve and please Him. Yet even in this stage, He may come and go in the mind, and one might find it difficult to concentrate. In spite of that, if a sadhaka goes on practicing and struggling in dhyana, and asking for His grace, then that will invariably lead one towards the next tier in dhyana.
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Various stages & degrees of dhyana: part 2
When by His grace one feels immersed in Parama Purus'a and harbours a deep yearning to get Him, then one will like to practice dhyana more and more. The sadhaka will feel a strong inner urge and spiritual pull. When this feeling reaches its climax and culmination, then by constantly thinking about Him and Him alone, and using one's dhyana mantra and calling His name, a unique moment arrives when the sadhaka forgets oneself, by His grace. That is the stage of losing one's identity wherein one's mind remains fully ensconced in Him.
This is the cherished state. It may continue such that one will not even realise that the time is going by, until at some stage one may again gain their unit awareness. However, at the end of one's life, after finishing their worldly duties, a deserving sadhaka gets the special grace of Parama Purusa and leaves their body and becomes one with Him. In that case, they do not come back or take rebirth. Whereas, when experiencing this high state in dhyana, one does come back into their unit existence after sadhana.
Here it should be added, that these above realisations in dhyana are essential for understanding the meaning of the phrase, “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa.”
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Divine pull
This all leads to the real meaning of “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa” and how intense dhyana is an essential requisite. The phrase, “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa”, is characterised by one's strong urge of wanting to become one with Him. The notion of “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa” parallels the idea of “merging into Parama Purusa.” These two phrases express the same concept: A sadhaka fully absorbed in dhyana, wherein the mind actually loses its own unit identity due to great prema and bhakti for Him.
Initially, a sadhaka feels bhakti for Parama Purusa and one feels separate from Him. And then, as that love mounts more and more, a certain moment may come when one completely loses their individual identity and becomes one with Parama Purusa. When, by His grace, the loving attraction and divine pull towards Parama Purus'a becomes so great that one forgets their own existence in the pursuit of getting Him, then one is “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa” . Therefore, “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa” and 'merging in Him' mean the same thing; the only difference being, the first is a personal expression, whereas the latter is more philosophical.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "One is sure to reach one’s destination. And what is the destination? To merge into Parama Purus'a, to sit on His Lap." (2)
In more technical language, when one loses their own individual existence in Cosmic Self, then this is nirvakalpa samadhi. That is also the meaning behind the phrase, “sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa” , i.e. becoming one with Him. And this merging only happens in dhyana, when by His grace, one calls Him and yearns for Him with such spiritual longing that one loses their own unit identity.
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Conclusion
Sitting on the lap of Parama Purusa occurs only at the zenith point of one's dhyana practice. And it refers to that high stage of dhyana wherein one has forgotten their own unit existence and become fully absorbed in Him.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, "What a good man should do, what an intelligent man is to do, what a spiritual aspirant to do, is always to remember his loving Father. And this is what meditation is. Why should he always remember his loving Father? Because he will have to keep in the closest psychic and spiritual touch with the Supreme, because He is the Supreme abode of all. And finally one will have to sit on His lap. That is the final Desideratum." (3)
Without proper anudhyana, the mind will remain hungry, dry, and unfulfilled, devoid of any feeling of peace.
Namaskar,
At His lotus feet,
Ananda
~ In-depth study ~
In day to day worldly life, we generally achieve something by the following stepwise process. First an idea comes in the mind, then one develops the desire of having or achieving that, and finally one gets that object or outcome. Similar is the case in dhyana. First the idea comes to think about Parama Purus'a; then one feels a strong urge to get Parama Purus'a; and then by His grace after continued effort one receives Him in dhyana. Then one has truly fallen in love with Parama Purus'a and it is in that depth of bhakti that one may lose their own existence while doing dhyana. This happens by His grace and by the constant effort of wanting to merge in Him.
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It is everyone’s birthright to become one with Him: To shed ourselves of all unit qualities and merge with His divine Self.
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Each and every entity has the right to move towards Him, and to be one with Him. And when the mind becomes one with Him, the mirror is lost. There cannot be any more reflection. There cannot be any more Jiiva'tma'. Jiiva becomes one with Shiva. “Pa'sha baddha bhavet jiiva, pa'shmukta bhavet Shiva” – Jiiva will become one with Shiva. This is the human goal. This is the Desideratum." (4)
Making dhyana successful
Here we have to understand that doing dhyana is a difficult process and we should furthermore understand why it is difficult.
Being human, we have all come from animal life and to some or more degree we all cultivate animalistic desires. The more prevalent these desires are, the more they prevent us from moving towards Him in dhyana. That is why doing sadhana can seem like an uphill task. Even then the goal of life is to realise Him in our sadhana, and for that reason we must continue and persevere in this endeavor. Otherwise one will just be stuck on the treadmill -- an endless cycle of life and death. Indeed the illusion of maya keeps us in the dark and makes us unaware of the divine truth. The only way to escape this cycle is to go close to Parama Purusa. This earth is not our permanent abode - our ultimate destiny is to realise Him.
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And on the very practical level, if our dhyana is not good, then we have to sincerely ask ourselves if in our daily routine we are practicing shravan, manan, niddhidhyasana. For only with the support of these practices can dhyana be done.
So as sadhakas, the main thing we should remember is to cultivate more and more bhakti. In its broadest sense, dhyana is the culmination of all one's activities. So we are to remember Him always from morning till night, singing His name, listening to His discourses, serving His creation, and doing His sadhana. Plus, we should always request Him to grace us with a higher degree of bhakti. Then, with His divine compassion, one’s quest in dhyana will become successful.
Otherwise, if we live our lives in a mundane way and just think by closing our eyes for a few minutes in the morning and evening that magically we will get Him in dhyana, our practice will not be fruitful.
Ananda Marga ideology says, "Dhya'na is withdrawing the mental propensities from all extroversive entities, and then collecting those withdrawn mental forces, mental propensities, and urging them towards the Supreme Entity. If there is no love for the Supreme Entity, this movement cannot be done. Where there is no love, the mind will not run after Him. So dhya'na also becomes meaningless." (5)
So love is an essential requisite for true dhyana, and that bhakti gets cultivated by thinking more and more about Him, by including Him in all our thoughts and movements through the day. Then bhakti heightens, and by His grace dhyana becomes successful.
Our Sadguru's mandate
Some in the Marga may not yet have all their sadhana lessons, yet Baba says not to delay. According to SadGuru, every sadhaka should practice sincerely and get all their sadhana lessons as quickly as they can.
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Ananda Marga Caryacarya guides us, "Human life is short. It is wise to get all the instructions regarding sa'dhana' as soon as possible." (6)
So every Ananda Marga sadhaka should get all their lessons, including dhyana, as quickly as possible. Every sadhaka then should be sure to consult an acarya about this and make proper arrangements to get their remaining lessons. Because it is only in dhyana that one can realise what it means to sit on the lap of Parama Purusa and become one with Him.
Baba has blessed us by bringing us on that path of tantra sadhana and filling our hearts with innate bhakti. By this way, we are sure to sit on His lap and become one with Him. That is our birthright and our destiny.
Immediately arranges to impart lessons
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Whenever anyone develops an intense desire to merge in Him, Parama Purus'a immediately arranges to impart lessons how to move towards Him, how to merge in Him." (7)
Ananda Marga ideology says, "One who loves Him will merge in Him, will become one with Him." (8)
To understand the inner meaning and true import, one must be a sadhaka of dhya'na and have a high intensity of bhakti for Parama Purusa. This Baba also says. Otherwise it is just an empty show or play of words to say, “sit on the lap of Parama Purusa.” So this letter is only geared towards those who are pointed practitioners of dhyana.
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The idea being, without one's sincere practice of sixth lesson, the phrase 'sit on the lap of Parama Purusa', will remain misunderstood, if not a mystery. That is why some wrongly conclude that the phrase, 'sit on the lap of Parama Purusa', is only related with the mantra from our Ananda Marga shraddha ceremony or that it only could happen in PC with Baba. They do not realise how it is also related with dhyana. They do not understand that one can sit on Baba's lap in sadhana. On the whole though, there are countless sadhakas who are quite familiar with the inner idea and true import of sitting on Baba's lap in dhyana and in personal contact.
References
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 22, Kiirtana – the Panacea for All Afflictions
2. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 22, Kiirtana – the Panacea for All Afflictions
3. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 12, He Knows His Duty
4. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 3, Jiivátmá and Pratyagátmá
5. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 1, Who Is Gopa?
6. Caryacarya - 2, 'Sadhana'
7. Subhasita Samgraha - 11, Supramundane Heritage and Supramundane Desideratum
8. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 5, Devotion and the Realm of Intellectuality
== Section 2: Links ==
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