GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA | CHAPTER 20 + A

|| MEDITATION & CONTEMPLATION ||

|| CHA || One should constantly practice the singing of GOD's name and glories , and meditation and contemplation as well .

Further , one should always pray that one's attachment to the world may disappear and one's LOVE FOR GOD may grow .

|| CH20 || The Heart is a splendid place . One can meditate there or in the Sahasrara . These are rules for meditation given in the scriptures .

But you may meditate wherever you like .
Every place is filled with BRAHMAN-CONSCIOUSNESS .

Is there any place where It does not exist ?
Is there any place left uncovered by GOD ?

A dirty place is as holy as the bank of the Ganges . It is said that the whole Creation is the VIRAT , The Universal Form of GOD .

There are two kinds of meditation , one on the formless GOD and the other on GOD with form .

But meditation on the formless GOD is extremely difficult . In that meditation you must wipe out all that you see or hear . You contemplate only the nature of your Inner SELF .

Meditating on the Inner SELF , SHIVA dances about , and exclaims ,

" WHAT AM I ! WHAT AM I ! "

This is called the SHIVA Yoga . While practicing this form of meditation , one directs one's look to the forehead . It is meditation on the nature of one's Inner SELF after negating the world , following the Vedantic method of " NETI , NETI " .

There is another form of meditation , known as the VISHNU Yoga . The eyes are fixed on the tip of the nose . Half the look is directed inward and the other half outward . This is how one meditates on GOD with form .

Sometimes SHIVA meditates on GOD with form , and dances . At that time SHIVA exclaims ,

" RAMA ! RAMA ! " and dances about .

The sound OM is BRAHMAN .

The rishis and sages practiced austerity to realize that SOUND-BRAHMAN . After attaining perfection one hears the sound of this eternal Word rising spontaneously from the navel .

" What will you gain " , some sages ask , " by merely hearing this sound ? "

You hear the roar of the ocean from a distance . By following the roar you can reach the ocean . As long as there is the roar , there must also be the ocean .

By following the trail of OM you attain BRAHMAN , of which the Word is the symbol . That BRAHMAN has been described by the Vedas as the ultimate goal .

Such vision is not possible as long as you are conscious of your ego .

One realizes BRAHMAN only when one feels neither " I " nor " you " , neither " one " nor " many " .

SOURCE | SATYAVEDISM.ORG