 106. Meditation |
THE BHAGAVAD-GITA
Chapter 6, verse 5
Let man lift himself by himself; let him not degrade himself; for the SELF alone is the friend of the self (egoic) and the SELF is the enemy of the self (egoic).
The universal SELF and the personal self are not antagonistic to each other. The universal SELF can be a friend (in the form of intuitions) or a foe of the personal self. If we subdue our petty cravings and desires, if we do not exert out selfish will, we become the channel of the universal SELF. If our impulses are under control, and if our personal self offers itself to the universal SELF, then the latter becomes our guide and teacher. Everyone has the freedom to rise or fall, and our future is in our own hands.
-S. Radhakrishnan
SECOND VERSION
Meditation is self salvation and brings forth eternal life as spirit, (the real you). Not bringing forth the true self causes the physical body and ego (the false you) to deteriorate due to the loss of subtle energy (called Manna or Shakti) the true source of life.
THE BHAGAVAD-GITA ("The Song of the Heart of God")
- Listen to "me" and hear "me" this is my supreme word. I will tell you what will benefit you most, because I love you. -18:64
- If you will surrender to "me" (inner self), if you will become a sacrifice to "me" (inner self), if you will constantly yield your attention to "me" though" love and service, then you will attain "me." I promise this, because I love you. -18:65
- Abandon the principle in all your concerns and all your strategies. Abandon every experience that may be attained as a result of desire and effort. Abandon your search for what may be gotten as a result of the various kinds of strategic action. Engage every action that is appropriate for one who loves "me." But simply perform every kind of action as a form of direct and present communion with "me." Relax all of your anxiety. Be free of sorrow and fear, when you abide in love-communion with" me" the natural results of your various activities no longer have power to separate or distract you from "me." -18:66
- The soul that is born into the "realm" of "nature," or the worlds of action and experience, advances from childhood to manhood, old age, and death, while identified with the same body-mind. Then the same soul attains another body-mind as a result. One who is truly intelligent is not troubled by all of that.
- All of that is simply the natural "play" of "life;" in which two sides of every possibility come and go in cycles. Winter's cold alternates with summer's heat. Pain follows every pleasure, since every appearance is followed by a disappearance. There is no permanent experience in the "realm" of nature (i.e., creation). One who is truly perceptive simply allows all of this to be so, and he does not add his own distress to this inevitable round. -2:14
- Realization of the external destiny is only possible when a person has ceased to defeat himself by reacting to the "play" of nature. Such a person is steadied by his own understanding, seeing that the cycle of changes, both negative and positive, is inevitable in the world of experience.
- Those who see the truth of things acknowledge that what "exists externally," i.e., consciousness awareness, never changes. And whatever does not "exist externally" only changes. -2:16
