Meditation upon Light - Its practical relevance, importance and benefits to our lives.( Lecture followed by guided meditation videos by the eminent spiritual seer Pt Shriram Sharma Acharya)

The enclosed article is a transcript of a lecture given in Hindi  by Acharya  Shriram Sharma during a Sadhana camp in 1976. The original title of the discourse in Hindi is : "Dhyana Yoga Ka Vyavaharik Kriya Paksha" / or "The Practical relevance , Meaning and Impact of Dhyaan Yoga/ or Meditation in our lives". 

This lecture  also explains to us the effects of meditating  upon Light and its impact on our abilities and our personality, and our levels of concentration . This meditation helps enhance the qualities of Karma Yoga, Gyana Yoga and Bhakti yoga in us. All these three of these qualities are critical to our individual development and the development of our inner  self, our soul.
The article ends with a discussion on how to assess if our meditation is being successful?

The written explanation of the Meditation is followed by video links of a guided meditation upon the light of the rising sun. The videos are recorded in Pt.Shriram Sharma's own voice.The videos are in Hindi and are broken into three videos (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).This  enclosed lecture helps to understand and follow the meaning and terminology of the meditation videos .Once the meaning is understood one can  practice the meditation with the help of the  guided meditation video links enclosed. 
Practice makes perfect and one needs to make a sustained effort to meditate. 

Quoted Lecture Transcript  - 

Let us all begin with the collective chanting of the Gayatri Mantra, "Om Bhur Buvah Swah, Tatsaviturvarenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat ".

"Brothers and Sisters, I am giving you a special training of Dhyana (Meditation) together with training of Gayatri Upasana. There are two modes of Upasana (worship): 1)  Worship of the Name of God and 2) Worship of The Form of God. There could be no devotional practice without Gods name and Form. These two are supposed to be the universal modes of worship. 

Look at any religion, you will find the use of Gods name and/or form in their modes of worship. Mohammedans recite the name of Allah on Tasabiha; Christian priests chant God's name with the help of a rosary; the Arya Samajis meditate upon the Divine form as sunlight; the Yogis of Nada Yoga concentrate upon the sublime sounds of the Omnipresent. In any case, the support of meditation (with Divine name or form) is essential for true worship.This is why I stress on you to practice meditation along with the Japa of the Gayatri Mantra. 

Mental concentration on some gross object e.g. an idol, or a picture of a deity, is most convenient for the majority of people; because the human mind in general, is not so developed that it could be focused for a stretch of time without any visible or perceptible symbol. However, with sincere practice, one begins to realize the presence of God in his inner self and learns to meditate upon it, without any external symbol. 

What is the meaning of Dhyana Yoga? Well, let us try to understand it. As you all might know, our life has two facets, the external and internal. 

The external, is most familiar to us. The holes in our ears open externally; our eyes also open up externally and keep watching what is happening in the outside world. We can see the things outside but we don't even get a glimpse of what is there inside us. Is there nothing? No my friends! The real substance, the essence is all inside us. They might be manifested externally but the basic elements of life lie deep within. 

Where is our life force? It is not outside; it is inside. And what about the intellect through which we earn wealth and gain respect? That also is not external, but, an internal potential. We don't see inside and often keep wondering why God has befuddled mankind by giving us instruments of perception of the external things and events but no fine-tuned instrument of knowledge of the inner world. We never notice the immense treasure of talents, virtues and divinity, hidden inside our own self. What is easily seen by us is my child, my material property, my this, my that, and what not! But we cant see our future; 

The Omnipresent God and our souls are also far beyond our perception. What to say about the inner world, when  we can't even see many components of our own body. We can't look at out own eyes. Okay, just try to see (without a mirror) how is your nose, how are your eyebrows? What do your eyelids look like? If you can't  even see these gross external parts of the body, how will you see what is inside? When we peep into our inner world and attempt to know it, we perform some kind of Dhyana. In fact, Dhayana Yoga is the best method of seeing inside ourselves. Well, so what should be the focus of dhyana? Who to meditate upon? One's inner self or the Almighty God? My children! The two are not really different. Enlightened evolution of the inner self is God. 

