Dhyana Vahini:The Practice of Meditation

Dhyana Vahini
(The Practice of Meditation)

Today quacks with new-fangled ideas lay down rules for Dhyana (Meditation), says Baba. Each one has his own special prescription and claims that his system can confer more benefit than that of others. But none have themselves experienced its sweetness of sanctity. That is the real reason why Dhyana has drawn out upon itself the cynical laughter of many. My intention is to instruct such people and guide them on the right path.

Baba goes on to reveal in these words the origin of His book, ‘Dhyana Vahini’. Even the most potent drug will not cure when it is only extolled in elaborate phrases at the bedside of the patient. The drug must be taken in and allowed to walk its way into the blood stream. Your reading what I write on Dhyana will not make it easier. The mind is a mad pleasure seeker, running after mirages seen through the inefficient and therefore, deceptive senses of perception. The multifarious desires that infect the mind have to be quelled and the mind focused on Ananda (bliss) only. Of course, it will itself turn to God. When knowledge is accepted as the master, when the mind is denied the food that breeds depravity, when the senses are tamed by firmness and faith, Dhyana will surely lead you to that Goal.

Baba distinguishes between concentration, contemplation and meditation. Concentration is an unwavering determination in one's daily life, in the realm of the senses, the feelings and the intellect. Contemplation is achieved when the senses withdraw for some time and attachment to the objective world slackens, when you have completely broken away from all attachment, you enter a state of meditation, says Baba.

Baba gives the guidelines for meditation and mind control in Dhyana Vahini. He says that Dhyana is as life sustaining as dhanya (food). Baba explains the choice of place, posture, time-table and the curriculum, but lays greater stress on the compassion of the Lord who responds to the prayer embodied during Dhyana.

Since God assumes, for the sake of the sadhaka, the name and form that he meditates on, Baba assures us that Dhyana need never be a barter endeavour; the summit can be reached by perseverance, for He rises up to Himself the struggling and the exhausted.

Baba warns us against nine enemies that waylay the earnest sadhaka. Three of them are physical: adulterous urges, greed to possess things or gain exclusive love and the tendency to injure living beings; three are verbal: delight in causing panic by false alarm, speaking lies and spreading scandal; and three are mental: craving for what belongs to others, envy and cynicism.

Baba directs that the meditation on the form be accompanied by an unbroken absorption of the sweetness of the name by which that form is identified. When the form slips from attention, the name will soon bring it back; when the name drops from awareness, the form will restore it to the mind. Thus, the constant presence of God in the consciousness is ensured, says Baba.

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