WORDS OF SRI ANANDAMAYI MA-16

WORDS OF SRI ANANDAMAYI MA-16

In true meditation Reality is contacted, and just as the touch of fire leaves an impression, this contact also leaves its mark.

What happens as a result?

Impediments fall away - they are either consumed by vairagya, or ‘melted’ by devotion to the Divine.

Worldly things seem dull and insipid, quite foreign to oneself; worldly talk loses all its appeal, becomes devoid of interest, and at a further stage even painful. When a person’s earthly possessions are lost or damaged, the victim feels disturbed, which gives evidence of the stranglehold that sense objects exercise over men’s minds. This is what is called granthi - the knots constituting the I-ness.

By meditation, japa and other spiritual practices, which vary according to each one’s individual line of approach, these knots become loosened, discrimination is developed, and one comes to discern the true nature of the world of sense perception. In the beginning, one was enmeshed in it, struggling helplessly in its net. As one becomes disentangled from it, and gradually passes through various stages of opening oneself more and more to the Light, one comes to see that everything is contained in everything, that there is only One Self, the Lord of all, or that all are but the servants of the One Master. The form this realization takes depends upon one’s orientation. One knows by direct perception that, as ‘one exists, so everyone else exists ; then again, that here is the One and nothing but the One, that nothing comes and goes, yet also does come and go - there is no way of expressing all this in words. To the extent that one becomes estranged from the world of the senses, one draws nearer to God.

When attaining to true meditation, one’s chosen posture no longer represents either an obstacle or a source of enjoyment ; in other words, it is quite immaterial in what particular pose one happens to be. Whether one sits straight or crooked, the right posture will form of itself, pulling the body into the proper position. Again, there are occasions when one becomes entirely independent of the physical pose; in whatever attitude the body may happen to be, meditation just comes about effortlessly. Though, without a doubt, there is also a state in which, if one takes up a special pose, such as for instance, padmasana (the lotus pose) or siddhasana (the perfect pose), no interruption of one’s union with the Supreme Being can ever occur.

EIGHT

Benares. August 11 th , 1948.

QUESTION: The other day, when speaking about visions and similar experiences that one has during meditation, you said these were not real visions but mere ‘touches’.

SRI MA : Yes, viewed from the level where one can speak of ‘touch’, this is so; that is to say, you have not been changed by the experience. Yet it is attractive to you, and you can express the feeling in words, which implies that you still take delight in sense objects. Therefore it is a mere touch. If transformation had ensued, you would be unable to feel worldly enjoyment in this way. How can there be enjoyment or relish in a transformed state of being?

QUESTION: Atman and Brahman are different only by way of posited limitation. The vision that comes by constant ‘meditation on ‘I am Saccidananda’ is Atma darsana (the vision of the Self). Since there can be no vision of the Brahman, it must therefore be a partial, that is a limited vision of the Brahman. Is this correct?

SRI MA: If you think there are parts in the Brahman, you may say ‘partial’. But can there be parts in the Absolute? As you think and feel in parts, you speak of ‘touch’ - but He is whole, THAT which IS.

Om Namah Shivay