Our ultimate spiritual evolution is Shivoaham, Sachidanandoaham, Tatvamasi, Ayamatmabrahm, Pragyanambrahm. These five great maxims of Vedanta affirm that the soul, in its absolutely pure form, itself is God. Take the example of a piece of coal and a  diamond. Except for a minor difference in the atomic structure, the two are quite the same. Diamond is thus a refined form of coal. 

The Soul and God are also basically the same except for the fact that the former is expressed within a limited identity (confined to the individual self) and  the latter is unbounded, Infinite. One is manifested in a tiny domain, while the other is gigantic, unlimited. One is bounded by the thralldom of Maya, while the other is absolutely free. This is the only difference between us and the Divine. 

This difference is there because of the mist of ignorance covering up the resplendence of our inner self that keeps us cut off from our eternal origin. If we refine and illumine ourselves (by the purifying radiance of virtues and righteous knowledge) we can attain our soul's-reality and also God-awareness. 

This is why (during the Dhyana Yoga) we meditate upon light; focus our attention upon the inner self, upon the sublime roots of our being and its ultimate goal. 

(You may now ask) "So Guruji! Is this why you train us to meditate upon the rising sun?". Yes my children! The brilliance of rising sun is a symbol of divine light. You may feel its radiance in your mind during this meditation, or you may get a reflection of the Goddess Gayatri. It doesn't matter if instead of sunlight you experience the deities image or some divine reflection.This only indicates the degree of progress of your Dhyana. 

When I talk of meditation upon light, I don't mean the physical light as some of you might interpret. Here it means the divine light, or the sublime glow of pure knowledge. It is not the physical illumination; rather it is the radiance of spirituality and true knowledge. We pray "Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya" -O Lord! take us from the darkness towards light; here again, we mean from ignorance to knowledge. 

In spirituality, the word "light" is always used in the context of enlightenment, pure knowledge. (This is what should be understood of it in this discourse). We were talking of meditating upon the sunlight. So, where should we imagine its presence? In the special kind of Dhyana Yoga that I have been teaching you this year, I ask you to meditate upon sunlight focused successively at three points:  The Navel, The Heart and The Brain (especially the deeper point  inside and above the centre of the forehead).

These three regions (the navel, the heart and the brain) contain the sublime nuclei of power for our three bodies the physical, the subtle and the astral body. All these points should be enlightened in our imagination and inner experience during this practice of Dhyana Yoga; the brilliance of sunlight should enter all the three bodies. What does it imply? It implies the inherent philosophy and practical aspects of the three principal yogas. 

Karma Yoga taught through Dhyana Yoga: In the first step of this practice of Dhyana Yoga, you should imagine and try to feel as though the glow of sunlight is being absorbed by your navel. It means that the spark of prana should enter your physical body from the navel and flow in every vein, every artery and every cell. Why from the navel? Because this is the connecting point of the umbilical cord between the mother and the fetus and is therefore regarded as the energy center of the body. 

As the vital elements from your mothers body, that enabled your healthy birth, entered your body from the navel, the Light (strength) of God is also induced into your body  through the same center  When this light gets infused in your body, your bones, your blood, your flesh, all will shine. By this illumination I mean, it will induce energy, enthusiasm, alacrity, courage, commitment to responsibilities, industriousness, zeal for hard work, motivation for altruistic service and love and joy for selfless fulfilment of duties. These qualities will help you accomplish your karma-yoga. 

The "Karma-Yoga" is the yoga of the body- which means, that this yoga pertains to the worldly domains of your life and your deeds. One who meditates upon light in the navel region cannot sit idle. He will always be busy in good actions. There are three streams of yoga  Karma-yoga, Gyana-yoga and Bhakti-yoga. I have asked you to inculcate the practice of all these yogas through the medium of light. Whenever the light of divinity will descend upon a person, it will inspire Karma-yoga in his physical being, and in his conduct.The person then becomes more duty-bound; and work will be worship for him. 

The deeds of worship, service, social welfare and the actions pertaining to transactions of responsibilities, adoption of moral ideals, etc fall under karma-yoga. These teach us that when our body absorbs the light (of prana), we should become hardworking, our every action should be devoted to selfless duty. It conveys that one who meditates upon light should not be lethargic, lazy or dishonest. One who eats and earns without being sincere to his work is equivalent to a thief in my view. 

