Meditation

SWAMI ADBHUTANANDA

MANY AND VARIED are the forms of meditation. One form is that in which
Brahman is likened to a boundless ocean, and the jiva to a fish, swimming
happily about, feeling the soothing, living presence everywhere. In another
form the body is regarded as a vessel, and the mind as water pure as crystal
upon which is reflected the sun of Satchidananda Existence, Knowledge and
Bliss. Yet again Brahman may be meditated upon as the limitless ocean, and
the jiva as a vessel submerged in it, the water of Brahman within and without
everywhere. Again one may think of oneself as a bird soaring blissfully
through the sky of Satchidananda. These and many other forms are known to
the followers of the path of knowledge.
God is with form and without form. God in His absolute,
formless aspect is meditated upon by the followers of the
path of knowledge; but the devotee holds on to the name
and form of God, and meditates upon Him with form.
Various are the names and forms of God, which are but different aspects of
the one Reality.
The guru and the Avataras are also forms of God, and the
devotee takes one form and meditates upon that as his
Chosen Ideal. While absorbed in meditation the devotee may have visions of
the different forms of God. These must be regarded as but different aspects of
the one Chosen Ideal.
Forms are many, but the Reality is one. To emphasize this
truth Sri Ramakrishna would give the simile of the chameleon which changes its color, yet remains the same. Thus by devotion to
the Chosen Ideal the devotee soon realizes that God assumes many forms,
and yet is also formless.

The devotee meditates on the Holy Name and form of

God, and the follower of the path of knowledge meditates on the relation and
identity of jiva with Brahman. But
whichever path is followed, the one and the same state of
spiritual consciousness is attained by each. When, by meditating on name
and form one attains a depth in meditation, both name and form vanish; when,
by meditating on the relation of the jiva and Brahman one attains a depth in
meditation, relation also vanishes. There remains in both a spiritual current
which words cannot describe.
Sri Ramakrishna once said that in the depths of meditation
there arises the consciousness of the impartite, the indivisible Reality. Body is
forgotten, mind ceases to function there remains pure Consciousness.
There is a difference between ecstasy and samadhi. In
ecstasy the aspirant experiences bliss, he sees the play of the Divine; in
samadhi the aspirant becomes blissful. The experiencer, the experience, and
the experienced become one.
To see the light in vision during meditation is not enough,
though it is true that such a vision or any other vision serves to strengthen the
faith, and encourage the aspirant to go deeper and deeper. Only when the
physical consciousness is gone, when the heart becomes pure, can one really
know that there is a deeper and vaster realm beyond the realm of spiritual
visions.
The knowledge of the existence of this realm cannot be
grasped by the human mind, nor can words define it. The
grace of the Guru alone can open the gates to that blissful
realm. One day while massaging the head of Sri Ramakrishna the door to that
realm suddenly opened before me. What I saw, the eyes could not hold, what
I tasted the tongue could not express. It was a definite experience beyond all
expression.
If you would know and enter into that kingdom, let the

tongue tirelessly chant the name of God, let the heart and
mind become absorbed in His meditation. Sooner or later,
through His grace, you will surely know and enter into that
blissful realm.
Be absorbed in meditation. Be absorbed so that the world
becomes annihilated, and only you exist, you and your Beloved shining in
your heart. As one becomes established in the meditative life there comes a
control over the mind.
Then alone can one know his own mind, how and in what
devious ways it works. He becomes immediately aware of
any tricks the mind would try to play. The old habits of
hatred, jealousy, and all the passions will no longer have the power to raise
any wave in the mind. They will gradually recede, and eventually disappear.