Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.5

Concentration in Nama-smarana

Why are we unable to achieve concentration in nama-smarana although we earnestly desire and strive for it? What should we do to achieve this concentration? It is true that hordes of vagrant, irrelevant thoughts throng and distract the mind during meditation. The simple remedy is, not to pursue or multiply them, not to indulge in day-dreams. Thoughts will go away as they come, if we ignore them. Indeed, nama-smarana will itself lead to concentration. Real concentration will come only at an advanced stage. The mind is, by its very nature, fickle, restless, fugitive. It can be steadied only by tethering it to something; so we should keep it engaged in nama. Practising listening to nama mentally, as we chant it, will greatly help achieve concentration. Persistence in repeating nama will ultimately lead to concentration of the mind.
Everyone knows that the mind readily concentrates on what it likes or is interested in. We have an inborn affinity for worldly matters and sensual pleasures, and so get easily absorbed in them. If, then, we cultivate affection for God, why should we not be able to get engrossed in Him and His nama? So let us cultivate a keen longing for God and nama.
Real concentration requires complete fusion or merger of identity, like that of salt in water. Yoga may train you in concentration, which, however, will last only so long as the state of samadhi lasts. Real, lasting concentration is to be fully and incessantly aware of the divinity pervading all things. When we realize that all is God and nothing else, where is the scope for duality to exist? And the moment duality vanishes, oneness or concentration alone remains: this is true samadhi.
Even if a person is lonely, he creates a whole world in his mind and peoples it with a host of persons and things, with the help of his imagination. The learned especially possess a prolific imagination. If the mind must, after all, imagine something, let us think of God in His various qualities as a benefactor, as the protector of everybody and everything, and as the bestower of peace and bliss. God, Who transcends and defies intellectual comprehension, should be imagined as saguna, with a certain form and name, and we should endavour to concentrate our mind on these to the exclusion of all else.
* * * * *

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Jan.5

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Jan.5

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.4

The Proper Posture for Repeating Nama

Just as a sweet tastes sweet whichever side you begin to eat, nama achieves its purpose whichever way or in whatever position you take it. One who has tasted a sweet will not ask from which side he should begin; similarly, one who chants nama will not ask 'how' he should do it. The sower sows the field without bothering which side of the seed faces up, for the sprout always instinctively manages to make its way up. Similarly, whatever the way or manner in which the sadhaka may begin' chanting' it, nama will ensure his progress in the proper direction. The main thing, therefore, is to begin.
To ask which posture we should adopt for nama-sadhana, is like asking what posture we should adopt for breathing. The answer is, whatever posture facilitates free, unhindered breathing. What does a person suffering from asthma do? He tries to sit up or recline in a position which affords him easy breathing. He aims at ease in breathing, and he adopts any posture that provides it. Similarly, we should aim at unbroken and undisturbed chanting of nama, and adopt any posture which avoids hindrance and offers convenience therein. Do not attach overimportance to posture. Imagine that we adopt the Padmasan posture for nama-smarana, and after a while we start feeling strain in the back; our attention will, in that case, be directed more towards the body than to nama; in other words, instead of losing our attention to our body (which we aim at), we shall be doubly reminded of the body. The object, therefore, should be to avoid break or distraction in nama-smarana; and we may adopt any posture of the body conducive to meditation on nama, according to personal idiosyncracies or requirements. Nama is totally independent of the state or posture of the body; indeed, this is the peculiar feature of nama-smarana.
However, our sense of identity of our I self' with the body is so strong and undissociable that we cannot be content unless we attach some strings or limitations or conditions to nama, although it is itself absolutely unconstrained by upadhi. This is precisely what we should not do. Such conditions, if fulfilled, will lead to joy or woe, but conditionless nama will lead to limitless and pure bliss.
* * * * *

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Jan..4

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Jan.4

Sri Brahmachaithanya pravachan-Jan.3

How Long Should We Repeat Nama?

How long should we repeat nama? We should do this as long as our breath continues or we are conscious of ourselves. Just as we continue to breathe till the moment of death, so, too, we should repeat the nama till the moment of death. To put it more precisely, just as the body ceases to live when breathing stops, so, too, we must feel as if we are dead if nama stops. We must take nama literally until life becomes extinct, or until the 'self' or the 'individual I' ceases to exist. The last stage is when the 'individual I' feeling becomes dead, and what remains is only nama. One can, indeed, never do 'enough' or 'too much' of it. It is commonly believed that there is nothing further to be done when one attains beatitude or 'ultimate liberation'; however, if any duty remains even thereafter it is only nama- smarana.
The common man so completely identifies himself with the body that normally he is not even conscious that he has it. Conversely, when the sadhaka engaged in nama-smarana becomes unaware that he is doing it, we can conclude that he has attained real' solitude', or oneness with the cosmic soul.
A man suffering from insomnia takes enough of the prescribed sedative to induce sleep; similarly we must take nama until we achieve enduring inward contentment. Nama being free from all upadhi, we will not be able to realise its true bliss unless we become likewise.
Should we keep a record of our japa, that is to say, should we note the number of times we have repeated nama? Yes, this is necessary if we have resolved to do it upto a specific minimum number every day, or to do a certain total number. To accustom oneself to a regular practice of japa, as also to ensure that not a day passes without a certain minimum japa, it is advisable to keep a daily note. While doing this, however, one shouldn’t feel that, 'now that I have completed the number proposed for the day, I have nothing to do with the nama until tomorrow.' After the daily quota is done, during the rest of the time also we should repeat nama as far as possible, for akhanda (i.e. unbroken) japa should be the ultimate goal.


* * * * *