When your son is grown up and he is earning for the family, you may find great joy in sitting and relaxing at home, doing just nothing. But this is a sign of lethargy; and slothful luxury is worse than dishonesty. It is the worst abuse of our human-hood. Insincerity towards work and sluggishness are blots on the dignity of mankind. You may argue "but I have worked so many years and now I am getting pension after retirement.". No my child! I, as your guide, will not like you to sit idle and make merriment. Till you are alive (and able to move your body), you must do some work.

You may have enough resources for yourself and your family. But, there are others in the society, who have nothing; so you should work to give something to these others. Your children have studied and are well settled. But, there are many youngsters who are not able to go to school. So rise up from your narrow mindedness and lethargy and make a contribution.

Try running a night school and teach the children of others. My friends! When the light, which you meditate upon, will flow in your body as energy and alacrity, you should work like a karma-yogi; apply the best of your efforts and hard work towards transaction of your duties as a good human being, towards the fulfillment of noble aims till the last breath. We are all bound by our duties towards the society, nation and religion (ethics); we should bear these responsibilities gracefully. If you adopt this attitude and transmit it in your deeds, I will regard you as a Karma-Yogi; then I will be happy that you have grasped the true meaning of meditation and have truly learnt to practice the Dhyana Yoga as I have taught you.

The second part of this Dhyana Yoga involves meditating upon the light spot (of rising sun) in the center of your brain. The infusion of this light in your brain, in your mind, should inspire you to become a Gyana Yogi.

The first sign of this progress is that there should be nothing negative in your mind; your thoughts should be positive and constructive. In general, the human mind is flooded by strong currents of pell-mell thoughts and imaginations; the bedlam of passions and impulses keeps hovering around  like the fleas and mosquitoes around a drain. Sometimes your mind is boiling in anger; sometimes erotic thoughts perturb it; some moments you are thinking of a movie, soon you may begin to plan for the purchase of a lottery-ticket and dream about what you will do with the wealth gained thereby and what not! This way you keep recklessly wasting your mental energy in useless, purposeless and haphazard imaginations and thoughts.

If you were alert and had focused your mind on constructive or analytical thinking and given a focused direction to your thoughts, you would have delved deeper in your selected field of knowledge; some of you would have become a Voltaire by now! If you had dived deeper in your psyche and given creative, enlightened direction to your imaginations, you might have been another Rabindranath Tagore.
People regard me as an eminent thinker. If it is true, it is only because of one thing: I have always focused my thinking faculty in specific directions, towards search for true knowledge.

I have controlled my thoughts and imaginations; they never fly randomly. They always move in the self-chosen, sagacious directions. They generate and expand around noble ideals and motives. My mind knits a vast network of thoughts but never leaves the firm base of reality and reasoning. I have blocked the entry of unnecessary, delusional or irrational thoughts. Casual thinking or uncontrolled imaginations do not have any place in my mind.

Friends! In the practice of Gyana Yoga, we must inculcate the insight and courage to eliminate and prevent the base elements that keep intruding in our minds. Instead, if we adopt the kind of thinking that is positive, sane and noble and nurture it firmly in our mental field, our mind could become a grand reservoir of knowledge. Precious pearls of deep knowledge, ideas and inspirations would then be discovered in its inner recesses. Like the Ganga emerging from the head of Lord Shiva, a spring of pure knowledge could gush out of our minds by the practice of Gyana-Yoga.

Calmness and stability would then remain firm in our mind like the holy moon on the forehead of Lord Shiva. Our sixth sense the extrasensory center of divine prudence would be activated like the opening of the Third Eye of Lord Shiva. This is the Sadhana of Gyana-Yoga.

The light of the rising sun you meditate upon should illuminate your inner mind. It should refine your knowledge and focus your thoughts in constructive directions. If this spark of Gyana kindles in your mind, I will assume that you have comprehended and assimilated the training of meditation, for which I have guided you in this golden jubilee year of my Anusthana Sadhana.

