Dear brothers, sisters and Rev. guide Sri KC Narayana garu, my humble pranams to you all. I would like to share and bring forth in this session some of the learnings I have had thus far through my sadhana and through the valuable guidance /suggestions provided to me by our guide Rev. Sir at various points of time, with the hope to provide the encouragement, clarity and help to my fellow practicants which in turn may help them for better adherence to the meditational practices with due importance.
All of us are practicing this method of meditation some just started, some have been practicing for few years and others have been practicing for some time but most of us (if not all) go through similar set of obstacles (obstructions, if I am permitted to call it so) during the practice. An attempt here has been made to highlight few such areas and the possible suggestions to adopt to overcome them.
Before we proceed on further, as a practicant, it is essential to clearly understand and agree on the primary purpose of PAM.
PAM is aimed at transformation of man (into real man). It is a simple and natural path for the attainment of the objective (ultimate) by regulating the action of the senses in a natural way to restore their original state. It enables the individual to attend to everything in the sense of duty entrusted to us by divine. It enables the individual to ascend the spiritual heights, otherwise very difficult, through the support of our Master in the form of Pranahuti. It is a process of give and take, do and feel and not read and enjoy. All this is possible ONLY if we adhere to some of the basic essentials such as:
- Willingness to go through the process of transformation
- Self-confidence in our capacity and power to achieve success.
- Faith and devotion towards the Master
- Willingness (at heart) and adherence to meditational practices as prescribed
- Adhere to what guide says and
If the goal is clear much of the task is completed Some clarifications (helpful hints) that helped improving my Sadhana Practice the system as advised leaving odd notions gained. Regularity is the key word of Nature and we have to be regular in our sadhana in all aspects. We should tend to be more and more moderate in our attitudes and behaviour. If the thought of the master is maintained through the day quite a lot of bhog is undergone through these ways without our even knowing the same. When you are ‘In the thought of the Master', please make a note of what aspect of the Master, it would give us a picture of what kosa/ knot is operating at that time. As these states are temporary, it is our wisdom that can translate the experience into action. It is also necessary that we get acquainted with the thoughts of the Master and therefore study of the system and learning from the experience of others would also be useful. Also at the same time, please be aware that we should not be totally guided by others experience and literature and our own Anubhava or experience should be our guiding point. At the same it is essential and is the responsibility of an individual to check and clarify their experiences with their respective guide to make sure they are moving in the right direction. Sometimes we feel nothing or no change, this is a state of plateau that develops in any learning process. At this stage everything seems to be stagnant and no change is observed. But this is only the superficial layer, deep within there is lot of change taking place and all of a sudden the change becomes perceptible. So the key here is to learn patience, waiting, tolerance and forbearance for success. Sometimes we feel lack of interest, the lack of interest develops mainly because the realm in which we move is subtle and we find ourselves pushed out. The key is determination and we should persevere. Our Master in one of his messages has clearly stated that “The practices advised under the system are not merely formal and mechanical, related with the closing of eyes for meditation. They have a definite object, a purpose and an end.” An attempt has been made here, with the help of some of brethren, to capture it in the following table for my own understanding .
| Method |
Object |
Purpose |
End |
Point B Meditation |
Point B
Thought |
To clear off the grossness that is clouding the divine light |
Steadiness in meditation.
Helps to grow out of self. |
Meditation |
Light without luminosity |
Feel the presence of divine within and remain in its company |
Living in higher plane of consciousness. Regulation & discipline of mind. |
Cleaning |
Respective cleaning thought |
WILL fully to get rid of impressions. |
Maintain purity & steadiness |
9pm Prayer |
Universal prayer thought |
WILL that all are brethren and all are developing love towards Divine |
Development of fraternity |
Point A Med |
Point A thought |
Check /get out of improprieties of conduct & indulgences of mind |
Aids in development of fraternity |
Bed Time Prayer |
Bed time prayer thought |
Opportunity for repentance and seeking forgiveness |
Strengthening of resolve against repetition. Becomes embodiment of prayer. |
Some of the specific learnings, gathered from more of a practical angle, which helped me gaining the clarity, better acceptance and adherence to carry on the meditational practices effectively are as follows. These are grouped together by each meditation practice for convenience. Point B Meditation The purpose of the point B meditation is to clear off the grossness that is clouding the Divine light. Therefore it has to be an active process. As the practice continues we get oriented to divine more and more feeling less and less of our selves. Meditation During Meditation we should maintain an attitude of waiting and be grateful for whatever condition that is gained. Meditation starts generally with a few thoughts relating mostly to that days activities or the matters of the past few days, then the thought gets stabilized on the object of meditation for some time and at this time it lasts into a state of absorbency. Then again the cycle starts. This phase in meditation is passed over as we advance in meditation where we get thoughts in the beginning and then there is continuous state of absorbency. The fact is our method gives us what Master calls “non- concentration concentration“. Therefore thoughts will be there. If the thoughts are other than those connected to the divinity we should know our mind is playing pranks and what can be better attitude than ignoring them? Hence please do not bother about the