Meditation To Cleanse The Mind

In my earlier posts, I have given an introduction to the Rudram and an introduction to the concept of Ishwara. 

The Veda gives us five different types of Yagnas to connect with Ishwara; 

1. Manushya Yagna : Loving and supporting other human beings
2. BhutaYagna: Supporting the nature and other living beings 
3. Pitru Yagna : a. Love and support for family Pitru Yagna  b. Remembering and being grateful to ancestors
4. DevaYagna : a. Surrendering to GOD / Higher Cause b. Propitiating our own body and mind c. Prayers and all spiritual / religious practices
5. BhrahmaYagna: Study and propagation of the scriptures

Shri Rudram can be used as a means for performing Deva Yagna and BhrahmaYagna. 

Imagine we are going on a road trip from the East coast of USA to the West coast. One of the key things we would do is to ensure that the engine is working well and the fuel/oil is clean. In the same way, before starting on the study of the Rudram as a Yagna to connect with Ishwara, it is essential to clear our mind of impurities. If we look at our basic structure, we have a gross physical body, a mind, a intellect and the driving chaitanya or soul. Let us focus on the mind. 

The mind is a seat of emotions. Its very nature is that it is wavering. If I were to tell you right now, not to think of a monkey sitting on a tree, your mind surely is thinking of it. It is something that is seemingly not in our control and accumulates various emotions like jealousy, anger, greed, love, etc. These are what are the impurities of the mind. They are called impurities because they cause turbulence in the mind and prevent it from focusing. Hence if we are beginning the Rudra Yagna, our mind has to be purified to ensure we can focus on the Rudram. The preparation before embarking on the Rudram is known as nyasam.

Basically, as a preparation, we are doing the invocation of the deity in our body. When we worship we should also be as pure as the Lord . We purify the body by invoking various deities at various parts of the body. Nyasas include:

▪ Mahaanyasah – Larger invocation 

▪ Laghunyasam – Lighter invocation 

There is a meditation verse even for Naysam, which is the Dhyana shloka. Meditation is to be done to realize the essential unity of myself with the Supreme. One is advised to seek out a calm lonely place and select a fixed time every day to do meditation. There are several techniques suggested for meditation. Some of them are as follows:

a.Taking an image of a favorite God or angel or spiritual teacher and try to focus thoughts on that
b. Focusing on one's own shadow in the mind
c. Focusing on one 's own image as though in a movie
d. Focusing on a word or "shloka"
e. Focusing on one's own heartbeat
f. Focusing on one's own breath

There is no single technique that can be good for everyone. Readers are encouraged to try any of these and see what works best for them. During initial phase of meditation, it is almost impossible to focus the mind. The nature of the mind is to wander and create thoughts. So a practitioner can become disillusioned about the absolute lack of progress.  But this is very normal. The best strategy is to let the mind wander, but try to be aware that the mind is wandering and slowly bring the mind back to focus. The strategy is to be aware of such thoughts as they arise and observe them as they pass through the self. The idea is to be non-judgmental and just observe the thought as a third person.

The Dhayana Slokas of Rudram describe Lord Shiva in three different ways: 

1. Lord as a person ; with hands & legs, ornaments, weapons, vehicle etc. (Eka roopa) 
2. Lord as total creation endowed with all the forms of creation (Viswa roopa) 
3. Lord as formless, attributeless; the Absolute Reality (Aroopa)

For a beginner in meditation, when it is difficult to control the mind, there is the need for a hook to attach the mind to. This could be any thing that a practioner wants to focus on. It could be  light source, an image etc. Here, the Dhyana shloka describes Shiva as a person and provides the ability to visualize Lord Shiva in a human form and meditate on that image. If we ask the purpose of this, the idea is that in focusing the mind on the image, other impure thoughts will not enter the mind. There is a detailed description of the physical form in the Dhyana shloka, which I will not be covering. Just as an example, the Lord is looked upon as an individual as pure as as a crystal. He has three eyes with the third eye representing knowledge. He has five heads which symbolize the following: 

1. Sadyojāta –Will power, Creative force associated with manipooraka chakra 

2. Vamadeva – Shakthi & beauty, associated with Anahat chakra 

3. Aghora – Power of knowledge, Svadishthana chakra 

4. Tatpurusha –Absolute Reality, MuladharaChakra, 

5. Ishana – Individual consciousness, Vishuddha chakra

My humble suggestion to readers is that at this stage of mediation, they should not try to focus on the symbolism, but just the image. 

Over a period of time, with regular practice, when the mind is fairly under control, it is worthwhile to step up to meditate on Ishwara  as total creation endowed with all the forms of creation (Viswa roopa).  In this form, Ishwara is  Eternal, which implies a concept beyond Time & Space. He is Changeless which implies that Changes with respect to time is zero. He is Pure. There is no movement, no distraction and no decay. In the next stage of meditation, the Lord is seen as  formless, attribute less and as the Absolute Reality (Aroopa). The entire universe is nothing but a manifestation of the Lord . HE is the form of whole universe and pervades the whole universe. 

Conclusion 

Before starting on the actual Rudram, the reader is advised to cleanse his mind through meditating on the concept of Ishwara in 3 different planes. Meditation prepares the mind for the journey of the Rudram study by:

1. A sense of discipline: Just as a regular physical exercise is a discipline that keeps the body fit in the long run, meditating regularly is a discipline that enables one to keep the mind fit for the long run.
2. A sense of calmness : All the while we are focusing our mind outwards and getting frustrated in the illusory world.Meditation turns the mind inwards generating a sense of calm.
3. A sense of positiveness : During meditation,if thought is of all positive things coming in as I inhale and all negative things going out as I exhale, there is a feeling of positiveness

Rudram - The Concept of Ishwara

The Rudram chant is dedicated to Ishwara in the form of Lord Shiva. Before we proceed further in understanding the concepts behind the Rudram chant, it is worthwhile to try and understand the concept of Ishwara. Rather than approach it from a religion oriented approach, we will try a different approach so as to make the concept inclusive irrespective of religious affiliations.

If we look around the world without constantly looking at our smartphones or, for a minute without, thinking of our office or family, what do we see? We see the sun rise everyday in the East and set in the West  and  rise again. A flower always blooms. When a fruit falls from a tree, it always falls down.  A standard set of things will always happen in a methodical manner. The earth rotates on its axis at the same speed it has been for several years and revolves around the sun at exactly the same rate. Even if we look within ourselves, our heart by and large beats at the standard rate every day. Each part of our body follows standard rules and functions as it should. Well, people may be wondering what am I trying to prove? Does it not appear that there is order in the universe? 

The universe is a cosmos and not chaos. There exists a scientific law / order in every aspect of the universe. Everything in the universe has a definite role to play in the scheme of things. There is a perfect order in the physical, physiological, and psychological universe. The whole universe is nothing but order. There is no disorder at all. Even in every apparent disorder there is order. This ‘order’ in which the universe is manifested and harmoniously exists is called as the Lord of the Universe or Ishvara . Albert Einstein said, “The basic laws of the universe are simple, but because our senses are limited, we can't grasp them. There is a pattern in creation.” Each religion may have developed its own way to explain this universal power and may also call it differently. But the fact remains that, whatever be the name, the universal concept remains the same. We will now move to the concept of Ishwara as enunciated in the Indian school of thought.

Ishwara is a  Hindu philosophical concept of God referring to the Supreme Being which is the lord and the ruler of everything. Hinduism uses the term Ishwara exclusively to refer to the Supreme God in a monotheistic sense.Every effect must have its cause. This universe  therefore being an effect must be preceded by a cause, and this cause is Īshwara. As per the Indian school of thought, Ishwara has fashioned this universe by his will. He conceptualized the universe, created the "raw material" for the universe, provided the "intelligence" needed for creation and actually created the universe. 


The Five manifestations of God (Īshvara) according to the Indian school of thought are:

1. Para — the transcendental Super Absolute form from which the universe appears
2. Vyuha — the four emanations  Vasudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and  Aniruddha; which have cosmic function of projection, preservation and transformation.
3. Vibhava — Incarnations which appear from time to time to rectify and restore harmony and balance to the universe, such as Narasimha, Rama, Krishna to name a few.
4. Antaryamin — the form abiding within all living beings.
5. Arca-avatara — the appearance out of condescension and love, in icons that are made and consecrated according to the vedic rituals.

Recognizing this Universal order and relating to Isvara by not rubbing against the order is the Vedic / Yogic way of life . When there is an absence of resistance on my part, that is when I reveal that the Lord rules outside and HE rules inside also. When I discover the Lord in and through everything, the distance between I, and Īśvara becomes too thin and disappears.. All that is here is Ishwara. Every phenomenon is Ishvara. This Ishvara, the total can be invoked through any name or form. This vision will help one to see the Lord in everything  in the universe and achieve complete serenity  and happiness in life. 

The Veda gives us five different types of Yagnas to connect with Ishwara; 

1. Manushya Yagna : Loving and supporting other human beings
2. BhutaYagna: Supporting the nature and other living beings 
3. Pitru Yagna : a. Love and support for family Pitru Yagna  b. Remembering and being grateful to ancestors
4. DevaYagna : a. Surrendering to GOD / Higher Cause b. Propitiating our own body and mind c. Prayers and all spiritual / religious practices
5. BhrahmaYagna: Study and propagation of the scriptures

Shri Rudram can be used as a means for performing Deva Yagna and BhrahmaYagna

Conclusion: There is an order in the whole universe, which ensures its smooth functioning and each religious thought has its own name to define and explain this power that ensures universal order. In the Indian school of thought, this universal power is called as Ishwara. Shri Rudram is dedicated to Ishwara in the form of Lord Shiva. We will discuss more about invocations to this form of Ishwara in our subsequent posts.