If you do not understand and adopt these teachings in practice, your Dhyana will only remain a pleasant imagination and you will gain nothing worthwhile out of such shallow practices. Spirituality is not imagination; it is not a dreamy experience. It is real and experiential. It deals with every aspect of our life; it should be lived in our life today, every day. There is no place for dreams or myths in spirituality. God is not a creation of our dreams or imaginations. His presence should be reflected in all our daily activities. 

Friends! The third kind of light, which I have asked you to focus upon during this Dhyana Yoga is that of the inner self. It is the radiance of our intrinsic faith, our devotion, our sincerity, and our compassion, which sparkles all around in the form of pure love. Awakening of this love is the bhakti-yoga. 

We strengthen our body by practicing physical exercises and make use of the vigor thus gained in our routine chores and in the hard work required for transaction of our duties on multiple fronts. Similarly, when we begin with the devotion and love for God, the inner force of emotions we acquire through this Bhakti (devotion) should also be utilized and expanded. We should love our gross body; if we love it, we must take good care of it; keep it neat and tidy; discipline it and maintain its health and harmony. This is a reflection of our love, our devotion for Gods creation.

The same way our devotion should also extend towards our mind; we should look after it cautiously. We should not allow it to be disturbed or vitiated. It should be kept calm and serene. Thoughts stored in it should be bright and pristine like the glow of the sun. We should also love our inner self, our soul. We have always neglected our soul. We have never experienced its presence.

Ages have passed, but we have never heard its voice, or bothered about its aspirations. An old woman, entirely dependent upon you, keeps asking you to take her to the Himalayas for pilgrimage. You, engrossed in your selfish motives, won't pay any attention. You might even reply rudely that at this last phase of her life, why to worry about going here and there; she should just lie quietly wherever she is! It sounds strange, but this is how we have been treating our soul.

Our soul is a helpless captive in the smog of our ignorance. If we had loved it and taken proper care of it, it would have become so strong and active that its divine power would have transmuted us into angelic beings. But, this divine spark within us has practically been extinguished in our lives because of our misdeeds. If we cannnot love our soul; then whom would we love? (Ask this question to yourself whom do you love truly?). Do you love your wife? No, not really.

You only long for the sensual pleasure and comforts she offers you. A leech sticks to the body and sucks the blood; most of us do the same with the lives of our wives. The youth of a wife is often ruined in satisfying the lust of her husband and in producing and taking care of the children. She gets prematurely aged and becomes a victim of varieties of ailments. Still the husband does not understand her problems, does not  care for her sickness.

All her potentials, all her resources, have been sacrificed in the thankless service of the husband and his family. If you had truly loved your wife, you should have lovingly taken care of her health; you should have helped in lifting her educational and mental levels; should have encouraged the development of her talents. On the contrary, you have practically killed her future. Do you have the noble sentiments of love and devotion? No! If these had a place in your heart, you would have looked after your old parents and other dependents with greater affection, you would have happily offered your altruistic services to the needy. You usually think that you have great love for your children. But, that  is also a delusion.

You mostly have attachment towards them. You consider providing them with worldly comforts and worldly means as the best expression of love for them. You relentlessly endeavor to amass wealth and possessions that you could bequeath to your children as tokens of your love! But have you ever thought that wealth without virtues is a source of deprivation.  Thus by piling up comforts  for your child, you simply make him a lustful, depraved and selfish person, who will spoil his own life and may become a future burden to society. How can you say that you truly love your child? Friends! Do you know what is love? It is the sentiment of causeless joy derived from selflessly working for the welfare of beloved ones. It means giving; it means generosity, compassion, and selflessness. Bhakti-yoga aims at awakening of this divine sentiment; it means cultivation and expansion of compassion, kindness, altruism and love for sentient beings.

This is what is true service and true devotion of God. Many of you think that worshipping a deity, bending the head at its feet, beseeching and crying before it, ringing the bells in a shrine, distributing some alms, etc is what serves the purpose of devotion. Is this what you call "Navadha bhakti" (highest yoga of devotion)? No my child! This is only hypocrisy, mimicry and a caricature of devotion; it is far removed from real Bhakti Yoga. It is self-deception. Well! Then, how will you practice Bhakti-Yoga? For this, you will have to understand its true meaning and adopt it with the help of the meditation on divine light. 