number of thoughts, as it is our duty to ignore them and get ourselves liberated from them. This happens easily in our system. We should note the nature of thoughts and develop the tendency to have good, pious and divine thoughts always. This tendency develops naturally as the diversion of flow occurs and one tends to remain in the upper heart. The thoughts should be related to Divine light in a good meditation. If thoughts are distracting, please try to keep your attention on the heart and the light without luminosity. Since in such an effort the eyes get set downwards though you have closed your eyelids, a state relatively of high orientation in meditation would result. Till the individual consciousness gets molded into the Sri Ramchandra Consciousness and all our actions take a dip in the same this problem will be there and that is sadhana. All our thoughts are on the screen of silence and they try to attract us. The impossible thought of light without luminosity makes us move nearer the silence that is the base. It is wise to note ONLY the thoughts/feelings that prevail after meditation. The thought/feelings during meditation gives us a scope to understand our problems as they relate to various kosas. If we do not remember any of them after meditation it is obvious they do not have any binding effect on us and we need not concern ourselves about them. We often feel absorbency during meditation but please watch the type of thoughts that come after the state of absorbency, as that would give clues of progress. Feeling fresh after the meditation is enough indication that you meditated well. The ability developed to be unmindful of thoughts that arise during morning meditation, confirms our journey towards the identicality with nature. Cleaning You should feel light and calm after good cleaning session. Never entertain negative thoughts- they weaken the will. Exercising the force of WILL is extremely important. 9PM Prayer It would be better if there is a time gap (interval) between cleaning and prayer at 9 P.M. If you remain in the thought of fraternity you would be cultivating one of the greatest virtues called Maitri. It is essentially the inter connectedness of our beings that teaches maitri. Hence 9PM prayer helps us develop this virtue. Prayer Our prayer is the one that implicitly requires the willingness to transform and the one of highest order of practicality in a spiritual pursuit. Our prayer should always end with a sense or feeling of confidence in Master. IndividualSittings During individual sittings quite a large extent of cleaning is done and a good cleaning session will be restless during the session but gives a sense of lightness and relief afterwards. During the sessions with the trainer watch out your feelings and see the changes that are happening in the states of consciousness and also attitudes towards life. Satsangh In a group meditation the influence of the vibrations of others who are also oriented to the goal is high and that makes us steady in the path. Commmandments Please try to read Rev. Babuji’s book on the Commandments and also Rev KCN notes on them. It will be of tremendous help in understanding the commandments better with clarity, which in turn help us to adhere to them with greater level of acceptance. In the context of commandment 1, purity of body and mind would mean whether our actions are all dedicated to the Divine. In the context of commandment 4, we have all become so very unnatural it may appear difficult to become simple and natural. But when the Love for God takes deep root and it starts resounding all this becomes simple and easy. Patience and tolerance needs to be developed and our progress internally enables us to achieve these virtues faster. In the context of commandment 5, it is but natural that every one of us has our miseries and afflictions, which are all the results of our past actions in this life and in earlier ones. This is what the principle of Karma stresses. Master in his commandments more clearly in 5th Commandment clarified this position. Faith and Steadfastness develop only when there is opportunity for such development and which opportunity is what our problems pose for us. The attitude of treating miseries as Divine gifts develops when we start thinking how kind was the Master/God in having given us an opportunity to get insulted and disgraced and otherwise similarly treated that such events not only made us go deeper into the realms of humility but also made us feel the need to embrace the Master. It is this feeling that they have enabled us to think of the Master that makes us feel that these miseries etc., are gifts of the Divine. These are lessons in humility and they come to be learnt when we get disgraced, defeated, defamed and dishonored etc., Bedtimeprayer It is absolutely essential we pray before going to bed, please attend to the Prayers before going to bed with a degree of seriousness it deserves. Repentance should be something natural and not as a routine. The grammar of spirituality demands that we learn this law of repentance and feeling forgiveness. Please do spend more time in prayer if the time and stamina is there. Pranahuti Flow or vibration experienced at heart indicates that pranahuti is working. We should cooperate with it and progress in the path. It is an ACT OF WILL OF A PERSON WHO HAS ACCESS TO SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS. IT IS THE INTERNAL DIVINE POWER OF THE TRAINER THAT IS EXERCISED THROUGH A PROCESS OF WILLING. With the influx of pranahuti which continues from the time of introduction, attraction or interest in other things though appear to be there in fact gets erased and we do not carry any impression and that is the reason we are not able to recall the thoughts. Summary :
Life can be shallow and self-centered if it lacks an expansive connection to the (infinite) God. The mental habits die very hard and we need to persuade ourselves several times to be firm on the ‘right side’. Buddhi, Ahankar, Manas and Chit need to be purified thoroughly so that link with the divine is established. Once we start loving God, He finds ways and means to pull us towards Him.
All the aspects discussed above require deeper levels of contemplation which will help us to get to the levels of clarity required. Therefore I request my fellow brethren to contemplate and improve your understanding and implement. This is not going to be too easy; but efforts do not go waste.
Namaste..
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