04/09/2021
Sadhana also lends to an interesting understanding of the human mind. There is an old swami in the ashram who likes to talk, particularly on subjects that require high understanding, such as atma, paramatma, and all similar ideas.
One day it was raining hard and we were discussing what the scriptures say about self-relization and God-realization, whether God and the self are the same or not the same, and so on. He was saying to me, "Am I, as a human being, part and parcel of that God gene, and if not, why is my gene different? " He was going on and on about self-image and how one can visualize oneself to be pure, luminous, peaceful, benevolent, compassionate, kind and loving. I said, "Yes, these are good ideas, but I can give you an experience that you will not find even in the shastras, the scriptures. Are you ready for it? " He said, " Yes, I am ready. "
I said, " It is raining today. You stand in the rain with your head held high and your arms wide open, and you will have a very special revelation about yourself. A very special revelation which is not revealed in any of the shastras. "
He said, " Wow! That is where guru comes in handy, they tell us about things that are not written down anywhere. " He ran outside, but there were many people around, so he went to the Garuda-Vishnu building which is more secluded, raced to the top of terrace, closed the terrace doors, took off his upper cloth and shirt, and stood in the rain with his head held heaven wards and arms open. He was like that for about fifteen minutes, then he dressed himself and came back.
I asked him, "What did you experience?" He said, "Swamiji, I did as you told me. I stood in the rain with my head pointing to the sky and my arms wide open. "I said, " Then what happened? "He said, " I became wet. " I said, " Then what happened? " He said, " I felt like a fool! " I said, " That was the revelation that no shastra has spoken about. " That is the revelation about oneself that no shastra, no scripture, no guru, has ever spoken about.
It is also the revelation that each one of you runs away from. If in your meditation you see an angel, you are happy, as you have seen something nice. If, instead, you see the devil you become disturbed and wonder, 'I am such a good person, why did I see the devil? How did the devil appear in front of me? That question will come, for you project yourself as what you are not; you hide from your own nature. Therefore hearing about and speaking about luminosity, harmony and peace is attractive to everybody, but observing the conditions that limit you and learning how to deal with them is not everybody's desire.
The purpose of sadhana is to recognize what you are and then use that as the launching pad to improve yourself and develop a better understanding. That is the focus of sadhana, not to impose ideas like, 'Oh, when I meditate I should see light, because that is what has been said in the scriptures. ' Or, 'In one book I read that I should see a blue pearl in meditation so I must see a blue pearl. ' That is how you condition yourself to hide away from your limitations and perceive something that you are not. That is why people are not successful in sadhana.
If you look at the yogic concepts, everything revolves around one word: self-awareness. Is that self-awareness only to be used at the time of meditation? Or should that self-awareness be part and parcel of every moment of the day and night? Is it to remain limited to the classroom environment and satsang, and beyond that there need not be any self-awareness? The purpose of sadhana is to be aware of one's limitations every moment and acquire the strength to overcome those limitations.
Yoga Chakra 4
Cultivating Sadgunas
