Swami Shivapadananda with very specific meditation instructions

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

573

 
 

[Continued from Day 572, previous posting]

 

Now for the meditation itself. You repeat the guru mantra and at the same time you look at the deity [chosen Ideal or Ishta Deva] .

Your guru mantra should not be heard by anybody. But you can say it first in a whisper, so that only you and the deity can hear it. After doing it in a whisper you now do it silently without moving your lips or your tongue. You will find that sometimes when you are silent your tongue is moving but you are not aware of it. Now you meditate. Meditate in such a way that your mind is attached to the form of the Lord.

It is best to do the mantra one hundred and eight times [a full japa mala]. You may do it with a mala or you may do with your fingers. After one hundred and eight times I put my hands here [near the heart], this is for meditation on God with form and meditate on Him.

Go on meditating with love, with devotion, with sincerity. Love. Devotion. Sincerity. Meditate and at the same time reflect on the qualities and attributes of that deity. He is Almighty. He is One without a second. He is the embodiment of all the powers in this world. Whatever you ask, whatever you need, that the Lord will give.

This should go on for half an hour in the beginning and you will find that the time goes so fast.

Now you say lovingly, consciously, to your deity who is seated in your heart [anahata chakra], 'O Lord, O Mother [Divine], come up now and sit in the throat chakra [psychic centre].' Let your deity come up from the heart in your imagination. Let it sit in the vishuddha chakra and meditate on it there for at least two minutes. See the deity as you saw it in your heart. After you have seen it there for two minutes you then say to your deity, 'Lord, come and sit on the ajna chakra, the centre between the eyebrows.' See it there for another two minutes with the same love. After that is done, say, 'Lord, come now onto the sahasrara chakra, the thousand petalled lotus.' But, as the deity is going to the sahasrara, your guru merges in the deity. Now your deity is seated there. You must try to absorb the guru in the deity. Even if you cannot find out how to merge it, let it go to the sahasrara. Let the deity occupy that space because that means that the guru is merged with the deity.

Now you meditate there for at least five minutes. Then you say, 'O Lord, come [down] now to the ajna chakra.' You bring it there and meditate on the deity because your guru has merged in the deity. Meditate there for at least another three to five minutes. Then, when you have finished that, you say to your deity, 'Lord, come and sit in the vishuddha chakra.' Again you make the deity sit in the throat chakra. And there you again meditate for three to five minutes.

Look at the deity with all the love and at the same time keep on repeating the mantra. When you are taking the deity up you continue repeating the mantra. When you are coming down you continue repeating the mantra.

After three to five minutes you say to the deity, 'Lord, now come into the space where I meditate on you,' (that is in your heart or right in the middle of your chest) and let the deity sit there. You utter your mantra for another half an hour, just as you did before taking the deity up.

After half an hour again pray to your deity for love, devotion, faith and conviction. Then, as you did in the beginning, send out peaceful thoughts or say the mantra that wishes the whole world peace.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's
words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave
was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in
red in the posting for further explanation
or links.

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