The feeling of "Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya" should emerge from the depths of your emotions while concentrating on the glow of rising sun in your heart. It implies emancipation of the soul, the inner self from the darkness of ignorance into the eternal light of pure knowledge and divine love. Deep and focused mental concentration is a major prerequisite for meditation.

As small quantity of explosive material, condensed in a bullet and targeted through a gun, hits the focused aim. It exemplifies the achievement of aims of a focused mind. If we focus our potentials and efforts in a constructive direction, we would achieve the goal of our life. You must have heard about the glorious self-mastery of Arjuna in Mahabharat. He had perfected the art of focusing all his attention upon  the desired objective.

That is why during the Swayamvara of Princess Draupadi, Arjuna  was the only one who succeeded in piercing by his arrow, the left eye of the rotating fish,just by looking at the  image of the fish in the water below. Hundreds of Princes and Kings had come to participate in this difficult contest of qualifying to marry Princess Draupadi.

Guru Dronacharya asked one common question from all his disciples during their archery training. He asked :When you  stretch  your  bows and look at the image of your target -"What do you see?"; Someone replied "The entire fish", some said "Its head", etc. As predicted by Dronacharya, none of them could hit any part of the fish. Arjuna was the only one who saw nothing except the left eye of the fish. The Guru applauded his perfect mental concentration. Arjuna therefore hit the target and won Princess Draupadi's hand.

This is the secret of success in all walks of life. We do not accomplish anything significant, when  our attention and interests are scattered in many directions. I ask you to control the agitation of your mind and focus it (as per the instructions) in the practice of Dhyana Yoga. Because of the  wayward tendency , you are neither able to concentrate upon your studies nor to work  towards  vigorous health; you are not able to do anything significant as there is always an instability in your mind and a scattering of your efforts. This haphazard state of your mind should be controlled with the help of meditation along with the devotional practices of Japa.

Your mind should be well organized and trained to imbibe the habit of "Work when  you work and Play when you play". Be it a worldly task or a spiritual practice, whatever you do, you  should do with  full attentiveness. Deep mental concentration is a spiritual quality. 

Any effort carried out with a single -pointed absorption of your mind leads to grand success. Friends! We should try cultivating keen interest and a focused approach like a scientists has towards his fields of research. In terms of basic education or training, there is not much difference between a scientist and someone who has merely passed a B.Sc. (first degree in science education).

Who is a scientist? 

The one who is fully engrossed in his research and dives deeper and deeper, like a submarine in the ocean, to discover/invent the pearls of knowledge. Scientific achievements are the wonderful outcomes of rigorous mental concentration. This quality is essential for success in every walk of life. You need to apply it not only in your devotional practices but also in all the works you undertake.

People often tell me "Guruji, I can't engage my mind in devotional practices. The mind  keeps jumping towards the worldly thoughts". I ask them in reply "Does your mind ever get occupied in something with interest and attention?" Obviously, the answer comes out to be "No; Not really". 

This is because you have not bothered to train your mind to focus. You do not recognize the potentials of a focused mind. You should train your mind to be alert and attentive and cultivate the tendency to enjoy the work at hand. In devotional or spiritual practices, you should have the deep mental absorption that emanates through the heart, like that of a Yogi. If you sincerely practice the Dhyana Yoga I have taught you, and learn to meditate upon Light with deep fervor, I assure you that your mental concentration will improve significantly. 

This depth of mental concentration together with your noble sentiments employed in this Dhyana Yoga will bless you with all that a great devotee of spirituality deserves. I wish you all success. || Om Shanti ||

                                              *****

Guided meditation upon light (videos in Hindi) by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Bgap1A9BI

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMp3w_iF2rY&feature=relmfu
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh_jbgeyuns&feature=relmfu

Source and reference to the above article:This article is from Akhand Jyoti magazine, Nov- Dec 2003:

http://literature.awgp.org/magazine/Akhand-Jyoti-english/2003/Nov-Dec/PracticalAspectDhyan-Yoga-II/