Bhakti or devotion is indispensable for attaining jnana. Jnana is the condition necessary for bhakti to reach its fullest development in love. Knowledge without devotion is as futile as devotion without knowledge. Love follows from the basic oneness of all beings. God is being. World is becoming. The creation of the world does not in…
The best way to clean your system is to use sound. Simply choose any holy name you like, and keep repeating it. Let your body vibrate with that frequency. In the beginning you have to concentrate on that vibration within you. But as you continue, every cell in your body will begin to repeat your…
Mantras have great power. Modern science has proven it. With sound vibration, you can make or break. You can heal, or you can produce disease. You can make somebody laugh, you can make somebody cry with your sound. You can turn a human being into an animal who will go out and fight. You can…
Yoga is the science that teaches us the way, the most effective way, how to remove our defects and weaknesses, and how to attain the state of perfection, freedom and super-conscious blessedness. The state in which there is union with the absolute. Yoga enables its students to acquire perfect control over the physical body, the…
Samadhi means super-conscious state, wherein the yogi gets super-sensual experiences. Samadhi is of two kinds viz., sarhprajnata or sabīja or savikalpa, and asamprajnata or nirbīja or nirvikalpa. In savikalpa samadhi, there are triputi (triad) – the knower, knowledge and knowable. There is ālaṁbana (support) for the mind to lean upon. The samskāras (tendencies) are not…
Meditation is of two kinds, viz., concrete and abstract. If you meditate on any picture of concrete object, it is concrete meditation. If you meditate on an abstract idea, on any quality (such as mercy, tolerance), it is abstract meditation. A beginner should practise concrete meditation. For some, abstract meditation is more easy than concrete.…
For a neophyte, the practice of concentration is disgusting and tiring in the beginning. He has to cut new grooves in the mind and brain. After some months he will get great interest in concentration. He will enjoy a new kind of happiness, the concentration-ananda. He will become restless if he fails to enjoy this…
Retire into a quiet room; sit on padmasana. Close your eyes. See what happens when you concentrate on an apple. You may think of its colour, shape, size and its different parts such as skin, pulp, seeds, etc. You may think of the places (Australia or Kashmir) where from it is imported. You may think…
When hatha yogis concentrate their minds on the six supports (the sad cakras), they concentrate their minds on the respective presiding deities also, viz., Ganesa, Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Tsvara and Sadasiva. Control the breath through pranayama. Subdue the senses through pratyahara. And then fix the mind either on a form or the formless Brahman. According…
You can concentrate internally on any of the seven plexus or chakras or centres of spiritual energy, or at the tip of the nose, or tip of the tongue or externally on the picture of any devata (deity), Hari, Hara, Krishna or Devi. You can concentrate on the tick-tick sound of a watch or the…
Dhāranā (concentration) is fixing the mind on an idea or a point or object either internal or external. It is very difficult to say where concentration ends and meditation begins. Meditation follows concentration. Purify the mind first through the practice of yama (self control) and niyama (discipline). Then take to the practice of dharana. Concentration…
Thought is as much a thing as the yonder piece of stone. It has weight, colour, shape, size and form. Thought is a dynamic force. It is caused by the vibrations of psychic prar:a (sukðma prana) on the mental substance. It is a force like gravitation, cohesion or repulsion. Thought travels or moves. Thought has…