In the past episodes we saw how yoga helps in minimizing the thought-wars that generally give rise to stress. But mere stress reduction is not the ultimate goal of Yoga.
In the previous episode we also saw why it is necessary to minimize the thoughts completely to march towards a completely tranquil mind – an entry point to the final goal.
We talked about focusing the mind on specific targets through a process called Dharana – the 6th step of Yoga. Dharana is the precursor to meditation or Dhyana that takes us to the ultimate goal of Yoga.
Before we dive deeply into Dhyana, let us look at some interesting aspects of Dhyana or meditation in this episode.
Many people think that meditation is all about sitting quiet in any one place with eyes closed. But that is not the way Patanjali defines meditation. He defines meditation as a continuous flow of attention on the target of meditation or Dharana. So, anything we do with full concentration can be termed as meditation.
We discussed about Dharana in the previous episode. More specifically, I talked about the sound OM as the most suited target of meditation or Dharana.
Why so?
Before we discuss that, we should know a bit more on this sound OM. Actually, it is not the sound OM as we read it out – O followed by M. Though that way of pronouncing OM is normally recommended before one utters any Mantra. The reason is that this sound has the ability to calm you down. Not because of religious beliefs, more because of the structure of the sound itself. Any Mantra is expected to be chanted with a calm mind to reap its full potential.
But OM chanted in a specific way is considered to be a Mantra in itself. In that case, it is referred to as Pranava Mantra. It is a sound with a relatively short O sound, followed by an elongated sound of M. This elongated M slowly but gradually dies down to a point it is almost inaudible.
Actually, this Pranava has three distinct phases. One that suddenly rises, i.e. the sound A, then a phase which gradually transitions into the final phase, namely the sound M. This intermediate sound, which stays steady for some time, is recognized as the sound U. The last phase is an elongated and very gradually dying sound of M. This gradually dying sound of M has the property of stilling the mind and forcing it to get into an absorbed state.
So, Pranava is a combination of three sounds A, U, and M uttered in a specific way.
Upanishads give symbolic meanings to these three components of Pranava. They say that the rising A is like the beginning of this world. The world springs up from nonexistence into existence. It then stays there for some time. That is symbolically represented by the component sound U. It does not remain there forever. It gradually dies down over a period of time. That is the sound M which represents the reabsorption of the world back into whence it came.
But it does not end there. You will once again repeat this Pranava, sequence after sequence. That indicates the repeated cycles of creation-sustenance-reabsorption of the world.
What is that which runs this show of creation-sustenance-reabsorption cycles? That abstract entity which stands for this cycle is called Atma or Brahma by the Upanishads. Religions call it God, since almost all religions define God that way. But unlike religions, Upanishads don’t talk about personified God. It is just an abstract concept.
Interestingly, there are many places in the Holy Quran, where sounds very similar of Pranava appear. One of them is the sequence Alif, Lam, Meem. Though Quran says nothing about these sounds, many Islamic scholars explain this sequence of sounds as indicative of creation, sustenance, and reabsorption or the symbolic representation of God.
Now let us get back to meditation and how Pranava is useful in meditation.
Before you can start meditating, you should have a mind which is trained to focus continuously on any target. Loudly chanting the Pranava Mantra allows you to quickly focus the mind and train the attention system. Even Pranayama has similar effect as I discussed in a previous episode.
How about combining both? Mentally chant the Pranava by synchronizing its utterance with breathing. For example, you inhale when you mentally utter the A part of Pranava. You hold the breath during the U part of the Pranava and finally exhale when you mentally utter the M part of the Pranava – slowly and gradually. That will have more effect than chanting Pranava alone or doing Pranayama alone.
Just to digress a bit, I have seen some Gurus taking this literally. They make you explicitly chant the three sounds separately. Traditionally, I am not aware of such a practice. The three sounds are uttered one after the other with smooth transition, without break, as if it is a single sound OM.
That much about the way Pranava is uttered. But that is not all, as I discussed earlier, this Pranava mantra also has associated abstract ideas about what each letter A, U, M stand for.
Upanishads associate many ideas with these three letters. For example, one of the Upanishads namely the Mandukya Upanishad draws parallels between these three letters, and the three states of our mind. These three states are Jaagrita or wakefulness, Swapna or sleep with dreams, and Susupti or dreamless deep sleep. All of us are normally in one of these three states, all the time.
Only when we meditate, we enter the fourth state namely the Turiya, which is neither Jaagrita, nor Swapna, nor Susupti. It is something beyond all these three. It is an indescribable state. It is that state in which you would have a clear experience of the ultimate reality. While the first three are states of the mind, Turiya is beyond the Mind. The Upanishad terms that state as realization of God.
In many places, the Upanishads recommend using Pranava as the aid for meditation. We have already discussed this earlier in the episode on Upanishadic meditation. Just to recapitulate, the most memorable quotes are
“Make your body itself as one of the Aranis. Use Pranava as the other Arani. Rub these two through the process of meditation and kindle the hidden spark which is Brahma.”
This is a quote from Swetaasvatara Upanishad.
Similarly, another Upanishad namely the Mundaka Upanishad recommends
“PraNava is the bow, your body is the arrow, Brahma is the target.
Shoot the arrow with full concentration and without getting distracted.
Please refer to the episode on Upanishadic meditation for a detailed explanation.
Now, how does one enter this Turiya state through meditation? And how does the Pranava Mantra help us in reaching that goal? Is it a one-step jump into that state? Or is it a gradual process? Can we scientifically explain and verify all the stages of this process, in case it is gradually attained? What would be the consequences of reaching such a state? I will try to answer all these questions in the light of Yoga, backed up by the Upanishads, in the next episodes.
© Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment