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to concentrate on one thing you will find that there are four
thoughts automatically arising in your mind, though
apparently it appears that you are concentrating on one
thing only. The Yoga Sutras go into all these details.
These four thoughts are not actually distracting media;
they are necessary processes of overcoming the distractions
of the mind. Later on, after some time, having attained
success in your concentration, you will find there would be
no necessity for you to avoid certain thoughts. It is only in
the earliest stages that you feel certain thoughts are
unnecessary. I should not think of the jungle; I should not
think of an animal; I should not think of a railway station or a
marketplace or something which is unpleasant. This is what
you think. But later on you will find there is nothing
unpleasant anywhere. The unpleasantness is only the wrong
placement of your personality in the context of that
particular reference. You are disharmoniously placed with
that thing which you consider as evil, unholy, unnecessary,
etc. If you are harmoniously placed with an event that is
taking place or a thing that is there outside you, you will find
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that it ceases to be something unnecessary or interfering; it
will never interfere with you. Your considering that it is
unnecessary is the reason why it starts interfering. When you
have decided that you do not want a thing, naturally you
cannot expect any cooperation from that thing. But why
should you consider that a thing is unwanted and should be
rejected? It is because you have not understood it properly.
The context of its existence in relation to the context of your
existence has not been properly grasped. Therefore, in a
certain advanced stage you will find that unnecessary
thoughts will not exist, because there is nothing totally
unnecessary in this world. This is a little advanced stage; in
the early stages you will not be able to realise this. Thus, with
this precaution, take to concentration, and take for granted
that you have now achieved some success in making yourself
acquainted with the truth that there is nothing that you have
to avoid in this world. Thus, the world becomes friendly with
you. A cool breeze will blow and everything will be fragrant
to you.
Then comes your difficulty with the object itself. How
will you adjust yourself with the presence of that object in
front of you which does not seem to be touching you, which
is a little distant from you? Let the object be at a distance; it
does not matter. You can glory in the beauty and the
grandeur of that object for the time being. Inasmuch as you
have concluded that this object is ultimately real if it had
been not for that fact, you would not be concentrating on it
it is the final thing for you, and all things that you expect from
anything will also be there in that thing, and it will bestow
upon you all that you expect. The Ishta Devata, the object of
your meditation, is capable of bestowing upon you all things
that are anywhere; it can give you anything. All the world s
blessings will come from that one thing, as it is a
concentrated point of the whole cosmos.
The idea of the object, the concept of the ideal before you,
the Ishta Devata so-called, is a concentrated spot of cosmic
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power. You can touch it, and you will be touching the
switchboard of the cosmos. It is not some isolated dot or a
thing that you are concentrating upon. The idea of
isolatedness must be removed. It is touching one part of your
body, as it were. When you touch a part of the body, even a
little spot, you are touching the whole body. You know very
well how it is, because the entire body is concentrated on
every part of the body. That is why you feel an entire
occurrence taking place even if only a little touch is made.
Such a concept has to be introduced into the object of
meditation. It is not sitting somewhere. My God is
somewhere; his God is somewhere else. It is not like that.
Actually, no object is in one place only. There is an
interconnection, vitally, of every object with every other
object, as the limbs of the body are connected integrally and
internally. So you will feel happy to realise that this object of
your meditation is the touchstone of the success of your
meditation. It is the root of the whole cosmos; it is the vitality
which you are concentrating upon, by which you can evoke
the powers of the entire creation. It is something like an
incarnation. An incarnation of God may look like a particular
individual, but it is the focussing point of the entire power.
The whole thing is concentrated there all the world, all
creation. Then you will feel a joy inside. I am not wasting my
time in concentration, because I am actually at one with that
Force, which is gazing at me with eyes that are multifaceted
as if the whole cosmos is looking at me. Great joy it is to
realise this.
Thus, concentration will become an art of feeling joy.
Concentration and meditation are happy processes. You will
never be tired, you will never be exhausted by sitting for
meditation. You will feel greater and greater satisfaction, and
every session of meditation will make you healthier,
stronger, more wholesome in your outlook, and you will be
able to convince yourself you have actually achieved
something substantial. Today you have become better than
yesterday.
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PRACTICAL HINTS ON SADHANA
1. First of all, there should be a clear conception of the Aim
of one s life.
2. The Aim should be such that it should not be subject to
subsequent change of opinion or transcendence by some
other thought, feeling or experience. It means the Aim
should be ultimate, and there should be nothing beyond
that.
3. It will be clear that, since the ultimate Aim is single, and
set clearly before one s mind, everything else in the
world becomes an instrument, an auxiliary or an
accessory to the fulfilment of this Aim.
4. It is possible to make the mistake that only certain things
in the world are aids in the realisation of one s Aim of life,
and that others are obstacles. But this is not true, because
everything in the world is interconnected and it is not
possible to divide the necessary from the unnecessary,
the good from the bad, etc., except in a purely relative
sense. The so-called unnecessary items or the useless
ones are those whose subtle connection with our central
purpose in life is not clear to our minds. This happens
when our minds are carried away by sudden emotions or
spurts of enthusiasm.
5. All this would mean that it is not advisable or practicable
to ignore any aspect of life totally, as if it is completely
irrelevant to the purpose of one s life. But here begins the
difficulty in the practice of sadhana, because it is not
humanly possible to consider every aspect of a situation
when one tries to understand it.
6. The solution is the training which one has to receive
under a competent Teacher, who alone can suggest
methods of entertaining such a comprehensive vision of
things, which is the precondition of a true spiritual life, or
a life of higher meditation.
7. There are economic and material needs as well as vital
longings of the human nature which have to be paid their
due, at the proper time and in the proper proportions,
not with the intention of acquiring comfort and
satisfaction to one s self, but with a view to the
sublimation of all personal desires or urges, whether
physical, vital or psychological. An utter ignorance of this
fact may prove to be a sort of hindrance to one s further
practice on the path of sadhana.
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